Alright, so before we get to the story, here's to make a note about. To those who don't know, the OC contest is over. So you can stop submitting OCs to us as we'll let you know which ones made the cut.

All characters in the LCU that aren't OCs, belongs to their respective creators. But the OCs submitted into the story do belong to those who created them.

And now our feature reading presentation...

Chapter 146: Breaking News

We start with a return to the familiar sight of New York City. Home to Wall Street, the Yankees, the Long family, and in this case the office buildings of one of the top newspapers in Manhattan… The New York Star.

Which was right now full of activity.

"Make way! I got another tip about the Powerline sighting!" one reporter declared as they rushed through the hospital.

"No, I got an online report about him stopping a traffic accident!" another replied.

"I've received a blur photo of him sitting by the Hudson River eating a bagel! A bagel!" one frantic reporter shouted.

Watching the chaos, with almost every journalist in the building making or receiving calls as they tried to get a story about the rumored Super known as Powerline, was Luz and Camila's cousin Lois, who stepped out of the elevator and into the fray.

"This place is getting busier and busier with each day," Lois said. She was wearing a blue and yellow striped shirt with a green jacket, jeans, and white tennis shoes. She sipped her latte.

"I'll say," said Kaleb as he walked behind her. He was dressed in a blue button shirt, dark-gray jeans, brown shoes, and red tie. "Everyone's sure worked up over this Powerline story."

"That's an understatement, Nashville?" Lois said after a sip. "Almost two months and we barely know a thing about the guy. And everyone is going crazy about him."

"That's because he is the new hotness," said a woman who came up walking right next to Lois and Kaleb. She was an Asian descent black woman with green eyes, pink lips, and a beauty mark on her left cheek. She had long blond hair and was wearing a bell-sleeve green blouse with a V-neck, a black short skirt while wearing a golden waist belt with a golden buckle, and black heels. "This Powerline has been the center of everyone's attention, so best to take advantage of it. I think you're the only one who isn't obsessed with trying to outscoop everyone else on the Powerline story, Lois."

"That's because it isn't our job just to cover Powerline, Elena," Lois argued. "But everyone focused on Powerline, they are forgetting that there are other stories that need to be covered, which are still important. We shouldn't spend so much time looking up at the sky that we stop looking in front of us, Elena. Right, Kaleb?"

"Y-Yeah," Kaleb replied in agreement. "Although I am also still working on something about the LA story and-"

"Didn't they say that story's full of hoax-a-loni?" interrupted a man who popped up. He was as tall as Kaleb, sporting brown hair. a mustache, and tanned skin with blue eyes. He was wearing a blue letterman's jacket with a Yankees 01 jersey, blue jeans, and brown boots. "I mean, I heard what happened at LA was a movie promotional stunt that backfired"

"Hey! What happened in LA could have been real, Troy!" James objected. He was wearing a green sweater vest, white button shirt, and khaki pants with blue shoes. "What about all those videos of Supers fighting aliens!"

"CGI, Bolton," Troy responded with a shrug. "You really need to learn to not be so gullible. You want to know what the real story is? Figuring out which team Powerline follows! Is he a Jets fan? A Yankee? Bobcat? Broncho? Sox? Oh, plot twist, he's a Viking's fan."

"What does learning about Powerline's favorite sports team have to do with everything?" asked a short dark-skinned woman with braided black hair and brown eyes. She wore a red jacket with a black shirt, cargo pants, and black boots. "We should be focused on his motivations. What is driving him? What does he believe in? What does he stand for?"

"People don't care about that, Roberta," Elena revealed, much to everyone's surprise.

"What?" Lois asked.

"I mean, that is part of why everyone is fascinated with him, right?" Elena asked. "Nobody knows what his deal is or why he is helping people. There is this… mystique about him. And because of that mystique, anyone can project anything they want onto him. You learn what he stands for, you rob him of that mystique."

"Well, it isn't our job to preserve the mystique," Roberta argued. "Our job is to break the news. To tell people the truth."

"You're right, Roberta," Lois agreed. "On both counts. Everyone is so focused on just reporting the things he does, but that's so… surface level. We need to go deeper. One of us needs to confront him and force him to give an interview. Like, what makes him tick? Who is he and where he's from? Was he created in a lab by the government? Does he fly or just jump really good? So many questions!" she declared, making Kaleb look slightly nervous. "What do you think, Kaleb?"

"Um, well…" Kaleb started to say. But before he could finish, they heard a voice calling out for them.

"Alright! I need everyone to huddle!" declared a hefty black man with short white hair. He had hazel eyes and a mustache and was wearing a white button shirt with a blue tie, black pants, and brown shoes. "I need all hands on deck! Staff meeting, right now! Not later, not sooner, now!"

Everyone quickly hurried into the meeting room. Once everyone was there, the editor-in-chief, Joe Knight, was looking out the window at the city below him while his employees quietly waited for him to start.

"Alright, can someone guess why I've gathered you all here?" he asked his staff before he saw James raising his hand first. "Bolton?"

"Um, the Powerline story, Chief?" James answered.

"Correct, James," Knight said as he turned around with a tired and frustrated look. "Right now, every newspaper in this city is fighting with each other for who can get the best coverage. So can someone tell me why we just keep repeating the same things that the competition is saying about Powerline?"

"Um…" James wasn't sure how to answer, but Lois stepped in.

"We haven't gotten anything about him other than his heroics, sir," Lois said. "We are working with the exact same information as the other papers, because we don't have anything else, even after more than two months."

"And that is the problem," Knight told everyone. "As much as this city is eating up Powerline, they're going to get bored of us if we don't have anything new to say about him. What we need is a unique angle about this Powerline story. Sure, it's not like the guy goes down for interviews. But there has to be a way to find out more about him. Portland, I want you, Hartman, and Brant to follow up on the latest reports on social media about him, and try to find some underlying pattern to Powerline's heroics."

"You got it, sir," Roberta replied with a nod.

"Hartman and his team are on the case, sir!" Troy declared with a salute.

The chief just sighed and began to hand out files to his reporters. "These contain the names of locations where Powerline has been recently spotted during his heroic acts and the names of the people he has interacted with. Just this morning he saved ten construction workers from an accident and saved some college students from a bus crash. Talk to these people, ask them what they know and if Powerline said anything to him."

"Um, sir," Lois said, raising her hand up. "I think that me and my team should work on other stories. There is something on Malcolm Smith that I want to follow up on."

"Yeah, and I want to look into a connection I found between what happened in LA and what happened here," Kaleb mentioned. "I think some of the participants of the LA incident were in New York City just a few weeks before the-"

"Ellis," Knight said, silencing Kaleb. "Right now, there's no time for strange and astonishing tales." He then turned to Lois. "As for you, Lee, Powerline is the hottest story in the city right now. More hot than Wall Street brokers fist-fighting over a quarter at Queens. Every news company is desperate for a story about him, we're in a war for coverage." He handed both of them and James some files. "Here are some leads you could follow. Right now, our top priority is all Powerline, all the time, at least until we have a leg over our competitors. Is that clear?"

Kaleb, Lois, and James turned to look at each other, then turned back to Knight.

"We're clear, sir," Lois said.

"Good," he replied. "Meeting dismissed!"

Everyone began to leave the meeting room, the trio of Lois, Kaleb, and James heading out last.

"Man, the Chief is heated up about that Powerline guy, huh guys," James said to his friends.

"Yeah, it's all we're gonna have to talk about," Lois said with a sigh.

"You are really not interested in Powerline, are you, Lois?" Kaleb asked.

"I mean, I get it. But it's not like he isn't the most interesting person since the kid who finger-painted the Mona Lisa," Lois mentioned, letting out another sigh. "And I don't want those other stories to be forgotten. Everyone is interested in Powerline because he is trendy. But what about the stories that could make a real difference?"

"Hey, I agree with you," Kaleb insisted.

"Me too," James said. "But, um, I do hope that Powerline won't get in the way of our plans to do the Bigfoot hunt next week?" James asked them with a hopeful smile.

"The camping trip in Oregon, where some recent sightings have taken place?" Kaleb asked.

"Yeah!" James replied as Kaleb and Lois shared uncertain looks.

"I don't know, James," Lois said, scratching the back of her neck. "Things have been really hectic so far and flying all the way to Oregon just to wander around the woods doesn't sound worthwhile at the moment."

"Yeah, I mean, it could be another guy in a costume," Kaleb said.

"But guys, I promise you that this won't be a waste of time," James assured them.

"And how would you know?" Lois asked him.

James pulled up his phone, showing them an image of a town. "Because this place is the real deal!" he told them. "According to someone from my chat group, there's this small town that is like a magnet for this kind of stuff."

Lois looked at the image more closely. "Gravity Falls…?"

"Yeah," James nodded. "Weirdest town in the US. A town unlike no other…"

About a week later…

It was night. James was driving a rental car down the road through the woods near Gravity Falls.

"So you guys are going to be late?" James asked while on the phone with Kaleb.

"Yeah, sorry about that, James," Kaleb responded apologetically. "Me and Lois fell behind on the schedule, but we will join you as soon as we can. Hopefully it's no trouble…"

"Nah, you guys are good," James replied while eyeing on the road. "I'll just get there early, set up camp, and scope out the area."

"So you'll be good on your own tonight?" Kaleb asked.

"Positive," James replied optimistically. "Cause I got a good feeling about this lead. Oh, gotta take a left. Later, Kale."

"Later, James," Kaleb responded as the call ended.

James put his phone away and focused on the road ahead, seeing the welcome sign for Gravity Falls. "Alright, almost there," he said as the headlights lit up the darkness in front of him while also showing that she was surrounded by trees on both sides. But as he continued to drive until he saw something up ahead on the road.

"What the…" he asked as he took a second look, her headlights confirming that it wasn't another vehicle… but someone riding on a horseback. "What the-?!"

"YAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Gah!" James screamed in a panic, seeing the Headless Horseman on the road ahead of him. He ended up going off road, his car driving into the tree. "Oh shi-!"

CRASH!

The airbag shot up after James hit the tree with his car. James had still been knocked out from the impact, leaving him unconscious from the crash.

The Headless Horseman then carefully rode horse towards the crashed car. After confirming James was knocked out, he got off from the horse and walked over to the car. He opened the door and looked at the knocked out James Bolton. He grabbed his body and pulled it out of the car, dragging him away…

The following morning, in the Noceda household, Luz, Camila, Amity, and Phil were having breakfast together, seated around the table while Atticus and Ghost were both eating out of food bowls next to the table.

"So, how is everyone liking breakfast?" Camila asked.

"It's pretty good, mom," Luz replied while drowning her pancakes in maple syrup.

"Yes, Camila, these are good. Isn't that right, Phil?" Amity asked while turning to her son.

"Panflakes!" Phil cheered while shoving bits of pancake (which Amity had neatly sliced into smaller pieces) into his mouth. "Can I watch something while I eat?" he asked, his mouth still full of pancake.

"Swallow first," Amity told him.

Phil nodded and swallowed his pancakes, Amity smiling.

"Yes, you can watch some television while you continue eating," Amity said while using a spell to levitate the remote over to him. "Luz, is there anything good to watch on your TV?"

"Why not the cartoon channel?" Luz asked.

"Hmm… how about something educational?" Amity asked as she began flipping through the channels, looking for something she liked.

"Try channel four, there might be something on there," Luz suggested as Amity nodded and switched to said channel, just as a program was starting.

"We are made up of a small speck of molecules called atoms," said the voice of an announcer as a lab setting appeared on screen. "And there is one man who knows more about that than anyone else…"

Coming onto the set was a man in his forties. He was a dark-skinned African-American man with dark short hair, white sideburns, and a beard. He had blue eyes and he wore a white lab coat with a blue shirt underneath it, a white bowtie, khaki pants, black shoes, and glasses.

"Hello, I'm Archer Atom," he greeted with a smile. "But you can call me Professor Atom. Good morning, how are you? Are you ready to learn? Because I don't know about you, but I'm interested in learning about all kinds of things, like…"

"How do we make the lights go on and off?" he asked as animated light bulbs appeared on the screen around him, flicking on and off before vanishing. "Or how does water form into gas, or how do our molecules work?"

"Of course, coming along with us on our scientific journey are my family," Atom said as two women came into the lab to join him on screen. "And they're just as into science as I am. Meet my incredible wife, Frankie."

"So nice to have you join us today," said a light-skinned African-American woman with brown bobcut hair and blue eyes of her own. Over her lab coat she wore a blue turtleneck sweater, white pants and black boots.

"And our brilliant daughter, Rosalind," Professor Atom gestured as he and his wife put their hands on the shoulders of a young woman in her early twenties. She had black braided hair with light-brown skin, amber eyes, and a white jumpsuit with blue boots and gloves, with blue goggles above her hair.

"Hey, aren't you forgetting someone?" Rosalind asked with a huge smile.

"Ah, of course, we can't forget our faithful research assistant K.I.R.B.E.E.," Professor Atom said as hovering into the lab was a cute little robot with a square monitor head, a purple screen face with glowing yellow eyes and a line mouth, and a blue metal body with yellow lines and mechanical arms. He hovered over to the family while waving his arms around.

"Hey, Professor Atom!" the robot shouted. "I hope I'm not too late!"

Professor Atom laughed. "You're just in time, actually," he said before turning to the screen. "Together we are made up of-"

"Protons, neutrons, and electrons too! In a nucleus we are the Atoms!" the entire family said together as the show's title appeared on the screen: Professor Atom's Science Show!

"Professor Atom?" Amity asked, both she and Phil staring at the screen in curiosity, looking intrigued by the show.

"Oh yeah, Mason told me about this show," Luz said. "It's a popular educational program that's basically the new Bill Nye. They show episodes of his show in schools all the time. Although I don't think his last name is actually 'Atom'. That's just his television name."

"I think Phil has found something he likes," Camila pointed out as Phil watched the program in awe, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Yeah, he has," Amity replied with a smile. "You like this show, Phil?"

Phil nodded as he pointed to the TV. "I like the robot!"

"Yeah, I heard that robot's pretty popular," Luz said.

A few minutes later, Phil had moved onto the couch, still eating his pancakes while Ghost and Atticus sat with him. As he watched the show, Luz and Amity remained at the dining table with Camila, discussing their plans for that day.

"So what would you like to do today, Ams?" Luz asked her. "Your first full day in Gravity Falls with us, we can do whatever we want."

"Well… I think I would just like to spend some time around town with you, Luz," Amity said with a smile. "Go on a date. I think it has been a while…"

"Ooh, yeah, we should do a date day," Luz said in agreement. "Like we could go to the mall or go mini-golfing or watch a movie… wait, what about Phil?" she asked while looking back at Phil, who was totally absorbed in the show.

"Camila could watch over him, if that's okay with her," Amity suggested while turning to Camila, who just smiled at her.

"Oh, that's fine, Amity," Camila assured her. "I didn't have any plans today, so I'd be happy to watch over Phil while you two go out."

Amity smiled. "Thank you, Camila," she said before turning to look at Phil. "Phil, you are going to be spending some time with your grandmother today while me and Luz go out, okay."

"Okay!" Phil confirmed, still looking at the screen.

"Are you really okay with leaving him all day?" Luz asked her girlfriend, who just nodded and smiled.

"I know he will be fine with Camila," Amity pointed out. "And as important as it is for me to spend time with him, it is just as important for me to spend time with you."

Meanwhile, in another household near the Nocedas, another family was having breakfast and getting ready for the day ahead. This house was the residence of… the Porters.

A brief explanation. While the Porters had stayed with the Nocedas for a short period after moving to the Human Realm, Perry and Gus ultimately decided that they did want to live in their own household. Fortunately for them, Gravity Falls was full of empty houses after the exodus that happened following Weirdmageddon, so thanks to the agents, they managed to get themselves a home in the same neighborhood that Luz, the Gates women, and the Gatesfield teens lived in.

The Porter home was where Willow, Skara, Boscha, and Hunter had decided to sleep after they finished trick-or-treating the previous night. Now they and Hunter were in the dining room having breakfast together, eating cereal and waffles while they watched TV.

"So how do you guys like the human CB?" Gus asked them. "Fortunately, my dad and I were able to negotiate for one. Here it is called a television."

"It's pretty good, Gus," Skara said while engulfing her waffles.

"Yeah, I didn't really get to watch too much television during my time here," Willow admitted. "But it does look like they have a lot of the same entertainment tastes as us, which is pretty interesting."

"Yeah, including reality television," Boscha mentioned as the Hexsquad watched their program.

"Who will break the rules of their new alliance?" questioned a man with tanned skin and short black hair, black small eyes, an after-shave, a pocket blue button shirt with white sleeves, green cargo pants and blue sneakers. "Will Gwen be able to stay awake until the end of the episode? And who will take the next humiliating walk down the Dock of Shame? Stay tuned for the most dramatic campfire ceremony yet, on Total… Drama… Island!"

"Total Drama Island?" Hunter asked. "Kind of on the nose, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah, I think this is a rerun," Gus replied. "According to Masha, this was a hit Canadian show from a few years back."

"Um, are you okay, Boscha?" Skara asked, noticing the way that Boscha was glaring at the figure on the screen.

"Yeah," Boscha said, her eyes narrowed. "It is just for some reason, that host guy reminds me of someone…"

"Yeah, you get used to that," Gus told Boscha. "Honestly, I see a lot of humans on TV who remind me of witches from the Boiling Isles…"

While the witch teens were having their breakfast, their Palismen: Emmiline, Clover, Jimmy, Hogarth, and Flapjack, were all keeping each other company and playing with each other, a few of them bouncing a small ball between them to keep themselves busy.

"Good tidings, kids," Perry Porter announced as he strode into the room. He was wearing a blue button shirt, yellow striped tie, brown pants, shoes, a toboggan hat, and a blue coat.

"Good tidings, Dad/Mr. Porter," the kids responded.

"Did you sleep well?" Perry asked.

"We did, Mr. Porter," Willow said before he noticed what he was wearing. "Are you heading out somewhere, Mr. Porter?"

"Yeah, I have to go to work," Perry said, surprising everyone except for Gus.

"Really?" Hunter asked. "Where?"

"I got a gig at the Gravity Falls Gossiper, the local newspaper," Perry mentioned. "Since Toby Determined, the proprietor of the paper, has started working with Shandra Jimenez at the public access new station, he needs more people to help run the Gossiper. So I decided to fill one of the openings and take up a job there."

"Really? Honestly, I'd thought you'd still be on vacation after everything that you've been through," Boscha admitted.

"Yeah, having a little break was fun, especially since it meant spending time with Gus," Perry responded with a nod. "But Gus is in school now and I knew that I couldn't just sit around in the Human Realm doing nothing. I needed something to keep myself busy and productive. So when I heard about how the Gossiper was looking for new hires, I decided to get back in the game and do what I am good at, do what I love. Fortunately, Toby didn't seem to have a problem with me being from another dimension. Although right now, it's just a minor writing gig."

"That sounds great, Mr. Porter," Skara replied. "What kind of stuff do you write about?"

Perry frowned slightly. "Nothing too big," he confessed. "Mainly local events, new stores opening, pretty everyday stuff. We're not even allowed to write about anything involving the supernatural or the magical because of that law the mayor passed. So it isn't the most interesting work, but at least I'm getting out of the house." He sighed. "Honestly, I do miss covering some of the bigger stuff like I did back in the Boiling Isles, including the occasional murder."

"Do you miss the Boiling Isles, sir?" Hunter asked.

Perry shared a look with his son. "Well, yes, I do sometimes," he answered. "But I do enjoy living in Gravity Falls and right now there is no place I would rather be. I will admit that I've taken quite a liking to human culture and technology. Like the smart-mirrors that humans keep in their pockets or a typewriter that isn't alive. I think that is the most shocking thing about the Human Realm. Back in the Boiling Isles, I was used to everything being a little alive. But here, a lot of objects are just… objects, like the lamp posts. Humans don't have to worry about stuff like getting bitten by their mailboxes, which I find… pretty refreshing, actually. And then there are other human relics, like the laser disc," he said with a very enthusiastic expression. "I actually have a few laser discs and VHS tapes that I got from a thrift store if you want to see them later after I get home from work."

"That sounds… interesting, I think," Hunter replied, not entirely sure how he would respond. "Maybe we can do that."

Perry nodded and smiled. "Well, I better get going," he said before turning to his son. "And Gus, are you ready for school?"

"You know it, dad," Gus responded as he got up from the table. He picked up his backpack and put on his hat while Emmeline crawled into his bookbag. He turned to his friends and waved to them. "See you guys later."

"Bye, Gus!" they all replied as they watched the Porters leave. Once the Porters were gone, the teens turned to look at each other.

"So… is there anything you guys would like to do today?" Boscha asked them as Hogarth went over for her to pick him up. "What do you think Luz and Amity are doing?"

"Besides each other?" Hunter asked, causing the girls to glare at him. "Yeah, sorry. Bad joke."

"I do think Luz and Amity will probably be busy spending time with each other, so we should give them some space," Willow suggested. "But… I do think that I would like to go and check up on Abigail, just to make sure that she's okay. I'm… a bit worried about her after last night," Willow admitted while Clover flew up to her.

"Yeah," Skara agreed as Jimmy hopped up onto her shoulder "I would like to see her if she's alright too."

Boscha looked over at Hunter, who saw Flapjack flying onto his shoulder. "Sure," she said. "I mean, I got nothing better planned for today, so we can see how she's doing."

"Then it's settled," Hunter said as he stood up. "After breakfast, we'll go see Abigail."

Meanwhile, at the Gordon household, Gus Gordon was finishing up his breakfast. After he put away his plate, he picked up his bookbag and his guitar case, preparing to leave for school.

"Alright mom, I'm about to go to school!" Gus announced.

"Alright, I'll see you later," Nora responded from the kitchen.

Gus walked over to the front door and opened it, about to head out. But as he did, he saw that somebody was standing on the front porch, their hand raised to knock on the door before it opened. Gus's eyes widened in surprise, not just because he was surprised to see someone there… but because he recognized this person as well.

It was an old man who looked down at Gus. He was a balding man with gray sideburns and a mustache. He wore a military uniform, which was decked out with medals that he had earned, and shades. He looked rather surprised to see Gus as well.

General Harrison Edwards was at the door.

"Augustus," he said to the teen.

"Grandpa," Gus acknowledged, his surprised expression becoming more neutral as Nora walked over from the kitchen.

"Gus, I thought you were heading out-" Nora paused when she saw who was at the door. She stared at him in shock. "Dad…"

"Nora," General Edwards said with a smile before Nora rushed over to embrace her father. The general quickly embraced her back. "It's so good to see you."

"You too, dad," Nora replied, smiling as she hugged her father.

"And… I'm sorry for taking me so long to finally come here," Edwards apologized while letting go of his daughter. "I would have been here sooner if I could have, it's just that… I've been so busy over the last few months, a lot has been going on… like that incident in LA."

"Hey, it's no problem, dad," Nora assured him. "I'm just happy to see you here."

"Yeah," Gus G. said, though his tone and expression was definitely less enthusiastic. "Thrilled."

General Edwards turned to Gus, looking down at him. "And how have you been doing, Augustus?"

"Fine, sir," Gus responded, avoiding making eye contact. "I haven't really been up to anything. Just going to school and all of that."

"Now Gus, why don't you tell your grandpa about that music gig you did last night?" Nora asked him.

"Oh?" Harrison asked in surprise while looking at Gus. "Really? Is that true, son?"

"Yeah, I was… hired to provide some music entertainment for a Halloween event," Gus G. said, though he sounded rather distant.

"That sounds great, son," Harrison replied.

"I, um, thanks," Gus G. responded before turning to his mom. "I should really head out to school, mom now. I'll see you later."

"Alright, I won't hold you from learning," Nora said while rustling his forehead and kissing his forehead. "I'll see you later,"

"You too, see ya, mom," Gus G. told her before turning to Harrison. "Grandpa," he acknowledged with a nod before he left the front porch and headed off to school.

After the two adults watched him leave, Harrison turned to his daughter. "So Nora, mind if I come inside?" he asked her.

"Of course, dad," Nora replied with a smile as she invited her father into her house so they could catch up.

The two of them had much to discuss.

Meanwhile, at the Gates household, Abigail was looking around in the kitchen for something as Clara walked in, ready for school.

"Hey mom, I'm about to leave for school," Clara said before noticing her mom rummaging around the kitchen. "Uh, mom, what are you looking for?"

Abigail stopped after hearing her daughter. "C-Clara, hey!" she shouted as she turned around toe face her. "I was just looking, um, I think I forgot already. Whatever it was, it probably wasn't important right now," she said with a hint of nervousness.

"Okay… well, like I said, I'm about to leave for school," Clara said while holding her bookbag. "Make sure that Harvey has enough food and water throughout the day, okay?"

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to check up on him," Abigail replied before they heard someone knocking on the door.

"Who could that be?" Clara asked as she went ahead to open the door. When she did, she looked surprised to see who was there. "Hey, you guys!"

"Hey, Clara," Willow greeted her as she stood on the front steps with Skara, Boscha, and Hunter.

"Happy to see us?" Skara asked her.

"Of course! Come in," Clara replied happily while inviting them in as she hugged Willow. "I was disappointed that I didn't get to see you all yesterday during your visit. I thought you left."

"We spent the night at Gus's place," Willow said while hugging Clara back.

"Which Gus?" Clara asked.

"Porter," Willow confirmed.

"Ah," Clara said, nodding. "So how long are you all going to stay?"

"We're… not sure," Willow admitted. "I guess we are just taking things one day at a time. What about you? How was your Halloween last night?"

"Oh, it went great," Clara replied as she led them inside. "Me and Masha went to this event at Farmer Sprott's place, we did a haunted hayride and the corn maze. Gus, Dana, and Rudo were there, along with some of our magical neighbors. Gus provided some musical entertainment. Kinda wish you had all been there. And afterward, Masha and I came here to watch some scary movies together."

"That does sound fun," Willow said. "Is Masha here now?"

Clara shook her head. "They already left," she explained. "Uh, sorry that I can't hang out with you and your friends right now. I have to get to school."

"Hey, it's cool," Skara assured her. "Honestly, I am still getting used to humans having school in the fall instead of having a fall break like us."

"Yeah, you do sound pretty lucky," Clara admitted. "But you're not disappointed?"

"Nah, we just felt like stopping by," Boscha said with a shrug.

"Do you need to go right now?" Hunter asked.

"Well… I guess I still have time before I leave," Clara considered. "So maybe I can show you my pet rabbit."

"You have a pet rabbit now?" Willow asked with a smile. "I think I would like to see that."

"Yeah!" Skara replied excitedly as they all followed Clara to her room, seeing Abigail poking her head out of the kitchen on the way. "Oh, good tidings, Mrs. Gates."

"Hey, Mrs. Gates," Willow greeted the mother.

"Hey/Hello, ma'am," Boscha and Hunter greeted as well.

"Good morning, kids," Abigail nodded as she saw them heading to Clara's room.

Once they were there, Clara led them over to her new pet rabbit, who was sitting in a cardboard box with a newspaper floor, a water bowl, and a food bowl. The rabbit looked up at the teens, one of his ears flickering slightly.

"Meet Harvey," Clara introduced them with a look of pride as the witchlings stared at the rabbit in awe.

"Oh, he looks so cute!" Skara shouted as she along with Willow began to pet the rabbit, which he seemed to like very much.

"He's not going to bite, is he?" Hunter asked.

"He's not a biter, but he is very fluffy," Clara reassured him as Hunter got a turn to pet him. "Do you have rabbits in the Demon Realm?"

"Kinda," Boscha told Clara. "I've seen rabbit Palismen and rabbit bipeds, but I think this is my first time seeing an actual rabbit," Boscha responded as she got a turn to pet the rabbit, causing her to smile. "So, um, what does he do, exactly?"

Clara shrugged. "Not much. He eats, sleeps, poops, and sometimes he cuddles with me in my bed," she told Willow and her friends.

"So where did you find this little guy?" Skara asked.

"Well, it was not too long ago when I found him around our house," Clara explained. "When I saw him, I stayed very still, since I didn't want to scare him away. He did notice me, but he didn't run away. After we just looked at each other for a bit, I decided to go to the kitchen to get some vegetables, hoping that Harvey was still there when I came back. Obviously, he was and I was able to use vegetables to gradually lure him over to me." She reached into the box and lifted Harvey out of it, holding him in her arms and petting him while smiling. "Over a few days, we built a connection with each other, with him allowing me to touch him. Eventually, we had enough of a relationship for me to try to bring him inside and he didn't fight it."

"Whoa, so how did your mom react to him?" Boscha asked.

"She was pretty okay with him," Clara replied. "So she allowed me to keep Harvey here. He does occasionally get out sometimes, but he always comes back."

"Kinda reminds me of Ghost," Willow admitted. "Amity told me that sometimes Ghost would go out on her and be gone all day before coming back."

"Yeah, I guess that is similar," Clara agreed with a nod. "Honestly, the first time that he got out, I was afraid that he had run away and I would never see him again. But then he showed up again by the end of the day. I do wonder if he was perhaps someone's pet who got lost or was abandoned, since he's very friendly and calm around humans… and witches too, apparently."

"Maybe he can just detect good vibes," Skara suggested.

"Yeah," Clara agreed before she saw the clock on her dresser. "Oh crap, I should get going to school," she said as she placed Harvey back in his box. "By Harvey," she told him before turning to the others. "And bye guys, it was nice to see you all but I must go!"

"We won't hold you here, Clara," Willow told her as she saw Clara heading out.

"Bye, guys! Bye mom!" Clara shouted as she ran through the house and out the door, heading for school.

"Bye Clara," Abigail said with a wave before she turned to see the witch teens walking out of Clara's room and coming into the kitchen to join her. "Hello Willow, and friends. Is there anything I can do for you?" she asked with a smile.

"Hey, Mrs. Gates," Willow greeted her politely. "We just wanted to see… how you have been doing since last night."

"Yeah, are you okay now?" Skara asked in concern, causing Abigail's smile to vanish.

"Oh, um, don't worry, I'm doing much better," Abigail admitted, though she had a confused expression as she continued looking through her cabinet. "I didn't have that much to drink last night anyway. Although I do have to ask…. did any of you hide my alcohol while you were in my house last night?"

The gang exchanged confused glances at this.

"No, we didn't," Willow replied. "Is… everything alright, Mrs. Gates?"

"Oh, everything is fine," Abigail said. "It was just that I was going through the kitchen this morning and… all of my alcohol was gone."

This concerned the teens.

"We… didn't even go into the kitchen last night," Hunter told her.

"You weren't… planning on drinking this morning, were you?" Skara asked, looking especially worried.

"What? No, of course not!" Abigail quickly denied. "I was just taking inventory this morning."

"Well, that's good to hear," Boscha said. "Do you think Clara might've hidden your alcohol from you?"

Abigail seemed to briefly consider it, but she quickly shook her head. "No, I don't think so," she dismissed. "I think I just might've misplaced it. Yes, that must be it…" She turned to look at the kids. "Um, you know, since I'm already here, do any of you want anything to eat?"

"We've already had breakfast, but thank you," Hunter replied.

"Oh, right," Abigail responded, not sure what else to say.

An awkward silence hung between Abigail and the Hexsquad for a few moments, a silence that was broken by Skara.

"So… what now?" Skara asked.

"Well, I would like to get to know Luz's friends more," Abigail admitted. "I got to know Amity and Gus. But I don't think I've gotten the chance to get to know the rest of you," she said before gesturing to Willow. "Not even you, Willow, outside of what my daughter has told me."

"That's… right," Willow said, looking down a bit. "I don't think we've really gotten to talk."

"Yes, and I think it is about time that we fix that," Abigail said. "Don't you?"

Willow looked around at her friends before looking back at Abigail and nodding. "Yes, I think we should fix that."

"Yeah," Skara said, nodding in agreement. "You are Luz's family, after all."

"Honestly, I am not even convinced you know my name," Boscha brought up, causing Abigail to nervously glance away.

"Um, let's move to somewhere more fitting," Abigail said as she led them to the living room, where they could sit down.

Out in town, Luz and Amity were out on a walk together, each of them wearing different outfits.

"I see there's a lot of new local businesses around here," Amity noted while wearing a pink cat-eared toboggan, a purple jacket with a dark green long shirt, a black waist belt with black leggings that stopped at her ankles, and pink tennis shoes.

"Yeah, which helps to make up for the businesses that were lost after… the incident," Luz replied while wearing a black button long sleeve shirt with yellow buttons. She also wore jeans that had a light glyph patch on her left knee and black boots. She had changed her wording after she had spotted someone who was nearby, sitting on a bench while reading a newspaper. "Hey, Carl."

"Hmm?" the man asked as he popped his head up from the newspaper, revealing himself to be an agent due to the ear-piece he was wearing. "I thought I was doing good…"

"Those agents are still watching over the town, I see," Amity commented. "I thought I saw one of them trick or treating last night…"

"Yeah, I know all of them at this point. It's pretty much like a game of Waldo to me," Luz replied while seeing another agent. "Hey Li, how's Spike?"

"That's classified," Li said while wearing an elderly woman's disguise as the two girls passed her.

"So where are you taking me on our date?" Amity asked her.

"Oh, I think you'll love this place," Luz said as she came to a stop in front of a restaurant. "A place to go to burn your mouth in…"

Amity looked up at the building. "Thai Go…?"

"Yup! Anne's family's food business," Luz replied as she opened the door for her girlfriend. "After you."

"Why thank you," Amity replied as she entered the restaurant, her eyes widening in awe. "Wow…"

The Thai Go restaurant wasn't too elaborate, looking very much like a normal restaurant with tables spread across the room. But what spiced the place up were the Thai decorations and accessories. The restaurant wasn't too crowded and wiping one of the tables was Anne, who looked up and spotted the two.

"Luz! Amity!" Anne said with a smile as she went over to greet them. "Sawasdee kha," she said, giving them a Thai greeting with a bow. "Welcome to Thai Go, you two."

"Wow, this place looks nice, Anne," Amity commented while looking around.

"Thanks," Anne said. "So what are you here for today?"

"Oh, we're on a date," Luz noted.

"Ah, I thought that would be the case," Anne said with a knowing smile. "Oh, I don't know if you have ever tried Thai food before, have you, Amity?"

"No, this would be my first time trying it," Amity confessed.

"Which is exactly why I brought you here," Luz told Amity. "Me and my mom have already eaten here a few times. Trust me, you are gonna love it."

"Alright, follow me," Anne said as she led them to a table, sat them down, and handed them both menus. "Can I get you anything to drink while you're looking over the menu?"

"Cola!" Amity replied happily.

"Yeah, same for me," Luz responded.

"Great," Anne responded. "Just hold on for a minute." She left and came back shortly afterward with two glasses of cola, which she placed in front of the girls. "Now are you ready to make your order?"

"Um… what would you recommend?" Amity asked.

"Well, first timers for Thai almost always order the Pad Thai," Anne said as she pointed to the Pad Thai on the menu.

"Ooh… then Pad Thai it is!" Amity declared.

"I'll just have my regular," Luz responded.

"Alright! Pad Thai and the Luz Regular, coming up!" Anne shouted as she headed to the kitchen. As she went through the door, Sprig popped out of the kitchen and saw Luz and Amity, giving them a wave.

"Hey guys!" Sprig waved to them.

"Hey, Sprig!" Luz and Amity waved back before Sprig was pulled back into the kitchen.

Soon the Lumity couple had received their order, Amity staring at her food in awe. "Wow… this looks and smells good," she said.

"Just wait until you taste it," Luz said with a smirk.

Amity used her fork to grab some noodles, lifting them up to her mouth and taking a taste. Just one taste… brought a spark into Amity's eyes.

'Such taste… it's… magnificent!' Amity thought as she suddenly found herself in a starry void, surrounded by a flood of noodles, along with flying fish and a flow of sauce around her. 'I've never had this kind of food before. Of all the delicacies the Human Realm provides, this… the savory flavor that tastes in the mixture of sweet, and sour all balances itself out! The noodles, they were stir-fried. The chicken and shrimp also helps build the delicacies along with the vegetables…!'

Back in reality, Luz and Anne were staring at Amity, who was spacing out for a little bit.

"Is… she okay?" Anne asked.

"Ams, are you-?"

But before Luz could finish, Amity cut her off

"What have I been missing all this time?!" she declared, startling the two before she continued to eat up her Pad Thai.

Meanwhile, in front of the Gravity Falls Police Department building… stood Lois Lee and Kaleb Ellis, who were now in Gravity Falls.

"We've tried everything, Kal," Lois said while looking over her phone, expressing her concerns. "We tried texting and calling James, but nothing! I'm getting worried."

"I'm worried about James too, Lois," Kaleb replied in concern. "He hasn't responded to my calls either. Perhaps the police here could help."

"Yeah," Lois said with a nod as the two walked into the Police Station. Looking around, they saw Vee at the front desk, organizing the papers while Megan was helping her out.

"Um, she looks… a bit young," Lois commented to Kaleb, who walked up to the front desk.

"Excuse me," Kaleb said, causing Vee to look up.

"Oh, yes, how can we help you?" Vee replied.

"We're here to report on a missing person," Kaleb responded. "Can we speak to someone?"

"I can go get the Sheriff," Megan responded as she walked off towards Blub's office.

"So… do you… actually work here?" Lois asked Vee.

"Oh, well, kinda. I actually live here," Vee responded while looking at the two. "Um, are you two new around here?"

"Yeah, we were here to meet a friend of ours who came here ahead of us," Kaleb explained. "We were supposed to go camping, but… as you know, he's missing."

Megan came back, Blubs by her side.

"Alright, I'm here," Blubs said as he looked up at the reporters. "My name is Sheriff Blubs. You wanted to submit a missing person's case?"

"Yes, sheriff," Lois said, stepping forward to greet him. "Our friend, James Bolton, was supposed to meet us here. But he haven't heard from him since last night and he hasn't been responding to our calls or our texts. We are worried that something might have happened to him, that he might not have even managed to reach town safely."

"We were hoping that the police could help us find him," Kaleb said.

"Well, we can try to help you," Blubs said. "Although we're already investigating a missing person as well."

Lois and Kaleb's eyes widened at this.

"Seriously?!" Lois asked him.

"Yeah, this morning, just outside of town, we discovered a crashed car, but there was no body found," Blubs explained. "We won't know whose car it is until we run the license plate, but it turns out that the car was discovered by one of our officers earlier last night… and it was one of our officers who never reported back after patrolling," he said with a worried look. "We found his car next to the other one. It looked like he had stopped to investigate the crash, only to then go missing as well. So we have two people to look for. Though if this first missing person is your friend, at least we might know who we are supposed to be looking for."

Lois and Kaleb turned to look at each other, both of them looking even more worried now.

"Kal… do you think that James…?" Lois asked him with a worried tone.

"I… I don't know," Kaleb responded, his tone grim.

"Well, if you think your friend is missing, then I suggest you give us a description of him along with any additional information that you think can be of use to find him," Blubs suggested.

"Oh, yes, that would be great, sir," Kaleb responded, nodding.

"Maybe… maybe we could help in the investigation," Lois suggested. "You see, sir, we're investigative reporters, and pretty good ones at that. So we might help each other out in order to find James and your missing man-"

"I'm sorry, but I must decline your offer," Blubs said, immediately shutting her down. "You two are new here, correct?"

"Well, we are visiting," Kaleb answered.

"And where are you from?" Blubs asked.

"New York City," Lois answered.

Blubs frowned. "I'm sorry to say, but I can't allow tourists to get involved with an official investigation," he told them. "You don't understand how things work around here and you will only end up getting in the way. Trust me, this case is better left to the local authorities."

Lois was about to protest. "But-"

"But I can promise you that we'll do all that we can to find your friend," Blubs reassured them. "And if you really do want to help, you can give us a statement."

Lois and Kaleb knew there was no point in continuing to protest, so they nodded in agreement.

"Of course, we'll give you a statement," Lois said.

"Anything that you think will help," Kaleb said as they followed Blubs to his office.

Meanwhile, at the Gordon household, Nora and her father were both in the dining room, sitting at the table and having a beer together as they caught up. Nora was bringing her father up to speed about her new life here in Gravity Falls, about everything she has been through since coming to this town… including one moment she was very proud of.

"You punched that rich boy's socks off?" Harrison asked as the two of them shared a laugh. "You'd make the privates jealous if they heard that a daughter of mine punched one of those draft dodgers."

"It was nothing, really. I guess I was just caught up in the heat of the moment," Nora replied humbly. "Although I am glad that bastard Preston isn't around to hurt his family or anyone else ever again."

"Couldn't agree more," Harrison replied as he took a sip of his beer. "Men like that… are a waste of space. You did the right thing, punching him in the face. Of course, if it was me, I would have pulled my gun out on him. Bet that smug attitude of his would vanish real quickly if he found himself staring at the barrel of a gun. He would probably piss himself."

Nora laughed. "Yeah, he probably would," she replied. "By the way, I have been thinking about getting a job here. Probably get involved in the school system here, just like I did back in Gatesfield."

"Oh, well, that's… that's great, Nora," Harrison said while adjusting his shades. "So, um, how about your dating life? Are you seeing anyone around here?"

"Actually… kinda," Nora admitted awkwardly, surprising her father.

"Nora, I was just trying to mess with you," Harrison said. "I didn't expect you to have an actual answer. Especially since this is the first time you've told me you've been dating since… well, since Luke died."

"I know," Nora said while looking down, which Harrison noted.

"Not that there's anything wrong with that," Harrison quickly said. "So who is this lucky guy? What is he like?"

"Well, he can be a little… on edge and intense at first, but deep down he's actually a pretty good person," she said. "His name is Poolcheck and he works at the public pool."

Harrison looked at Nora in confusion. "'Poolcheck'? What kind of name is Poolcheck?"

"I… never bothered to ask, honestly," Nora admitted. "In fact, a lot of the names in this town either sound made up or are just very on the nose. The mayor's last name is Cutebiker, for goodness sake. Hell, there's a guy who's literally named America Guy."

"You're serious?" Harrison asked, searching Nora for any sign that she was messing with him. "His folks must have been very patriotic…"

"Then again, this isn't something exclusive to Gravity Falls, like I remember this kid from Gatesfield whose parents were named Barbie and Que, and their job was selling grills."

"Folks these days," Harrison said, shaking his head as he sighed.

"Yeah," Nora said, nodding. She then paused, looking hesitant to ask her father something. "So um… how much are you in the… know?" she asked Harrison. "Like how much have they briefed you on the situation here?"

Harrison looked straight at his daughter before he let out a sigh. "Everything. They told me everything," he said. "From Department A to Weirdmageddon. They briefed me on all of what has happened both in Gatesfield and here." He set his beer aside and leaned forward, fingers pressed together. "But there's one thing I can't wrap my head around…"

"What's that, dad?" Nora asked him.

"Why are you still here?" he asked her, surprising Nora.

"W-what?" she asked in confused shock.

"You heard me," Harrison said as he took his shades off, revealing his gray blue eyes. "Why didn't you take Gus and get away from all of this?" he asked, his tone concerned. "Escape from all of the weirdness and the magic and the insanity… you and Gus shouldn't be getting involved in any of this. Just… what if something like Weirdmageddon happened again? You would be at ground zero."

"Dad…" Nora said as she looked over at her father. She sighed and looked down at the table. "I'll admit, I have… thought of that," she admitted, her hand tightening around her drink. "Weirdmageddon was… awful. And it's horrific knowing that there are these… monsters from other dimensions who want to burn our entire world down. Once you learn that, you can never unlearn it."

"I know," Harrison said with a sigh. "That is why I was grateful that you didn't know about any of this for as long as you did. I didn't want that burden on you. On Gus."

Nora looked up at her father. "How long have you known about all of this? Known that magic is real?"

Harrison paused. "I've known for a long time," he begrudgingly admitted. "A lot of men and women in the government and the military know that magic is real… and dangerous."

"How did you find out?" Nora asked.

"I… don't want to talk about it," Harrison said, averting his gaze. "But I know what it is like, to be in your position. To suddenly have the way you see the world change. To be overwhelmed by it. To be terrified by it. To realize how… vulnerable we are as a species. Weirdmageddon isn't the first time we've come close to an endtime. And it won't be the last. And sometimes against these threats there is… very little we can do. It creates this feeling of… helplessness."

"Yeah," Nora said with a sigh. "I… think I understand what you mean."

Harrison nodded. "I'm sorry that I've been lying to you about this for so long," he told his daughter. "But I want to know why I never told you or Gus. Not just because it was classified, but for your own safety, and for your own sanity."

"You don't have to apologize, dad," Nora told him. "I get why you never told me."

Harrison turned to stare out the window, noticing a bird on a tree branch outside. "Normal people shouldn't know about this stuff, shouldn't have to deal with this stuff. It was better for you to focus on worrying about your own problems then having to worry about something straight out of a Lovecraft novel. All I ever wanted was for you to sleep better, especially because after all these years later… I'm still not used to magical creatures being real." He let out a deep breath. "And the thought of what they could do to our world, do to you and Gus… that does keep me up at night sometimes."

He looked away from the window, then looked down at his shades, at his reflection in them. "I believe that our world and the magical world should be kept separate," he revealed, surprising her daughter. "And I'm worried about these worlds bleeding into each other, because I don't believe that these worlds were ever meant to co-exist with each other."

"I… don't think I agree with that," Nora said quietly.

Harrison looked up at his daughter in surprise. "You… don't?" he asked.

"Look, I'll be the first one to admit that this whole thing is insane," Nora confessed. "But, um, I think I'm getting better at accepting it… and it does kinda grow on you."

"You have?" Harrison asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Look dad, me and Gus have experienced the world nearly ending twice, but… I don't know, it hasn't been all bad," Nora said with a shrug. "I mean, I've met a lot of magical creatures that are very decent. Hell, Gus befriended a witch, Willow, which is how I got involved in all of this in the first place. And I have met other witches too and they're not really that different from my own son. They were just… kids," she said, forming a smile. "Honestly, my son has accepted the magical world much more easily than I have and he seems to be much more comfortable with it. Probably because he's still just a kid, while I as an adult had to wrap my rational mind around the existence of witches, dragons, and whatever the hell Bill Cipher was." She looks miffed when mentioning Bill, but then she continued. "But I think I'm glad that I learned about magic. That I wouldn't take it back if I could. Because… I think it is better that I know, since if I didn't know, I would have remained ignorant to all of the horrible stuff Department A was doing and willing to do, including to kids like Willow."

"Ah, yes," Harrison said, frowning. "Department A was out of line. They should have had more oversight."

"But I am glad that I met Willow and her friends, that I was able to help them out," Nora told her father. "And honestly… I've even visited the Demon Realm."

"What?!" Harrison shouted in shock, standing up. "You… you've been to the Demon Realm?"

"Yeah, dad," Nora replied with a nod. "It's not like… the bad place. It's visually… a lot, but pretty nice. Like a metal album cover." She looked down. "And despite everything… I like it here, and my son likes it here too. Gus is definitely happier in Gravity Falls than he was in Gatesfield. And all of his friends are here. So-" She looked up at her father with a smile. "-for the moment at least, I have no intention of leaving Gravity Falls."

The old general looked surprised by his daughter's decision. But he managed to calm himself down, letting out a sigh as he sat back down in his seat.

"That is fair," he admitted. "I just… can't help but worry about you and your son, Nora."

"I know, dad," Nora responded, reaching over to her father and patting his shoulder. "But you taught this cadet how to survive in this crazy world."

"That, I did," he agreed, forming a smile. "So you mentioned that your son has friends here. Have you made any friends here in this town?"

"Well, I have," Nora admitted. "I have two good gal pals here, Camila and Abigail."

Harrison arched his eyebrow again. "Abigail?" he asked. "As in Abigail Gates?"

Nora nodded.

"How is Abigail these days?" Harrison asked.

Meanwhile, at the Gates household, Abigail was getting to know Luz's friends better.

"My family's probably the most odd one out of all of us," Skara was saying. "You briefly met them, but my dad comes from several generations of werewolf witches and my mom's a vampire witch, although she only recently got turned. I inherited my lycanthropy from my dad. Werewolves aren't too common in the Demon Realm though, since most lycans were wiped out after the Boiling Isles was ravaged by were-fever."

"Were-fever?" Abigail asked.

"Yeah, witches were turning into lycans left and right," Boscha said, joining the conversation. "It happened during the Savage Ages, a time of Boiling Isles history that was just ripe with plagues and disease outbreaks. Nobody knew what caused the were-fever, although some blamed the werecats, thinking they brought the were-fever from their lands."

"The werecats were pretty much unfairly scapegoated at the time," Skara admitted, a hint of sadness in her voice. "As for were-fever, healers managed to find a way to prevent any future transformations, but they couldn't cure anyone already infected with lycanthropy and they couldn't stop those witches from spreading it to their children."

"It does sound like lycanthropy works a bit differently in your world than it does in ours," Abigail noted. "Do vampires also work differently?"

"I'm… not familiar enough with vampires in your world to say," Skara admitted. "Although I do know that the vampires of the Boiling Isles have been around as long as the witches have."

"Although it is rare to see a vampire around the Boiling Isles," Hunter noted. "They usually keep to themselves up at the Neck and very few witches go there… without wearing garlic protection, at least."

"Yeah, out of the demons of the Boiling Isles, vampires are some of the most reclusive," Skara said. "I've only met a few of them myself."

"Luz has some vampires in her extended family," Hunter brought up.

"And there was that Vanz Ator guy," Boscha mentioned, remembering how it was at his store that she found the book written by Gabriel Gates…

"Skara, don't forget to tell Abigail about your siblings," Willow told her girlfriend.

"Oh, right!" Skara remembered. "You might remember them, but I have a younger sister named Scabrina, though technically she is my cousin, since my mother's sister left her with us. Because of that, she isn't a lycanthrope like me or my dad. But I do have an older sister who is a lycan. Her name's Nina. She's a werecat. Right now she, her younger siblings, and her mom are living with us."

"And how is that going?" she asked Skara.

"Um… it's... complicated," Skara said, looking down slightly. "We should probably talk about something else."

Abigail nodded. "Well, Skara, your family certainly sounds… colorful," she said while looking around at everyone. "And it sounds like all of you are great friends to Luz."

"Even if some of us didn't start out as friends at first," Boscha said, her tone awkward.

"Yeah, me and Luz have had a… rough history," Hunter admitted, sharing Boscha's awkwardness as he rubbed his artificial arm.

"Hey, we've all come a long way since then," Willow pointed out, looking at her friends.

"Yeah, you guys literally went to Hell and back with Luz," Skara reminded them.

"I still never got the full story of that…" Abigail said softly.

"But the point is that we've been through a lot with Luz," Willow said. "And a lot with each other. And we've owned up to our past mistakes." She turned to Abigail and her expression changed slightly. "Well… mostly."

Abigail noticed this change. "Is there something wrong, Willow?" she asked in concern.

"Well, it's just…" Willow said as she looked down in shame. "There is something I want to come clean to you about, Mrs. Gates. Something that I haven't gotten the chance to say before. Mrs. Gates, I… I used to think that you were a witch hunter."

Boscha and Hunter shared a glance between them, while Skara looked at her girlfriend, surprised by this confession.

Abigail also looked slightly taken aback. "You did?" she asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Willow responded, rubbing her arm. "I was in New York City, traveling with Clara and her friends. When I heard that you were her mom, I… didn't react well. I told Clara that her family were witch hunters and we got into an argument. I accused you of being behind my capture in Gatesfield… and I even accused Clara of working for you. And that was… wrong of me. And so was I making assumptions about you, since I had never met you and my belief that you were a witch hunter came entirely from only hearing one side of the story: Luz's, which came from Eda. I did apologize to Clara… and it turned out she was right. You were not a witch hunter. Instead, you were pretty cool."

Abigail was surprised to hear all of this and she let out a sigh. "Thank you, Willow, for coming clean about it. Though, I will admit that I'm not surprised that you used to believe that I was a witch hunter. It was not an… unreasonable assumption, given my family history. And… I could have very easily been a witch hunter, had things been different."

"Me and Hunter are familiar about your family history as well, Mrs. Gates," Boscha admitted. "Especially about Gabriel Gates. I read his book…"

"And I know about his history with Belos," Hunter added, both of them looking down. "Along with what he did in the Boiling Isles centuries ago…"

"Yes, Luz filled me in about that," Abigail acknowledged. "To think that Gatesfield and my family honor that man as a hero…"

"You said that you could have been a witch hunter, if things had been different," Skara brought up. "What happened?"

Abigail took a deep breath before she began. "Back when I was around your age, I was expected to be part of the 'family business'. I was groomed with the belief that what my family did, what Department A did, was for the good of humanity. And I was… quite the brat back then, not gonna lie. Then there was Eda… and what happened to Angel…" She paused, briefly struggling to continue. "After Angel's death, my parents decided to send me to join and train with the Huntsclan, a cult obsessed with killing magical creatures. The training was brutal and I think my parents hoped that Angel's death would be the perfect motivation to cultivate me into what they wanted me to be. They wanted me to become a witch hunter worthy of the Gates legacy… but ultimately I wasn't cut out for it. And not just because I couldn't face Eda, but also because I couldn't bring myself to harm a defenseless magical creature when given the opportunity. Instead… I showed mercy. And because of that, I flunked out of the academy and was sent back to Gatesfield, where I learned that my family revived Angel without telling me and that they were using my brother to groom her into the family business. Because of my failure to live up to their expectations, my family would gaslight me for years, making everyone think that I was crazy. And I think the worst part is that I eventually just… gave into it."

A silence fell over the group, the teens looking at Abigail with nothing but sympathy.

"But… you escaped, didn't you?" Hunter asked. "You survived and you escaped?"

"Yes," Abigail admitted, nodding. "I did."

"I spent most of my life in the Emperor's Coven," Hunter began. "I grew up believing my uncle's lies about wild magic and how the horrible things we do was for the greater good of the Boiling Isles. I was only thirteen when I was put into scout training. It wasn't… pleasant. And yet despite that, it took me so long to get away from the Emperor's Coven. To actually turn against my uncle, even when I knew he was lying to my face. I gaslit myself into thinking that I was the problem, not him. I… honestly don't think I could have escaped on my own."

Boscha reached out and touched Hunter's shoulder. "And you didn't have to escape on your own," she reminded him.

Willow and Skara both nodded in agreement. "You survived," Willow told him before she turned to Abigail. "You both did. And that is something to be proud of."

"You're… right," Abigail said with a small smile. "Thank you, Willow." She turned to Hunter. "And thank you, Hunter. I'm sorry to hear what you went through, but I'm glad that you made it out in the end."

"Yeah, me too," Hunter said, with a nod. "But, you know, despite everything my uncle did…" He looked down and sighed. "I still loved him. Even if he ended up becoming a monster."

"I know that feeling too well, Hunter," Abigail responded with a nod and a sad sigh. "All too well…"

Meanwhile, Luz and Amity had left town and were now walking through the woods together.

"I never knew Thai food was so good," Amity said as she patted her stomach. "Thanks for taking me there to try some."

"Hey, I'm glad that I get to help you expand your cultural tastes," Luz replied with a smile.

"You're lucky, Luz," Amity admitted. "You have access to food from all around the world. But in the Demon Realm, I have no idea what kinds of food they eat on other Titans. We don't get to enjoy the other cultures of the Demon Realm like you get to here."

"Huh, that's right," Luz considered.

"But it was also great to see that Anne and her fam are doing well here," Amity commented. "I'm happy for them." She then stopped and looked around the woods. "So… you think we're far enough from town yet?"

"Yeah, we are," Luz replied, sharing a smile with Amity. "We're all alone…"

"Good," Amity said as she took off her hat and started changing into her Fae form. She dropped her glamor, her butterfly-like wings coming out of her back while her horns came out of her hair.

Luz, meanwhile, surrounded herself in glyphs as she changed into her Titan form. Both of them spread out their wings, stretching them. "You ready?" she asked her girlfriend.

"Yeah," Amity replied as the two held hands before they took off and began to fly through the woods. They flew together, both of them laughing as they dashed around and between trees, over the heads of confused forest animals as they headed for the lake, where they skimmed over the water while holding hands.

On the lake, they began to dance across the surface of the water as if they were at a ball together. Luz twirled her girlfriend around as she and Amity danced around the lake and as she twirled, Amity made the water spin around her and Luz, much to Luz's surprise.

"Wow," Luz said in awe before she turned to Amity. "Nice trick."

"Thanks, I've been practicing," Amity responded with a bit of pride as she let go of Luz and began to 'conduct' the lake around them to put on a show, with arcs of water being blasted around them, creating a rainbow and a mini rain shower, Luz quickly summoning plant glyphs to form giant leaves to that they used as umbrella so as not to get hit by the rain.

"Heh, okay, maybe I got a little carried away there," Amity admitted.

Later, after they finished their dance and their fly-over, Amity and Luz met up with a group of pixies near a mushroom circle.

"You must be the Fae Amity, right?" one pixie asked her.

"Yes, and I have a letter from Princess Acorn to deliver to her mother," Amity told the pixies, bringing up a very tiny envelope to hand to the pixies. "Here you go."

"Thank you, kindly," the pixie responded. "We'll make sure this gets to the queen."

As the pixies departed, Luz tried to give them a wave. However, instead the pixies just gave a dirty look before flying away, causing Luz to sight. "Yeah, I think they're not forgiving me for all those pixies I ate…"

"Why do you think I haven't told them about the pixie pastries we have back in the Boiling Isles?" Amity whispered as they flew away.

After that, the two went to a cave so they could pay a visit to Bigfoot, who was very glad to see Amity again.

"It's so good to see you again, Amity!" Bigfoot shouted while giving Amity a hug outside the entrance of the cave. "How's the whole Fae thing going for ya?"

"I'm still getting used to it," Amity replied as Bigfoot took a look at her wings and her horns.

"Well, you look incredible!" Bigfoot told her.

"Thanks," Amity said. "How about you? How have you've been?"

"Yeah, it looks like you're rooming with the Multi-Bear now," Luz said..

"I did, and it has been great," Bigfoot told them. "Oh, maybe I can show you what we've done with the place," he offered, pulling aside the bead drapes that covered the entrance to the cave.

"We would love that," Amity said as they walked through the cave.

"Yeah, I am curious what-" Luz said before she was forced to stop.

The cave was very nice, a lot nicer on the inside than it was on the outside. Rather than looking dark and filled with the bones of last meals, it was decorated with lights connected to strings, walls covered with pictures and paintings, a couch, a rug, a TV, and a record player that was playing music.

Luz whistled. "Now this is the most decorative cave I've ever seen. And I've seen more decorative caves than you might think."

"Yeah," Amity replied as she walked around, spotting the Multi-Bear in another part of the cave, cutting up some fish. "Hey, Multi-Bear."

"Hmm? Ah, Luz, Amity, welcome," the Multi-Bear said as he turned to greet them, revealing that he was wearing one of Mabel's sweaters. "How do you like our humble aboard?"

"It looks good, M.B.," Luz said. "Though, where did you get all of this stuff?"

"Humans throw a lot of their stuff away and after Weirdmageddon a lot more stuff than usual was just left behind by the humans that chose to leave Gravity Falls, so we helped ourselves to the free pickings," Bigfoot said as he walked up to the Multi-Bear, wrapping his arm around his shoulder. "And this cave was long overdue for some redecoration. Isn't that right, Multy?"

"Yeah, you were right, Biggie," the Multi-Bear replied with a smile, the two locking eyes.

"Wait…" Amity said as the realization hit her, a smile forming on her face. "Is there something going on with you two?"

"Yeah," Luz replied, sharing the same suspicion. "You two decorating the house together, the nicknames… the eye lock."

"Guess we're not really subtle, are we?" the Multi-Bear asked with a smile.

"...Alright, you got us!" Bigfoot said excitedly as he and the Multi-Bear held hands/paws. "Me and Multy are dating!"

"I knew it!" Amity replied with a smile. "Tell me, when did it happen? How did you two get together?"

"Oh, we're happy to explain," Bigfoot responded. "I guess it started when Multy offered to let me crash in his cave after Weirdmageddon."

"I haven't had any company since Vee left, so I was happy to offer him a place to stay when he started asking around," the Multi-Bear responded. "It was still a bit of an adjustment, but then me and Biggie figured out that we had similar musical tastes."

"Yeah, turns out there is human music similar to the music back in my world," Bigfoot replied. "We started listening to those Swedish singers every day, since they reminded me of AHHBA from Shrieken back home."

"And the next thing we know, we clicked," the Multi-Bear described.

"Aw, that is so sweet," Amity replied with a look of awe.

"Yeah, music really can bring people and even worlds together," Luz commented.

"Yeah, and that is not even getting into the sex," Bigfoot told them. "Like that one night-"

After they finished their visit with the couple, Luz and Amity were walking through the forest together, both of them looking… quite disturbed.

"They do make a cute couple and all," Luz said. "But I did not need those mental images of them having sex in my head…"

"Why am I plagued with learning things I don't want to…?" Amity asked herself while rubbing her temple.

"Well, at the very least, I'm happy for them," Luz responded as she looked ahead.

"Yeah, me too," Amity responded until she noticed that Luz had suddenly stopped. "Luz? Why did you-" She saw what she was looking at and she paused, realizing where they were at. "Oh…"

The two girls looked down at the remains of the Bill Cipher statue. The statue remained shattered and broken, making it barely unrecognizable. It was obvious that the magical creatures of Gravity Falls had really gone to town on it over the last two months, wasting no opportunities to pay their disrespects to their former tormentor.

Luz remained silent while staring at the statue, but her face betrayed the lingering guilt that she was feeling. Amity noticed this as she looked over at Luz with a concerned expression. Silently, she reached out and took Luz's hand, holding it gently.

Luz squeezed it back.

Sometime later, Luz and Amity were both sitting on top of the Gravity Falls water tower, which gave them an overlook of the entire town. The two enjoyed the view.

"I think this might be one of the best views in the entire valley," Amity said, letting the wind flow through her hair.

"Yeah," Luz replied as the wind flowed through her hair as well. "It really is."

"Luz?" Amity asked.

"Ams?" Luz asked while turning to her girlfriend.

"This has been really nice," Amity told Luz with a smile.

"It has, hasn't it?" Luz asked, returning the smile as the two held hands before they leaned into each other while admiring the view of the peaceful-looking town below.

Back in town, the duo of Lois and Kaleb were now in front of the Gravity Falls Gossiper.

"We can start our investigation here," Lois declared.

"You sure about this, Lois?" Kaleb asked her. "I mean, the sheriff did made it clear-"

"I know what the sheriff said, Nashville," Lois replied. "But I don't think we just should leave the search for James to the police. We are not going to wait around, doing nothing. That's not what we do," she said while huffing her chest. "We're investigative journalists, so let's investigate," she said before turning to Kaleb. "I know you'd probably disagree with me on this…"

"Actually… no," Kaleb replied, turning to Lois. "I agree with you."

"You… do?" she asked in surprise.

"James is our friend, so I'm all in to search for him with you," he said before turning to look at the building.

Lois gave a nod. "Alright, let's go in," she said as she and Kaleb entered the small building.

When they stepped inside, they looked around the small building and saw a few employees. They saw an older man who was working as a letterer, another employee who was banging on the printer, and typing on a typewriter was Perry Porter, who looked up and noticed the two coming in just as the young April Jimenez came from the other room.

"Alright, everyone, tomorrow's column should be ready for-" April said before she noticed Lois and Kaleb. "Oh, hello. Can I help you? If you're here to submit a story…"

"Um, not exactly," Lois said. "Who is in charge here?"

"That would be me," April said, surprising Kaleb and Lois. "Yeah, I know, I'm very young. But my mom gave me this local rag as a chance for me to prove myself and I take that very seriously. My name is April Jimenez."

"I'm Lois Lee," Lois introduced herself. "And this is Kaleb Ellis. We are actually journalists."

"Investigative journalists," Kaleb replied.

"Fellow journalists?" April asked with an interested smile. "Are you here for a job?"

"No," Lois explained. "We are actually here for some information. We are looking for someone and we thought that maybe you could help us out."

"Sure, sure," April said, nodding. "So where are you from?"

"We're from New York City," Lois revealed.

"OMG! No way!" April squeed, which startled Kaleb, Lois, and the nearby Perry. "My dad works as a reporter in New York City! I just stayed with him during the summer!"

"Really? Well, that's a lucky break!" Lois replied.

"So both of your parents are reporters?" Kaleb asked.

"Yeah," April said with a nod. "So which paper are you from?"

"We're from the New York Star," Kaleb answered, causing April's smile to immediately vanish, her expression suddenly shifting into disgust.

"The Star?!" April shouted.

Kaleb and Lois both looked startled by her sudden shift.

"Um… is there a problem?" Kaleb asked before he and Lois felt their shirts grabbed by the teenager…

Seconds later, both Kaleb and Lois got thrown out of the building by April, much to their shock.

"Hey! What's the big idea?!" Lois demanded.

"You story-stealing Starsies aren't welcome here!" April declared before slamming the door shut.

"Wait! You don't understand!" Lois shouted as she went to bang on the door. "We need help to find our friend!" she shouted. After getting no answer, she let out a frustrated snarl "Gah! Teenagers! What the hell is up with her?"

"I… think her dad might work for one of our rivals," Kaleb suggested.

Lois sighed, walking over to the curb and sitting down, Kaleb sitting down next to her. "Well, there goes that idea," she said. "I thought that if anyone could help us, that if anyone knew this town, it would be the reporters."

"Hey, it wasn't a bad idea, Lois," Kaleb said. "And I am sure we can still figure something out."

Lois looked down at the ground. "It is just that… James is out there somewhere and we have no idea if he is hurt or not… God, this is just…"

"Ahem," said a voice.

The two turned around and saw Perry stepping outside.

"Um, I just wanted to apologize for April's behavior," Perry said. "She is… very passionate, kinda reminds me of a daughter of a colleague I know. But that can also make her a bit… unreasonable. She doesn't mean any harm though."

"Oh, um, thanks," Lois replied to him.

"But from the sound of things, you two are in need of some help," Perry pointed out.

"Yeah, our friend, James, is missing and we're trying to find a lead to look for him," Kaleb said. "We did turn to the police…"

"But we feel like we can't just sit by and wait to learn if they find him or not," Lois said. "We're journalists, we don't sit by and wait for the news to come to us."

"Right," Perry noted. "Yeah, I got that, and you know, even though April threw you out… I could help you find your missing friend," he offered.

"You will?" Kaleb asked, he and Lois both standing up with hopeful expressions.

Perry nodded. "To the best of my ability," he promised.

Back up on the water tower, Luz and Amity were still enjoying the view together.

"So how are you and Camila doing these days?" Amity asked her. "You two do look like you are doing well."

"Oh, we've been doing great," Luz replied with a smile. "I guess mostly we watch a lot of movies and television together, since I have been trying to catch my mom up on the decade of media that she missed. It is something we have a lot of fun doing, though we do other stuff together as well. You know, usual mom-and-daughter stuff like shopping and going on walks together. Mom's also been trying to get me into Cosmic Frontier."

"And how is that going?" Amity asked.

"Well… it isn't really my thing," Luz admitted. "But it is something that my mom is excited to share with me and because of that I still enjoy it, because it is something she really enjoys and is passionate about."

"Sorta reminds me of how I was able to get you into Azura," Amity said as she nudged Luz, who smiled back at her.

"Yeah, but you know, I see Cosmic Frontier as something I can share with my mom, which does make it special," Luz said. "Just like how I see Azura as something I can share with you."

Amity smiled happily with Luz, but then thought of something that she wanted to bring up. "So… how long are you staying in the Human Realm?"

"Well… I still don't know," Luz admitted with an uncertain expression. "I haven't quite figured out how I am going to split up my time between the Human Realm and the Demon Realm. Like, when the new school semester starts on the Boiling Isles, am I going to go back to Hexside or am I going to continue living here with my mom?" She looked down. "I just don't know yet. I know there is a lot waiting for me back on the Boiling Isles… but there is a lot for me here as well." She shrugged. "I guess I've been taking it one day at the time."

"Hey," Amity said as she reached over and held Luz's hand in assurance. "Don't feel pressured to make a decision. I promise that no matter what you choose, I'll support you. And we'll figure something out. I know we will."

Luz looked over at her girlfriend and smiled again. "Thanks, Ams."

It was then that their moment was interrupted when Luz heard her phone buzzing. Pulling it out, she saw Perry's name on the screen. "Perry?" she wondered out loud.

"Wait, Gus's dad has a phone?" Amity asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I gave him one he could use to call me in case of emergencies," Luz admitted, looking slightly concerned before she answered the phone. "Hey, everything alright, Mr. Porter?"

"Hey, Luz," Perry responded. "Don't worry, I'm fine. It is just that… something came up and I think there are some people here with me who I think you could help out."

By the new statue in the center of town, Lois and Kaleb were waiting with Perry.

"So this statue is… new?" Kaleb asked, looking up at the statue of the late Befufftlefumpter, the town's former mayor, which had replaced the statue of Nathaniel Northwest.

"Yes, I heard that it was recently built to replace the old statue that was here after it was, um… discarded," Perry replied as Lois looked down at the plaque.

"In honor of the memory of the town's oldest mayor, Befufftlefumpter… is that really his name?" Lois asked.

While she and Kaleb were looking at the statue, Luz and Amity began to walk up behind them, Amity now back to hiding her wings and horns with glamor while Luz was in her human form. Perry noticed them and as he called out to them. "Luz, Amity, glad to see you two."

"You too, Mr. Porter," Luz said, her voice getting the attention of the journalists, who both turned to them. "So are these the two you told us about?"

"Yeah, that's them," Perry responded. "I gotta head back to work."

"I get it," Luz said, nodding. "Don't worry, we'll handle this."

After Perry left, Lois got a good look at Luz and her eyes widened as she gasped in shock. "No way…"

"What?" Luz asked her.

"You…" Lois said as she looked to be at a loss of words before she continued. "You're… younger than I expected," she said, not recognizing Luz from their very brief encounter more than two months ago.

This caused Luz to scoff. "Younger? The fuck's that supposed to mean?" she asked, also not recognizing Lois from their brief encounter.

"Um," Lois said, a bit taken aback by not just Luz's age, but her language as well. "When Perry described you to us as someone who could help us find a missing person, I was expecting someone a little…"

"Older? Well, excuse me, but you don't see me calling you an old lady," Luz told her, making Lois scoff.

"Old?! Um, I'm in my twenties," Lois shot back.

"Yeah, old," Luz countered, making Lois fume.

"Why you little-?!"

"Hey, hey, look, there is no need for antagonism," Kaleb said, getting in between them. "Lois, James, remember?"

Lois and Luz glared at each other for a few moments before Lois just sighed.

"Okay, maybe we got off on the wrong foot," Lois said, trying to compose herself and act professional.

"Yeah, sorry for calling you old," Luz apologized.

"Well, I think some introductions are in order," Amity said. "I'm Amity, and this is my girlfriend, Luz."

"Don't wear it out," Luz told Lois.

"Luz… nice name," Lois replied. "Well, I'm Lois Lee, and the big guy here is Kaleb Ellis. We're investigative reporters who are looking for our missing friend."

"Missing friend?" Luz asked her.

"Yeah, James Bolton," Kaleb responded, showing them a photo of James from his phone. "All three of us were supposed to go on a camping trip here. The whole thing was his idea, since he wanted to look around the area for Bigfoot. But James got here ahead of us and we haven't heard from him since."

"Bigfoot?" Amity asked in surprise.

"Does your friend actually believe in Bigfoot?" Luz asked them.

"Oh, absolutely," Kaleb confirmed. "For a while now, he's been a part of an online chat group full of people with similar interests as him. One of his friends in his chat group talked a lot about Gravity Falls and that is the reason he wanted to come here."

"Although I think James bought into the stuff about this place a bit too easily," Lois admitted. "I mean, he said that his friend told him about gnomes, werewolves, and… this chaotic delinquent she-devil?"

Amity and Luz shared a look.

"Honestly, kind of accurate on the last part," Luz admitted.

"Well, it's why James came here," Kaleb responded.

"Isn't Dipper in a chat group?" Amity asked, turning to Luz. "I know Janna was part of that chat group…"

"Dipper?" Lois asked. "Who is Dipper?"

"A close friend of ours," Luz explained. "There is a chance he might be the person who told your friend about Gravity Falls… and maybe he knows something about what happened to your friend as well."

Lois sighed in relief. "Well, that's a start," she said.

Luz nodded. "Tell me everything you can about your friend and his disappearance," she told Lois and Kaleb. "Then Amity will take you to see Dipper."

"And what will you do?" Kaleb asked.

Luz just smiled. "I have some… sources that I'll check with."

Later, Luz went off into the forest to ask around about James…

"A human, bro?" asked the Abominable Bro-Man, who had been jogging until Luz stopped him. "Like, I wouldn't know anything about that, dude."

"You sure you never seen this guy?" Luz asked him, holding up the picture of James.

"Not on my jogging route," he said.

"No, I've never seen that human before," Celestabellebethabelle said while she and the other unicorns were drinking from the lake. "We don't see a lot of humans out there besides that bearded forest man."

"River's a Mewman," Luz pointed out to the unicorn.

"Yeah, don't be racist, C-Beth," one of the other unicorns told her.

"Oh hush your mouth, Jerry!" Celestabellebethabelle scoffed.

Eventually, Luz resorted to some… shake-ups.

When she went to the Manotaur Man Cave, she used her Titan form to pin one of them, Chutzpar, to the wall.

"Alright, talk!" Luz demanded as she showed him the picture. "Have you seen this human?"

"I haven't seen nothing!" he told her.

"Do you swear?!" Luz demanded to know.

"I-I swear!" Chutzpar cried.

"Swear to me!" Luz told him.

Luz crossed her arms as she glared down at the group of gnomes before her, who all looked terrified of her.

"L-Look, Luz, let's not be hasty," said one of the gnomes, Carson. "We didn't take anymore brides! Honest!"

"Yeah, all we took were some scraps of food like pie!" Jason states.

"Shmebulock!" Shmebulock helpfully added.

"Where's Jeff?" Luz asked them.

"Oh, he and some of the guys went to Gnasty's for a drink! You'll find him there!" Carson answered, happily selling Jeff out to save his own skin.

At Gnasty's gnome tavern, kicking the door open was Luz, who let herself in. Seated around the tavern were gnomes and a bunch of other creatures like goblins, pixies, that one faun, and a raccoon, who all saw Luz coming in and looked at her with fear.

"I'm not here for trouble," Luz told them. "I'm here for Jeff the gnome."

"Did somebody call for me?" asked Jeff as he walked out from the bathroom, only to stop in his tracks when he spotted Luz, his eyes wide with shock and fear. "L-Luz?! What are you-"

"I have no time for small talk or tomfoolery from you, Jeff," Luz said as he walked over to the fearful gnome. "I'm looking for a missing human named James Bolton," she said, pulling up a picture of James.

"I… I haven't seen that human in my life!" Jeff told her as Luz narrowed her eyes at him. "Seriously, I haven't! Um, back me up, guys!"

The gnomes looked in fear for their leader, knowing what Luz would do to them if they didn't talk. Eventually, one of the gnomes raised his hand up.

"Did the human have a car?" asked one of the gnomes, which drew Luz's attention.

"Yes, he did," Luz said to the gnome. "What do you know?"

"Well, earlier this morning, after escaping from the eagles, I did spot some cars down the road, close to the welcome sign," the gnome explained. "None of them had a driver and one of them had those sirens that went 'wee-woo, wee-woo' and all that."

Luz looked at the gnome with a narrow gaze while Jeff trembled in fear. She then turned around and started walking out of the tavern. "If you hear or see anything else about this human, you will let me know. Got it?"

Jeff nodded quickly. "O-of course!" he shouted.

Luz gave Jeff one last glare before she left the tavern. Once she was gone, Jeff sighed in relief and turned to the other gnome. "Thanks for the save, Steve."

Later, Luz was walking by the side of the road just outside of town, near where the welcome sign was. She couldn't find the cars, mainly due to them having already been towed away. However, she did find some evidence that the cars were there, noticing some skid marks that led to a tree.

"No cars, but there's still the skid marks," Luz noted, following the skid marks and kneeling down to trade them with her hand. She then noticed something else. "What the…?"

She got a closer look and saw that, in addition to the tire marks left by a car, there was another trail around where the car would have crashed. It was a trail… of horseshoe prints.

Meanwhile, Amity had taken Lois and Kaleb to Gravity Falls Middle School, where they planned to meet up with Dipper outside.

"So when are we going to meet this Dipper?" Lois asked anxiously.

"School should be over soon," Amity answered before she looked at the two. "So where are you guys from?"

"We're from New York City," Kaleb answered.

"Oh, really?" Amity asked in surprise. "You know, Luz and some of my other friends have been to New York before, but I've never been there yet."

"Really? You've never been into the good old Big Apple?" Lois asked her.

"Well, I've never been inside a large apple before either," Amity said, which confused the two journalists. "But I probably will go to New York City someday. A family friend of Luz's who lives in New York is getting married soon, so I will probably go with Luz to New York City for that."

"Oh, one of her friends is getting married?" Kaleb asked. "Congrats!"

It was then that the bell rang and the three watched as the students began to head out from the school. Amity looked around for Dipper, eventually spotting him with Mabel and waving at them. "Dipper! Mabel!"

"Ah, hey Amity!" Mabel shouted, waving back as she rushed over to give Amity a hug.

"Hey, Amity," Dipper said as he walked over to her. "I received your text. Are these the two journalists who wanted to see me?"

"Yeah, this is Lois and Kaleb," Amity introduced. "Lois, Kaleb, this is Dipper and his sister Mabel."

"Wait, you're Dipper?" Lois asked in surprise. "I thought you would have been a teacher. I can't believe James was talking to a kid… what kind of chat group has he been in?!"

"It is for anyone who wants to talk about the weirdness that has happened around the country or the world," Dipper said. "So what can I help you guys with?"

"A friend of theirs who went missing after coming to this town to look for Bigfoot," Amity mentioned.

"Yeah, he heard a lot about this town and its weirdness through his chat group and we think that he might have been talking to you," Kaleb said. "Does the username 'Thunderbolt90' mean anything to you?"

"Thunderbolt90… yeah, yeah I recognize that username," Dipper said, nodding. "He's always talking about stuff like Jersey Devils, Leprechaun sightings, and animals with hats. Although I haven't heard from him in a while," he admitted, showing a concerned look. "Hearing that he has gone missing… that does concern me."

"Yeah, especially in this town," Mabel replied, looking uneasy.

Dipper nodded before he looked back up at the reporters. "So tell me, are you two as big believers of the paranormal as your friend is?"

"Well… admittedly, we are a bit more skeptical about some of the stuff he believes in," Kaleb confessed. "Like Bigfoot. But we also try to keep an open mind."

"Yeah, especially since there has been weird stuff that's been going on lately all over the county," Lois brought up. "Like the Frogvasion that happened two months ago."

"Uh, yeah, I heard about that," Dipper said as he and Amity shared a look. "Didn't they say that was a hoax though?"

"A lot of people tried to label it as a hoax, yes," Lois said. "But me and Kaleb aren't convinced."

"The stuff that you told James," Kaleb said to Dipper. "You believe in all of that?"

Dipper nodded. "Oh yeah, I do," he said. "I'm, uh, sorry that I couldn't be of more help right now , but I can keep my eyes and ears out for anything that could help you find James."

"Thank you, I appreciate this," Lois responded. "Even if I'm completely not sure what you can do, since you're children."

"Hey, we're both thirteen," Mabel responded defensively. "We're technically teens and we have a lot of mysteries in our field of work."

"You… have?" Lois asked, not convinced.

"Yeah, you'd be surprised at what they can do," Amity told Lois, nodding.

Meanwhile, Gus Gordon had come back home from school.

"Alright, I'm home!" he announced as he walked into the house and found his mother sitting with his grandfather on the couch, both of them talking and laughing with each other before they spotted him.

"Gus, hey!" Nora greeted her son, waving at him. "How was school today?"

"Um, it went well, as usual," Gus responded while looking at Harrison. "I didn't think you would still be here when I got back…"

"School's out already?" Harrison asked before realizing the time. "Time sure flies these days," he said as he stood up. "Well, I better get going,"

"Already?" Nora asked, standing up as well. "Why don't you stay for dinner?"

"I'd love to, but maybe some other time," he told them as he hugged his daughter. "But I will be seeing you again soon, since I'll be around the area."

"For what exactly?" Gus asked him.

Harrison turned to his grandson, reaching down to pat his shoulder. "Well, I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you…" he told Gus with a serious look… before the serious expression melted away as Harrison smiled and winked at Gus before laughing. "Just kidding."

"Heh, okay," Gus said, though he was still slightly taken aback by his grandfather's joke.

"You know, maybe the two of us should find some time to hang out together while I'm in the area," Harrison suggested. "I think some grandfather-grandson bonding is overdue."

"That… would be nice, sir," Gus responded.

Harrison smiled and patted Gus on the shoulder again. "Good night, you two," he told them as he made his leave.

"Good night, dad," Nora responded as the Gordons watched General Edwards leave their house and walk down the street until he was out of sight…

Meanwhile, Clara had also managed to make it home from school, arriving through the front door.

"Hey mom, I'm back-" Clara began to announce before she saw her mom, along with the rest of the Hexsquad, in the living room, playing Life the board game. Their Palisman were gathered in the living room as well, watching their owners play the game.

"-and that is why you shouldn't date a vampire," Abigail said, the members of the Hexsquad staring at her in shock and slight horror.

"Holy shit," Boscha whispered under her breath, not sure if she should respect the hell out of Abigail or be afraid of her.

"I think you would get along well with my mom," Skara admitted.

"You're kinda scary, Mrs. Gates," Hunter told Abigail, who just smiled.

"Thank you," she said before she saw Clara standing in the room. "Hello, Clara, welcome back."

"Hey Clara!" the others greeted.

"Hey mom, and guys," Clara said. "I didn't expect you to still be here… were you here all day?"

"Yeah, we stayed to talk to you mom and I guess we just ended up hanging out with her all day," Willow said.

"Honestly, your mom is pretty cool," Boscha told Clara.

"Yeah, we have been listening to your mom's stories about her youth," Skara said.

"She has… quite the interesting dating history," Hunter noted.

"How was your day, Clara?" Abigail asked her daughter.

"It was great, I managed to pass my history test," Clara said while setting her book bag aside. "Although I heard your Gus is actually doing better in his history class than I am, even though he has only been living in the Human Realm for two months while I've lived in the Human Realm all my life, so I'm not sure how that makes sense…"

"Yeah, that sounds like our Gus," Willow said with a smile.

"Wait, if Clara is home from school…" Abigail realized. "It must be later than I thought!" She turned to the Hexsquad. "Perhaps you'd all like to stay for dinner?"

The Hexsquad all smiled at that, quickly nodding.

"We'd be happy to, Mrs. Gates," Willow said.

"Yeah, that sounds really nice," Boscha said with a smile.

Clara smiled excitedly at his, happy to hear that Willow and her friends would be staying for dinner. "Great!" she shouted. "Wait, I need to check on Harvey!" she shouted as she rushed to her room, leaving Abigail with the Hexsquad.

"So… what are we having?" Skara asked Abigail.

Back with Amity, Lois, and Kaleb, they were waiting to meet back up with Luz in front of the statue.

"Luz," Amity said, waving to her as Luz came over to them.

"Did you manage to find anything?" Lois asked her.

"Well, I did tell my contacts to keep an eye open, so they'll let me know if they learn anything," Luz explained. "But I did find something."

"What did you learn?" Kaleb asked her.

"At the side of the road where his car was found, there were also horseshoe prints," Luz told them.

"Horseshoe prints?" Kaleb questioned.

"What does that even mean?" Lois asked in confusion.

"It means someone on a horse was near the crash site, making them either a witness or a suspect," Luz told them. "We got a lead."

"Could it just have been a cop?" Kaleb asked her.

"The cops in Gravity Falls don't use horses," Luz admitted. "So no, it couldn't be them. Right now, our next step would be to learn who was there at the scene of the crash, because they either may have seen something or they may have even been the one to kidnap James."

"Which means, we need to find someone who owns or has access to a horse," Lois said as she and Kaleb nodded at each other. "Well, it's a start, at the very least."

"We thank you, Luz, for the tip," Kaleb said as they turned to Luz.

"Anytime," Luz responded. "And I really do hope you find your friend. Stay in touch, okay?"

"Yeah, we will," Lois confirmed. "Me and Kaleb are planning on sticking around town until we find James. We aren't going to give up."

This got Luz to pause. "Um, do you still plan on going camping in the woods here?"

"Well… that was the initial plan before James went missing," Kaleb noted.

"I'd advise against it," Luz quickly told them. "Trust me, these woods aren't the type you would want to go camp in."

"Really? Why's that?" Lois asked her, a bit suspicious.

"Safety reasons," Luz told her simply, refusing to elaborate further.

"Well, we were going to check into a motel anyway," Kaleb said. "We are not exactly in the camping mood anymore."

"Good," Luz said with a nod. "Stay safe, both of you." She then turned to Amity. "Come on, we better head out ourselves."

Amity nodded and began to walk away with Luz. "We'll see you around," she said, looking back at Lois and Kaleb. "We hope to find your friend."

"Thanks," Lois told them. "For helping us."

"Yeah, we appreciate your efforts," Kaleb added as he and Lois walked away in the opposite direction, the two pairs going their separate ways.

Later, as the day began to draw to a close, Luz and Amity finally returned home. They went into the living room, where they found Camila with Phil, who was playing with some toy cars while Ghost and Atticus watched him.

"Mom, Phil, we're home!" Luz announced, drawing their attention.

"Hey, welcome back," Camila responded as Phil looked up at the girls.

"Mommy!" Phil shouted, raising his arms up as Amity went over to him.

"Hey, little nino, did you miss me?" Amity asked with a smile as Phil hugged him and allowed himself to be picked up.

"Mucho!" Phil declared.

"I see he's learning a little Spanish here," Luz said to her mom.

"Yeah, he picks up on stuff very quickly," Camila noted. "So how was your date today?"

"It went really well," Luz told Camila. "I took Ams to Anne's family's restaurant."

"Ooh," Camila said while turning to Amity. "And how did you enjoy that?"

"It was incredible," Amity responded. "I got to try Thai food for the first time and it was so good."

Camila nodded. "Me and Luz love eating there," she told Amity. "So what else did you do?"

"We flew around the forest and saw a few old friends," Luz explained. "And then we ended up helping out some tourists."

"Tourists?" Camila asked, curious. "What's going on there?"

"Well, they were trying to find their friend, who they were supposed to meet, but instead he went missing," Luz explained. "Along with a cop."

"Que, that sounds concerning," Camila said, expressing her worries. "Were you able to find him?"

"We didn't, not yet, but we were at least able to find a lead," Luz responded.

"Well, I hope their friend is alright," Camila responded, while still worried. "And that you are able to help him."

"I hope so too, mom," Luz admitted. "But I will try to help these tourists out more while they're in Gravity Falls."

"Do you have any idea what could have happened to their friend?" Camila asked.

Luz paused. "Well, in Gravity Falls… anything's possible," she concluded.

"Luz! Come help me play with Phil!" Amity shouted while trying to play with Phil with some toys.

"Coming!" Luz replied as she rushed over to join them. "So what are we playing?"

"Race carts!" Phil declared, holding up some toy cars for them to play with.

As Luz and Amity began to play with Phil, each of them choosing a toy car that they used to race against Phil's, Camila watched them. Though she smiled at the sight of Luz and Amity playing with Phil, she couldn't shake off the concern about the missing people that Luz told her about. Especially since Luz was right. In Gravity Falls, anything was possible. So who knows that kind of danger these missing people were really in…

Meanwhile, at the motel where Lois and Kaleb were staying. Lois was looking outside the window as Kaleb brought her over some food.

"Okay, I got us some ramen cups, snacks, and there's a Thai food restaurant nearby as well that got great recommendations from the locals," Kaleb said as Lois turned to him.

"Great job, Nashville," Lois said while looking over the food. However, her thoughts seemed… elsewhere, which Kaleb noticed.

"A penny for your thoughts, Lois?" Kaleb asked.

Lois sighed. "Kaleb… have you gotten a… feeling about this town?" she asked him.

"What do you mean?" Kaleb asked.

Lois shook her head. "Like, there's something about this place that's just… isn't right. Like with the police and that Luz girl," she said, expressing her concern. "It almost felt like they were hiding something, like they were trying to keep something from us."

"Does this mean we can't trust Luz?" Kaleb asked, worried.

"Not… necessarily," she admitted. "I do think that Luz wants to help us, even if she and her friends are… incredibly young. Then again, I guess I wanted to do more than adults gave me credit for when I was her age as well. Still, we should be careful. Especially since we still have no idea why James went missing and what happened to him, which is… very concerning."

"Lois," Kaleb spoke up, getting her to look at him. "I promise that we will find him and make sure that he's safe. It's going to be okay."

Lois gave a smile. "Do you really believe that, Kal?" she asked him.

"I do," Kaleb said with a nod.

Lois sighed. "I appreciate your optimism," she said while looking out the window again. "And I hope that James is alright… he has to be," she said while looking down, tightly gripping her own arm. "He just has to be…"

Kaleb noticed how Lois was gripping her arm. "I've never seen you this worried before, Lois."

"It's just… I've gone through this exact same thing before," Lois revealed, surprising Kaleb.

"You… have?" Kaleb asked as Lois turned to him.

Lois slowly nodded. "This whole thing… it reminds me of what happened to my cousin, who was in a car crash where she died and her baby daughter went missing," she said as she looked down. "For years, I searched for her daughter and tried to find any leads. I wonder if what happened to my cousin wasn't an accident and if someone took my baby cousin away… or worse." Her voice cracked. "But despite so many years of searching, I never found my baby cousin. It was as if she… disappeared from the face of the Earth."

Kaleb's eyes were wide with shock as he looked at Lois with sympathy. "Oh my… I'm so sorry, Lois. I… I had no idea," he told her. "What… what was your cousin's name?"

"Her name was Camila," Lois mentioned. "And her daughter's name… was Luz."

Kaleb was surprised by that. "Luz… now that's a coincidence, since we're being helped by a girl named Luz."

"Yeah, a rather cruel coincidence," Lois nodded. "I just hope that James doesn't vanish from the face of the Earth as well…"

Hopefully, wherever he was, James was safe.

Opening up his eyes, James Bolton found himself somewhere very… dark.

"W-What the-?!" he asked in a panic as he looked around, trying to get a sense of his surroundings. It took a moment, but as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized that he was in some kind of dark tunnel.

"Where… where am I?!" he asked as he tried to get up and move… only to realize that he couldn't. Turning to look at his limbs, he realized that he was chained up to a wooden post. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" he shrieked as he tried to shake off the chains. "Help! Someone!" he screamed as he looked around, noticing a nearby barrel and some tracks running down the tunnel. "Wait, am I… am I in some sort of mine?!"

He then noticed that he wasn't alone. There was someone else here and they were chained up as well. Trying to get a better look, he saw that it was a cop. He didn't know it, but it was the same cop who had found James's car and had stopped to investigate after James had been dragged off by the Headless Horseman. Fortunately, the cop was still alive, but he looked pretty bruised up, indicating that the Headless Horseman had been rougher with him than he had been with James.

"Officer! Wake up!" James shouted, but the cop didn't respond. "This can't be happening… help!"

"Shouting won't do you any good…"

James paused when he heard that voice.

"There will be no help coming for you."

"Who… who's there?!" James demanded as he looked around in the dark for the source of the voice. And then… he saw something. It was a face. A glowing face that was smiling at him and it was getting closer and closer…

"Wait… is that…?!" James asked, his panic only getting worse.

When the face got close enough, James realized that it was just a jack-o'-lantern… but it was being held in the arms of the Headless Horseman, who was walking toward James on foot. The Horseman placed the jack-o'-lantern down on the barrel, the pumpkin being the only light source in the mine.

James looked up at the Headless Horseman in fear, realizing who he was. "Y-y-you're, y-y-you're…"

A sudden gust of wind blew out the candle in the jack-o'-lantern, causing the Headless Horseman, James, and the unconscious cop to be left in the dark…

So let's get the OC introductions in order

First up are the New York Star staff. The New York Star being basically an obvious homage to the Daily Planet, and our starring staff members are:

Joe Knight, who's an expy of Perry White.

Elena Brant, who's an expy of Cat Grant.

Troy Hartman, who's an expy of the Daily Steve Bombart, as well as his name being based off of Troy McClure, and Phil Hartman.

Roberta Portland, who's an expy of Ronnie Troupe from My Adventures With Superman, who is a gender-swap version of Ron Troupe.

General Harrison Edwards is the same general from Book 2's epilogue. Here is when he meets up with Nora after all these years. We've given and established his relationships with Nora and Gus Gordon here to show what are they like. To Gus, it's more distant with his grandfather, compared to how good Nora and her father's relationship is.

The Atoms family(yes, make that joke) are pretty much expies of the Reed family. Archer Atom is an expy of Reed Richards, Frankie is Susan Storm, Rosalind is of Franklin Richards, and their robot, K.I.R.B.E.E., is an expy of H.E.R.B.I.E. Their science show is based off of similar to Professor Proton, and basing off the premise for the upcoming MCU Fantastic Four movie, where Reed Richards will be a starring TV science host. The theme song for the Atoms family's show I mostly based off from listening to "Dr. Worm" by They Might Be Giants.

The subplot of Abigail was meant to make up for a missed opportunity in Book Two, that being her official meeting and getting to know Willow, along with the rest of the Hexsquad, Skara, Boscha and Hunter.

Alright, so we'd like to make an announcement that we're going to do another Q and A. This time, it would be at the new LCU: Q and A Archives. There, we will placed the previous Q and As into it's own published works. And it's a way to get more organized with the previous Q and As.

This time, we will have a Q and A to focus on some of the Total Drama expies, mainly the former BIG members and coven scouts based off of them. These are the ones who are good to asked questions:

Bowen
Carter
Cle
Dale
Gidget
Grip
Judd
Le'Belle
Meg
Napoli

If any of you are confused by some of them, please PM or messaged us to ask who's who other than the ones all are mostly familiar with.

Review section:

Crash X Fusion: Well, magic in general would be what Rachel hates more. As for Amelia x Gus G, well relationships aren't permanent depending on the characters. Lilith's boyfriend will be a surprise. Also, don't beat yourself up, man.

Matteso585: 1) Yeah, it might be something that could be focused on for the LOWTH spin-off. 2) Well, in Book 3 anything can happened.

Cooki15xd: Well, the first arc is more on about family establishments. We haven't discussed about a jump into a superhero league arc, nor would it be that soon.

Shuffollower: Yeah, thanks to Crash for that.

Guest: 1) Soon. 2) No spoilers. 3) I mean, Rachel has a distrust to magical beings in general since her grandfather was killed in Weirdmageddon. 4) Angel is aware of the risks. 5) The Core's biding it's time. 6) When Sasha is ready.