My Hero- Nope! Gravity Falls

by ArtsyBug

Summary:

In their 3rd year at UA, Izuku and Mina take Eri out for ice cream and run into trouble. Eri had thought she had a good hold on her quirk, but in her panic, she accidentally regresses Izuku and Mina into their Middle School selves. Not only that, but they are thrown through a portal that lands them in the house of a grouchy old man.

Stan Pines doesn't really know what to do about three children from another dimension. In his experience with portals to other realities, he figures it is likely that they will all be in this situation for the long haul. With that in mind, he lets them stay at the Mystery Shack, and maybe forges some adoption papers.

Notes:

• Inspired by Academia Falls by Skye_Star

I started writing this last spring for fun because it was the first crossover I really liked reading, and had no intention of posting. But here we are! Enjoy!

In this universe, Eri was rescued when she was about eight years old. And Izuku grew up being bullied by other people, Katsuki was a good friend who always stepped up for him.

Chapter 1: Arriving in Gravity Falls

                                                                 

Izuku didn’t know what happened. First he was on the rooftop with All Might, then he heard Kacchan’s explosions. He had run as fast as he could and found the slime villain from earlier. It was suffocating Kacchan. Next thing he knew, he threw his backpack in the villain’s eye and reached for his friend’s hand. Everything went white.

 

He was holding a crying girl with white hair. He was disoriented and confused, but his heart was beating wildly in his chest. “Ah! Where’s Kacchan! What happened? Where am I? Is he okay?” 

Next to him, a pink haired girl with skin to match, was shouting “That was so scary! Huh? Kirishima? Where’d you go?” They both looked at each other, then at the girl he was holding. She had big, red eyes that looked up at him with surprise and fear, it made his heart crumble, even if he didn’t understand what had just happened.

“I’m so sorry, Deku and Mina! I didn’t mean to! The bad guys were coming and I got scared. I accidentally used my quirk on you two.”

Izuku sobered up quickly. This girl knew their names. She was in distress and there were villains around here. He took a deep breath to channel his inner hero-wannabe and calmly asked, “What’s your quirk? Is it teleportation?”

She gasped and so many emotions crossed her face, “Y-you don’t remember me! Oh no! Oh no, no, no!” and started tearing up again and hugged him tighter. “okay. I’ve got this, I just have to do what Dad taught me” she whispered. Then she released him and stood to address them both, looking them in the eyes, “My name is Eri. My quirk is Rewind, and it just set your body back in time. How old do you think you are?”

The other girl -Mina(?)- answered, “Okay, wow! This is crazy! I’m fourteen.”

“Me too.”

Eri continued, becoming more determined, “Alright. What do you remember about UA?”

Izuku’s thoughts ran around his head as if there were little people rooting through filing cabinets, gathering all of the information his brain had on UA, “All sorts of things! It’s anybody’s dream school, especially because it’s All Might’s alma mater. The staff members are the best in the country because they are all pro heroes. They are the number 1 school, and it shows. The teachers are allowed to run their classrooms however they see fit, which is amazing because they have the biggest budget you have ever seen! Every year they-“

“No! I mean, what do you remember about your time there?”

At this Izuku and Mina turned to each other wide-eyed. He had actually made it into the hero course? No, maybe he got into General Education or Support. How long were they students for? 

“Okay, so you’ve been rewound to middle school, which was at least three years ago. Not good. You won’t be able to fight, we need to run!”

It was then that Izuku took in his surroundings, they were in a dark alleyway hiding behind a dumpster. The three of them took off deeper into the maze between buildings. He was wearing a loose t-shirt and basketball shorts. Even his shoes felt a little too big on him. 

“Dad told us to meet him at the cafe, but I don’t know where it is!” Eri said breathlessly. “Izu-nii! I think you already put it in your gps on your phone.”

Izuku felt heat rise in his cheeks. She had just called him her older brother. Now he really wished he remembered who she was. Nevermind. Those were questions for later. Right now there was a villain looking for them. 

Mina had one hand on her hip and the other rubbing her forehead, “How would your dad help against a villain?”

“He’s a pro hero!” Eri declared. Izuku sputtered. This girl’s father was a pro hero ! What heroes did he know that had white hair or red eyes or time related quirks? Maybe Mirko married someone with a time quirk. But as far as he knew, she wasn’t interested in a relationship plus, this girl was probably older than eight or nine and- Izuku stopped his train of thought again. They were still in danger.

He checked his pockets for his phone, slightly worried that the older him would have changed the password. But he was able to open it and get to the gps. While he did that, Mina had Eri get on her back so they could go faster. Soon they were running toward a little red dot on the map.  

Wait, what did she say about Eraserhead? They were going to meet the pro hero Eraserhead?!

The group turned a corner and came upon a cat cafe, a man dressed completely in black stood outside. They slowed down and watched as Eri hopped off of Mina’s back, running into the man- Eraserhead’s arms. Without meaning to, he latched onto Mina’s sleeve, “That’s Pro Hero Eraserhead! I can’t believe we’re actually meeting The Eraserhead!”

Mina smiled at him, not seeming to mind, “I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of him. But I’m loving the energy! He seems kinda cool. Is he a UA teacher?  Do you think that means he teaches us? ”

 The thought alone made Izuku want to burst! If Eraserhead was his teacher, then this was the best day of his life! The man fought practically quirkless, not caring about the money or the spotlight, only the people that he saved. Izuku had so many questions for him!

The pro looked down at the two of them, then at Eri, understanding washed over his face along with worry. To Eri he said, “Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. In the meantime, we need to hurry and get everyone back to the dorms.” Then he mumbled something about trouble magnets not being allowed to get ice cream anymore, whatever that meant. 

The group took two steps before a dark, shadowy portal appeared in front of them.

“Shoot! How’d you run into Kurogiri, Problem Child?!” Eraserhead placed himself in front of the kids as the villain came through the portal. He immediately activated his quirk so the portal user couldn’t teleport anymore.

The supposed Kurogiri squinted, “Ah. I see you were able to reunite with your teacher. No matter. I won’t leave without my prizes.” 

“You won’t get near them. That's your cue to run back to the school, kids.” The two rushed at each other. 

Izuku had run from bullies all of his life, after all, Kacchan couldn’t always defend him from them. Needless to say, the practice was paying off. He picked up Eri and followed Mina’s lead after she shouted that she knew the way to UA from there, which was very good.

It was very good, at least, until another portal opened directly in front of them, overtaking them before they could dodge. Izuku let out a yelp as he, Eri, and Mina fell through. He felt like he was being swallowed in darkness and spat out again, tumbling onto a hardwood floor. 

He checked that the other two were okay and scanned the room. It was a Western-style kitchen, there were little yellow chairs around a table, a dinky little sink that held dirty and chipped dishes, and- was that a saw on the wall? At least the portal was still open. Izuku wasn’t sure why, but the color of the portal bothered him. It was light pink, with bits of purple swirling around it. But that wasn’t important right now. Would it be a good idea to jump back through, knowing the shadow villain was waiting on the other side? Or was it worse to stay wherever the villain had sent them?

The floor creaked near the doorway. He turned around to see a man wearing boxers and a tank top, “Hey! What are you doing in my house?! And what the heck is that thing?” Taking a page out of Eraserhead’s book, he put himself forward and made sure Mina and Eri stayed behind him.

Mina put up her hands, “We’re sorry, sir, this portal just opened up and pushed us over here.”

“Likely story. Are you here to steal something? Did someone put you up to this? Dang kids. If you’re one of Wendy’s hooligan buddies…”

“What? No!” Izuku, for the second time that day, was very confused. He took a better look at the man. He had a square jaw with a scruff of a beard and wore glasses, slippers, and a fez hat. This man did not look like a villain. “A villain warped us here through a portal. We have to get to UA so we can go home!”

The man folded his arms, “Is that what that pink and purple thing is? It’s not some sort of dark, magical force that eats your soul?” 

“Magical force? No?” Izuku didn’t know what to do. He didn’t fully understand the situation, so of course it would be hard to explain it to a random civilian. Oh. Duh. What were you normally supposed to do in a crisis?

“Wait, maybe we could just call the authorities? I’m pretty sure there’s a detective who has a truth detecting quirk. He can figure out that we’re telling you the truth, get us back to UA, and this whole thing will blow over.”

The man considered that for a moment. And rolled his eyes, “look, I don’t want to be part of whatever weird roleplaying game you’re you've got goin on. And I don’t actually want the cops snooping around here.“ The man stopped.

Someone was coming through the portal. Izuku could see Kurogiri’s eyes lock on him saying, “Do you think you can escape me, Midoriya Izuku? I don’t know what place this is or how you managed to hijack my portal-” Izuku’s gaze hardened. Without thinking, he jumped toward the shadow man and punched him as hard as he could. A capture scarf enveloped the villain, pulling back to the side he came from. Another capture scarf aimlessly latched onto Mina and Eri to pull them back through as well. Izuku readied himself to jump through with them. But before he got the chance, the portal exploded into a pink mist just before the girls could touch it. The capture scarf disappeared as well, causing them to drop to the ground once again. They stared at each other in disbelief.

After a beat, the owner of the house stood, dumbfounded, and said, “Hey, kids? Where did you say you were from?”

——

Stan didn’t know what he expected to happen today, but finding three lost kids in his house was not it. After seeing the portal, he was feeling a lot more open minded about what the colorful haired children had to say. The conversation was very long and very confusing, but it led them to making some important discoveries.

Apparently they were actually from a Japan of an alternate dimension or something. Definitely not from this world. (They decided not to question the breach of language barriers) A dimension where being a superhero was a literal paying job because most people had powers. It explained the interesting hair colors and the girls’ horns. Do all girls have horns in that universe? It had been a shock to the three of them that they couldn’t use those powers here, even having a mini freakout over it. Stan’s mini freak out was finding out that the teen girl’s skin was actually pink and not painted pink. She looked like an alien while the little one was like a unicorn. 

The green haired boy, who actually had a pretty ordinary face, seemed to think it was interesting that their “quirks” didn’t work, while the alien girl went on about her acid not working. Stan wasn’t sure how he felt about a child getting upset about not being able to secrete literal acid whenever she wanted, but other things needed to be addressed first.

“Okay. So. Assuming the shadow guy can’t open another portal here because it sounded like he didn’t know how it opened here in the first place, plus he would’ve attacked us again by now if he could, and the first thing Deku did was punch him, which led to the portal closing…” Alien girl wondered. “What if that means we’re stuck here, in this other reality?”

“If it’s any consolation, that was a decent punch, kid. Next time make sure to keep your other arm up in case you need to block.”

Green-hair’s face turned redder, reminding Stan of a strawberry, “Thank you, sir. I didn’t know what I was doing. I just wanted the villain gone. I figured that the worst thing that could happen would be having to take a train back, or even a plane.”

“I honestly don’t blame you there. I was gearing up to roundhouse him in the face.” Alien girl said, pressing her fist into her palm, making Unicorn laugh. Hah! These were the least annoying children Stan had ever met. Maybe, well, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to have them around the shack, seeing as how they were stuck in his dimension with no money and nowhere else to go. As long as they don’t interrupt him when he’s in front of the tv! 

Stan wondered just how these three ended up in this mess. A question for later he guessed. It was likely he would come to regret the next words that exited his mouth, but he had already made his decision, “It sounds like you kids might be in it for the long haul, which means you’re going to need a place to stay. Now… I don’t mind you being in the attic- But! You’ll have to earn your keep. You hear me?”

“Loud and clear! This is so nice of you, Mister… sir!” Alien girl smiled.

Slightly flustered, Stan rubbed his neck and grumbled, “eh, call me Stan, not Mister.”

The little one tilted her head and asked, “Is Stan a first name or a last name?”

Stan barely registered the question because Greenie’s eyes were all big and starry, “You mean it? You’ll let us stay here until we figure out a way home?”

Stan knew there was no turning back now. Not after seeing that expression. He nodded. The moods of the three were brightened so much that it was hard to look at. “Yes. That is what I suggested and therefore agreed to. I’m handing you the shovels to dig my grave. Guess I’ll need to show ya ‘round. One more thing, Unicorn girl? Don’t think that just because you’re ten I won’t put you to work.”

That earned him a giggle followed by a big smile and little salute. Oh yeah. Stan had made the right decision.

Then it occurred to him that he didn’t know their names yet.

Chapter 2: Dimensional Tourist Trapped

It had been almost a week since landing in the Mystery Shack. No signs of any portals, so Kurogiri must’ve really not been able to create another one to this dimension. Izuku was starting to make up some theories about that. It might’ve had to do with interdimensional travel being difficult. Maybe he was at his limit and Eraserhead captured him but didn’t want to comply with the heroes to get them back in their own dimension. It was also strange to think about where Kurogiri was intending to send them. Izuku was pretty sure it was an accident sending them here. The villain did not seem happy about it. That’s when he remembered that Kurogiri said something about being hijacked, but how would someone do that and why? 

Izuku wasn’t happy with whoever’s fault it was. The first few days were very hard for all three of them. He wanted to go home to his mom. He wanted to see if Kacchan was okay from the slime villain. Eri assured him that Kacchan was safe in the dorms before they went on their outing and that the slime villain had happened to them three years ago. 

That was the other thing. He and Mina had been rewound by several years to the point that they went from good friends to complete strangers, and neither of them knew what that really meant. Izuku felt like he was being surrounded by people he didn’t know. It wasn’t all bad, especially considering that nobody was bullying him. Well, Mr. Pines teased him a lot, but that wasn’t the same thing.

The most frustrating thing about being rewound and sent to another dimension was that he felt like he was leading a double life. But he didn’t know anything about his other life. Eri didn’t like to talk about it. She got quiet every time it was brought up. And there was so much guilt on her face that no one had the heart to push it since day 2. But they all understood that she hated the fact that they weren’t as close as they used to be, so Izuku and Mina made an effort to get to know each other better.

Eri herself was missing Aizawa, which turned out to be Eraserhead, her caretaker. She had told them that he always brushed her hair, and encouraged her artistic abilities, and she loved to make candy apples with him. She was ripped away from her adopted father. He didn’t know why, but she mostly clung to Izuku for support. They must’ve had a lot of history together if she trusted him this much. Izuku really wished he knew what it was.

Mina’s own crisis stemmed from missing her friend, Kirishima. Izuku had a feeling that she liked him a little more than just friends, but he had no intention of touching on that topic. And she was distraught about being unable to use her quirk. It had shocked Izuku too, and he felt really bad for her. She couldn’t produce acid like she was used to, but she still had her horns and everything, which meant that there were several Quirk Theory books he’d read that could be discredited. 

Her appearance, Izuku realized, was probably not normal in a quirkless universe, but so far, no one questioned it. It was like they either didn’t see it, or it didn’t bother them. He knew Stan had seen her pink skin and horns, but he wondered if Soos thought she looked normal, just with pink hair. Izuku would have to investigate this sometime.

It was extremely hard for Mina to lose some of the habits she had with her quirk. Apparently she was used to disintegrating her trash and sliding around floors by using her acid to move around faster. After day 3, she picked herself up and decided that this was now a challenge for the new, quirkless side of her. Izuku was happy for her, but didn’t know what that meant, and was too afraid to ask, especially if that conversation brought up his own non-existent quirk.

Mina had insisted that they call each other by first names since they were in America and were living in the same room with shared trauma. Izuku was fine with that because he’d already been thinking of her as Mina and it would be hard to switch to thinking of her as Ashido. She admitted the same problem with calling him Midoriya.

One morning, Izuku crawled out of bed and found Mr. Pines in the Mystery Shack, bossing around Soos and Wendy, the other employees there. They were nice, Soos being very welcoming and Wendy being okay with whatever.

“I want this place spotless, you hear me?”

Without looking up from her magazine, Wendy pointed a finger gun at him, “you’ve got it, Mr. Pines. Totally clean.” Just then, a shelf that Soos was fixing had one side detach from the wall, spilling all of its contents to the floor. “I would clean that, but the broom is -eh- so far -eh- away.” Wendy said, reaching her hand out like she might be able to use the force on it like a Jedi.

Stan’s expression didn’t change in the slightest, “I’d fire all of you if I could.” he said as walked out of the room.

After Izuku helped Soos throw away broken merchandise and put the display back together, he started washing a weird jar with fake eyeballs in it when Mina ran up to him. She was wearing a bright pink sweater with purple shorts from their small shopping excursion the other day, “Izu! You’re good if I call you that, right?” 

“I mean, Eri does so-“

“Great!” She interrupted. Izuku chuckled to himself about whatever antic she was getting up to, “I need to go out and do something, maybe shop for more clothes. Stan mentioned that the town is really close nearby. I need to explore Gravity Falls. I need to learn the gossip it holds. It’s killing me, Izu! Please say you’ll go with me!”

Izuku smiled at her, “Yeah! I’d love to! Count me in.”

“Yes! You’re the best, thanks, Deku-nii!” She said quickly before escaping to the other room.

“H-hey! Wait, you can’t just say that! Mina! Just because Eri calls me-“ he tried to follow her but smacked into Stan’s back.

“Oh. Perfect, just the child I was looking for. Go hang up these signs in the woods.” Stan said. He dumped a bunch of yellow painted, wooden signs into Izuku’s arms along with a hammer and some nails.

Izuku didn’t want to question the man who was kindly letting them stay in his house, but there was something about this that bothered him. Every time he has had to go in those woods, he felt like he was being watched. “Mr. Pines, are you sure I can't hang them somewhere else? I think there’s something weird going on in those woods. For example, my mosquito bites spell out ‘BEWARE’.” The bites legitimately scared him. 

“That says ‘BEWARB’. And anyways. Don’t go believing all that crazy stuff you hear. Guys like me make all that crap up to rack in bigger cash. So get out there and advertise my respectable establishment.”

As Izuku walked outside, not able to argue with the man, he caught himself mumbling as he considered the effectiveness of the tourist trap industry. He thought about how profitable it really might be, it seems like the kind of field with a lot of potential. But, then again, the Mystery Shack was pretty shabby, no offense to Mr. Pines or anything. All of the living areas had torn wallpaper, damaged floorboards, or old furniture. So either all of that was a choice or the place didn’t actually bring in very much money. Izuku had never traveled to America before, so maybe it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that tourist traps were more profitable depending on the state?

Izuku kept up his mumblestorm, as he hammered the signs to trees.

He was broken out of his thoughts by a metal clang sounding from a new tree he was nailing. He tested it again, and it wasn’t just his imagination, it really was metallic. Curious, he ran his hand over the tin-like bark and discovered a panel that he could open, “woah,” he breathed.

Inside was an old machine, maybe a radio or something, he was completely transfixed. He silently messed with some of the buttons and switches until he heard a sound from behind him. One of the switches opened up a piece of the ground behind him. He cautiously walked over to the hole, feeling like Indiana Jones, discovering secrets. Inside was a dusty, red book. Izuku picked it up and blew on it, creating a cloud of dust in the air.

Now that it was cleared off, he could see a six fingered hand print with the number three on the front cover. He opened it and found a mess of scribbles and blotted ink. He would have to take this back to the shack to have a closer look at it. 

This new mystery excited him! Like Mina, he was also starting to get bored. Normally he would analyze heroes in his spare time. And in this universe, there were only so many games of Monopoly you could play with Mr. Pines before you gave up. A new project was just what he needed.

He finished hanging Stan’s signs and ran back to the shack where Izuku found Mina braiding Eri’s hair in the living room. “Hey, guys! Look what I found!” He pulled the book out from behind his back and showed it to them. Eri grabbed it and flipped through the massive amount of pages.

Mina watched over her shoulder and Izuku sat cross crossed on the floor, explaining how he found it in the ground.

Mina, still holding Eri’s hair as the little girl pointed to some of the pictures, laughed, “This thing is cool! I wonder who wrote this! And how much of it is real! What if this place is actually filled with paranormal stuff? That would be so awesome!”

Izuku looked doubtful, “I don’t know. This morning Mr. Pines told me that stuff’s all made up. And from what I’ve seen of this dimension, everything is pretty ordinary.” He purposefully left out the fact that he had had weird feelings about the woods, trusting that Mr. Pines was right. They wouldn’t be able to call him out on it because they hadn’t really been in the woods yet. Meanwhile, Mr. Pines had sent Izuku to chop wood, and organize a workshop far from the shack, and other random chores that ended up with him alone outside.

Eri turned to a page that lit up her interest. “Hey, look at this one! What does that say?”

“Gnomes,” Mina read, “‘They normally live in trees that can be identified by glowing mushrooms. Gnomes have good relationships with forest creatures, especially squirrels. And they love talking about politics.’ Huh. That’s interesting. I wonder if the person who wrote it was making up ideas for a novel. I love fantasy books!”

“Can I see?” Eri turned it around and sure enough Izuku could see a few drawings surrounded by notes. It reminded him of his hero analysis journals. Maybe… it was a journal like his. Izuku himself has tried his hand at writing a fantasy novel and the structure is very different from a note taking journal. He took it and flipped to the beginning pages, “‘June 18th, It’s hard to believe it has been six years since I began researching the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon.’ I don’t think this is for a novel. I think this is real,” Izuku mumbled.

Eri’s mouth dropped open, “So, do you think the little gnomes really are in the forest? Can we go find them?”

Izuku looked at Mina who said, “Yeah! I wanted to go into town, but we can do that later. Today, let’s go find the little bearded men!”

Eri cheered, “Yay!”

Izuku wasn’t completely sure about this, but smiled anyway, “And even if we don’t find them, at least we’ll be more familiar with the woods.”  

“That’s the spirit, Deku!” Mina shouted. 

 

That's how they found themselves wandering the forest. Mina excitedly ran around, pointing out different flowers or birds they came across. Eri tried her best to follow her, but got distracted, climbing up rocks and balancing across fallen logs. Izuku lagged behind a bit, going between watching them and studying the journal, scanning for anything else about glowing mushrooms or gnomes.

He had just read a small passage about the mushrooms glowing a different color depending on the phase of the moon when something felt off. He looked up and realized what it was. He was alone. He turned around in a full circle, there was no one there.

“Eri! Mina! Where did you go?”

In the distance he heard Eri shout back his name, but it sounded more like a small echo. He immediately took off in that direction, hoping to catch up with them. But he somehow ended up back at the shack. Eri and Mina both shouted for him again, much more distant than before and definitely deeper into the woods. 

 At that moment, Wendy drove by in a golf cart, “Hey, dude. What’s up?”

“I lost Mina and Eri in the woods. We were exploring and I turned around and they were gone! I keep hearing them but I haven’t found them and I’m worried!” Izuku quickly explained. As if on cue, they both heard a small “help!” echo through the trees

It took only a second before Wendy’s face darkened in understanding. “Get in,” she demanded. And Izuku practically jumped into the passenger seat. Izuku really hoped the others were okay. Surely Mina could take care of them until he and Wendy could get to them. But what in the world could’ve happened? One second they were with him, the next they were gone. 

Wendy drove them away at a terrifying speed for a golf cart. Izuku should’ve put on a seatbelt for all of the small jumps and sharp corners they took. He almost fell off multiple times but clung tight, hoping just to survive Wendy’s driving. Eventually, they went down a steep slope into a tunnel that led to a cavernous area with walls of tightly woven trees and dotted with glowing mushrooms. Inside, Izuku was able to see the girls, they were surrounded by gnomes in red hats. Wendy slammed the brakes, drifting the cart into the chaos. Izuku was flung out, and landed next to Mina in a heap.

“Nice of you to drop in. Turns out, gnomes are not cool! They’re little buttfaces.” She punched one in the face, “They’re trying to kidnap Eri. Something about them wanting a Princess Peach and making me her lady in waiting?”

One gnome stood on a rock and grinned, “Yep! She’s going to be our princess for all eternity! Isn’t that right?” He turned to Eri who had a rope tied around her, pinning her arms to her sides.

She yelled up at him, “No way, you guys are jerks! Deku-nii!”

The gnome looked confused, “What in the world is a De-“ Wendy hit the guy with a shovel, where she got it from, Izuku didn’t know. It sent the gnome flying to the other side of the cavern.

Izuku sprung into action, leaping over gnomes to get to Eri, “Don’t worry! I am here!” He might’ve thrown in a little bit of his All Might impression by accident. 

“Deku!” She yelled happily. 

He vaguely heard the gnome groan, “that guy?” But he was focused on reaching the girl. He didn’t even take the time to untie her. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder in his best fireman’s carry and ran back to the golf cart. Now Mina was in the driver’s seat with Wendy right next to her, fending off gnomes with the shovel.

Izuku hopped onto the back, dropping Eri into his lap, “Get us out of here!” he yelled, and Mina floored it. She didn’t know where she was going, just taking them away from the hoards of gnomes.

All he could do was brace himself with one hand on the cart with the other hand holding tight to Eri.

After a minute, Mina let out a laugh, “We might be okay now. There’s no way their tiny little feet could catch up to us.” Izuku couldn’t help but agree with her.

That didn’t last very long.

Behind them came large stomps, coming closer and closer until they could see a massive gnome chasing them. The gnomes had all stacked on top of each other to create a terrifyingly giant monster. How was that even possible? Then it started shooting gnomes at them like little missiles. Izuku could only watch as one soared through the air, aiming to land on him. He let out a startled scream. Wendy thrusted her shovel in front of his face and whacked the gnome before it could reach him. Izuku was left a little shell-shocked but Eri turned around and smiled, “Thanks Wendy!” 

“Don’t mention it, kid,” she said, then looked back up, “incoming!”

He, Eri, and Mina all watched as she flipped herself on top of the golf cart while still holding the shovel. She took a defensive stance and, with the skill Izuku had only seen in pro heroes, blocked all of the gnomes.

Eventually the monster gave up trying to get past Wendy. To Izuku’s horror, its next tactic was to pull a tree out of the ground and throw it like a javelin.

“Mina! Mina! Tree!” He shouted.

“There are a lot of trees, Izuku!” She huffed, but she turned around to look back and see what he was looking at, just as the pine gracefully soared over them. It crashed ahead of them, blocking their path, “I’ve got it!” Mina assured them, speeding underneath a small gap between the tree and the ground.

With that crisis avoided, Izuku heard Wendy angrily say, “That is it. ” and watched as she leapt off of the golf cart. She was like a small, red headed, girl version of All Might as she flew through the air, stabbing the shovel into the monster’s chest and easily jumping back down and out of the way of the creature. It was amazing, but the thing kept running at them, completely unbothered. Wendy shouted something but Izuku couldn’t hear what she said.

They broke through the tree line and found themselves back at the shack. Mina accidentally drove the cart into a slick patch of mud. The tires spun out of control and they swerved around until it finally fell over, causing Izuku and Eri to be thrown across the yard. He squeezed his eyes and held her tight, trying to protect her head as they landed hard on the ground.

When he opened his eyes again he saw that they were both covered in leaves and caked in mud. A second later, the gnomes caught up to them. Izuku painfully stood back up. He rubbed his shoulder that took the brunt of the fall. His arm would definitely bruise, and it would need to be put back in its socket. He stood in front of Eri who grabbed onto the back of his shirt.

The head gnome grinned, “There’s nowhere to run. So, why don’t you just come back into the forest with us, princess?” Seriously. Who did these guys think they were? Izuku didn’t understand what exactly they wanted, but he knew he had to protect Eri, whether or not he was her older brother, which he also didn’t understand.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mina, sneaking to grab something sitting next to the Mystery Shack. She definitely had a plan. Izuku would have to buy her time. Eri must’ve seen her too. She looked up at Izuku with determination. It looked like Eri would actually be buying them time. She stepped out from behind him.

“Alright, Toads! Listen to me! I will go back into the Mushroom Kingdom with you.” Where was she going with this? “However, as the Princess Peach, I will need a worthy companion. So, I will be taking Luigi back with us!” She exclaimed, gesturing to Izuku. There was something about this he wasn’t understanding. Who was Luigi? Was the Mushroom Kingdom back in that cavern? What was actually happening?

The lead gnome crawled his way down from the top of the gnome monster. He came up in front of them with a happy grin, “Well, hot dog! You won’t regret this, Princess!” He turned to Izuku and his smile became more forced, “It’s good to have you aboard, Luigi. Even if you aren’t as cool as Mario.”

Eri glared, “Ahem! I do not like the way you are talking about my Luigi. The least you could do is shake his hand.” Izuku didn’t want to shake the gnome's hand, but Eri nodded towards Mina. She was holding a leaf blower, giving him a thumbs up. Alright. He could do this.

Izuku crouched down and the gnome stepped toward him, reluctantly holding out a hand. Izuku took it with his good arm that wasn’t throbbing in pain and shook vigorously, whispering, “You don’t like me? Well, guess what? Luigi doesn’t like you either!” and he threw the gnome at Mina who activated the leaf blower and sucked up the little guy in it. “That was for chasing us,” 

Mina upped the intensity of the leaf blower so the gnome was painfully stuck in it, “This is for throwing trees.”

She pressed a different button, “And this is for kidnapping Eri!” She shot the gnome out of the leaf blower like a shirt out of a tshirt cannon. He was launched straight into the tower of gnomes, making them all painfully crash on the ground. Some immediately ran, others were disoriented first before running, but they all scattered to the winds. It didn’t take long before they were all gone.

They all breathed for a moment, hardly believing that all of that had actually happened. Then Wendy came barreling through the trees, “Where are the little gremlins? Are you guys alright?”

Eri perked up, “Yep! Deku and Mina kicked gnome butt! You should’ve seen them! Izu threw it and it was like ‘Aaahhhh,’ then Mina came in and sucked it up with the blower. And then Mina was like, ‘this is for being a total jerk,’ and shot it out like a freaking bazooka! And then they all ran away! It was so cool.”

Wendy settled back into the same chill posture she normally had, smiling “Wow! That sounds pretty sick. Good job you guys.”

Izuku rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, I’m not sure how much I actually helped. Mina was the real hero.”

Mina punched his hurt arm, he winced and she didn’t notice, “No, don’t sell yourself short. Earlier, when you picked up Eri and literally jumped into the golf cart, that was totally cool, dude!” Izuku laughed in pain, still rubbing his arm.

Wendy came over and ruffled both of their hair, “Nice work you guys. Yeah, once you fend off the gnomes once, they typically don’t bother you again.”

Izuku was confused, he turned and saw the other two were confused as well. Eri asked, “How do you know that?”

“Oh, yeah a couple years back they stacked up and pretended to be a man named Norman. They tried marrying me to make me their queen. I just drop kicked him and they never bothered me again.”

Izuku’s jaw dropped. Mina on the other hand, grabbed Wendy’s face, “you mean to tell me that you knew about those things and you didn’t tell us?”

“Yes? Guys, you gotta understand. Gravity Falls is weird. I can’t think of anywhere else in the world that can even compare.” Wendy said. She made it sound like a simple fact. It was completely different from what Mr. Pines had told him before. He wouldn’t confront the man about it, but it was interesting to see how different Wendy’s take was on all of this.

She walked closer to him and, without a word, popped his shoulder back into place. He screamed, but it felt so much better. 

Wendy and Izuku pushed the golf cart back up from where it fell over, but then they had to get it out of the mud. Izuku got behind and pushed while Wendy pressed the gas. They eventually got it unstuck, but Izuku was completely drenched in mud. Wendy told the group that she had to go home because it was the end of her shift, but, looking at the time, he suspected that she was lying a little. After their little adventure, he couldn’t blame her. He couldn’t wait to get in the shower. 

Eri waved to Wendy, “See you later!”

Tired and beat, the three of them walked into the Mystery Shack, trudging along like soldiers after battle. Mr. Pines looked up from where he was counting money, he immediately took notice of the leaves sticking to Mina’s sweater, Eri’s completely tarnished braids, and the mud that Izuku was surely tracking through the house. “Woah. You kids get hit by a bus or something?” When they didn’t respond, he set down the money with a bit of a panicked look on his face, “Look, wouldn’t you know it, I completely overstocked the shack today. So, uh, why don’t you hoodlums each pick something out?”

Mina’s expression changed in a snap, “Wait. Really? We can choose anything we want, and we can actually keep it?”

“Yeah, yeah. Now hurry it up before I change my mind.” He grumbled.

Mina beelined it for the back corner of the shop. Izuku was curious to see what she had been wanting. Two seconds later, she triumphantly held up her prize, “Grappling hook!”

Eri stared at her in awe while Izuku just chuckled. He hadn’t known what he was expecting, but it wasn’t that. Mina shot it and it crashed into something, probably breaking whatever it was. A twinge of guilt crossed her face and she said, “I’ll fix that later,” before running upstairs.

Mr. Pines blinked, “Yup, I should’ve just changed my mind. Oh well. What about you two? What do you want? Hopefully nothing too destructive.”

After a couple minutes of deciding, Eri ended up with a nice looking film camera, while Izuku got himself a neat little, yellow pen with an orange question mark on it, reminiscent of the Mystery Shack itself. It had a black light with invisible ink, a flashlight, and it could change between three different colors. He mostly wanted it because, now that he had something he could analyze, his hands had been itching to start scribbling down his thoughts.

Mr. Pines raised an eyebrow at him, “You could’ve picked anything in my gift shop and you chose a pen?”

Izuku stammered, “W-well it looked pretty nice and I don’t really need anything. I kind of like the simplicity of it.”

He considered him before giving up, “Eh, you do you, Deku.”

Hearing the nickname made him fumble a little before letting out a small thanks. He didn’t know why Mr. Pines insisted on calling him that. Eri had said it a few times, but it seemed so natural coming from her. When anyone else said it back home, that meant Kacchan wasn’t around and one of his bullies was about to punch him. Izuku would never let Kacchan know that a nickname that was once a term of endearment got turned into something completely different. So every time Mr. Pines, Mina, Soos, or Wendy called him Deku, it made him trip, or drop whatever he was holding, or just get flustered. He wished he didn’t.

He made his way to the shower to wash away the massive amount of mud on him. These people had no bad intentions from calling him Deku. To them it was just something they’d heard Eri say, and decided to use it too. Mr. Pines seemed to use it at the most opportune moments. Izuku didn’t know why or how. It must be one of the man’s talents. Sometimes it felt like the universe, whether this one or his own, hated him.

His thoughts drifted through the events of his day as he felt dirt wash away from him under the warm faucet.

Chapter 3: Fishing for Gobblewonkers

Mina was bored again. It didn’t take too long after the whole gnome thing. They had visited the town a couple times since then, but they didn’t really explore. And, sure they’d had a mini shopping trip to the store when they first got here, but Stan only let them stick around long enough to grab a few clothes and other essentials before shoving them in the car and back to the shack. It was awful. But at least she was able to find a cute sweater! 

She had also made sure Izu and Eri chose good clothes too. She was not about to let them be seen in anything she didn’t deem worthy. For example, Izu toyed with the idea of wearing one of the yellow question mark shirts from the Mystery Shack’s gift shop. She vetoed that idea faster than he could comprehend. She also denied even a single thought about the puma shirt… or was it a panther shirt? Either way, it was a big no! Mina grabbed a handful of much better shirts and marched him to the dressing room. 

Eri ended up with a couple overall dresses that went down to her knees. She just got one of each color. Mina wasn’t thrilled about it, but the girl could make her own decisions as she was discovering her style. Where Izu would not be allowed to be left to his own devices, Eri was given space to learn how to be herself. Mina knew this was for the best.

The next morning, when she went downstairs, Mina was hit with an amazingly delicious smell. She ran to the kitchen, sliding into her spot at the table, “What’s for breakfast, Stan?”

Stan, who had been standing at the stove, was not prepared for the pink haired teen to suddenly run into the room. He jumped, almost dropping the skillet from his hand, “Geez, kid. Whatever happened to ‘Good morning’?”

Hungry and impatient, she said, “Good morning. What’s for breakfast, Stan?”

“I swear, Mina. You will be the death of me.”

Eri walked in with a mischievous smile on her face, “Haha! That's what Aizawa says about Izu. He always calls him ‘Problem Child’.” she said, climbing up next to Mina at the table.

Stan chuckled, “Wow. That's a good one, I oughta use it. Hmm, but I don’t see why he would be the Problem Child.”

Mina shrugged. She didn’t know either. This whole time she had been getting to know him, Izu was very kind and respectful. In fact, he tended to want to avoid problems, always doing what he was told without talking back, helping take care of Eri, and following all the rules (not that there really were any). She looked over at Eri to ask if she knew where the nickname came from, but the look on that little girl’s face said it all. Deku had a dark side. Oh, ho, ho, Mina would need to get to the bottom of this.

That’s when Izu walked in, wearing a white tshirt and dark green cargo shorts. It wasn’t perfect, but she felt that it suited him much better than his other choices. She nodded to herself in satisfaction. Izu took his seat, “Good morning! What are you making, Mr. Pines?”

For some reason, he wasn’t comfortable calling Stan by his first name. Mina didn’t understand it, but she tried her best not to pry.

Stan dramatically waved a spatula in the air, “Finally! Somebody in this house with good manners!”

Mina snorted, “Says the man who walks around without pants.”

He ignored her, “Well, Deku, I am making pancakes and eggs. There’s a lot here, so I expect you to eat a lot.”

Izu said, “R-right. That sounds delicious!” That was the other thing, he also wasn’t comfortable with Stan calling him Deku. She didn’t know why. Sure it wasn’t the nicest nickname, but Mina thought it’s meaning was more like, “you can do it,” instead of “useless.” She thought the other translation that meant “a wooden doll” was kind of cute too. It just came off as very innocent, like the little plant creatures from Legend of Zelda. He was obviously totally fine whenever Eri said the name. Stan had noticed this too. Mina had to roll her eyes at him, always saying Deku to get a reaction out of the poor kid. She knew Stan thought it was funny. She couldn’t disagree. It was funny, but slightly insensitive too. Oh well, it would probably just help Izu get a tougher skin.

“I love pancakes!” Eri said, pounding a fist with a fork in it on the table. When did she grab a fork?

Mina threw in her two bits, “Me too. It’s my favorite American breakfast. I’m not sure how many I can eat though. Good thing there’s a growing teenage boy in the house.”

It turned out, she was right about Izuku eating a lot. When they got their food, Izu got up again for seconds and thirds, piling the plate each time. They all watched him guzzle it down. He made sure there were no leftovers.

When all of them but Izu were finished, Stan announced, “All right, kids, I’ve been thinkin’… I had this old tradition in my family that I- uh was hoping you might be interested in. Of course, I wouldn’t make ya, I just haven’t been able to do this for a while.”

“What’s the tradition?” Eri asked.

Stan grinned, “It’s called ‘Family Fun Day’. We’d just be cuttin’ off work and having one of those… bonding type deals.”

Izu almost choked on an egg, but Mina slapped his back to get it out before he could.

When they were all assured he was fine, Stan smacked him upside the head, “If you have to so rudely gag at what I have to say, you should at least swallow first.”

Mina decided to laugh about that later in light of the conversation, “What exactly would a family bonding day look like with our little crew? We aren’t exactly all that close, other than Eri who still has her memories.” She quickly turned to Eri and added, “I’m not blaming you. I am simply making a point. What I mean to say is, Stan, you have captured my curiosity and I wanna see where you’re going with this.”

“The point of it is that none of us are that close. We’re all living under the same roof.“ the old man got a little fidgety like he thought he was asking a lot from them, “So I thought it would be good for everyone. It’ll make you official, honorary members of the Pines family!”

Mina thought about it. Who knew how long they would be staying here. It could be another week, a month, or even a year. As much as she hated to admit it, she had the feeling there was a possibility that they would never make it back to their own universe. So, maybe Stan had a point. Maybe they should actually start bonding with each other. She made eye contact with Izu and she knew he was on the same page.

With a nervous looking smile, Izu asked Stan, “Alright. What did you have in mind?”

“Put on these blindfolds and get in the car!”

 

It turned out that Stan actually did have a day planned out.

She took off her blindfold and was a little mad to see that they wouldn’t be exploring the town today either. But this would still be great!

“A lake! Gravity Falls has a lake! Yes! This is gonna be so fun! Oh, but we don't have swimsuits. Stan, are we going to buy swimsuits? Man, I’ve always wanted to do a lake day!” Mina said excitedly.

Stan took a second to process what she had said. Mina understood, he was a little old. After he thought about it, he snapped his finger, “You know what, Mina? Yes. Let’s go get those, but we shouldn’t take too long. The whole town is out here for the first day of fishing season.”

Eri gasped, “We’re going fishing? I’ve never done that before! It sounds so fun! Ooh! Then can we play on the beach later?”

Stan ruffled her hair, “Sure thing, kid. Deku, you have anything to add?”

“Well… I think this’ll be fun! Maybe we could buy lunches in town to eat while we’re on the lake?”

Mina laughed, “How can you think about food after packing away all of those pancakes?”

Izu didn’t back down, “I’ll be hungry later.”

“That’s some good thinking, kid. Everyone back in the car!”

They ended up getting some pretty fun swimsuits from a little store in town. So, in the end, Mina was still able to see a bit of the town today.

They grabbed some deli sandwiches for lunch and Eri made Stan buy cherries to go with it. They changed into their swimsuits in the dinky grocery store bathroom before hopping back in the car to the lake.

Mina jumped out of the car the second it stopped again. This was going to be so fun! Stan walked them over to his little fishing boat, and as they were getting in, she decided to scope out the crowd of people that apparently made up a good chunk of the town. There were no cute boys. Dang! But there certainly were a lot of interesting characters. She saw a woman trying to coax the fish to get in a frying pan, a man falling off of the dock while getting a picture taken, and a family of redheads chanting for their dad who was punching a fish to death. Next to them, an old hillbilly man started shouting, “I seen it! I seen it again!” And went off about the Gobblewonker, a lake monster that lived by the island.

Stan rolled his eyes, “Don’t pay attention to Mcgucket. I’m not sure if he’s had a working brain since I got here.” This place was wild. She decidedly loved Gravity Falls. The energy here was so different and had its own crazy vibe. She could get used to this.

Once Mina and Eri were in the boat, Izu struggled to get in while holding all of the fishing gear. Eri pulled out her camera she got from the Mystery Shack and snapped a picture as the boy fell into the boat.

Stan just laughed at him, making no move to help out. That was looking like Stan’s go-to move. Don’t get her wrong though, all three kids were laughing too. Mina grabbed the fishing rods and tackle box from him so he could sit up on the seat. Stan untied the boat from the dock and got in with them. When he finished laughing, Stan said, “I brought the joke book, but it looks like we won’t need it. Great going, Deku.”

Izu’s expression turned to a confused smile, “Thanks? I think?” Mina shared a look with Eri. 

Then, she patted his shoulder and gave him an encouraging smile, “It’s okay. Somebody has to be the comedic relief.”

The morning was spent teaching the three of them how to bait a hook, how to release the line, and reel it up. After an hour Izuku caught three fish and Mina caught one. With the help and expertise of Stan, Eri got five. Stan used Eri’s camera to get a picture of all three of them holding up their fish. Eri was really loving that camera. It was adorable! Stan complained how expensive the film was going to be when she needed more, but he was still smiling. Mina saw her taking pictures of ducks by the edge of the lake, Stan hooking more bait, and even a photo of a couple in a nearby boat getting engaged.

Mina cooed at the newly engaged couple and clapped and cheered. A few other boats also joined in celebrating for them.

Later, Soos came by to say hi in his own boat. It was fancier than Stan’s and looked like it would be fun for water skiing or something. She would definitely be asking him about it later, but right now it was lunch.

“Hey, Eri-Cherry, do you think you could pass me my sandwich?”

Izuku asked, “Eri-Cherry? Is that a new nickname?”

Mina nodded, “It rhymes and I think it’s cute. Do you like it, Eri?”

The girl meekly smiled and said, “I do! I haven’t had a nickname before!”

“Well I think this one suits you,” Izu said decidedly, making Eri’s smile widen. Mina had noticed that anything Izuku liked, Eri liked. It was like his word was law or he was a k-pop idol and she was his adoring fan. Mina really wanted to know why that was. She didn’t act that way toward anyone else but him. Was there anyone in their universe maybe? She had heard Eri mention her dad, Aizawa, a few times, it would only make sense if she followed every word her adopted father would say.

As they were eating, Mina decided this was the perfect opportunity to get to know the town. “Hey, Stan? Who’s that lady over there?”

“Who, what? Oh. That’s Lazy Susan. She runs the diner.”

“Lazy Susan? Is that because of her eye?” Izuku asked.

Stan cringed, “Sure is. Everyone goes to the diner sometimes. They have good pancakes.”

“They can’t be better than yours, Mr. Pines,” Izuku smiled, patting his stomach.

“Hey. Flattery will get you nowhere,” Stan said very seriously before grinning again, “Unless it’s to me. I’ll take you out to get ice cream for that one.”

Eri exclaimed, “I want ice cream!”

“Nope! Sorry kid, but Deku beat you to it. You want some, you’ll have to butter me up tomorrow.”

She pouted but quickly got over it. Their conversation slowed down as a thick fog washed over them. They drifted deeper into it, until everything suddenly felt very unsettling. Mina spoke softly, “What’s happening? It was sunny today.”

Stan answered, “Hmm, if I remember right, this is Scuttlebutt Island.”

“There’s an island on this lake? I didn’t even see it before.” Izu said.

“That’s because it is always covered in fog. You never see it until you’re on it.” There was a small scraping sound and the boat lurched, making them jump in surprise. “We’re on it now.” Stan said, plainly.

They all got out of the boat and onto soft sand with patches of tall grass. Everything around them was still coated in a bright white fog, but Mina could still make out the shapes of trees. Spooky. “Stan! Can we explore the island? Please!” Mina begged.

Stan shrugged and she cheered, wandering into the fog. Izu followed but Eri stayed behind, saying that it was too creepy. As they got further in, there was more vegetation. The island was oddly silent, making Mina wonder if there were any birds or animals here or not. The place seemed so empty. Mina and Izu came across a wooden sign that said Scuttlebutt Island on it, and she had an idea, “Izu, check this out!” She started snickering as she walked up to the sign and covered up the word Scuttle.

“It’s Butt Island!” She shouted.

Izu laughed good-naturedly, and Mina threw herself into a cackling fit. They wandered around the island until they found a cool cove on the other side. Mina climbed up the tall boulders around the water, Izuku walked the shore line, letting the waves wash over his feet.

“Hmm, do you think it would be okay if I jumped into the water from here?” Mina questioned.

Izuku put a finger to his chin, “It’s hard to tell with the fog. If you want, I could swim over there and check it out.”

“You would do that? Aw, you’re so good to me.”

He smiled up at her, “what are friends for?” As Izuku swam around for a safe spot for her to jump, he wondered, “Do you remember what that crazy old guy was saying about a monster earlier?”

Mina sat on the boulder, kicking her legs over the side, “That McBucket dude?”

“McGucket. He called it a Gobblewonker. I can’t help but think if he was telling the truth or not.”

“Is that what you’ve been thinking about all day?” He had seemed a little bit spacey, so it made sense that something like a lake monster was on his mind.

“I’m just saying, the journal was right about the gnomes. Who knows what else is in this weird town?”

“You’re probably right. Does the book say anything about a ‘gobblewonker’?”

“I haven’t been able to read the whole thing yet.”

“Well, when you’re done, I want to read it too. That way if we ever come across a vampire or ghost or something, we’ll know what to do.”

“That’s a good point! I’ll be sure to give it to you when I’m done.” He paused and looked around the water, “I think you’re clear to jump on this side. Just go out a ways. It’s a little cold, but not too bad.” 

Without hesitation, Mina stood up and jumped, cannonballing right next to Izuku so he was soaked. That led to a splashing war, then the two of them raced up the rocks to have a jumping contest. She felt like she could spend hours playing in the water like this.

 

——

 

Eri didn’t like this island very much. It was unsettling. Once they’d landed and Deku and Mina wandered off, she walked along the sand with Stan. She liked Stan. He acted like he was mean, but he was really a big softy, kind of like her dad. He was also goofy, always making weird jokes. Eri felt comfortable around him after the first week in Gravity Falls. But it was a hard week.

At night, when she was sure the others were asleep, she had silently cried. She missed home. But, more than that, she felt like this whole thing was her fault. If Eri had only been able to control her quirk, Deku and Mina wouldn’t have gotten shrunk into their younger bodies and they wouldn’t have fallen through the strange pink portal that must not have actually belonged to Kurogiri, but someone else. Even just thinking about it now, her eyes were getting watery. She saw Stan glance over at her as she was attempting to discreetly wipe her eyes.

“Hey, little bugger, is something wrong? It’s not my body spray, is it? The store worker told me that it was a good one. Never should’ve trusted that guy. He had a tattoo with his cat’s name on it.” Stan shuddered.

Eri looked up at him and she realized she wasn’t laughing. It was funny, but she wasn't smiling. Stan realized that too. Her face drooped deeper. It only happened every once in a while, but it was terrifying each time. She couldn’t smile.

Back home, they never knew exactly when or why moments like this happened, but it usually had to do with her quirk and remembering times she’s lost control of it or the memories of Chisaki. But every time it was like she forgot how to smile again. It was an awful feeling, sort of like a panic attack.

She was spiraling and was only able to shake it off when Stan was kneeling in front of her with his giant hands on her shoulders. “Kid, Eri, you with me? Hey, I don’t know what to do here, so it’d be nice if you snapped out of it and explained what’s happening.” He sounded worried.

Her eyes focused on him again and she took in his expression. His eyebrows were pinched together and his mouth formed a tight line. She looked back down at her feet and apologized, “I’m sorry, that happens sometimes. It’s been so long, but then everything happened and I-“ she hiccuped and she felt a tear run down the side of her face.

“How’s about we sit over there and you can explain what the heck is going on.” It was the kindest she had heard him so far. He walked her over to a driftwood log to sit on. There was no escaping this. So she would need to decide how she wanted this to go. She trusted Stan. But could she really say what she’d been thinking? She decided yes. She could.

“We didn’t tell you the full story of how we got sent here by the shadow villain. It’s all my fault. It was my quirk. I don’t like my quirk.”

“Your superpower thingamajig?”

She nodded, “We were running away and I accidentally used my quirk on Deku and Mina. They were rewound by a few years. They didn’t know who I was anymore, or each other. They had been classmates for all three years of high school, they fought villains together. Their class always hung out with me. Mina would make up stories with me and paint my nails. Deku and I discovered an 8 bit Super Mario game and played it a lot. And just like that, it’s all gone. They are younger now. I mean, Deku is shorter and his arms have no muscle. And I can’t fix it! That's how we fell through the portal so easily. If it weren’t for me, they would have easily kept us safe.”

Stan took a minute to let that soak in. There was more she could say about Deku being her older brother because Aizawa had also adopted him. It would break Izuku’s heart to learn the truth about his mom. Eri never got to meet the woman, but she had gone with Izu a few times to visit the grave. She could also talk about Mina deciding to be her “pseudo sister” the second they met. And she had the urge to talk about all of the pain her quirk caused when it was being used for those blood bullets. It all added up so fast and she didn’t know what to do with any of it.

“Wow, so… you’re saying that the other two really are supposed to be graduating high school? But your superpower did some sort of voodoo, fountain of youth crap on them.” He scratched the top of his head, “You’re pretty strong, aren’t you?”

She gave him a confused look. And he leveled it with a look of his own, a sincere smile crossed his lip. “Yep! You are. Man, if that had happened to me, I would’ve gone out and done something stupid to blow off steam, probably get arrested. But look at you, I’ve only seen you smiling up til now. That means you’re tough,” he lightly punched her shoulder. “And ya know what, I think you’ll be able to figure it out. Yeah, it’s sad that you lost a lot of the time you spent with Mina and Deku, but that means that you have the chance to do it all over again. The way I look at it, you have the perfect chance to mess with them. Tell them lies about the future. It could be fun! I’ll even help you!” 

She sniffled and sprang her arms around his side, “Thanks Stan.”

He froze, but relaxed into the hug, patting her back, “Call me Grunkle Stan.”

“Ok.”

 

After a little while of collecting snail shells on the beach of the island, Eri spotted something out on the water. She grabbed Stan’s sleeve and pointed, “Grunkle Stan, what is that?”

He squinted into the fog and walked closer to it. She followed him. In front of them was an old, broken boat covered in beavers.

She put her hands on her face, “Aww they’re so cute! They’re like a little family.”

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” Stan grumbled.

She fumbled and pulled out her camera. Stan just stood there with his arms crossed while she snapped a few pictures of the beavers playing or floating around. Eri thought it was the most adorable thing ever. So naturally, the beavers became her favorite animal.

“Izu and Mina are missing this! What do you think they’re doing?”

Before Grunkle Stan could respond, there was a loud roar and through the fog Eri could make out a tree toppling over, crashing to the ground. Speak of the devils, Izuku and Mina came barreling through the forest, “Get in the boat! Now!” Izu shouted at them.

There was another roar and Eri froze in place. A giant monster emerged from the fog. It had glowing yellow eyes, a really long neck and dark green scales. She stared up at it in horror and barely registered when someone picked her up and carried her back to the boat. They started up the motor after a few tries and a lot of panicking. Once it was working, the boat shot off like a jet, tearing through the water. The lake monster kept chasing them.

“What is that hideous thing?” Stan yelled.

“The Gobblewonker!” Mina and Deku both shouted back.

Stan just said, “Huh. I guess I owe one of my poker buddies twenty bucks.”

“Later!” Mina said and shoved Grunkle Stan aside so she could drive the boat. She wove through the crowds of fishing boats on the lake, some of them getting overturned by the monster. Eri glanced at Izuku, he was frantically thumbing through a travel size version of the journal that he’d been working on. He was a fast writer and had gotten a lot of it done. So she wasn’t surprised when he found whatever he was looking for. She was surprised when he said, “Mina, go through that waterfall!”

“What?! Did you just say through ?!”

“Yes!”

She looked unsure, but Stan interrupted, “It’s getting closer, decide now. Either die by crashing or by getting caught.” 

Mina took one more look at Deku and nodded to him. She sharply turned the boat toward the waterfall on the cliff side of the lake. For a second, Eri thought she’d fall out, but Deku grabbed her by the back of her shirt and pulled her back in.

Mina sped up the boat and they all screamed as they went through the waterfall. But they didn’t die! The boat was driven onto a little patch of land inside of a dark cave. Eri breathed a sigh of relief. They were safe. She tensed up again as the Gobblewonker tried to get through the cave entrance, but it got itself stuck in the entrance. It tried to wiggle out, but it was in there really good.

Stan put his hands on his hips, “Hope this isn’t gonna scar any of you for the rest of your lives.” But he turned to see Mina jumping onto Izu in a hug while the teen laughed. With a blank expression, Eri silently took out her camera and caught a few pictures of them and of the Gobblewonker, then shoved it back in the mysterious place behind her back that seemed to store it very well, like a cartoon character. It was something weird about this dimension that she chose not to question.

Stan smirked at the scene and seemed to shrug it off easily. The Gobblewonker made a wrong move and the cave shook. They covered their heads as bits of dust and rock fell on top of them. A large chunk of rock startled Eri as she watched it drop onto the Gobblewinker’s head. She shrieked. It might’ve been a big scary monster, but she wasn’t heartless.

Mina peeled herself from Izuku’s side and walked towards it, “That’s weird. Did you guys see it sizzle? No? just me?” Eri didn’t know what she was talking about. Mina hopped down from where they stood, landing on its flipper.

“Careful, kid,” Stan reprimanded.

She looked up at him and smiled, “Don’t worry about me. I’m an amazing gymnast.” To prove it, she effortlessly hoisted herself onto the monster’s back with a small flip to right herself. She landed in a professional pose and turned around to give them a dramatic bow.

“Woah! That was amazing Mina,” Izuku praised. Eri could tell that his mind was now going a mile a minute, no doubt thinking about how gymnastics would help with hero work.

Eri, on the other hand, had seen far more impressive feats from the other girl and was not impressed. “If you thought that was cool, you should see her most recent hip hop routine.”

Mina looked confused, “How do you know abo- oh, right. I forgot about the whole rewind thing.” She said, then walked around the monster until she found something, “Guys, uh… The old Bucket guy is inside of this thing.”

Eri heard a sad voice, “Aw, fiddlesticks.” Mina and the crazy old man walked out, back toward them. He was sulking while Mina glared at him with a disapproving look. 

Gunkle Stan looked surprised, “McGucket?”

“That’s right, I done built this here robot myself.”

Izuku’s face scrunched up, “Why would you do that? You made yourself look crazy in front of the whole town. And you chased us around the lake!”

He lowered his head, “I know. I was just wanting some attention. My son won’t give me the time of day. So I figure I might as well build a giant mechanical aquatic robot to get him to pay attention.”

Eri whispered, “That’s sad.” And Stan patted her on the back.

McGucket didn’t hear her. But he picked his mood back up again and swung his arms, “Welp! Time to get to work on my death ray!” And he disappeared back into the body of the robotic Gobblewonker.

“Come on kids, let’s just… forget this ever happened and get back on the lake.”

Eri shrugged, “okay. Let’s go, Grunkle Stan.”

As they walked back to the boat, Eri saw Izuku mouthing the word “Grunkle?” and Mina shrugged, giving him a look that meant she didn’t know either. Eri giggled.

 

The rest of the day was spent doing mostly legal fishing activities, watching Stan try to teach Mina how to tie a knot with her eyes closed, and competing with each other to catch the biggest fish. Izu won. The fish was about two feet long.

Stan exclaimed, “Not bad, kid. Someday you’ll be catchin’ 9lb fish, like me.”

The teen questioned him, “Stan, I don’t think you’ve caught anything that big in your life.”

“How would you know?” The man asked, choosing not to draw attention to the thing that they were all thinking. Izuku had just called him Stan for the first time all week! Eri smiled. It felt like they were really becoming a family again. Stan had been right. She should try to be more positive about the rewind. After all, there were good things in Gravity Falls that they would’ve never known about. And Eri could use this as an opportunity to relearn everything about her adopted brother and pseudo-sister. 

 

As the sun began to set, Grunkle Stan had one last surprise for them. He pulled out matching bucket hats with crudely hand stitched lettering that read “Pines.” They could tell that this meant a lot to him. The rest of the day, Eri filled as much of her film as she could with different pictures of everyone together. She couldn’t wait to see how they turned out.

Chapter 4: The Hand that Rocks the Deku

Stan wasn’t sure what he was doing, letting two teens and a half-pint stay at his place. There wasn’t a lot of thought put into it at the time, but after hearing Eri’s trauma, he knew he’d done good.

He kept true to his word on family fun day and took Izuku out for ice cream. It was fun to tease the “problem child.” The kid had it coming, he was a scrawny nerd. Even Mina had more muscle than him. Stan was aware that he should pull back on the jokes sometimes, but the key word there was “should.”

He did get to know Izuku a little better during their ice cream outing. He learned that all he ever wanted was to be a hero, but no one believed he could (probably because he was so small), so he was bullied instead. He tried not to let his mom or his best friend know about it. It was a story that hit close to home for Stan, he couldn’t help but think of old Ford, his brother who would probably know what to say to a bullied kid. 

That's when it occurred to him that these kids really had issues. Green-head over here was pretty open about it, once he started calling him Stan instead of Mr. Pines. But he was obviously holding back. Stan didn’t mind though, they still hadn’t known each other for very long. 

Then there was Eri. Ever since he took Izuku out to ice cream, Eri wanted some too. So every morning, she complimented Stan on something, whether it was his fez hat, his breakfast, his ideas, his decision to not wear pants, it didn’t matter. What mattered is that it now meant that he had to take her to ice cream every day she complimented him. They talked a lot on their outings and the little girl was happy to discuss anything under the sun. Was it good that she was spending so much time with Stan? Probably not, even he knew he wasn’t a good influence. But it was a good chance for her to get her thoughts out. 

She couldn’t vent to the other two because they didn’t know that they were her siblings. That was something she’d chattered nonstop about when they were alone. 

Oh, and another small thing she’d told him about: the full story of being rescued from a man who took blood from her to make bullets. The story involved years of “experiments”, running away, meeting Deku, but returning to the awful man so he wouldn’t hurt Deku, only to be rescued by him and a kid named Mirio a few days later because they were part of a massive raid team of heroes…. Stan thought he knew what unspeakable horrors were until she told him that. Seriously? Deku fought the villain by continuously breaking his bones while she rewound him? What kind of sick idea for a solution was that?!

He really was a problem child.

This is why he would claim Mina as his favorite. She had yet to scare him with some sad or terrifying past that made him question reality. Part of him wouldn’t be surprised if she just came to him one day and said she was also traumatized or abused in some way. But for now, all he got out of her was mischief and sass. She was the perfect child. 

He had initially not wanted to get close to them, but who was he kidding, he needed to spoil some kids. He got Izuku a set of notebooks because if he didn’t, the boy would explode or something. He sat down with Mina and showed her his music collection, possibly letting her keep an album or two. And Eri had full access to his hidden stash of Oreos. If anyone asked him if he was getting attached, he would lie straight to their face with a resounding, “Absolutely not, are you crazy? Why would you ever think that?”

Yeah. He absolutely was attached.

 

——

 

Izuku, Soos, and Mina were watching a weird show. It was about a tiger that was quirked or cursed or something with a human arm. It was called Tiger Fist, and Soos liked it so Izuku refrained from changing the channel.

“Tiger Fist will be back after these messages.” The screen changed to a crying man, “Are you feeling miserable?” The crying man shouted “yes,” in fact, very miserably, “Then come on down to Gideon’s tent of telepathy.”

Izuku shared glances with the other two, Soos said, “This is the commercial I was telling you dudes about.” Oh yeah, Izuku remembered Soos telling them something about it earlier, and how he wanted to go to this thing with them.

The commercial kept going, “Unlike some other so-called Men of Mystery, Gideon is real.” It showed Stan coming out of an outhouse with Fraud stamped across the screen. While it was true that the things in the Mystery Shack were all shams, Izuku thought that was a little uncalled for. He believed competing businesses should never stoop as low as to bring each other down, especially publicly. “Come see Gideon at the tent of telepathy, he’ll be expecting you.”

Stan and Eri walked in, “What’s that garbage you hoodlums are watching? It better not be Gideon.”

Mina asked, “So you two know each other?”

Stan gritted his teeth, “ever since he rolled into town, he’s been nothing but a nuisance.”

Eri nodded, “He stole our parking spot yesterday morning. Grunkle Stan said-“

Stan quickly covered her mouth, “Point is, no one who lives under my roof will ever go under his.” And he walked away with Eri in tow. They had been spending a lot of time together lately. Izuku should really make sure she’s not picking up any habits from the man. He bet her dad, Eraserhead, wouldn’t be too happy if Izuku let that happen. Later though. Right now, Mina had stars in her eyes.

“I’m so curious. I want to see a telepath!”

Soos rubbed his chin deep in thought, “This begs the question on whether or not tents have roofs.” He said it like he’d thought about it before.

Izuku laughed, “I think we found a loophole.”

 

That night, they snuck out to go to the tent of telepathy. They paid a big man in a Hawaiian shirt for entry and sat on benches that looked like church pews, facing a small stage.

Mina gawked, “This is like a bazaar  version of the Mystery Shack. I kinda dig it. And I’m realizing we probably should’ve brought Eri.”

“No, she’s covering us, remember? Who else could keep Stan occupied for us? Her puppy-dog eyes are perfect for the job.” Izuku reminded her.

“I’m so glad you dudes could come with me. I didn’t think I’d be able to drag my abuelita out here.”

The lights dimmed and Izuku was interested to see the guy that Stan hated so much.

Blue curtains parted, squeaking away to reveal a small figure. Gideon was a kid. A kid with big white hair and what Izuku imagined was a rich cowboy suit. He smiled in a very showmanship way, “Hello America, my name is Lil’ Gideon!”

Mina snickered, “That’s Stan’s mortal enemy? But he’s so… tiny.”

The three of them were not impressed by Gideon’s introduction, but suddenly music played and Gideon said, “Alright everybody, I wanna see y’all stand up!” and Izuku felt his body move on its own.

“How did he do that?” Izuku was amazed and much more interested in the show now. Surely this wasn’t the work of a quirk because those didn’t exist here. So was it really telepathy? Some sort of magic maybe?

That quickly faded again when the rest of the night was mostly just Gideon making educated guesses about people’s lives. Through it all, he could feel Mina becoming agitated beside him. He didn’t know why, but she seemed to be having less and less of a good time. On the other hand, Izuku was still a little impressed that Gideon was able to get everything right with very little context clues, but it wasn’t like it was magical. He applauded with everyone else and Mina folded her arms and slouched in her chair. As they left the tent she huffed, “That kid’s an even bigger fraud than Stan, no wonder he hates him. I paid to see real telepathy. This was false advertising. And I was really hoping I could at least be one of the volunteers and get my mind read.”

Soos walked next to them, “I know. Your hand was up really high, I thought it’d fall off or something.”

“Well, even if it wasn’t real, the audience still had a good time, and some of it was impressive.”

Mina scowled at him, “ I didn’t have a good time.”

Izuku smiled a little, “That’s because you’re tired and stayed up too late last night,” she was playing games with Eri until 2am. “Let’s get you to bed.”

Izuku turned back to look at the tent, only to see Gideon standing in the doorway, watching them leave. Izuku gave him a smile and called out, “Thanks for a fun show!” Then finished escorting Mina back to the Mystery Shack, sneaking into the attic to look like they never left.

 

The next day Izuku came downstairs to a very excited Eri. “Izu-nii! Look what came in the mail!” She handed him an envelope and read the letter.

“‘Eri Pines, You are the winner of our photo contest! As such, you are awarded $1,000.’ Wow! Congratulations, Eri! I’m so happy for you.” In all honesty he forgot about the contest. Soos told them about it, knowing Eri carried her camera around everywhere. The theme of the contest was focused on the supernatural, so a lot of people staged elaborate creative scenes for their photos. Eri just submitted the picture she took of the Gooblewonker, and apparently that was enough to win. He was proud of her. She was so happy and $1,000 was a good amount of money. He wondered what she planned to do with it.

He had also forgotten that Eri submitted under the name Eri Pines because she needed guardian consent as a minor and Stan said they would never second guess as long as they had the same last name. Still, it was weird to think about. Should they all be going by Pines while they were in this universe? What if they ended up staying here without a way to get home for so long that Stan would actually need to take legal guardianship over them? Would they have to go to school in Gravity Falls when summer ends? Was there a school here? He hadn’t seen one. His thoughts kept zooming all over the place until a hand was placed on his shoulder, “Bro. You’re mumbling again. What’s going on in that beautiful noggin of yours?” Mina joked.

“Do you think we should ask Stan about it, using his last name? If the situation ever calls for it, that is. What if something happens and people find out there are no records of us here and no relation to him. We all could get into trouble.”

Mina blinked at him before grinning slyly, “I see, you just want to make us an official family.”

“No, not like that-“

She shushed him, putting a finger over his lips, “Now, now, Izuku Pines, my brotha from anotha motha. My twin of a different kin. I understand completely. I’m not sure how the old geezer will react to this. But considering we literally had a family fun day together, and Eri already used his name, I’m willing to bet he’s open to the idea.”

She had a point. Wait, “Twin of a different kin? Did you just make that up?”

“I did, but I have others on standby.”

The doorbell rang. Stan shouted, “Someone get the door!”

“Me me me!” Eri slid through the hall to the front door. Mina and Izuku followed.

She opened the door to greet the visitor, but she didn’t say a word. Suddenly she slammed the door closed and skipped away.

Mina asked, “who was that? Eri, you have to use better manners for visitors, your dad-“

“My dad would have done the same thing.” She said with an unsettlingly wide grin.

Izuku shook his head and made his way to the door. His mouth gaped in disbelief, “Lil’ Gideon?”

Gideon, who must’ve only been slightly shorter than Eri, looked Izuku in the eyes, “I apologize for coming, but I wanted to personally thank you for what you said after the show. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I don’t get constructive criticism often, so when I overheard an audience member talking about it I just had to come hear more!” 

Izuku wasn’t sure what was happening, but he wasn’t about to forget his manners over it, “Oh, you mean my mumbling? It’s an old habit. I have to analyze and critique everything I see.”

Mina came up from behind him, pointing a finger at Gideon with a very stern expression, “His mumblings are the best form of advice a person could ask for. Be grateful you heard any of it” 

“Oh believe me, I am! I find it enchanting!”

Okay, what was that about? Was that Mina being passive aggressive to Gideon? Was she really not annoyed by his mumbling? He thought everyone was annoyed by it. Putting that aside, what would be the best way to avoid any issues? He didn’t know why Mina had it out for this guy. She must’ve been really salty about not being chosen as a volunteer. Or she really did believe that Gideon was a bad person compared to Stan.

“Hey, knuckleheads! Who’s at the door? I need one of you to come here.”

“It’s no one, Stan!” Izuku. yelled back, then turned to Mina, “I can handle this if you wanna go see what Stan needs.”

Mina’s eyes narrowed at him as she walked away. Seriously, did she not get enough sleep last night again?

Gideon sighed, “I appreciate your discretion, the owner of the Mystery Shack doesn’t like me very much.”

Izuku obviously knew why, but he wasn’t rude enough to call him out for misrepresenting Stan’s business in the commercial. Instead Izuku smiled and nodded. “Well, if that’s all, I really need to get to work, helping with the gift shop and the tours and all that.”

Gideons face dropped a little, “Actually, I was hoping you could come by the Tent of Telepathy and help me get my act together. I wanna hear more of what you have to say.”

A lot of thoughts flew through his head at once but the only one that mattered was the fact that he liked helping people. That’s just what heroes do. And this was a good chance to work on a project outside of carrying things to and from storage, cutting wood, and the other monotonous jobs Stan made him do. His brain was very interested to work on something new. The journal had occupied a lot of his time, but he decided it was Mina’s turn to have it a couple days ago. She had been dying to read it.

Anyways, that was off topic. He looked at Gideon and said, “Sure, I’d be honored to help you. I’ll write down some ideas and swing by after work.”

“You really would? Oh, heavens, I can’t thank you enough! See ya later!” And just like that, Gideon was gone. 

Izuku smiled to himself, it was refreshing to know that at least one business owner in town wanted to listen to suggestions. Stan sure didn’t whenever Izuku tried. What’s more, he was sure that Gideon was probably only eleven or twelve, so to be so open to other people’s ideas was a good sign. Izuku went back inside, closing the door.

 

——

 

Mina glared at Izuku from across the gift shop. Not that he would notice, he was in his own world, which was normal but something about today was different.

“Woah, hey Mina! Ya alright?” Wendy asked.

“Fine.”

Soos overheard and whispered in Wendy’s ear, “She’s been like this since last night. Deku and I can’t figure it out.”

Mina sighed, “I know I’m not acting normal. But there’s something bothering me and I need to know why.”

Wendy looked back and forth between Mina and Soos then said, “Ain’t my rodeo. Best of luck to you,” and walked away.

The green-head disappeared as soon as he was done with everything in the shack, which was rude because she wanted to play battleships. She had to figure out a game she could beat him at, so far he had been good at everything and she hadn’t won once. But, low and behold, he was gone.

Something about it ticked her off. Where was he? What was he doing? Why hadn’t he told her? She should know these things. A few hours later, he walked back in the house to find her sitting upside down in the arm chair. He had a wide smile on his face.

Mina folded her arms and crossed her legs in the air. Her pink hair was dangling toward the floor, “Where have you been?”

“Oh, the Tent of Telepathy. Gideon and I were discussing ways that he could improve his attraction and I think we’re friends now! I know he’s a little younger than us, but I’m still shocked I actually made a friend! I told him that it would be smart to stay away from comparing his business to Stan’s because the tent is more performance based and the shack is more display based. And we talked about weaning him away from trying to create a cutesy act so it doesn’t backfire when he’s older.”

Despite her frustration, Mina found her expression softening, “I did not peg Gideon as someone who’d listen to suggestions. I’m glad you were able to make friends with him.” That last part she had to say through gritted teeth. For some reason she did not want those two to be friends. The show last night had really rubbed her the wrong way. She thought it was something silly like not being a volunteer on stage, but she realized that it was just Gideon. Her intuition was telling her that something was seriously wrong about that little dude.

She didn’t say anything about it to Izu for the next couple days, leaving herself to stew in her thoughts. She and Eri found an old video game console and became obsessed with a game that was eerily similar to street fighter. The both of them were equally bad at the start, but Eri picked it up quickly. Mina struggled a little to keep up, but that wouldn’t stop her from winning… at least some of the time. 

For the fourth time this week, Izu came home after seeing Gideon. But something was different this time, when he walked in, he flopped face first onto the couch.

Mina and Eri both set down their remotes, feeling very confused, and turned their attention to him. Eri, who was closer, touched his shoulder, “You alright, Izu?”

Without lifting his head he said, “Yeah.” his voice muffled by the cushions, and gave them a thumbs up. 

The girls shared a worried look. He was, in fact, not alright. Mina said, “Okay, Izu, tell us what happened.”

This time he did sit up. The look on his face made her very alert. He looked tired, ashamed, embarrassed, and so done. None of that should be on his face. 

He threw his eyes to the ground, “I don’t know. I’ve never had this happen before. The only friend I’ve had was Kacchan, and we’re more like brothers because we’ve known each other for so long. So now that I’ve made a new friend, I don’t know what to do, because I’m pretty sure what’s happening isn’t normal.”

“Go on,” Mina prompted. Eri stayed weirdly quiet.

“Well, he also hasn’t had many friends, so he has started to get very clingy, wanting to know literally everything about me; my likes and dislikes, my habits, what I wear, what I eat, anything, to commit them to memory. That isn’t normal, right?”

“No, bro, it isn’t.” Mina was astounded by what she was hearing. Izuku only had one friend his whole life? But he was so charismatic and sweet. She’d have to ask more about that sometime.

“Oh. I thought so. I don’t know. It’s like he feels like he has to try hard to be my friend. We just had a very elaborate and awkward lunch at a fancy restaurant. I mean, the lobster was still alive! I put it in the fish tank when I got home and named it Bubbles!“ The more he spoke, the more worked up he became, “Now Gideon wants to make friendship bracelets and go on horse rides and I don’t even know what else. He wants to hang out every waking moment. It’s too much and I don’t have the heart to say no!” Desperation climbed into his voice toward the end of his rant

Mina understood a bit better now. She knew he would be too nice to tell someone he didn’t want to hang out with them. Even if the ‘friend’ was being creepy. He needed help. “Hm. Here’s what’s going to happen-“

“Wait… I, uh. Forgot to mention something.”

Eri looked up at Mina then turned back to Izuku and asked, “What?”

“Gideon. He, hah, he sort of has magic. There’ve been moments where I was sure my body moved without me. Like we were on a walk and I didn’t see a biker coming, but my body was jerked to the side. The sensation was the same as during the show when he made us all stand up.”

Mina shouted “I knew that wasn’t just my imagination!”

“And when he does it, the jewel in his tie glows. I’m not sure what to do about all of this. I don’t want to be rude. I don’t mind being friends, but not if it’s going to keep looking like this. It’s getting exhausting.”

Eri sighed, “I’ll talk to him for you, big brother.”

Izuku’s cheeks flushed, “Eri! You can’t mean that. I never would’ve said anything if I thought you’d want to fix it for me.”

Eri stayed steadfast, “This isn’t the first time. Once I had to tell Jiro that you wanted your headphones back. I told Iida to give you space after a hospital stay. I had to tell dad that too, actually…”

Mina put a pause on that one, “Wait. You had to tell your dad to quit bugging Izu in the hospital?”

“No, after the hospital when we were all home. He wanted to help, but it was the first time Izu-nii was injured after-“ Eri stopped. “Nevermind. The point is, I am Izuku’s official person that tells people what he wants because he won’t.”

“Huh. Can’t argue with that. I’ll go with you tonight, get it all straightened out.”

“No I can’t let you guys do that! What if he doesn’t take it well?”

“Don’t you worry a hair on your head, my little cabbage,” Mina said, patting the top of his head, “Me and Eri-Cherry got it.”

 

After trapping Izuku in a poker game with Stan, the girls were free to get away and talk to Lil’ Gideon. They approached the fancy place that Izuku and Gideon were going to eat at together and Mina became interested to see how Eri would handle this. She would help too, but Eri seemed to have more experience. 

“Hello, Gideon.”

“Mina and Eri. I’ve heard much about you. You seem to be doing well.”

Eri stepped closer to him and her eyes seemed to darken and sparkle simultaneously. Mina didn’t know how it was possible, like a mixture of intimidating and cute. “We came to tell you that our brother needs some space. You’re freaking him out, so you need to back off. You aren’t being a very good friend.”

Woah. That was a lot more straightforward than she expected. Gideon’s smile became strained. “You’re saying you are going to stop him from hanging out with me. So you’ve come between me and my first real friend...” Yeah, no. That sounded ominous. 

Mina had to clean this up, “We are not saying that. Izu needs friends too and likes it when the two of you hang out and talk about nerd stuff. But if you don’t get off his back, we won’t let him hurt himself by being your friend. Understand?”

Gideon’s demeanor changed back to his regular cheery attitude, “of course! Indeed, I wouldn’t want Izuku to be uncomfortable.”

Mina had her suspicions that he wasn’t being honest, but let it go for now. She and Eri did what they could.

As they walked away, it occurred to Mina that Eri referred to Izuku as “our brother.” Mina’s heart warmed at the thought. She’d always wanted a brother.

 

The phone rang at the shack, and Mina picked it up. It was Toby Determined. She cringed at the memory of accusing him for the murder of a wax figure of Stan last week. Who knew those statues would be alive? It still haunted her that they had meant to kill the real Stanford Pines. Anyways, Toby explained that he wanted to interview her and Eri about Eri’s contest-winning photo so he could put it in the town newspaper. She relayed the question to Eri, who obviously said yes, and told Tony that they would be there.

The pair walked hand in hand up to the address they were given. It looked very suspicious, but Toby was a weird guy, so whatever. It looked reminiscent of an abandoned warehouse. They opened the door to find, not Toby, but Gideon. 

Mina was feeling annoyed, “Uh, hey, Gideon… What’s going on?”

The door slammed shut behind them and Eri jumped closer to her side. That’s when Mina remembered what Izuku said about this kid having magic. It was true. She wasn’t completely sure before, but she would be really dumb to deny it now.

“How long have you been in town? Two weeks? Enjoyin’ the scenery?”

“What are you-“

“Listen here! This town holds secrets you can’t possibly comprehend.”

She rolled her eyes, “Is this about Izuku?”

“He was my best friend and you turned him against me!” He marched toward them

Eri smacked her forehead and said, “He isn't against you and we aren’t either. He just needs his space!”

“I’ll show you space!” The amulet on Gideon’s tie glowed and Mina felt herself being risen off the ground. There was a blueish green light surrounding her and Eri. Then, they flew across the room and landed on a pile of boxes. “Reading minds isn’t all I can do. Let me show you the full extent of my power!”

Eri deadpanned, “I wish I could say swear words.”

 

——

 

Something felt wrong to Izuku. There was a pit in his stomach about the way that he left the Gideon situation to Mina and Eri. He really should’ve done it himself. He had been relieved when they told him it was taken care of, but now he realized he needed to talk to him in person. This realization only came after Wendy talked to him about all of the guys she broke up with. He wasn’t sure how she’d dated so many guys, or why they were having that conversation in the first place, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was he needed to find Gideon and tell him that he no longer wanted to be friends.

He wasn’t sure before, but he was now. Instead of trying to stay friends, Izuku needed this to stop. Gideon was just too overwhelming. So, he marched over to Gideon’s warehouse, where he knew he would be at this time.

Through the window he could make out several things happening at once. “What are those two doing here?!” Eri was glowing blue in the middle of the air, trying to swim to the door while Gideon looked like he was using The Force on her. Meanwhile, Mina had found a baseball bat and started charging at the boy. Okay. That was enough of that. 

Izuku threw open the door and ran between Mina and Gideon, everyone stopped what they were doing. Mina casually rested the bat on her shoulder, “Thank goodness. Could you knock some sense into this one?” She asked.

Gideon shot her a glare and turned to smile at Izuku, “She don’t know what she’s talkin ‘bout. I’m only telling them to stay out of our friendship.”

Izuku walked over to him and knelt down so they were at eye level, “Gideon, look. This is hard for me to do. But, Th-the thing is, I don’t want to be friends with you anymore. After seeing the way you’re treating them right now, I don’t think we can ever be friends. I can’t hang out with someone who wants to hurt people that I trust.”

“No! You’re lying! We’re the best friends the world has ever seen. These people are stopping you from seeing that!”

Eri shouted with a strained voice, “Careful Deku! He’s got-“ she choked for air. 

With hardly a thought, Izuku snatched the amulet from Gideon’s neck and threw it over his shoulder. Mina ran and caught Eri as the glow faded away. “Seriously? You really just attacked my sisters and expected me to be okay with that? You’re more self centered than I gave you credit for.” Mina picked up the amulet and she and Eri flocked to his side. 

Gideon looked between the three of them, then charged at Mina, “Give it back!” Mina dropped the amulet and stumbled backwards as the boy slammed into her. The two of them tumbled through the back window of the warehouse and plummeted into the darkness of the cliff side.

“No!” Izuku reached out but was too late to grab them.

At the same time, Eri picked up the amulet and thrust out her hands in a stopping motion, her face scrunched in concentration. Izuku watched in silence. She lifted him and herself down the cliff side to where Mina and Gideon were also floating. She gently set everyone down with ease. Izuku looked Gideon dead in the eyes. “The only way you and I could ever be friends again is if you fixed all of this, but I’m not sure you are capable of doing that.”

Shocked and angry, Gideon walked backwards into the woods, eying them all, “This isn’t the last you’ll see of widdle ol’ me.” And he disappeared into the night.

 

On the walk back home, with Eri on his back and Mina skipping at his side, he felt sure he’d made the right decision. He just wished he could’ve made it before Eri got choked and Mina fell off a cliff. But neither one seemed too bothered about that. They were acting very chipper about the whole thing.

Mina matched his pace and nudged his arm, “Hey, so we’re your sisters now?”

Izuku blushed, “Huh, what are you talking about?” It had been a crazy two weeks, and he had to admit that their near death experiences had made him feel bonded to them, but he doubts he ever actually referred to them as his family. 

Eri laughed, “During your fight, you said, ‘How dare you attack my sisters!'” She deepened her voice, trying to impersonate him.

Izuku did not remember saying that. 

Mina waved her hand, “No no no, it was more like, “I will never be your friend after what you did to my sisters!'” Her impersonation was equally bad and it made Izuku laugh. But he wanted to change the subject.

“I’m just glad you’re both alright.”

Eri rested her chin on his head, “Eh, we’ve been through worse. And I got a new necklace out of it.” Oh yeah, she’d kept the amulet. That would make things interesting, Izuku wondered how similar to a quirk it would be to use. Of course that wasn’t a comparison he was qualified to make, but he still wondered.

Mina smiled, “And I got a baseball bat! I wonder if Stan or Wendy or somebody could teach us how to play. I’ve always wanted to know about American sports.” 

They got home and Stan was on the couch staring at a new clown painting. 

Mina stopped and stared before asking, “You good, Stanio?”

“Yup. Just stole this painting from Gideon’s house. Now that the friendship is over we’re back to being enemies.”

“Oh. Cool.” She said.

Eri sat on the couch to stare at the painting with him. After a second she asked, “Grunkle Stan?”

“Yeah?”

“Why are we looking at this?”

Mina and Izuku squished onto the couch too.

“I don’t know. It seems like what you’re supposed to do with paintings.”

Twenty seconds later, Eri said, “I don’t like it.”

Izuku added, “Me neither.”

“I want to burn it.” Mina concluded.

Stan silently stood up and left the room. When he came back, the kids were still staring at the painting and he was holding a lighter. “Deku, bring it outside. Let’s light this clown.”

Notes:

So, from here on out, I will be messing up the order of the episodes. I'll be skipping around and combining things because the UA kids will be doing things slightly different from how Mabel and Dipper would. I'm hoping it will all stay pretty consistent by the end, lol.

Honestly, let me know if you see any errors. I love writing this, but I know my writing style doesn't always make sense.

Hope you have a good one!

Chapter 5: Inconvenience Store

Eri was spinning around in the middle of the gift shop. It was a slow day with almost no tourists. Wendy was at the register reading a magazine. Mina was sitting on the counter reading the journal. Deku was on the floor reading over his notes. Soos was sweeping around them. That was why Eri was spinning. She was bored and didn’t want to read like most everyone else. She started getting dizzy when Mina finally looked up from her book, “Do you guys believe in ghosts?”

Izu slammed his notebook closed and excitedly turned to her, “I don’t know, but the journal makes a very convincing argument, right?”

“Right. Like, ghost anatomy ? Are you kidding?” Mina exclaimed, matching his energy.

“Ectoplasm with a core. I want to know how that works!”

“We should go on a ghost hunt!”

Wendy chimed in, “That could actually be a lot of fun! I’m in!”

Eri, who was very excited that something was finally happening, threw her hands up, “Me too!”

Soos didn’t hear them because he had earbuds in. He kept sweeping while humming something that sounded Spanish. Just then, Stan walked in, and somehow Soos heard the store bell over his music. In a flash, he was standing at attention in front of Stan. Wendy lazily walked around the counter and stood next to Soos.

“Soos! Wendy! I’m heading out. You two are gonna wash the bathrooms, right?”

Soos saluted, “Yes, Mr. Pines, sir.”

Wendy also saluted, “Absolutely not.”

Stan pointed at her, “Haha! Stay outta trouble.” And just like that, he closed the door again. Wendy’s face formed a smirk. She walked to the back of the shop and pulled away a curtain..

“Hey guys, what’s this? A secret ladder to the roof?” She said it in a way that Eri could tell she had already known what it was. 

Soos started playing with his hands nervously, “I don’t know. I don’t think Mr. Pines would like that.”

Wendy did a strange hand motion while saying, “Huh, huuuuhhhh.”

“Ah, You’re freaking me out, dude!” Soos said in exasperation. Eri guessed that was what Wendy was trying to do.

Izu stood up from the floor, “We can actually go up there?”

“Of course!” Wendy said as she began to climb the ladder.

Mina shouted, “Yes! Roof! Roof! Roof!”

Soos just shook his head as the others joined in the chant, including Eri. They climbed up and she was hit by the smell of pine trees being carried by a warm breeze. They climbed to the side of the big Mystery Shack sign and saw a little spot with a lawn chair with an umbrella and a cooler.

“Woah!” Eri said, “This is cool!”

Izuku asked, “Wendy, did you put all this stuff up here?”

“I love it!” Mina commented.

Wendy put a hand on her hip and explained, “I may or may not sneak up here during work, all the time, every day.”

She pulled out a pine cone from a bucket and threw it at a target she’d put on the totem pole. She hit it spot on. Mina immediately grabbed one and threw it too. Then Izuku and Eri joined. Eri’s aim was terrible, but she was having fun… until she hit a car and made the alarm go off.

“Oops!” She was embarrassed she did that, but Wendy knelt down and smiled at her.

“Girl, you just hit the jackpot! Nice!” Then she stood up and ruffled Eri’s hair, causing her to grin. A van pulled up and honked at them, “Oh. Those are my friends! Hey, you guys won’t say anything to Stan about this? Will you?”

Mina made a sign of sealing her lips, and Eri copied her. Wendy smiled and repeated the motion back then jumped off the roof!

Eri almost used the amulet, but she saw that the teen caught herself on a tree and swung to another tree, lowering herself to the ground. She hopped into the van and they drove away.

“How is she so cool?” Izuku said.

Mina rolled up her sleeves, “No clue, but I’m gonna try it!”

“Wait, don’t!”

But before Izuku could grab her, Mina jumped. She was able to latch onto a tree branch, but her hands slipped and she fell. Eri reflexively put her hand out to stop her and the amulet reacted, causing her to slow down and land gently on the ground.

“Whew! That was scary.” Eri said.

Izuku stared down at Mina who patted herself down and gave them a thumbs up, “Yeah. Good catch. At the very least, Mina's crazy stunts can help you train with the amulet.” Eri didn’t like that idea very much, and it must’ve shown on her face. Izuku laughed, “Come on, let’s go back inside.”

 

It didn’t take long for them to eventually meet Wendy’s friends, but it didn’t go the way Eri expected it to. 

She, Mina, and Wendy were having a dance party in the gift shop. Mina was teaching them some moves while Izuku was scribbling in several notebooks in the corner. 

“Hey Deku, you want in on this?”

Izuku looked up and politely shook his head, “No. I don’t dance. I’m actually pretty bad at it.”

Mina didn’t look convinced, “Really?”

Eri chuckled, “No. he’s actually good, but if he thinks he’s dancing, he does bad.”

Wendy shot up an eyebrow, “How does that work?”

“Well, there have been times when he’s fighting that he does really cool dance moves, but outside of a fight or a spar, it’s like he can’t do it anymore. Dad says it’s because he puts on a hero persona.”

Izu’s jaw dropped open like he wanted to say something then got confused and didn’t know what to say.

Mina excitedly grabbed Eri’s face, “Izu has a hero persona that can dance ? Say more. Tell me everything!”

Wendy raised a hand, “Out of the loop here, guys. What the heck is a ‘hero persona’?”

Izu answered quickly, “It’s when a hero, whether a student or a professional, has a change of mental state when they’re on the job. This is usually due to trauma, but it isn’t typically harmful. A hero persona can actually be good for separating hero work from their personal life, though it can make a hero feel like they have two identities or lead a double life.”

“Woah. And you have one?” Wendy asked.

“One that can dance?” Mina reminded.

Eri said, “Yeah, he also gets a lot more protective and confident. I met hero Deku a couple times before I met normal Deku.” She was surprised at how much she was telling them, usually she felt that she couldn’t or was hesitant to say anything. Ever since she and Stan started going for ice cream, she started feeling a little more open about discussing their lives before the rewind.

At this, Izuku stood up, “Wait. Eri. Do you mean…?”

“Deku is your hero name.”

“WHAT?! Why would I do that?!” Eri just shrugged in response. She had never asked before so she didn’t know. He started a little mumbling tangent.

Mina put a finger to her chin, “I’ve been wondering about why you let us call you Deku.”

“Once again, out of the loop. I thought it was just a nickname.” Wendy said resting her chin in her palm.

Mina casually said, “oh no. It means Useless, or wooden puppet, or a doll. It depends on how you read it, which is why I was confused when I first heard Eri say it. 

“Brutal. How’d you get that name anyway? That’s not very nice.”

Izuku didn’t actually respond, he just gathered his stuff, “I’ve got to process all of this. If you need me I’ll be in the attic.”

After he was gone, Mina said, “Huh. Can we all agree we should get to the bottom of that?”

“Yup. Kid turned angsty real fast.”

Eri played with her necklace, “Yeah, this is something I don’t think he’s ever brought up… actually, I barely know anything about him from before we met.”

“When was that?” Wendy asked.

“About 3 years ago, I think. I was almost seven.”

“That’s a lot of Deku years unaccounted for. We need to solve this mystery” Mina concluded.

A cuckoo clock went off in the room, Wendy said, “That can wait, for now, it’s quitting time! The gang’s probably waiting for me outside.”

Mina gasped, “I wanna meet your friends!”

Wendy looked unsure, “I dunno, you’re what- nine, ten years old? They can be intense. ”

Eri, with a completely monotone voice asked, “As intense as being thrown from one universe into another?”

She snapped a finger at her, “Touché. I guess you two can come. Could always use more girls in the group.”

“Can I invite Izu- nii too?”

“Sure, squirt, if he’s up to it. We’ll be outside.”

 

After introductions, Mina, Eri, and Izu sat in the back of the van. The whole thing was filled with little drawings and messages. Mina stole Izu’s yellow Mystery Shack pen from him to write something of her own. When she was finished, she grinned with pride and showed them. It read, “UR Mom. ❤️ Mina” Eri laughed and Izu smacked his forehead. He stole his pen back and wrote something of his own, “Future Pro Hero, Deku was here.” It surprised Eri so much, she snorted. 

Eri took the pen and wrote too, “Sorry I thought your explosion was a muffin. Eri.”

Mina cracked up, “Eri-Cherry, You are literally the best.”

“Thanks, sis! I learned from the best.”

“Aww, you mean me?”

“Nope!” Eri said, “Dad.” Then she warped her face into an exact copy of her dad’s Cheshire smile, “He taught me how to do this too!”

“Well, that’s unsettling.” Deku noted.

 

They arrived at a little, run down store with a sign out front that said “Dusk 2 Dawn.” There was a chain link fence around it, Wendy walked up to the fence and rested her hands on it, “There she is, fellas. Man, I’m excited!”

There was a sound of agreement from everyone. Izuku scratched his head, “Why’d they close it? Was there some sort of health code violation?”

Wendy’s friend, Nate, said, “Hah! Try murder.” Woah, what?

The guy next to him, Lee, smiled, “Some folks died in there and the place has been haunted ever since.” Eri was having second thoughts… well, maybe. Ghosts weren’t necessarily bad. They had just talked about going ghost hunting. Izu-nii had told her about the ghosts that lived in his quirk. They were all very nice, they only haunted Izuku sometimes, and only possessed him once. (That was a weird day) Maybe the store ghosts were the same?

Mina clapped her hands, “Haunted store! Let’s go!” They all climbed over the fence and quickly discovered the doors were locked. “Oh. What? Boo!” Mina said in frustration. She started yanking as hard as she could on the doors, then pushed all of her weight onto it.

Lee said, “Woah, girl, chill!”

“Maybe we could try a back door or something.” Robbie added.

Nate pitched in, “or we could break the glass by punching it. That sounds fun.”

Eri wanted to make a comment to her brother, but she turned around and couldn’t see him, “Guys? Where’d Izu go?”

“Wait, the green haired kid?”

“Do you think the ghost got him?”

Wendy pointed back at the windows of the store, “Something just moved in there!” They all whirled around to see a shadow inside the store. In bated breath, they watched as it moved closer to the door and opened it. Once the figure stepped into the moonlight, they could see that it was Izuku! 

“Way to give us a scare, kid!”

Izu tilted his head, “What do you mean? I was just opening the door.” Eri had to admit, he could be spooky, especially when he wasn’t trying to be.

Mina grabbed him by the shoulders, “How did you get in?”

“Oh. I climbed onto the dumpster and pulled myself up onto the roof. Then I broke into a ventilation shaft that led to the back of the store. The front door was unlocked from the inside, so all I had to do was push it open.”

The others started complimenting him and praising him, but Eri immediately started laughing so hard she was tearing up. “Izu-nii! Why are you like this?” It turned out that he’d always been this way, rewound or not.

In response, he only rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled nervously, avoiding her gaze in a way that meant he was hiding something. At this, Eri made eye contact with Wendy and Mina. Oh yeah, they would eventually be getting to the bottom of this too. Who knew Class 3-A’s ray of sunshine had so many secrets?

Inside the store, the group wandered around in the dark, talking about how creepy it was. She heard one of the boys ask where they keep the dead bodies. She didn’t like that very much and basically clung to Deku’s side. Someone eventually found a power switch and the whole thing lit up, revealing a store that looked just like any other, if a bit dirty and empty.

“Alright! Who’s ready to make some chaos!”

They all cheered, and for the next couple of hours, they did anything they wanted. It occurred to her that her dad would not be happy about this, but she was in Gravity Falls, and he wasn’t. So she let herself get lifted onto Lee’s shoulders and threw a donut at Mina. This started a food fight that ended up with all of them being sticky or wet or full of powder. So they showered themselves with plastic water bottles and turned the aisle as a slip n slide. At one point, they all sat in a circle and exploded coke with mentos. They held shopping cart races around the store with Eri as referee. They climbed the shelves, and danced on top of them, accidentally tipping a couple over. And they ate a lot of chips and ice cream. 

Eri sat on a shelf eating popsicles with Wendy. She watched Izu and Mina spar over who would get the only package of Smile Dip while Wendy’s friends were apparently bonding by shoving ice down Thompson’s pants. It looked awful. Wendy just laughed, “Haha! I’m so glad you guys came! This night is, like, legendary!”

Eri returned a smile and said, “I’m glad too! This is so fun!”

“You’re cool, Eri. You know that?”

“Nuh uh.”

Wendy nudged her arm, “Well, you are. I bet it’s weird for you, hanging out with a bunch of teens.”

“No. This… this actually feels like home. I always hang out with Mina, Izu, and the rest of their class, plus some others.”

“Really?”

“Mmhmm. There was a while there that we had a sleepover in the common room every weekend, Sato would bake snacks, while Denki and Jiro liked to start Mario Kart tournaments. I was better at Super Smash, though. Us girls painted nails and braided hair and watched the guys fighting each other. It was always something different, but it never changed, if you know what I mean.”

“I get you. It’s cool to see you, Deku, and Mina together. They’re like twins and you’re the little sister. How many people were in their class that you hung out with?” Wendy looked curious and this was something Eri thought might be fun to talk about. 

“All twenty of them plus Mirio, Nejire, Tamaki, Monoma, Shinsou, and Hatsume from other classes, though three of those are graduated Heroes now. I know a few kids my age too, but some of them are too far away. I do have a best friend, his name is Kota.”

“I didn’t know you had a best friend. That's sick, man! What’s he like?”

Eri smiled, “The two of us understand each other. Deku rescued both of us from Villains that destroyed our families. We’ve always looked up to him. Kota even wears red shoes just to be more like him!”

Wendy looked over to where the so-called “twins” were wrestling. A soft smile crossed her lips, “It’s hard to tell right now that he will grow up to be someone like that.”

“Mina too.” Eri’s face dropped a bit, “I still wish I’d never rewound them. It’s like so much of who they were is just gone. They were fighters and protectors, heroes just like they always dreamed to be, and I took that away from them.”

Eri startled from her sulking when Wendy pulled her into a noogie, “Stop that right now, squirt.” She pushed her back and the two faced each other. Eri could see the sincerity in Wendy’s eyes, “They might not fight or protect the same way anymore, but look at them. I might not know what heroes are like where you’re from, but I think if you give them a chance, they can still be the same heroes you remember.” They turned to see just in time as Izu flipped Mina over his shoulder. Cutting all that wood had been a good muscle builder for him.

“Ooh,” Eri winced in sympathy for Mina. She knew how hard the pink haired girl was fighting for that candy.

 She heard Wendy next to her yell down to them, “Yeah! That’s what I’m talkin about! Good job, little man.” Deku gave her a thumbs up.

Maybe Wendy was right. It’s not like the two of them were completely different people now. In fact, they might have felt more like themselves without all of the trauma of the war. Maybe… this could be a good thing?

A while later, she began to feel better about everything and got caught up in the store shenaniganry again. Eri and Wendy were partway through building a toilet paper fort when one of the boys shouted, “hey, can someone get us more ice?”

Wendy shouted back, “You know it!” And the two of them hopped down from the shelf and walked to the ice cooler.

Wendy grabbed a package of ice and Eri thought she saw something in the corner of her eye. She looked up and screamed loudly. Wendy saw it too, letting out a startled yelp and swung the package at the thing.  She slammed the cooler shut. And grabbed Eri’s arm to pull her away, “Are you okay?” Eri nodded in response. “Good.”

Everyone came running over to them, “What happened? We heard you scream.”

“Yeah. You good, Eri-Cherry?” Mina asked.

Wendy answered for her, “she’s good. But I think we just saw a ghost.”

“No way? Really?” Robbie asked, “You sure you didn’t eat something expired?”

Mina snickered, “Izu did. He’s kinda hallucinating over there. Glad I didn’t win our spar or that would be me.”

Eri gaped when she saw the dazed look on Izuku’s face as he slurrily shouted, “Onwards, Aoshima,” and ran into a wall. They didn’t even know anyone named Aoshima. But she shook her head. She was more concerned about the ghost she’d seen.

Robbie commented “Huh. Maybe that’s why those things were banned in the US.”

The group all looked at each other in silent conversation. Finally Lee said, “You did both have those popsicles. Maybe you only thought you saw something.”

Wendy folded her arms and gave an unimpressed look, “Fine, you guys do what you want. But I’m going ghost hunting.”

When she walked away with Eri in tow, the others chose to just join them. They wandered around the store, looking for more signs of ghosts. But there was no green goop or floating objects, so it wasn’t looking very promising. That's when they all heard Izuku giggle. It was creepy, even to Eri. They found him next to the cash register staring at outlines of people on the floor. Eri lived with heroes. She knew what those lines were.

Robbie whispered, “The rumors were true.”

Then Izu giggled again, “Good bed.” Then he practically belly flopped to the floor, laying in one of the outlines. They all shouted, but nothing happened.

Mina sighed, “Alright, you. Let’s help you before you hurt yourself.” She reached down to grab Deku and all heck broke loose. The outline glowed a neon green and Eri watched as Tambry disappeared, her phone going off with a ton of texts as she was trapped in a tv. Thompson was sucked into the dance arcade game that he and Mina played earlier. And Lee ended up on a cereal box with a very hungry cartoon bird.

The remaining members of the group ran for the doors, but they closed with no hope of opening again, even when Eri tried her amulet. Nate took off his hat and rubbed his head, “What do we do?”

Mina pulled out the journal, “In this, it says that ghosts always have a reason for what they do. It sounds ridiculous, but I think we have to talk to it.”

“Whatever you say, man. Who wants to take the lead?”

Eri gasped when she saw Izuku, next to the cashier counter. His eyes rolled back and glowed that same eerie green. He rose into the air and a voice that wasn’t his spoke from his mouth.

“Welcome to your graves, young trespassers!” The ghost said, throwing in an evil laugh at the end. It felt very wrong coming from Izuku.

They tried negotiating with it, but Robbie and Nate ran away and it got angry again, turning Nate into a hot dog and somehow flipping gravity upside down. Eri, Wendy, Mina, and Robbie landed on the ceiling. “This will be your home for all eternity!” The ghost said, raising Izu’s arms into the air, causing things to start flying at them from all directions.

Mina dodged a rogue slushy machine and yelled, “Eri! Your necklace!”

That’s right! She wasn’t powerless here! She silently thanked Mina for the reminder and stood up straight with newfound confidence. She held tight to her amulet and all of the flying objects glowed her blue instead of the ghost’s green. At that moment, everything quieted.

 Eri glared up at her brother, or really, the thing controlling her brother. “Stop this and let us go!”

Suddenly Izuku’s eyes turned normal and two ghosts appeared. They were holding him up by the arms like he was a doll or a puppet. They looked like an elderly couple. The woman dropped one of Izu’s arms and put her hands on her face, “Oh! Honey! Look at this darling little angel. Isn’t she precious?”

The man continued to hold Izuku up with ease and replied, “Yes, dear! Little girl? What on earth are you doing here with these… teenagers? ”

It took a second for Eri to realize they were speaking to her. She looked to Izu for direction, but he was just beginning to come into awareness. So he was no help.

From behind her, Wendy asked, “Why do you hate teenagers so much?”

The ghosts’ expressions darkened, “There was an awful group of them that would always come by to harass our store. One day they went too far and, because of our old age, we were stricken with double heart attacks and died.”

The man ghost turned to his wife, “That’s why we hate teenagers.” The two smiled fondly at each other.

Izuku, still in the ghost’s grasp, sniffled and looked up at his possessors with watery eyes, “That’s awful. I’m so sorry you two went through that. Is there anything we can do for you?”

Eri wasn’t surprised that her brother’s first instinct was to help them, even when he was high. But she wished he would prioritize getting out of danger first. He really was the exact same person as his older self.

The woman ghost had a look of shock, “No one has ever asked us that before, least of all a teen.”

“Perhaps times have changed…”

Robbie let out a huff, “Way to go kid, they’re probably going to make us sit down and listen to their whole life story or something lame.”

“…or not.”

Mina punched Robbie in the arm and Eri decided it was her turn to settle this. “Sir? Ma’am? Please ignore him, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. We’d love to help you. Could you please set my big brother down?”

The two smiled, “of course. So, you’re her big brother. You must be proud.”

Izu made eye contact with Eri as the ghosts placed him back on the ground. He stumbled like a drunk man. “I sure am. Eri is a good sister.” She couldn’t help but light up. She loved hearing him call her that again. It felt so normal.

Wendy got down to business, “So what can we do for you?”

“Oh, we would just love it if this little one would do a dance for us.”

Eri was okay with that. It would be up to her! Luckily, there was a dance she knew by heart. “Alright! What can I use to play some music?” Wendy handed her Tambry’s phone and Eri got a song.

She started her favorite dance. It was the one that Class 1-A did for the school festival. The one that made her smile for the first time in her life. She didn’t notice at first, but as she danced, she began floating random things around her in a way that made the whole thing feel magical.

She finished and the ghosts disappeared leaving with a small applause, telling them that they were free to go. Everyone returned to normal and the room flipped right side up. She caught everyone before they could fall on the floor. They all came up to her at once, congratulating her, making sure she was okay, and telling her how awesome that was. It made her happy!

Nate and Lee turned to each other, “Eri protection squad?”

“Yes! Who’s all in?”

There was a chorus of yeses and woohoos! And Eri blushed. These guys were crazy. Her siblings joined in, so they were crazy too. 

On the way home, Mina exclaimed how cool it was that they saw real ghosts! Izuku was less enthusiastic, “A lot less fun when you’re the one being possessed. I feel sick.” Eri had half a mind to tell him it wasn’t his first time but decided that would throw him into an existential crisis right now. Plus, he was still coming off that Smile Dip.

Mina and Eri kept talking the whole way home. Eri didn’t know what she was expecting when they got to the shack, but it wasn’t a tv flying out the window. Stan poked his head out and, with a straight face, said “I couldn’t find the remote.”

Never a dull moment here, but Eri liked it that way.

Notes:

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Eri really likes her new amulet. She kinda sees it as a more innocent quirk than the one she was born with. Tell me your thoughts and share any little ideas you might like to see in the future!
Have a good one!

Chapter 6: What’s Pioneer Day?

They were in town today. Mina was accidentally the first one to compliment Stan this morning and got rewarded with a trip to the ice cream shop. But this was usually Eri’s gig, and she didn’t feel comfortable taking it, so they all went together. It was like a family outing! Mina needed one after last night.

They had hosted a party at the Mystery Shack. Deku had accidentally copied his hand on the copy machine while trying to print fliers. The picture of his hand came to life and they all freaked out. Not knowing what to do with it, they shoved it in a jar and threw it in their room. It was very hard for the three of them to fall asleep in there later.

Eri and Deku were running the ticket stand while Wendy and Mina successfully did their job as the life of the party. Mina made friends with these girls named Candy and Grenda. They were chill. And she had a new rival, a chick named Pacifica. The two had a dance battle and Mina won. Obviously. But Pacifica wasn’t too bad. Moral of the story, it was a long night, Mina needed a chill day.

 

Stan screamed.

Deku, who’d previously been zoned out, shot straight up in his seat, “What! What’s the matter? Is it a villain attack?”

Stan dragged a hand down his face, “Worse! We’ve gotta get out of here!” He started driving very recklessly and they were all thrown around, especially Izu and Eri in the backseat. “Not today! Not today!”

Mina looked out the window and saw that everything looked weird. People were walking around in plain looking outfits with strange hats, and there wasn’t another car in sight.

A wagon pulled in front of them and Stan slammed his breaks. “We’re too late! The wagons are circling us! We’re doomed!”

Eri looked out her window, coming face to face with a big eyed calf, “Awww. But Grunkle Stan! Look at how cute!” Stan just grumbled and climbed out of the car. The kids shrugged and followed.

Stan took in the sight of the town, put his hands on his hips and sighed, “It’s Pioneer Day. I can’t believe I forgot! Usually I hide in the Shack and wait for the day to be over. Every year these yahoos turn everything all old timey to celebrate the town’s founding.”

Eri raised her hand, “What does pioneer mean?”

Stan gave her a look, then his eyes darted over to Mina and Deku. It was like he could tell that they had the same question. Mina had never heard that word before. It was weird to think since technically she didn’t even know English before Gravity Falls, but here they were, speaking fluently. Except for this word.

“You guys don’t know American history at all, do you?”

Izu was uncertain but answered, “History is muddled in our dimension. When quirks appeared, a lot of records were lost. But I do know that the USA is 400 years old.”

Stan sat on the hood of his car and patted the spot next to him, “let me teach you some history since, clearly your teachers are incompetent.” 

Eri objected to that statement, but Izuku happily sat with Stan.

Mina backed away, “Yeah no. That’s boring, I’m out! Come on, Eri, let’s check out the celebration!”

Stan shouted after them, “Okay, but if you come back to the Shack talkin like these people, you’re dead to me!”

The two of them saw a lot of crazy stuff as they made their way to where a crowd was gathering. People were making candles, panning for gold, and referring to money as “bits.” People talked about baking pies, taking care of horses, and… legally marrying a woodpecker. It was like the whole town went cuckoo bananas, and she was here for it! They found everyone standing below a stage, and right as they got there, someone stepped onto it.

A short black guy wearing a sheriff uniform and a coonskin hat announced into a microphone, “Hear ye, hear ye! Ye olde commencement ceremony is about to commence!”

A tall white guy then came on stage ringing a little handbell like a crazy person. Near Mina, an old lady got her purse stolen, “Police! My purse!” So the people on stage were the Gravity Falls authorities. They just stared at the old woman. The robber ran in her direction and Mina easily tripped him and retrieved the purse. She gave it back to the woman and saw the officer ringing his bell like a mad man while the other just chuckled. Mina facepalmed. This explained a few things about the town. The cops were incompetent.

Eri grabbed onto her arm, “This would make Dad throw a fit.” 

Mina imagined the hero that she had met for two seconds after being rewound. She still had a hard time picturing him as Eri’s father. He was scary, which probably meant he was a good underground hero. Honestly, any hero would be upset about this.

On stage a new person spoke, “greetings everyone. You all know me, Pacifica Northwest, great-great-granddaughter of town founder, Nathaniel Northwest.” Ugh, Pacifica. Of course she came from old money. It made perfect sense. “Now we invite those of you with the Pioneer Spirit to come up and introduce yourselves!” Her voice was grating to Mina’s ears. 

Eri tugged her sleeve, “Ooh! Do you want to go up with me? It could be fun!”

Mina made the mistake of looking into Eri’s big, ruby, puppy dog eyes and immediately caved before she could think about retaliating. “Okay, let’s do it,” she said, only slightly begrudged.

They climbed on stage and Pacifica glared at Mina, who took it as an invitation to really milk out this introduction thing with wackiness.

Eri stood on her tippy toes to speak into the mic, “Hi! My name is Eri and this is my sister Mina, we just moved here a couple weeks ago! This is our first Pioneer Day, so I’m really super duper excited!” There were a few in the crowd who gave some awes and coos. Eri gave the mic to Mina who just started chanting, “USA, USA!” The crowd cheered and joined in. Before leaving the stage, Pacifica grabbed her, “Hate to break it to you, but this is not a holiday for aliens.” She glanced at Eri and added, “Or unicorn girls. So you’d best get out of here. We wouldn’t want you embarrassing yourselves.”

Mina walked away without a word, but once it was just her and Eri, she smirked, “Hah! Jokes on her. Literally no one in this town cares how we look.”

“I thought about that too. It’s weird for a place without quirks.”

“Considering how weird this whole town is, an alien and a unicorn aren’t much of a stretch. Oooh is that butterscotch?”

After a quick trip to a booth, treating themselves to delicious candies, Eri asked, “Why does that girl think she’s so cool just because she’s related to the town founder?”

Mina thought about it, “Well, it means their family has money, so they do more of whatever they want just because they can.”

“Like Endeavor.” Eri decided.

“Yeah, like- wait, why Endeavor, sure he’s rich but he doesn’t abuse his money, does he?”

Eri mumbled, “Abuse, yes. Money, no.” but it was so quiet that Mina wasn't sure she heard right. Eri looked like she wanted to say something more, but she held herself back. Mina shrugged and ate another piece of butterscotch. Then, her brain remembered she had seen something about the Northwest family in the journal. She was a much slower reader than Izu, so it was still her turn with it. She pulled it out and thumbed through until she found the right page.

Eri watched over Mina’s shoulder as she read aloud, “According to my investigations, Nathaniel Northwest may not be the founder of Gravity Falls. I believe there is evidence of this in the enclosed document if only I could crack the code!”

“Would that make Pacifica’s family a bunch of fakes?”

Mina grinned, “It sure would. That would really humble my new rival! I think we should investigate this. We’ll be like detectives on a case.”

“Solving the mysteries of Gravity Falls!” They high fived and ran off to the library to get more information. 

The two of them quickly became bored of the books. They were extremely unhelpful. So Mina took the coded paper and said, “Hey, wanna see something cool?” She folded it into a hat and placed it on Eri’s head.

The girl took it off and admired it, “Where’d you learn how to do that?”

“My dad taught me. I made them all the time in elementary school, giving them to friends and decorating them together. It was a lot of fun.”

Mina waited for a response like, “Wow, sis, that’s so cool,” or “can you teach me how to make one?” But instead she was met with silence.

“Uh, Eri-Cherry? Are you okay over there?”

Eri blinked and looked up from the paper hat, “Mina, you turned it into a map. It’s a hat map! Or a map hat?”

“What? No way!” Mina looked at it and saw she was telling the truth. She traced her fingers over the lines, “It looks like it goes to the museum!” They practically ran out of the library to the museum. Along the way, they discovered that the police were chasing them on their hunt, so that was fun. Maybe this really was a huge conspiracy and the cops caught onto their trying to uncover it.

Luckily the museum was letting people in for free because it was Pioneer Day. They even got balloons and stickers! Mina was not above such childish things, but she did feel more secure about it with Eri by her side. They quickly found some sort of marble carving that was supposed to give them their next clue. They stared at it and stared at it and stared at it.

“This is getting us nowhere. Ugh! I hate abstract art!” Mina said, throwing her hands up in frustration. She flipped upside down in her seat to dramatically complain more, but she looked at the carving and it finally looked like something!

Eri followed her example and said, “Oh my gosh! I’ve seen that before! It’s a statue in the cemetery.”

“Uh, how do you know that?”

“Stan and I went by it a few times during our ice cream drives.”

“Oh good! I was worried you were about to say you met a vampire or something without me!”

As they walked out, they heard one of the cops speaking to someone over his walkie talkie. They took that as their cue to run away.

At the cemetery, Mina and Eri stared at the statue, “Now what? Is she pointing at the next clue, do you think?”

Mina shook her head, “I think that would be too straightforward. The other clues were pretty weird.”

“You’re probably right,” Eri said, “but just in case, I want to see where she’s pointing.” Eri stepped up to the statue to line up her sight with the exact direction of the finger. But when she did, her unicorn horn bumped it. The statue’s finger moved upward and there was a clicking sound. The ground under Mina shifted and she fell down a secret staircase.

Eri ran after her, helping her up, “You okay, Mina?”

Mina rubbed her head and looked up. She couldn’t believe what she saw. “I am now! We totally just found a room of hidden treasure!”

It was full of old documents, paintings, coins, and strange artifacts. She even saw a Native American bow and arrows. After a minute of exploring the room Mina said, “Alright. This is fun and all, but we should take what we came for and get out of here before the sheriff catches up. We didn’t leave a trail for them to follow or anything, so we should be fine, as long as we hurry.” She grabbed a folder that detailed everything about the Gravity Falls, Northwest cover up. Eri might’ve also snatched some mint condition gold coins because she could. Both chose to ignore the man encased in amber, sitting in the corner of the room.

They ran out as fast as they could and heard a bell ringing. They ducked behind one of the cemetery’s gravestones. That officer had been ringing that bell all day. How was no one in town annoyed by that?

The sheriff brought them to a stop right in front of the statue, “Alright, Deputy. Now it’s time for stealth mode. These kids know too much and this is a matter of national security. We need to get them to DC. This is what we’ve trained for our entire careers.”

Mina thought, “You didn’t train hard enough!”

Once the officers were gone underground, Mina and Eri made their getaway to Lazy Susan’s diner. They would’ve gone to the Shack, but that was too far to be carrying secret government documents.

Once they were seated, they put the folder on the table. Eri greedily opened it, “I want to see what they’ve been hiding!”

Mina leaned in and read, “Nathaniel Northwest was not the founder of Gravity Falls… He was a poop shoveler? Wow. You cannot make this stuff up!” 

Eri laughed, “No way! Ooh! Look, the eighth and a half President of the United States, Quinten Trembly, encased himself in peanut brittle after founding the town. America is a crazy place!”

Mina hummed, “I’m pretty sure this is the only town in the U.S. that’s like this. So, what do we want to do now? Rub it in Pacifica’s face that her family is made up of frauds?”

Mina watched as Eri’s creepy,  Cheshire grin spread across her face for the second time, “Let’s do it!”

“Did your dad seriously teach you to make that face?”

“Sure did!”

“…Can you teach me?”

 

In town they ran into the Northwest family. Mina, not being one for subtlety, raised the government documents high in the air and shouted, “The Northwests are a sham! Pacifica’s great-great-grandfather did not found the town and they are all frauds!”

That got everyone’s attention.

Eri shouted too, “The government gave Nathaniel Northwest money to pretend to be the founder because they were too embarrassed by the real one!”

People started murmuring and the officers from earlier ran through the crowd to put a stop to them, “Those files are top secret! You can’t just show them to everyone!” The shorter one yelled at them. He looked nervous and unsure how to handle Mina’s outburst.

Mina smiled, “There you have it, folks. An officer of the law revealed that what I’m telling you is a government secret, hereby securing their validity, and meaning that I’m telling the truth.” There were shocked gasps, and the officers’ faces dropped. Ooh she felt so cool right now. She handed the papers to a dumbfounded Pacifica and took Eri’s hand. As the two walked back to the shack, they could hear people shouting at each other and the splats of old fashioned pies hitting either the ground or people. She really hoped it was a food fight. But she took the most satisfaction in hearing the shouts of the sheriff saying, “Curse you, Mina Pines!” Followed by Pacifica’s, “I’ll get back at you for this!”

Oh, yeah! Best Pioneer Day ever!

 

They came home to Stan and Deku sitting on the porch couch, covered in mud and tomatoes, completely exhausted. Deku greeted them with a smile, “Hey, guys! Did you have a good time at the celebration?”

Eri brightened, “Yes! We found secret treasure and government secrets. You should’ve seen Mina! She started a riot!”

Stan nodded his head at Mina, “Good for you, Pinky.”

She gave the boys a concerned look, “Thanks… What happened to you guys?”

Stan’s eyes were and sunk and dead inside, “Pioneer Day happened to us.”

Izuku shuddered. Was it really that bad? He clarified Stan’s statement, “Well, the car got stuck in some mud and it took the both of us pushing it to get it out. Then it wouldn’t start, so we were stranded. Stan cussed out a mechanic who wouldn’t help us because he was pretending to be a pioneer who had never seen a car before. The cops didn’t like it, so they put Stan in the stocks. I tried getting people to stop throwing tomatoes at him, and they didn’t like that, so I got put in a stock too.”

Mina got angry at that. Unlike Stan, Izu was sweet and innocent, he didn’t deserve that treatment! He sounded so tired and sad. She felt ready to throw hands.

“That’s when the Manotaurs showed up. You remember me telling you about them?”

Mina did remember. He had said that they were weird man-creatures whose whole culture revolved around being manly. She honestly thought he made it up after he’d heard about Mina’s middle school friend, Kirishima who called everything “manly.” But, the Manotaurs really had found Deku alone in the forest and said that he was too tiny and stick-like, so now they were forcing him to become strong and manly.

Stan leaned deeper into the couch, “Yeah, one of the crazy bull men strolled into town, tore open the stocks and threw Deku over his shoulder. Said it was time for training. I went with ‘em, I wasn’t about to miss a good show. While the kid was getting beat up, I had a Pit Cola with one of the Manotaurs. Oh, what was his name?”

“Testosteraur”

Eri asked, “What word did you just say?”

Stan pointed, “I’m with you, half-pint. Ridiculous name or not, he’s a good guy.”

“With a mean punch,” Izu rubbed his shoulder. “I’m not complaining though. I need the training. I’m actually grateful they’re willing to help me out. If I want to be a hero, I’ve got to make sure my body is ready.”

Eri snickered. Mina turned to her, “What? I think it’s adorable that Izu made friends with magical creatures who want to beat him up,” she joked.

Eri shook her head, still smiling, “It’s not that. It’s just, Deku has always been so dedicated to hero work. I’m happy he’s going to get his muscles back. All Might would be proud.”

Izuku squeaked, “All Might?”

“He’s your mentor. You two do everything together… You told me you guys knew each other when you were in middle school. Did you lie about that?”

Izuku didn’t answer. His jaw hung open and his eyes glazed over. Stan waved a hand in front of his face, “Think you broke him,” he took another sip of his Pit Cola and said, “Do you girls want to go in and eat a pie I stole from one of the vendors?”

She and Eri turned to each other with matching grins and Mina answered, “I will eat all of the stolen pie!”

Notes:

I love Mina and Eri adventures. They would actually be huge troublemakers all of the time.
Honestly Izuku and Stan spell out trouble too. This whole cast is chaotic.

Yeah, this is gonna be the most inconsistent upload schedule you’ve ever seen😂

Chapter 7: A Girl’s Best Friend

It was another morning of being sore for Izuku. Those Manotaurs did not like to go easy on him. But he could feel how much stronger he was getting and that’s what counted. 

Stan was up to his old money making antics again today. First thing in the morning, he had Izuku test out a sky tram. He was putting on a fair for the Mystery Shack. It looked like fun, but when Izuku stepped onto the tram, he saw too much rust and too many missing bolts. He had second thoughts. He also didn’t have a choice. 

Below him Stan said, “Look Mina! The cheapest fair money can buy!” He sounded very proud of himself. But just as he said that, the cable snapped and Izuku began to fall. Luckily, he was caught right before the metal death box hit the ground. Eri stood there with her glowing blue amulet. She had a somewhat bored expression as she set him down. Izuku’s legs were shaking, but he would be fine. He didn’t die or break any of his bones. He definitely wouldn’t have PTSD from this and never set foot on a sky tram again. EVER AGAIN! 

Stan was about to say something, but Eri stuck out her hand to stop him and recited, “The bumper cars are broken too. Yes, we will stick your stupid papers to things that look like lawsuits, which is literally everything here. No, Izuku, that isn’t legal, yes Mina, we’re doing it anyway. What was the other one? Oh. No, I’m not a witch.” She took a small stack of papers from Stan’s hands and walked away.

Mina turned to him, “Okay. What was that?”

Stan shrugged, “No idea. Puberty?”

That didn’t seem right to Izuku. Eri was acting really weird. The three of them watched as the little girl marched around the fair, slapping paper on everything as she went. “Whatever it is, she’s clearly not okay. Maybe I should talk to her?”

Stan said, “Great idea. I don’t need a unicorn girl moping around my carnival of fun times and suckers giving me money. So you go ahead and fix it.” He turned Izuku around and pushed him in the direction Eri went. As he walked away, he heard Stan tell Mina that he had the perfect job for her because it involved insulting people.

 

After a very long and full day of doing jobs and wandering the fair looking for Eri, Izuku was tired. The sun was setting and he was getting hungry for some dinner. He concluded that Eri knew exactly how to avoid him. It was like magic. Like she knew where he would be at what times. When she was speaking this morning, she sounded like she knew exactly what they all were going to say. What if she… lots of ideas started running through his head, but he landed on two that seemed the most likely. Now he definitely had to find her.

He turned a corner to see Mina in a swimsuit talking to Robbie. He caught the tail end of the conversation where she told him to go jump in the bottomless pit. Robbie scoffed and left. Izuku came up to her to see what that was about, she looked grouchy. “That was intense. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, this fool was just looking for Wendy.”

“…So you told him to jump in the bottomless pit?”

“He’s not dumb enough to actually do it. I hope. The thing is, Wendy doesn’t want to talk to him right now. They’re in a fight.”

“Over what?” Izuku thought they were really good friends.

She sighed, “Today, he insisted that they date more seriously right after she told him she wanted to break up.”

“Wait. They were dating?”

“Yeah, Izu, try to keep up. Anyways. Wendy told me that he’s been acting crazy all day. Extremely rude and moody. So I’m taking a break from my job to keep him away from her for now.”

“Oh… Can you let Wendy know that if she needs any more help, I’m happy to.”

She smiled and punched his arm, “Sure, bro. It'll make her really happy.”

“Thanks. What are you wearing your swimsuit for?” He was very curious. There weren’t any water based games or rides that he knew of.

“My job. I’ve been running the dunk tank since noon! Stan wants me sitting there making fun of people, which is fun! He says it’s rigged so it’s next to impossible for me to get knocked in. I believe him. It’s getting hot just sitting there above the water!”

“I do remember hearing the announcement for the dunk tank. I hope you’re staying hydrated. I don’t want you getting a heat stroke.”

“Ay ay, Captain.”

“Hm, well, I’d better get back to looking for Eri.”

“Eri? Oh yeah, I saw her sitting by the skee ball game.”

“Thanks, Mina!”

Izuku ran over there to find Eri laying on top of the game so no one could play it. As he got closer, he heard her talking to the sky, “Stupid Pacifica! Every time! She was supposed to be Mina’s rival, not mine! Why can’t I figure this out? I just want my Waddles!” And then she swore, cursing out this Pacifica girl that Izuku had only heard of a couple times.

He must have made a surprised noise because Eri shot straight up, eyes wide “Deku!” she swore again but this time it was under her breath. She scrambled to stand up. She reached behind her back and pulled out a tape measure. Izuku didn’t know what was happening but he wanted an explanation and he wanted to comfort her. He grabbed her arm as she pulled and released the tape measure.

 

There was a flash of light. Suddenly the sun was higher in the sky, there were a lot more people around them like it was the middle of the day again, instead of the evening. And his shirt was on fire. Wait. His shirt was on fire?

“Aaahh!” He screeched as he patted the flames off his shirt.

Eri saw and moved to help. Once it was put out, Izuku heard an announcement, it was Stan saying, “It’s twelve o’ clock. The dunk tank is now open. I’m talkin’ to you cut-offs.” Twelve? But it was dusk a second ago!

“Eri! What’s going on?”

“Do you promise not to freak out? And not bring up that I said bad words?”

“No.” He gave her a stern look. He was not about to let that go. And he deserved to know what was happening.

She weighed her options and caved, “Fine. I’m borrowing this device from a time traveler so I can get my pet pig from Pacifica.”

That did not match up with any of his earlier theories about the girl’s strange behavior. He thought that she had either figured out telepathy with the amulet or had a quirk awakening that allowed her to time travel. Though, the quirk one would be a stretch since they didn’t work here. “You stole a Time Machine?!”

She paused, then said, “no?”

He gave her a disbelieving look.

“Izu-nii, you don’t understand! I have to get my pig from that- …from Pacifica!”

“And who taught you to swear?” It honestly scared him how fluent she was with it.

“Do you want a list?” She asked sarcastically.

“A written list.” He pulled out his notebook and marked them down as she said names. He would have quite a few people to give a stern talking to, some of which surprised him. Stan, Mina, Wendy, Aizawa, All Might, Snipe, Todoroki, Kaminari, a few more classmates that he didn’t know, and Kacchan. She emphasized Kacchan heavily. “I’m punching him when we get home.”

“You already did that.” She rolled her eyes and smiled. Izuku was somewhat stunned by this hidden, snarky side to his sister that he hadn’t seen yet.

“We can get to all of that later. For now, we need to find the time traveler and give the tape measure back.”

She held it tighter, “Wait! Please Izuku! Please let me find a way to get Waddles. I’ve been trying all day!”

He gave in fairly quickly to her puppy dog eyes. It was really a problem that everyone in the Shack gave in so easily to those. He sighed, “Tell me the problem.”

She pumped her fist in the air, “Yes! Okay. So. There’s a guy giving out pigs for five tickets a piece. And no matter what I do, I can’t seem to get the tickets in time to get Waddles before Pacifica does. I’ve tried going back in time with tickets, but something always makes me lose them. A bird takes them or they catch on fire like your shirt, or a kid steals them… there’s always something. Izuku. Every time Pacifica drags him away he looks so sad and tries to escape her. He tries running to me!”

Izuku took a moment to think about it, “How many times have you gone back in time?”

“Ummmmm, I think twenty three?”

Izuku’s jaw completely fell. She relived this day that many times? “Twenty three! Okay, alright. This sounds like a time curse or something, like the forces of time won’t allow a different outcome.”

“I don’t believe in that. There’s gotta be a way!” She was clearly very passionate about this.

“How about this? Show me what happens in this timeline when we don’t affect anything. After that, we can think up a plan.” Eri agreed and the two of them spied on Pacifica. Izuku finally put a face to the name. The blonde girl did look rich, maybe a bit full of herself. He could see what Mina and Eri were talking about when she took one bite of a question mark-shaped corn dog, spat it out and threw the rest of the stick on the ground, saying it was the most disgusting thing she’d had. Which was a sad waste of a good corndog. He had eaten one for lunch before and thought they were yummy. Eri gave his shoulder a sad pat to send him her condolences.

Pacifica eventually did make her way to the pigs and easily gave her tickets. Izuku watched from behind a trash can. He zoned out as he considered why she might’ve wanted Eri’s chosen pig over the others, or at all. Maybe if he knew her motive, he could “fix” the timeline for Eri.

Something cold dropped on top of his head, making him lose his train of thought. Purple grape syrup dripped down his face, there was a snow cone on his head. He looked up to see the blonde girl towering over him. He gave her a sheepish smile. She returned with a more sinister one, “Whoops, didn’t see you there, trash boy.” She laughed and walked away. Izuku’s expression turned horrified when he saw the pig squealing desperately as it was forcefully dragged behind her. He could swear it made eye contact with him. Izuku didn’t know a pig could have such a pleading look in its eyes. It broke his heart.

He made his way back to Eri who was waiting behind the Ferris wheel, “We need to rescue that pig.”

“Why is your hair purple?”

 

Izuku’s first plan was to see if they could get Waddles without the Time Machine. It turned out, they couldn’t. Pacifica turned it into a game. They asked if they could get Waddles from her and she said yes, but asked for a ridiculously high price.

They ended up traveling through time several times so Izuku was able to calculate a plan—through trial and error—that he believed would work. He stuffed three tickets into his notebook for safe keeping and went over the plan one more time so Eri knew exactly what to do. Then they pulled the tape measure.

 

Eri went on her way to take down any pig fliers so Pacifica wouldn’t find out about it in the morning and be prepared when the pigs opened in the afternoon. Then Eri went off to win their last two tickets at the only game that wasn’t entirely rigged. The forces of time were okay with Izuku holding three of the tickets in the meantime. Izuku’s job was to talk to Wendy. He did not feel very ready for this, dealing with relationships was not his forte..

When he found her near a ball toss stand, Robbie was with her. Perfect, they hadn’t started fighting yet. Izuku interrupted their conversation, “Oh. Hey guys! I was hoping to find some friends here!”

Wendy waved, “Ah, Hey! How’s it hanging, Deku?” She high fived him then they fist bumped and entered into an elaborate handshake they made up during work once when they were bored.

Robbie put his arm around Wendy. Izuku was embarrassed at himself that he hadn’t known that they were dating before today. They were so obvious about it. Robbie smirked, “Sup, little man?”

This next part would be important. Izuku just needed to keep them together until after Mina’s break at the dunk tank. “I was wanting to know if you both would go on the Ferris wheel with me. Mina is busy and Eri is playing other games.” Please say yes, please say yes. 

Wendy shrugged, “Sure, we haven’t gone on it yet. You in, Robbie?”

“Whatever.” Robbie answered. Izuku celebrated in his head. On the outside he gave them a small bow and an excited thank you! 

While hanging out with the two of them, a couple things were certain. 1: Wendy hadn’t yet decided she wanted to break up with Robbie, because in all timelines it happened in the Tunnel of Love and Corndogs. 2: He had to keep Wendy from going near Mina at all costs, lest they decide to migrate to the bathroom together to talk things out. It would defeat Izuku’s whole purpose. 3: Izuku didn’t really care if they broke up at the end of the day. It just had to wait.

He successfully stayed as the couple’s third wheel through many different rides and activities. “It’s twelve o’ clock, the dunk tank is now open! I’m talkin’ to you cut-offs.” Which also meant that the pig stand was now running. The only reason Stan hadn’t announced it was because he felt it wouldn’t make as much money. 

Eri was ready to distract Mina during her break in a half hour. Izuku had to last just a little longer, he pointed at a stuffie “Is that a duck or a panda?”

Wendy smiled, “I don’t know what it is, but I want one.”

“Do you also want a snow cone? I can go grab some while you two play.” Robbie said.

Izuku was half expecting this, “I’m good,” he replied. But Wendy said yes.

She turned to Izuku and punched her fists together, “Let’s get ourselves some duck pandas. Using a couple of Robbie’s tickets, they threw balls at milk bottles. Wendy knocked hers over easily. Izuku took his turn and managed to knock over the bottles, but the ball bounced on the backboard and deflected right into Wendy.

“Ahh! My Eye!”

Robbie quickly ran over to glare at Izuku. But he was already apologizing profusely to the point of tears. Wendy calmed him down, saying she was fine and that she’d had much worse. They used one of the two snow cones to ice her now swollen eye. Wendy said, “This is sweet, Robbie. Both the flavored syrup and the gesture.” They were given their plushies of unidentifiable species, and sat down to eat lunch. After much debate, they named their panda ducks Kip and Blip. Izuku looked at the time. It had been a half hour! Mission accomplished.

“Thanks for hanging out with me, guys. And sorry again about your eye, Wendy!”

“No biggy, see ya later, Deku.”

 

Now came the next phase. Mina would no longer be distracted from the dunk tank to keep Robbie away from Wendy. So she could commit fully to her job. It was time to steer Pacifica over there.

Steeling himself with a bit of confidence, he strolled up to her, “Hello, miss. I don’t believe we’ve met. Are you enjoying the fair?”

She made no movement that indicated she was interested in this conversation, looking down at her phone, “who are you and what do you want?” she asked harshly. 

“My name is Deku. I was wondering if you might like to get cotton candy with me?” It was the closest food item to the dunk tank, so hopefully she liked cotton candy enough to say yes.

Pacifica finally looked up. She scanned him from head to toe before deciding how to answer. “Hm, I believe I would.” It was another weird thing that he and Eri discovered in their trial runs. Just as Wendy usually got hit in the eye with a ball, Pacifica was usually nice to him… as long as she didn’t first meet him doing something weird like spy on her from behind a trash can.

They walked up to the cotton candy and he bought one for Pacifica. She sort of gave him a look of unbelief before masking it with her usual routine, “Thank you, peasant. I- I appreciate it.”

Peasant? This girl was weird too. He smiled kindly, “Sure thing!” And then he left to watch from afar. Pacifica turned around and spotted a huge crowd around the dunk tank. She walked over and discovered Mina inside, mocking everyone while holding a megaphone. Izuku saw the evil smirk on Pacifica’s face and knew that he was good to go. She would be occupied for a while now. Behind him he could hear a screaming match between the two girls, insulting each other like it was no one’s business. It was terrifying and he was glad to get away.

Eri anxiously waited for him at the pig pen. When she saw him coming she asked, “Are we good? Did it work?” 

He laughed a bit maniacally, “I think it did!” They went up to the carnival worker who asked which pig they wanted.

“Ol’ fifteen poundy! Alright, and do you have your tickets?”

Eri handed him two. Izuku opened his notebook and gave him the other three.

They watched in anticipation, waiting for anything to go wrong. And nothing happened! No wind blew it away, nothing randomly knocked it out of his hand before it reached the carny’s hand, and it didn’t spontaneously combust. The worker pocketed the tickets, picked up Waddles and gave him to Eri whose arms were outstretched.

With the pig finally in her arms she looked happier than she had been since this day originally started, which felt like a week ago. He smiled fondly at the sight. They got the pig. Finally. How many times could he say it? Finally! Izuku collapsed in relief. 

She set Waddles down and he rubbed against Izuku’s legs, making him laugh and pat the top of this pig’s head. Both pig and girl were so happy! Looking at his little, pink face, Izuku could honestly say that he loved this pig. Just then, a bald guy in a gray jumpsuit came up to them, “Give me back my Time Machine, little girl!”

The man reached for her, she panicked and pulled the tape measure as hard as she could. Baldie made contact with her arm just in time to be taken back with her. The two of them disappeared in a flash of light. Izuku and Waddles just looked at each other for a moment.

Next thing that he knew, they were back, looking extremely exhausted and worse for wear, deep in a fight over the Time Machine. Izuku sighed, stood up and simply took it from Eri, “This isn’t ours. We have to give it back.“

She tried reaching to get it back. Izuku held it higher and she pouted , “No! He’s going to redo the day again! That means we’ll lose Waddles again.”

Izuku’s grip tightened on the object. He couldn’t let that happen, “Okay, Eri. You and Waddles stay over there. I’ll try negotiating.”

She hesitated, but nodded, deciding to trust him.

Izuku turned to the time traveler, “Hello. My name is Deku. I apologize for any trouble we might have caused you.”

“I am Blendin Blandin! A-and that girl violated the rules of space time by stealing my Time Machine and using it very irresponsibly!” This man was getting himself worked up. Izuku had to calm him down.

“And I am here to give it back to you. I just ask that we keep this timeline. You see, she really loves that pig, and frankly, so do I. If we can’t come to a compromise, then I am afraid I will have to keep this.”

“Ooohhhhh! This is impossible! You’re putting me in a really tough spot, you know.”

Two very tall men appeared out of thin air. They were very obviously more time travelers. One grabbed Blendin and one grabbed Izuku.

Blendin shouted, “Oh no! The Time Paradox Avoidance Enforcement Squadron!”

“Blendin Blandin,” one of the futuristic looking men said, “You have violated the time travelers code of conduct. You two are both under arrest.”

Izuku was going to ask why he was being arrested since he’s not an official time traveler. But he realized he was still holding the Time Machine, and decided that he should once again try to de-escalate the situation by speaking as diplomatically as he could, “I am so sorry, officers. I will take full responsibility for what has happened. I was unaware of any time-related laws and regulations. Is there some way we can remedy the situation?”

Blendin looked surprised. The two men looked at each other, one answered, “We will have to bring you back to our year to settle on a proper judgment and punishment.”

Izuku could feel Eri’s worry from a few feet behind him. He turned his neck to look at her, “I’ll be fine. Just take care of Waddles. I’ll be back before you know it.”

And just like that, Izuku was taken away to the future.

Notes:

Eri got Waddles. Stan got more money. Mina got a screaming match with Pacifica. And Izuku got arrested by time police. This is bound to go well.

Chapter 8: Time Gladiator

Eri was about to lose her mind! Her only saving grace was the fact that Waddles was always by her side to comfort her. This whole thing had been her fault! She never should’ve dragged Izuku into this time travel stuff in the first place. It was the second time she’d gotten him in trouble by using the powers of time. She still hadn’t completely forgiven herself for rewinding him and Mina back in their dimension.

Now, Izuku was on his own in the future. Who knows what could’ve happened? Or what will happen. He was arrested and probably in a time prison for the rest of his life and she had no way of getting to him.

It had been three days. She thought that Izuku would return quickly, so she lied to everyone about where he was the first day. She claimed he was getting extra training with the Manotaurs. But eventually Stan became fixated on the idea that Izuku was avoiding work, so she fessed up. She told them everything, as well as her own conclusions that she accidentally created the time paradox that Blendin had come to fix in the first place. It broke Mina’s brain a little.

Now they were all worried. No one seemed to know what to do about it. Eri hugged Waddles tighter and looked around to see Stan counting the same stack of money for the fifth time, Mina vigorously reading through the journal for answers, Soos taking apart and reassembling an old video game console, and Wendy doing a secret handshake with Deku’s plushy, Blip.

This was miserable.

Eri went outside to sit on the porch and get away from it all. A few minutes later, she saw a light and watched in surprise as she saw a double of herself and Blendin run across the yard. It was surreal. Her past self tripped but quickly stood back up to chase the time traveler, then they disappeared again like they had never been there in the first place. Huh. 

She walked over there to see a blue piece of fabric on the ground. She had wondered how that happened. Three days ago her dress had a big tear taken out of it, which was sad because it was her favorite dress. Mina had repaired it by sewing a dark blue patch over it. She liked the patch because it had a little white pine tree on it which was super cute and made the dress feel much more personalized.

She picked up the dirty, torn fabric and another light appeared. Blendin now stood in front of her, patting fire off his head, “Oh, gee. I don’t know how to say this, but uh, I need that fabric.”

She handed it to him without protest, “What happened? Where is Deku? Is he okay?”

He shoved the fabric in a ziplock bag, “Eh, that’s not exactly an easy answer.”

“…can you come inside and tell us. Everyone is really worried.”

“Oh! Well, I guess so, yeah.”

 

The two of them walked inside and Eri introduced everyone.

Stan slammed his fist on the counter, “Alright, baldie, where’s my boy?” They all stared at him, “Uh I mean, that one kid that looks like a weak little bush. Tell us now before I break out the brass knuckles”

Message received, Blendin started explaining, “Okay! I will! Please don’t hurt me! The kid and I were brought to Time Court. He said that he would take full responsibility, so they let me off easy and put me on cleanup duty.”

“Which is why you needed that fabric?” Eri asked.

“Yes. Along with a candy you dropped by the lake and the calculator I dropped on the Oregon Trail. Anyways. Now Deku has to compete in the 14 most epically dangerous days he has ever experienced, Globnar, where fate will decide his punishment as he fights for his life.”

“WHAT?!” That was way worse than what Eri had imagined, “But none of it was his fault! It was me and you that made the paradox.”

Wendy chimed in, “Yeah! That’s messed up. And it wasn’t even that bad. You cleaned it up, so what’s the problem?”

“Time law demands that someone has to be punished anytime the rules of time travel are violated. He took full responsibility before anything was explained.”

Mina crossed her arms, “But why wasn’t it you instead? You let your Time Machine get stolen in the first place.”

Eri was actually the guilty one on that front. She’s the one who stole the Time Machine. She sighed, “Because this is Deku we’re talking about.” Deku would never let someone else get in trouble by what he thinks is his mistake.

“So, what? He thinks that he has to take the blame for everything so no one else gets hurt?” Stan asked, nailing it right on the head.

“Dad says he’s got a hero complex.”

“Well, that’s just perfect. Alright kids, we’re going on a field trip. Mina, go get your baseball bat.” Stan said, shoving a few questionable items into his coat pockets. Eric shouldn’t have been surprised at how quickly he made this decision.

Mina pumped her fist, “Sweet, let’s go get our brother back!” She immediately began running around the house to pack random things she must’ve thought they’d need.

Blendin held up his hands, “Wait, hold on. This is not a good idea. You can’t just break him out of Globnar! He’s probably been marked with a Timestamp by now. The security system would be impossible to get into.”

“Dude,” Soos put a hand on Blendin’s shoulder, “you let a teenager take your place against a futuristic tyrannical government that he knows nothing about.”

Wendy followed him up with, “You’re lucky you can be our ride, otherwise you wouldn’t be conscious right now.” She shrugged.

The Time Traveler hesitantly agreed with them and took them to the future.

 

The streets were dark and grimy. The six of them tucked into a store and got clothes to help them blend in better. Eri thought it was strange that most of the future fashion was just black with glowing neon color accents. But it also made her feel like she looked cool. Everyone else definitely looked cool! 

As they walked in the direction of the prison where Izu was being kept, trying to think up some semblance of a plan to break him out, a figure ran toward them. The person was wearing a dark cloak, and ducked their head low, barreling through Stan and Soos, and away down the street. 

“Hey! Watch it, bub!” Stan said, shaking his fist angrily.

“Sorry,” they quietly apologized without looking up.

Mina shook her head, “Wow. Kids these days have no manners.” she said it with an old grandma voice that made Eri giggle.

A minute later, screens on buildings began displaying Izuku’s face with the words, “Escaped convict and Globnar contestant” along with other information.

“Oh, Deku.” Eri whispered.

They then ran into a pair of winded guards, talking to each other. One said, “No one’s ever broken out of the Infinitentiary before.”

They started running again and the other replied, “He has got to be the bravest, most brilliant Time Convict I’ve ever seen.”

The group watched the guards run down the street, picking up their pace.

Blendin looked at a hologram device on his wrist and started freaking out, “No, no, no! This isn’t good! This really isn’t good! This really, really isn’t good!”

“Spit it out, man!” Wendy shouted at him. She looked like she was about to punch him in the nose.

“It looks like Izuku has already escaped. The entire Time Squadron is after him!”

Stan rolled his eyes, “We can see that.”

Blendin continued, “ The Time Squadron ran will not rest until they have recaptured him! This will probably be the last chance we have to rescue him before he’s dragged back.”

Soos adjusted his cap “We have to find Deku! But where would he have run away to?”

They all thought for a moment.

“Wait…” Mina put a hand to her chin, “You don’t think that person that ran into us before was…”

Now that she’d said it, Eri was sure she’d seen green eyes under that hood. She was sure of it, “That guy was Deku! We have to go after him!” 

They all ran in the direction the hooded figure had gone and split up in teams of two. Eri and Soos went together running through the maze of streets. At some point, Soos lifted her onto his back so they could go faster while she acted as lookout.

They ran past an alleyway with a few people in it, all of which she recognized, “Soos! Over there!”

They caught up just in time to see Deku’s hood fall. Eri gasped. He was a little bruised and bloodied. Handcuffs were slapped on his wrists and he was carried out of the alley, looking miserable and full of dread. When he saw them, his eyes lit up, “What are you guys doing here?!” He struggled against his restraints.

“Rescuing you, dawg!” Soos said.

The officers stopped and acknowledged the pair. One reprimanded, “This Time Convict has his Globnar sentence to complete. I advise against taking any unsavory actions to interfere.”

Eri climbed off of Soos’s back and put her hands on her hips, “Or what?”

“We will be forced to imprison you for five years. That is the standard for aiding Time Gladiators.”

Soos knit his eyebrows together in concern, “Time Gladiators?”

“Don’t worry guys, I’ll be fine.” he said with a small smile. Why was he always trying to comfort others when he was in danger? As much as she admired that about him, it was also very annoying.

Eri scanned his face for a lie. Most of the time when Deku said “fine,” he was not fine. Given the situation, it must have been a lie. He was a Gladiator? How was that fine? But right now, he looked like he was actually telling the truth. His eyes held a certainty to them, and conviction she hadn’t seen in a long time. So she decided she would have to trust him.

One of the guards cleared his throat, “I’m willing to overlook this run in, seeing as neither of you have taken any actions you would regret. I recommend finding your way to the stadium. The most you can do for him now is watch.”

Deku gave them a small smile, “Yeah, then you can see what I’ve been up to for the past couple weeks.”

“Weeks!” Eri squeaked. It had only been days for them. That didn’t make any sense! But then again, nothing made sense in life anymore.

Deku was dragged away and Eri and Soos quickly left to find the others. They first found Stan and Mina, then Wendy and Blendin. “We found him, but he was caught. The officer guys told us that the only thing we can do now is watch his Globnar matches. Blendin, I know you said he was fighting for his life, but you didn’t say that he was a gladiator!” Eri pointed up at him accusingly.

Soos just said, “Not cool. My dude has been fighting in an arena for two weeks now!”

“I- I- I’m sorry, I thought that was implied! Unfortunately, the Time Enforcement Squadron is right. If he’s going to the arena right now, we can’t get him out. That place is too tight. And the penalty if we’re caught-“

“Five years, we know. I still want to go. I want to be there for him in case anything happens.” Eri pleaded.

The others all exchanged glances until they were on the same page.

Stan clenched his fists tight, “If anything does happen, you’re dead, Blendin Blenjamin Blandin.”

“H-How do you know my full name?” Stan tossed him his ID badge, “When- How did you- Nevermind, I’ll just take you to the stadium.” Blendin said, looking very defeated and a bit terrified.

 

The stadium was huge, with a roaring crowd, the smell of popcorn, and people fighting in a multitude of challenges below as a pre-show. They took seats toward the front. “This reminds me of the UA sports festival…” Eri said quietly. 

Stan next to her said, “Is that the one you told me about where the children fight each other with their super powers? I would pay to watch Deku punch another child in the face.”

Despite the situation, Eri laughed, “just come to hero training. He kicks his best friend in the face with his quirk all the time.”

Mina perked up, “I’ve been wondering what Izuku’s quirk is. Broseph won’t say anything about it.”

At this point, everyone wanted to know too, Eri hadn’t realized that none of them knew. Eri’s and Mina’s quirks were talked about but apparently they hadn’t mentioned Deku’s, “Oh. It’s called Superpower.”

Stan let out a pfft and stated, “creative.”

“When he uses it, his body sparks with green bits of lightning that look super cool and he gets super strong. Without his quirk he was able to lift a fridge, but with his quirk he could hold a few buses. A move he liked to use a lot literally shot air like bullets just by flicking his fingers. Then he had a quirk awakening that somehow gave him a bunch more quirks on top of it.”

They sat in silence. Each of them staring down at their green haired cinnamon roll waiting in the middle of the arena for his match to start. None of them could imagine this kid as an overpowered hero student that could easily kill someone. Eri was oblivious to their internal freak-outs, shoving some popcorn in her face. Remembering how cool her brother was made her feel a lot more calm about all of this. Deku could win this. It would be just like when she would watch him train. If she was being honest, being in the stadium brought a breath of familiarity to her. It would be like watching Izuku win the second year’s sports festival all over again.

Deku looked up to the stands and somehow found their little group. Eri gave him a determined and sure expression. He smirked and returned it.

An empty space in the stands opened up and out came a giant, floating baby with a glowing symbol on its head. Okay. This was officially the weirdest thing Eri had seen. And then it spoke, “Welcome to your final day of Globnar, young challenger. Let’s make this quick because I have an important nap to get to,” Izuku chuckled at that, “should you survive today, you will be deemed one of the Champions of Globnar, awarding you your innocence and a Time Wish!”

Mina angrily said, “How does that make any sense? Innocence doesn’t come to you because you are strong enough to survive a stupid game.”

Blendin sighed, “Welcome to the future. Think of it as the Salem Witch Trials.”

Mina turned to him, “Da wha?”

“American history.” Wendy helpfully explained.

The giant baby continued, “You must defeat your foes by the time I drink all of the sand in this hourglass. No! No! I don’t want it.”

The robot holding the bottle of cosmic sand said, “It’s good for you.”

“The future is not as cool as I once thought it to be. Years of watching sci-fi movies brought my expectations too high,” Soos said.

Deku’s cuffs fell away and he picked up a glowing weapon, “Good thing I had a few days to practice with the other inmates.”

“Well, if I had known this was coming, I would’ve taught him how to fight.” Wendy remarked, “When we get home, we’re having mandatory combat training.”

The next couple of hours involved an onslaught of monsters, intellectual puzzles, and different kinds of races, some of which looked like minute-to-win-it games Eri had once played back home with Mina and the Baku-squad.

Deku was in the zone, much stronger and more agile than anyone expected him to be. It made Eri wonder exactly what the Manotaurs had been teaching him. It definitely looked like he had learned some fighting techniques from them. His stance as he took down a ton of holographic goblins was unlike any style that Eri was familiar with. And having a superhero as an adopted father, she knew what to look for with that kind of stuff. 

The way he fought was somewhat rigged and bull headed, which made sense, she guessed. He charged in without hesitation, plowing through the goblin ranks as much as possible before switching to hitting with as much precision and force that he could muster. Another thing that made her think it was the Manotaurs that taught him was that he was rarely defensive. It left him pretty open which would be fine if he were bigger and could take more hits, but that was the risk he took to get more punches and kicks in. When they get back, dad would have fun trying to train him back out of that, or trying to get him to adapt the style to something that suited him better. 

Eri was so glad she had a fresh roll of film in her camera to document all of this. After Deku shoved a giant monster called a Cyclocks into a metal cage, Time Baby congratulated him and announced the final event of Globnar.

At this point, the Gravity Fallers were having a blast! Deku was doing amazing. People were cheering his name. The entire stadium switched the neon colors of their clothing to be the now dubbed “Deku Green.” Merchandise was being sold too. If nothing else, the future was efficient. Stan bought a green megaphone with “DEKU,” written across it. He yelled into it for the rest of the night. Eri herself had a foam finger that said, “Deku’s No. 1 Fan.” They were all decked out in green shirts and face paint, chanting and leading various cheers. She had another fan take their picture for her. But the photo she couldn’t wait to see developed was one where Mina was practically jumping over Stan who was screaming “fight.”

This was way more fun than the sports festival, which involved way too much of students showing off their quirks and strategic skills. Here, there was no random drama between students or declarations of war or the need to look deep into who everyone was and their career potentials.. Izuku looked like he was having fun too. Sure, his life was on the line, but some of these challenges were too silly to take seriously. For example, diving through a pool of spaghetti to find a key to unlock a box that held a watch that was similar to the one Blendin and most future people had.

“Now is the time for the most intense game, thousands of years old. Chosen for its exemplification of pure strategy. The ancient art of Laser Tag!” The field changed to have walls and obstacles. A pyramid rose up in the middle and at the top, the glowing orb of the Time Wish floated like a video game item.

The crowd went wild! Blendin gasped in shock, shaking Soos’s shoulder in excitement. Izuku looked excited too, bouncing back and forth on his feet. A gun appeared in his hand and everyone in the stadium saw his eyes light up. This kid was  really having the time of his life. Eri turned to Mina who pouted, “Aw I wanna play too!” Eri laughed and shook her head.

Various robots popped out of the ground and began firing at Deku. He dodged with a smooth roll to get behind a wall. He peaked out and she could see him strategizing. The gears turned in his head, then he quickly shot at two of the robots and sent a third to the ground with a flying kick. He landed in a roll right behind another wall. When more robots ran to try and catch him, he camped and fired their backs as they ran past him. It didn’t take too long for him to make his way to the middle, and he began his climb to the Time Wish with an exhausted grin.

Just as the time baby finished his bottle, Deku touched the Time Wish, a bright yellow light washing over him.

Time baby declared, “It is finished!”

Everyone went absolutely nuts! Eri could barely hear Blendin exclaim at the top of his lungs, “Oh my gosh! This! This is insane! We are witnessing history! Deku is probably the most well-liked Globnar Champion I’ve ever seen!” A random person behind them said, “No, Deku is the most loved Champion ever!”

When Eri heard that, she looked around at the other people in the crowd. She had never seen so many people wearing one color, and they were all celebrating her brother. She began to tear up. She didn’t know why until she looked down and saw Izuku standing proudly below as confetti fell around him. He was crying with a big smile on his face. Then it hit her. Izuku had always dreamed of being a hero that could cheer people up or be someone to look up to like All Might was for him. His dreams were being realized in front of him. He hadn’t even needed his fancy quirk or UA training to do it. He was capable of being a hero because that’s just who he is.

She wanted so badly to run down there and hug him.

“You are now free of any Time Violation you have made. Now your Time Wish shall be granted.”

People began shouting different suggestions and the stadium became a cacophony of noise, Mina, Stan, and Wendy joining in. Izuku looked up at all of them and turned toward the direction that he had spotted Eri and company before.

Izuku asked, “Could I get my friends to help me? They’re in the stands over there.”

“You may,” Time Baby clapped his hands and their group was teleported to the arena to be with Izuku. Eri ran in for a hug, then Mina and the others piled onto them. When they released Stan immediately said, “This wish gets you anything you want, right? You should ask for a trillion dollars, a private island, a jet…”

“Ask for an ultimate weapon that can change into whatever you need like an ax or a gun or a machete!” Wendy said.

“… a garage full of fancy cars…”

“I know! A slice of infinite pizza. If you take a bite, the slice regenerates and it can do that, like, forever!” Soos tried to help.

“… a mansion with a pool, a winning race horse…”

Eri added, “Maybe a castle! With a real life dragon and everything!”

“… a monkey butler, a good sports team…”

Mina sighed and reluctantly said, “Blendin told us that this wish can alter time and reality. We should probably use it to go home.”

They went quiet and Izuku got a pained look in his eyes. 

Stan tried shrugging off the tension, “Well-uh… We knew you kids would go home eventually. If that’s what you want, there’s nothin’ any of us can do to stop you.”

Izuku scanned each of their faces. He still hadn’t said anything.

Then, finally he turned to the Time Baby, “Is it possible for my wish to take us home?”

Everyone waited in bated breath until he shook his enormous head, “The Time Wish is limited only to this dimension. It cannot travel there or alter or recreate anything that happened in your universe. But what you choose can go back with you.”

Eri didn’t miss the way Stan’s posture relaxed or how Soos and Wendy sighed in relief. She herself had a lot of mixed feelings about the news. 

“So no quirks either?”

“You cannot reinstate existing powers, but you may make a power that is not a so-called ‘quirk’.”

Izuku mumbled to himself, “A power with no quirk factor. How would that work? Would it still be tied to your DNA?”

Stan bonked Izu on the head, “Today, Junior. Time Baby is starting to fall asleep.”

The baby clarified, “Oh, my presence is not required to make the wish. The Time Wish has already tailored itself to its recipient. His decision can be made at any point in time.”

A robot flew over to them, holding a paper bag, “For here or to go?”

Izu rubbed his neck, “Oh, uh. To go, I guess.” The robot placed the Time Wish in the bag and handed it to Izuku.

“Time for you to leave.” The baby said. They could hear people chanting, “Deku, Deku!” Time Baby clapped, making them reappear back home in the shack, put back in their own timeline.

“It’s good to have you back, bro.” Mina said, slapping him on the back.

“Thanks! I haven’t slept in my bed for three weeks though, so can I-“

“Three? You said you were in the future for two.” Wendy said.

“Eri and I didn’t have to sleep when we repeated the same day over and over.”

“Eri’s old man was right,” Stan stated, “You are a Problem Child. Now go to bed before you fall over.” Eri watched as Stan helped a half asleep Deku upstairs. It felt so good to have him home and safe again. She was glad it turned out alright, but she wouldn’t let anything like that happen again. But then again, this was her brother they were talking about, he was bound to end up in some more crazy scenarios.

 

----

 

Omake:

In a dark room, Eri held a camera up to her siblings, Mina was in a white dress with pearls crowning her head while Deku stood across from her in a gray sweater.

Mina delicately handed Deku the Time Wish, which glowed yellow in his palm, “What are you going to wish for?” She asked.

Deku shook his head, “I don’t know.”

She looked him in the eyes solemnly, “Then there will be no Fantasia. Anymore.”

He took a moment to consider what he should do. He looked back up at her and asked, “How many wishes do I get?”

“As many as you want.” Mina answered with a soft smile, “And the more wishes you make, the more magnificent Fantasia will become.”

“Really?” Deku said, disbelief written all over his face.

“Try it.” She urged. 

Deku looked down at the glowing wish, still being held in the cup of his hand, “Then my first wish is…”

That was Eri’s cue! She turned on the dvd player , and music from the movie began to play.

Soos pulled back the curtains letting in all the light and Albinitaur, the Albino Manotaur who wanted to help with their project, swiftly picked up Deku and put him on his shoulders. They ran outside, Deku pumping his fist, “Yeaaaaaah!! Falkor, it’s even more beautiful than I thought!”

Unexpectedly, Stan came outside and from the porch and sang in the most horrible, grating voice any of the kids could imagine, “Turn around, look at what you SEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Everyone froze in place and stared at him.

Eri slapped her forehead, “Stop, Grunkle Stan, that’s the wrong part of the song!”

He stopped and listened to the music, “Oh. My bad. THE FOREVER GOING STORY!”

And they all sang in unison, “Aaaahhhhhh!”

Notes:

Sorry I took so long, lol. I love the idea of Deku coming in and stealing the hearts of everyone in the future. I feel like they would start watching his life like the Truman show now.

Let me know your thoughts! If you like the Neverending Story blip at the end, then we’re officially friends.
Have a good one!

Chapter 9: Secret Tunnel!

Mina was at Wendy’s house. They were sitting on her bed watching a cheesy old zombie flick called, “Nearly Almost Dead, but not Quite.”

When the title screen showed, Mina joked, “Bruh, same.” Then went back to what she was doing. She figured she could multitask during the movie. As people’s faces got ripped off in the movie, she was using the Mystery pen she had stolen from Izuku to write her thoughts and questions about the journal in the empty pages at the back of the book. 

There was a jump scare that startled Mina so bad she fell off the bed. Wendy just laughed at her. 

When she got back up, she noticed the pen was glowing at the end. She snatched it, “What? No way! This pen is so cool!”

“You didn’t know that those things had a black light on it?” Wendy snickered.

“No!” Mina shouted in amazement, “Does it also have invisible ink?”

Wendy motioned for her to hand it over, and showed her the secrets of the mystery pen. She wondered if Izu had known about this, he was constantly writing with it. 

Mina took the pen back and flipped through the journal, “ooh, now I can write secret messages in here!” She got to the page on vampires and drew a smiley face with fangs in the invisible ink. She then turned on the black light and was surprised to see a full page of notes taken in invisible ink, “Wooooooah!!!!!”

Wendy looked over to see what she was woah-ing and said “woah” too. “It’s like a secret book inside of the book!”

 “Honestly. We should’ve suspected. This is very on brand for the journal.”

Wendy paused the movie and together they turned page after page with the black light. This was not written by Izuku, that’s for sure. It was the author. Mina wanted so badly to know who wrote this journal and why. She also wanted to know where the other two were since, clearly, this was the third volume. She loved a good mystery, especially one so convoluted with twists and turns. But she really just wanted this one solved already. 

The invisible notes looked frantic and written by someone who was clearly paranoid. A lot of it was beginning to freak Mina out. One page just had, “Can’t sleep! Can’t sleep!” repeated enough times to fill the whole thing. Creepy.

Mina stopped on a page that was slightly different. It was a drawing of a tree, but under the black light it said the words, “my secret hiding spot! Last resort. Prepare for the end!” With a staircase drawn down the tree.

She looked at Wendy, “Hey! This could be a major breakthrough! The author had a secret bunker in the woods! We need to go find it and see if he’s there!” She stood from the bed, working up a newfound energy.

“I’m with you, sister! Let’s solve this stupid mystery! You and Deku have been talking about this author a lot, so I wanna know who he is too.” 

They high fived and abandoned their movie for the sake of adventure. 

They went over to the Shack to gear up. Wendy got her ax, Mina had her grappling hook. She shoved a few snacks into a backpack along with the journal. Now there was one thing left to do, “Hey, Izu!” 

Izuku and Soos were currently locked in a staring contest, “yeah, Mina?” The kid didn’t even flinch, determined to win the contest.

“I was wondering what tree it was that you found the journal at. Wendy and I are gonna check it out for a new lead on the author.”

“Ah, alright. But be careful. That tree can only lead to trouble.” He gave her directions, his wide eyes never leaving Soos’s.

She skipped away, happily, “Thanks, Celery Stick!” 

Behind her she could hear Soos shouting, “How did you win eleven times in a row, Dawg!? It’s like I’m playing against a ghost or a demon or something!”

 

The second that Mina and Wendy got to the tree, Wendy said, “That branch is totally a lever.” 

“Why would someone build a lever up there? That seems inconvenient.” Mina asked.

Wendy just shrugged then climbed up the tree using her belt as leverage and hit the metal tree limb with the blunt side of her ax, “Boosh!”

Mina watched in awe as the red headed girl flipped through the air and landed perfectly on her feet. With a dropped jaw, she said, “Wendy. You are literally my idol.” Seriously! She could somehow tell that the branch was fake, and had just casually climbed up to activate it. 

Just then, the ground around the tree lowered and a stairway appeared, leading down to an open, metal door.

“After you, madam,” Wendy gestured.

“That’s very kind, my lady,” Mina said with a small bow. The two of them laughed and made their way down.

Inside was a dark, dirty bunker, full of supplies that would last for a few decades. Wendy pulled a rusted hazard sign off the wall and dusted it off, “This is going in my room.”

“That’s sick.” Mina glanced around, then a thought occurred to her, “How many secret, underground places are there in Gravity Falls? I mean, this is the second one now.” 

“Oh yeah, you and Eri found one full of secret government stuff.”

Mina chuckled, “Did I tell you? They took all the stuff to DC, so it’s empty. Don’t tell Izu, but Eri and I are turning it into a girls club. You, Candy, and Grenda are invited.”

“Ah, Sweet! Sounds dope, is Tambry invited too?”

“Uh, YEAH! The more the merrier!”

As they explored the room, Mina could tell that the author was a very sciency person. Her evidence for this was the fancy dancy lab coat and suitcase she found. She put it on immediately, “Does this make me look smart?”

“Dude. It’s like you’re not even the same person!”

“You sayin I’m not normally smart?”

“Nah, you’re probably smarter than me. I wouldn’t have the patience to read that journal like you and Deku do. Plus, you apparently got into one of the top schools in Japan, so no, you’re pretty darn smart.”

Mina couldn’t help the smile that tugged her lips. Wendy just complimented her! This was the best day ever!

There was a small breeze through the room that made the both of them shiver. They noticed a poster waving off the wall. They pulled at it and found a passage leading to another room.

“This place is like an escape room,” Wendy said.

Mina couldn’t help but agree, “Right? Like, how many secrets can one place have?”

The two teenage girls went in and ended up in an empty room with squares and symbols covering the walls, ceiling, and floor. Mina stopped Wendy before they stepped into the space, “Wait. Some of this looks familiar.” She pulled out the journal and found four symbols that matched the ones she saw in the room, “Okay. It says we need to press these ones.”

“Then what’ll happen?” Wendy asked.

Mina just shrugged. The two of them each pressed two symbols and a door opened.

Wendy put an arm around Mina, “See, that’s why you’re the brains of the operation… as long as your brother isn’t here.”

“I take offense to that.” Mina said as she elbowed the older girl’s ribs.

They kept joking together as they looked around the new room. There was a lot more lab equipment and computers and stuff. Wendy messed with a monitor that showed a tube that she manually froze and unfroze a few times. Mina put two beakers up to her eyes and made a silly face. Keeping a straight face, Wendy just said, “Mimi. Stop. That is hilarious.”

Mina loved the spontaneous nickname. She’d always wanted one. She put the beakers down and found a large, dark closet in the back of the room. She went in to check it out, Wendy followed.

“Is there a light switch in here?” Wendy asked just as her hand found a handle and pulled it. When she did, the door slammed shut and the two of them were sprayed with some weird chemical smelling stuff. There was a moment that Mina couldn’t breathe, and she started coughing up whatever it was.

A robotic voice sounded overhead, “decontamination complete,” and the closet opened up from the other wall. Mina and Wendy fell into the next room, hoping to get air that didn’t burn their lungs. When Mina could breathe again she took it all in. It was like a cavern dug out of the dirt, with pipes everywhere. There were broken machines and scattered pieces of glass littering the floor. The air was stale in here, but a crap ton better than the air in there.

“Whew! That was terrible. How many more rooms does this bunker have?! I’m reaching my limit! I mean, really. This place looks like the author did a bunch of creepy experiments here.” Mina complained.

Wendy fell quiet. She made a sign, locking her lips, which was their code that something was up. They’d used that sign to communicate anything from boy problems with Robbie to Stan acting weird around the vending machine. It told Mina that Wendy thought they should proceed with caution. Mina nodded and locked her lip too as a sign that the message was received.

There were various dark tunnels branching out from the space, a few looked manmade, but most of them didn’t. Mina did not want to meet whatever creature dug those. From one of the tunnels, they heard a small, distant voice, “hello? Is someone there? Please! Somebody help me!” It sounded startlingly familiar. The girls shared a look and immediately ran towards the voice.

Mina pulled a flashlight out from her backpack and was horrified by the sight they found at the end of the tunnel. A large cage made of steel bars took up most of the space. Mina could hardly breathe when she saw who was inside. 

“Deku?!”

He was kneeling on the ground, hands around the bars with tears in his eyes. Looking up at the girls he happily shouted, “I can’t believe somebody finally found me!” His hair was disheveled. Dirt covered his clothes. This didn’t make any sense!

Wendy must’ve been on the same train of thought as she asked, “This doesn’t make any sense. Dude. We literally just saw you at the Mystery Shack. How are you here?”

Izuku paled, “Tha-That wasn’t me! Oh no. No no no no no!” He stood up and started pacing while pulling at his hair. How is it that this boy was always getting into these kinds of situations? This kid needed a leash.

Mina knew he would spiral if she didn’t snap him out of it, “Deku. I need you to focus. What do you mean that wasn’t you?”

“Wait. I think I saw something in the other room. Something about a shapeshifter experiment.” Wendy said, and Mina’s heart leapt. She really hoped that didn’t mean what she thought it meant.

“I- Well, I might’ve come down here alone and thought that I found the author of the journals, but it turned out to be a shapeshifter. It tricked me and locked me in here. I can’t believe that it’s pretending to be me!”

Mina felt her skin crawl, “Wendy? Do you remember Soos saying that he felt like he was playing against a demon earlier?”

The three of them went silent. Izuku had been replaced by a shapeshifter. Her brother by choice. He’d gone without her and got stuck here, replaced by a creature that stole his face! It made her terrified but it also made her angry. Green Bean was a trouble magnet, so of course he’d gotten himself into this mess. She needed to fix this. She looked at Wendy and could tell they were on the same page.

Wendy pulled out her ax.

Green bean went rigid at the sight of it, “Uh, I don’t know what you’re going to do with that, but-“ Izuku nervously said. She swung down at the door to the cage and it popped open. “Oh. Thank you!”

Mina immediately pulled him into a tight hug, “First you get possessed by a teenage-hating ghost, then sent to Time Prison as a gladiator, and now you’ve been caged by a shapeshifting monster? You are never leaving the house ever again. You hear me?” She was aware that the hug was too tight and that he couldn’t breathe, but she didn’t care. She just stroked the top of his head like a puppy. 

Wendy interrupted, “Okay, that’s great and all, but something’s coming!”

Sure enough, a second later, a giant mole monster cornered them in the room, hissing and snarling. Before she could react, Deku pulled away from Mina, took Wendy’s ax and sliced off the thing’s tongue with one smooth motion. It screeched and ran away back through the tunnel.

“Woah, man. My lessons are really paying off.” Wendy smirked proudly.

Mina gave a small, playful bow to her, “You have been an amazing sensei to the both of us.” Izu followed suit, bowing beside her. Wendy bowed back, even though she didn’t quite get Japanese culture. 

Izu put his hands on his hips, “I don’t think those creatures will bother us again, but we should still get out of here.”

Mina thought, “Yeah, but once we’re out, we’ll need some way to take down the shapeshifter.”

“I say we take it by surprise. No mercy. No one messes with our Broccoli Boy and gets away with it.” Wendy cracked her knuckles. Mina was loving the vegetable nicknames today.

Izu gulped, but shook it off, “Hmm. This would be easier if we had the author’s journal. It could probably show us everything we need to know about the shapeshifter.”

Mina was about to pull it out and gladly tell him that she had it, but something didn’t add up. Why would Izuku assume that Mina left the journal at home? And another thing…

“Don’t you have that book memorized? I’ve seen your notes and they’re a lot more in depth than I thought was humanly possible. Why would you need the journal?” Wendy voiced Mina’s next thoughts exactly. 

Izuku panicked for a moment, “Well, uh- I can explain. The-the shapeshifter took my notes and uh… It used a memory gun on me. Those things are still around, right? So now I don’t remember the journal as well as I used to.” He gave a little grin. Sweat trickled down his face. Mina quickly swiped the ax from his hands and backed away from him.

“You’re not Izuku.”

Mina and Wendy put distance between themselves and the monster before an unnatural smile crossed her brother’s face, “Good,” spider legs grew out of his sides, “I don’t have to pretend anymore. I should thank you for letting me out of my cage. But I’d much prefer to just kill you. Maybe I’ll finally get my hands on that journal. So many delicious forms I will be able to take.” His body shifted into what Mina guessed was his true form, a misshapen, white creature with red eyes. It crept toward them.

“Time to run.” Wendy said and pulled Mina’s arm so she would follow her. The monster chased them through the confusing mess of tunnels. It was getting too close. Mina looked back and shot it in the face with her grappling hook, then quickly retracted it. The monster stopped for a moment, to rub the pain away, giving the girls time to get some distance between them They came to a fork in the road and Mina threw her flashlight down one while they ran down another, hoping that would confuse it.

When they were sure the trick had worked, they stopped running to catch their breaths. Mina panted, “We need a plan. How do we defeat this thing?”

“Maybe I could help?” The two girls looked down the hall to see Izuku standing there. Wendy rushed at him, ax at the ready. “Wait! Wait! Guys, it’s me, I promise! Please don’t murder me!”

Wendy pinned him to the ground and held up her weapon, “prove it.”

He thought for a moment, “We have a literal copy of my hand sitting in a jar in the attic, but we haven’t told Stan about it yet because we don’t want him to try to sell it. We also don’t want to get rid of it because, as freaky as it is, we also named it Duke. We thought it was funny, because, it’s the same letters as Deku and, well you know, ‘put up your dukes-‘“

“Kay, it’s really you. What are you doing here?” Mina asked as Wendy helped him back up.

“Soos realized that we should’ve come here with you guys just in case the shapeshifter tried to trick you. We knew it could turn into either of us because we took a guy’s trip down here, looking for the author. So Soos and I ran over, but we were kind of slow because Stan came home with a box of donuts.”

“What? No fair. I want donuts!” Mina whined. Now that she was looking, he totally had powdered sugar on his face.

Wendy took that moment to realize her knee was bleeding and ripped off a piece of her flannel to wrap up the wound. She tied the rest of it around her waist, “Donuts later. Deku, tell us how to defeat this thing, because I don’t want a shapeshifter strolling around town. We would never be able to trust anyone again. You look like you have a plan, so spill.”

He nodded, “Soos is waiting to activate the cryogenic freezer. We just have to lure it there.”

The girls helped brainstorm a way to do that until they had a real plan in place.

 

Mina held up the journal so its red cover was clearly visible. She walked toward the main cavern and with an almost sarcastic tone, shouted, “Wow. I sure am glad the shapeshifter didn’t take the journal from me! That would have been so bad!”

A second later she could hear the creature stampeding through the tunnel toward her. Here we go! She ran back to the others, “Now! Turn it now!”

Wendy and Deku saw her and the shapeshifter coming at them and turned a wheel to release pressurized water like a jet down the tunnel. Only, it worked too well! The water turned on way faster than she’d thought and Mina was swept away in the water with the monster. She hit her head on a rock and everything blacked out. 

When she came to, she was soaking wet with a massive headache. But that wouldn’t stop her. She needed to make sure everyone was okay. 

She shuffled her way down the hall until she found her friends in the cavern with the cryotubes. She paused at the scene before her. Wendy was standing to the side as a devastated Izuku knelt over what looked like Mina’s dead body. It was surreal to see. Her morbid curiosity stopped her from interrupting. The pained look on Izuku’s face was something that made her feel so immediately somber and regretful. All of them could’ve ended up very hurt from that stunt they pulled. 

He sniffled, “I’m so sorry! I wanted to find out who the author was so I could bring you and Eri home. But I failed, Mina! And now, you’re- Please don’t go! You’ve made me so much better. I’ve never had a sister before, but I’ve always wanted one. And I- I never got the chance to tell you I love you, sis!”

It was such a sudden and unexpected display, Mina felt droplets fall from her eyes, “Izu?”

Wendy and Deku both snapped their attention to her. Relief and realization dawning on their faces. Especially as the fake Mina sprang up and attacked her, “Give me the book!”

She shouted, “Go, Deku! Make sure Soos is ready!”

Mina wrestled with the monster. They punched and threw and kicked, but neither was getting the upper hand. She looked in the corner of her eye and saw Wendy holding her ax. For the first time since Mina had met her, the red-head looked unsure.

“What are you waiting for! Hit her!” Mina yelled at Wendy.

The shapeshifter yelled, “No, she’s the shapeshifter! Get her now, before she escapes!”

Wendy growled in frustration, “Mina! I can’t do this! You’re literally my best friend. Give me a sign or something!”

The shapeshifter gave her a startlingly sincere smile and winked. But Mina gave her the most serious look she could while locking her lips.

Without hesitation, Wendy drove her ax into the shapeshifter’s chest, making it scream in pain and revert back to its true form. Together, Mina and Wendy shoved the creature into one of the tubes and closed it. Icy fog began to fill the capsule which meant that Izu and Soos were able to activate it! 

The boys ran out and Mina found herself wrapped in a hug not unlike the one she gave fake Izuku when she thought she’d released him from a cage. He squeezed her super tight and pet her head, “Don’t do that to me ever again. I thought you were dead!” Mina melted into the embrace.

She felt Wendy lightly punch her shoulder, “Even if it wasn’t you, you gave us a good scare.”

Soos lifted the three of them in a big hug that Mina didn’t even know he was capable of. “I love you dudes! That was terrifyingly awesome!” 

As he set them down again, she laughed. She couldn’t help it. Mina just felt so happy to see her friends all okay and that they were able to put away the shapeshifter.

Then there was a bang against the glass, and they all jumped. The four of them turned to see the shapeshifter with its palm on the tube, its creepy face visible through the fog. It laughed, “You think you are so clever, don’t you Mina and Deku? But you have no idea what you’re up against. You’ll never find the author. If you keep digging, you will meet a fate worse than you can imagine. And this will be the last form either of you take!”

Taking its final moment before freezing completely and indefinitely, the monster shifted into a weird and disturbing mixture of her and Deku’s features. Horns with pink patches in green hair. Eyes black with green centers and freckles dotting its face. It became a statue in the middle of it screaming in pain. Mina could only stare in horror at what she’d just seen.

“Welp. I’m going to need therapy.”

“Ditto,” Deku replied.

Soos chuckled, “Heh, good luck sleeping tonight, dawgs.”

 

After they left the bunker, Soos went back to his abuelita’s. Wendy walked back home with her metal hazard sign that she wanted to put in her room, “Movie night tomorrow is at your place, alright?”

Mina gave her a double thumbs up. Now it was just her and Izu. It didn't seem like either of them wanted to go back to the shack yet after what just happened. They sat together on a log in the woods. The sun was low, casting a golden glow on everything in the forest. Mina had to ask.

“Izu. Did you mean all those things you said before when you thought I was… you know.”

He brought his eyes up to meet hers, “Yes. You and Eri are as close as family to me. Back home, it’s just me and my mom. Kacchan has always been like a brother, or maybe a cousin since I call his parents uncle and auntie. But it’s different being here with you two. I can’t explain it.”

“Ya know, I think Eri would like to hear that too. We both think of you as our brother we never had. If I’m being honest. I’ve always had a lot of friends, but I never really felt close with anyone. It was really hard for me. But with my new brother and sister, I feel like you’re the closest friends that I’ve ever had.”

They continued to sit on that log a while longer until Izu brought an arm around her, “you really are the coolest sister.”

She smiled and maneuvered herself so she could put him in a headlock and give him a noogie. Then she bolted in a fast sprint. He chased after her until they were locked in a race the whole way home.

Notes:

I love Wendy and Mina’s friendship!
I also felt like the “twins” needed a little heart to heart. Eri doesn’t quite understand the issue, but they both had a hard time getting close to anybody before being thrown into each other’s lives.

Chapter 10: Boss Mina

Summary:

How would it look if Mina ran the Mystery Shack?

In front of the big box tv, Stan sat on the chair with Eri perched next to him on the arm of the chair while Mina was cuddling with Waddles on the floor next to Deku. There were clicking noises as Deku messed around with the laptop that Mina had found in the bunker with Wendy. She totally thought it was a briefcase and took it home with her. She hadn’t expected there to be a computer inside. Deku immediately took it and started trying to figure out the password like it was his life’s passion.

She was glad they’d been able to get something useful out of that stupid place, even if it wasn’t easy to access.

Anywho, they were watching some sort of game show. Stan was getting very invested, shouting all of the phrases like, “Spin that wheel,” type stuff. It made Eri giggle. Mina smiled, making mental notes of the phrases so she could join in on the shouting. It made watching people winning money a lot more fun!

Soos came into the room during a commercial break, “We’ve got tourists! Nine o’ clock! A whole BUS LOAD of ‘em!”

Everyone leapt to action. Stan gave directions to everyone, telling Wendy to markup prices, Soos to slap together new attractions, Mina to man the register, Eri to hang up a banner, and Deku to clean up some puke a tourist left on the lawn. Mina grimaced, she felt bad, but she was beyond glad that it wasn’t her job to mop it up.

“We’ve hit the jackpot, fellas!” Stan said while rubbing his hands together greedily.

Before Deku went out the door he asked, “Grunkle Stan? Do you only see tourists as wallets with legs?”

Stan didn’t answer that, he just stared blankly at the people unloading from the bus.

Mina leaned her elbows on the counter, “That’s a yes,” she waved a hand in front of the man’s face, “Stanio! Ya there?”

“Money,” was his only reply as he continued to stay in a dazed trance.

Mina looked at Wendy who just rolled her eyes at Stan. She gave Deku a smile and a shrug. He just sighed and dreerily went outside with a bucket and mop.

 

Mina honestly liked days with a big group of tourists. The shack was so full of people who were all excited to see the mysteries of Gravity Falls. But she had to question Stan’s methods. Especially when he told her to paint her face green, put on a space suit, and pretend to be an alien. Did he not realize? Anyone in town would tell you that she already looked like an alien! It was a little offensive that he thought she wasn’t alien enough for the tours.

“Stan. I’m not painting my face green.”

“But aliens are green. If we want to make more money, you’ve gotta be what these lunatics expect an alien to be.” He said with crossed arms that signified he would not be budging on the subject.

She folded her arms too, in protest. “You’re kidding, right? Look at me! I’m doing the tours as is or not at all.”

The two glared at each other then Stan shouted for Eri. She came running over from the living room. “Hey half-pint. How would you feel about doing the tours as a unicorn girl?”

Eri’s eyes lit up, “Can I dress up like Unikitty?” She had just discovered the Lego Movie the other day and was absolutely obsessed. Mina remembered the funny, over enthusiastic character.

He waved a hand, “Sure, sure. As long as the tourists think it’s cute and give us money for it,” she cheered and ran off. Mina had a passing thought about US child labor laws but waved them off as Stan pointed a finger at her, “I want you back on the register.”

So there she was, sitting in the gift shop. She couldn’t complain too much. Cashiering was a fun way of interacting with the visitors after all. A lady came up to buy a snow globe, “Will that be all, or could I interest you in a bumper sticker? You could put it on your car, or a water bottle,” she leaned in closer, covering her mouth with her hand, “or your husband’s mouth, if ya know what I mean.”

The woman laughed, “You are bad! How much?”

Mina grinned, taking satisfaction in the woman’s response to her joke, “Ah, no charge, it’s on me. Just don’t let your hubby know I gave you the idea!”

By the time the customer was out the door, Mina heard an astounded, “What!” Stan marched over to her, his face on the brink of becoming lobster red.

She got scared real fast, “Huh? Is there a problem? What’s wrong?”

“I’ll tell you what’s wrong. You were my favorite child, but now you are giving away free merchandise! You don’t make money by giving stuff away. Keep it up and you’ll give me a heart attack. Actually, you know what? My cardiovascular problems can’t handle that. You’re off the register.”

“WHAT!” Mina was in disbelief.

“Yup. Out you go. Find something else to do.” He said, pushing her away from behind the counter.

“What is your deal? Why are you suddenly on my case today?”

Just then Izuku came up to them, “Stan? I’ve been wondering. What if we used real attractions for visitors. There’s plenty of crazy stuff out there. And I’m not sure that it’s very ethical or legal for Eri to-“

Still staring down Mina, Stan reached over and pinched Izu’s lips closed with his fingers, “I’m going to stop you right there, Greenie. If you have something to say, write it to the complaints department.” He pulled out a trash can and set it next to Izu.

“I’m going to write them a very long letter.” he said, pulling out his Mystery Pen to begin writing with such ferocity, Mina thought he’d rip through the paper.

“You do that.” Stan said. He lowered his eye patch onto his face and walked away.

Soos soon came up to see what they were doing. He and Wendy were full of glitter from covering the Mystery Shack sign in glitter to make it shiny and attractive. Without missing a beat, he said, “Oh, you dudes writing a suggestion for the complaints department? I did that once. I had an idea for a mascot: Questiony the question mark. But Stan said I wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

Mina patted the man’s back in sympathy. Wendy walked over, still holding a paint roller, “Is it just me or is Stan a terrible boss lately? Man has no chill today.”

Mina had to agree, “Yeah. Why are we even putting up with this? We should go on strike or something.”

Izuku shook his head, “I don’t think that will work. But we should try talking some sense into him. He hasn’t been nice to anyone but Eri.”

“So should we make Eri do it?” Wendy asked.

Now it was Mina’s turn to shake her head, “No. It needs to be someone willing to challenge him.”

“So you,” Wendy decided, “Soos is physically incapable of standing up to his idol, Deku avoids arguing with him, and I don’t wanna get fired.”

Mina thought about it and agreed. She was the woman for the job.

 

…

”You really think you could wear this hat?”

…

”Give me three days.”

…

”The loser, uh- has to wear this loser shirt all summer!”

They shook on it. 

 

Izu stared at her with a mixture of awe and disbelief, “You actually made a bet with a professional con-man?”

“Girl, that’s dope.” Wendy said, giving her a fist bump.

Stan drove away in his red car. Eri went with him because they all decided he would need a babysitter. They were fully decked out in vacation attire. Matching Hawaiian shirts and all.

Soos clarified, “Let me get this straight. You’re our new boss because you’re wagering that you can earn more money for the Shack than Stan can while he’s on vacay?”

Mina adjusted the fez hat that was hanging loosely on her head. It smelled like old man, “Pretty much. This’ll be a piece of cake. Profit, here we come!”

Deku smiled, “It should be easy to win, right? I mean, how much money could Stan actually make on vacation? That’s usually when you spend the most money.”

“Good point. We’ve got this! Whoo! Boss Mina!” Wendy hollered.

She smiled. This team would rack in so much money, Stan wouldn’t know what hit him. There was no way she’d be ruining her style by wearing that loser shirt.

 

After a small trip in town, Mina felt more prepared for this whole boss thing. She was now wearing a gray suit to really embody the whole Mr. Mystery look. And now, as Miss Mystery, she gave Soos that mascot costume he’d mentioned. His smile was worth it. He ran to the bathroom to try it on.

Wendy strolled up to her, “Hey, Mina. Lovin’ the suit. Do you think I could hang out with my friends at work? Stan never lets me.”

Mina replied with a happy chirp, “Nope,” popping the ‘p.’ “I want this place to remain as profesh as possible. I love you Wendy, but have you met your friends? While I don’t agree with Stan on everything, there’s a reason he calls them delinquents.”

“Eh, worth the shot.” She smiled and walked away.

Looking around the gift shop, Mina spotted Izu, “Broccoli Bro! I have a job for you!”

He looked up from the laptop, making yet another beeping sound from the wrong password.

“First of all, that’s unhealthy, can I help you work on that after this whole boss thing is over? Two heads are better than one.”

“Okay. I guess you’re right.” He relented.

She clapped her hands together, “Good. We can ruin our mental health later. Right now, I want you to find us a new, real attraction for the tour.”

The boy stood up quickly, “where’s the crossbow?”

“Hey, hey. Nothing too dangerous. Alright? We don’t want to scare them into never coming back.”

With the crossbow in hand, he saluted, “You’ve got it, Boss.” And jumped from a back handspring out the window. Show off. Between strength training with the Manotaurs and Wendy’s sparring, plus Mina’s gymnastics lessons, he was taking full advantage of his new abilities.

Mina chuckled and overlooked the gift shop. There was still more work to do. She glanced at the glass jar that Stan had given her to fill. It was empty now, but it would soon be overflowing.

Soos hesitantly came into the room, “Uh… Boss Mina? I can’t do this. I think I underestimated how revealing this costume would be.”

“Revealing? Soos, what-“ She turned around to see Soos wearing the question mark by itself over his undies. She averted her eyes and tried her darndest to hide her smile, “Dude! No! You’re supposed to wear clothes with it! Your sketch you showed me literally included shorts and a shirt.”

Soos seemingly zoned out for a moment, lost in thought as if trying to remember what she was talking about. Then his eyes widened and he backed away slowly. Mina assumed he was going back to the bathroom to change.

She and Wendy just looked at each other from across the room. They couldn’t contain it anymore and started busting up with laughter. Wiping tears from her eyes, Mina said, “That was- that was-“ and started laughing harder.

Wendy wasn’t any better, “I can’t believe that actually happened!”

When Soos came back, wearing clothes underneath this time, their faces were red and they were having trouble breathing. “Woah. You Dawgs okay? You look like you need medical attention.”

“We’re- we’ll be fine. Thanks Soos.” Wendy said, through gasps of air.

He looked unsure but said, “Okay. If you say so.”

 

It was by noon the next day that Mina realized that Deku hadn’t come back yet. “Uh, Soos, Wendy, have either of you seen Deku?”

“Nope.”

“Not at all.”

“Shoot. I should’ve known better than to send him to the woods alone. That kid-“

Just then, the door opened and Deku walked in with mud up to his knees, scrapes on his arms, and twigs sticking out of his hair. “Hi!”

“Deku! Where the heck were you?” Mina gave him the look of a parent if their child showed up past curfew.

He rubbed the back of his neck and grinned, “I sort of ran into a Gremoblin in the forest. It used its powers to make me go insane for a few hours. Then a pack of wolves took me to their den and rescued me. I think they want to raise me as one of their own? Whatever, I don’t know.” 

Mina heard Soos let out a small “woah, jealous,” she snorted. 

Izu continued, “I’ve got a cool new attraction! Actually I’ve got a couple ideas. The first two are already in the Shack. As much as I hate to say it, I think we should display the copy of my hand, Duke. It might be weird and gimmicky if we had people hand it money, and in return, get a written fortune from a severed hand.”

Wendy was the first to voice her opinion on that, “Sounds sick! I haven’t seen this creepy hand yet, and even I would pay for that.”

Deku’s eyes lit up at the praise for his idea, “Alright. Next, do you remember those wax sculptures?”

Mina shuddered, “The ones that were going to murder Stan? I’d rather not remember. Wait. Don’t tell me.”

“The head of Larry King was the only survivor. I found out because he told me to stop mumbling through the vents and now we talk occasionally. He might agree to being in the tours.”

“That’s messed up. But in a cool way.” Soos said, squinting his eyes and rubbing his chin as if deep in thought.

“Okay. I did not need to know that a wax head has been just hanging out in the Shack this whole time. But now that I do… sure. See if he’ll agree. Tell him that if he doesn’t, I will be exterminating him. I don’t want more nightmares about the wax people.”

Izuku nodded his head, “Last but not least,” he rummaged through a backpack that Mina didn’t realize he’d had until now, “I’d like you all to meet Bugsy!” He pulled out a big ladybug that was the size of a puppy.

Mina was not ashamed to say that she shrieked. “Deku! You have got to stop naming things so you can keep them!”

He pouted and hugged the ladybug close as if it was a Pokemon or something, “What do you mean?”

“Bubbles.”

“I couldn’t bring myself to eat him. And I wasn’t going to leave him at the restaurant.”

Wendy asked, “Bubbles? Is that the lobster that appeared in the fish tank one day?”

“Yes.” Deku and Mina both answered.

Mina sighed, “So far I’ve had to make him get rid of a rabbit he named Miruko, a cactus named Princess Prickles, and a Geodite named Gordie. I still can’t believe we didn’t just release Duke into the wild. Not to mention he also named his time wish that he still hasn’t used. He calls it Marty McFly.”

“Bugsy is different. Look at him!” Izu tried desperately to get her to agree.

Soos asked, “How did it get so big?”

Izuku just shrugged, “Gravity Falls’ forest is a weird place.”

Mina pinched her brow. She honestly really liked all three of the tour ideas. But she wasn’t super supportive of Izu getting his own animal sidekick. The attic was crowded even before Eri got Waddles. They didn’t need another pet. Not unless it was going to hang around outside with Chomper the goat. There was no way Stan would let Izuku keep it… but wasn’t that the point of this? She was trying to run this place differently than Stan. Maybe she could cut him some slack. How long do ladybugs live for, anyway?

The ladybug, Bugsy, climbed up Izu’s shoulder and face until it rested on top of his green hair like he was a leaf. Mina couldn’t deny that it was adorable. She made her decision. “Okay, Deku. I’ll let you keep Bugsy. But! He stays with you if he’s inside. Bugsy is an untamed insect- bug- creature, and I won’t have him wandering around without a caretaker. And also give him a bath.”

Izuku’s smile was so bright that Mina couldn’t help but smile back. He ducked away to the house side of the Shack, presumably to wash his new pet. Wendy rustled Mina’s hair, “Good job handling that, Boss. You are definitely good at using those older sister vibes.”

“Older sister? We’ve been saying we’re like twins.”

Wendy nodded, “Yeah, but, he even acted like a little brother. I should know, I’ve got three.”

Huh. Mina didn’t mean to, but she guessed that was true. She really wanted to scold him some more and kick the giant bug outside, but he looked so happy. Oh well. Tomorrow it would be Stan’s problem. Speaking of which, she wondered how he was doing. Or really, what he was doing. He and Eri could be pickpocketing for all she knew. The police wouldn’t catch them, but Mina would. Then she would have more people to scold.

A bus stopped in front of the Shack. More people unloaded. Time to get this show on the road. She straightened out her suit and put on her red fez hat. “Welcome to the Mystery Shack, where we put the fun in ‘no refunds’. Come with me and be the first to witness our newest additions!”

 

——

 

Eri didn’t understand how Stan was pulling this off, but she was still impressed.

When he had revealed his plan to go on the show Cash Wheel, she had her doubts. She went along with it, though. They stood in line for auditions. It didn’t take long before he told her to scream really loud while he pretended to have a heart attack. And she did. At the top of her lungs. It was a bit therapeutic. 10/10 would scream again.

“Help me! The only way to help me is to be on the show!” Stan exclaimed while fake dying on the ground. The acting reminded Eri of anytime she’d seen Iida or All Might having to take up a role during training exercises. And by that, she meant it was terrible, but so dramatic that it was still entertaining. The producer had told his assistant to get Stan on TV immediately. She and Stan high-fived.

Now she was cheering from the audience as he answered questions correctly and spun the giant wheel. He was blowing the competition out of the water! And he got to be on tv! Stan might actually win the bet against Mina. 

“Go Grunkle Stan! Woohoo!”

The show host asked, “Is that little girl with you?”

Stan smiled charismatically into the camera, “You bet! That’s one of my kids.”

“Well, I’ve been listening to her cheering for you all night. She just seems so sweet, why don’t we get her up here so she can help you with the final round?” The host said, winking at the audience.

A spotlight fell on Eri as she quickly got up from her set and ran on stage. The host held his microphone up to her face, telling her to introduce herself.

“I’m Eri! I’ve got a pig named Waddles and I wish that apple pie was an ice cream flavor!”

Host guy chuckled, “Wow, the two of you even have matching island shirts! Hahaha, well, Eri, today might be your lucky day! If you answer this correctly, you might be able to make your own ice cream flavor! Stanford currently has $300,000. He can risk it all and double it, or choose to walk away now with the money.”

For a second Stan acted like he was going to pack up the money and go home, but faked out and announced he wanted to double the money. Of course. Eri couldn’t lie, she was worried. The man was a gambler by nature and it could lose him a huge opportunity to leave with what he had.

“What is a six letter word you use when asking for something politely? For example, ‘May I blank have that?’”

Without missing a beat, Stan replied, “Do I look like an idiot, folks?” Causing the audience to laugh, “The answer is ‘Gimmee’ with two E’s.”

A buzzer sounded, and everyone gasped because it was the first answer he got wrong all night. Eri face-palmed. He was going to lose.

The host winced, “Ooh! No. But since you made it this far, we’re giving you another chance. Eri here looks like she knows the answer, you can answer for yourself or she can do it for you.”

Stan looked like he was about to give another answer, but stopped himself when he looked at Eri. “You know? Imma let the squirt answer,” then he pointed at the camera, “But first I’ve got something to say to someone back home. Mina, I hope you’re watching because this is the moment that you lose. Go, Eri.”’

“Mr. Host, sir? The answer is ‘please.’” She said, triumphantly. There was a ding that meant she got it right and music started playing as balloons and confetti fell from the ceiling. She and Stan started jumping around in joy before he lifted her onto his shoulders and pumped his fist. They’d done it! They won!

 

They got home on the third day, just after the Shack was closed for the night. Eri and Stan walked in to see everyone sitting around the counter with stacks of money that they’d just counted. Deku and Mina wore matching gray suits, but he had the eye patch with his hair slicked back while she wore the fez hat.

“Nice to see you learned how to dress while I was gone.” Stan said with a shark-like smile. Mina glared before returning with her own sharp smirk.

“I will have you know that that isn’t the only change. Profits went up 40%, without marking up prices or cheating the customers.”

Stan was genuinely shocked at that, “Whadja do? Rob a bank?”

“I was going to ask you the same question. Do you mean to tell me that those briefcases have money in them?”

Eri looked at the four briefcases that she and Stan brought in. Stan’s smile grew wider, “I was hoping you’d ask,” he popped one open to reveal the money, “say hello to our new lives. $600,000!”

Everybody jumped up in surprise, digging into the open case.

Mina’s jaw dropped, “And you obtained this legally?” She looked to Eri for the answer.

Eri nodded, “We went on Cash Wheel and Grunkle Stan won! It was so fun!”

“So guess who has to wear the Loser Shirt?” Stan asked.

“No! No! No! But I was such a good boss! This is totally unfair!”

Stan shrugged, “These were the rules.”

Izuku interjected, “Did you specify that one of you two would have to wear it? Because if you only said that the loser had to wear it, we lost as a team.”

Mina’s jaw dropped open and she stared at him, “Are you saying…”

“I will wear it all summer on your behalf. You were a great boss these last few days and I can tell this really matters to you. Plus, I like wearing shirts with words on them. I’ve always wanted a shirt with English writing because it has a bit of a different style to it. And even though this shirt is degrading, I think-“

His ramblings were stopped by Mina slamming into him with a bear hug, “You’re literally the best. Thank you Izu. I will make this up to you.”

Stan smirked, “Whatever. Here’s your new shirt, Deku.” He tossed the white shirt at him.

Deku began to replace his old, plain white shirt with his new Loser white shirt. When he was halfway through, Wendy pointed at his shoulder and asked, “Uh, what’s that?”

Izu tried to turn his head and look where she pointed. Stan walked over to see, when he did, his face twisted in anger. “Izuku.” Everyone held their breaths. Stan hadn’t ever called him by his first name, “Why do you have a tattoo?”

Soos, Mina, and Eri all jumped up from their spots and ran closer, because there was no way that Izu would ever get a tattoo!

The greenhead quickly covered the mark with his shirt, but they all saw it. It was two triangles put together to resemble an hourglass. His face turned red like a strawberry. “I thought you guys knew!”

Mina put her hands on her hips, “clearly, we didn’t!”

He gave her a very guilty look, then tried to explain, “Okay, okay. So you know how back in the future I escaped the time prison even though I knew it was my last day of Globnar?” 

Wendy scratched her head, “Yeah, I was actually curious about that. Why escape at the very end when you’d been there for two weeks?”

“Because of the tattoo. Well, to be honest it’s more like a branding. They called it the Timestamp or Mark of the Time Champion. If you make it to your last day of Globnar, they consider you worthy to receive the mark, and told me that it’s a high honor. But I really didn’t want it, so I risked escaping. Luckily I ran into you guys and I felt better about the whole thing.” Izuku explained.

Both Stan and Mina’s anger subsided. Eri thought it was funny how similar they were acting. 

“If it was a branding, did it hurt? Did they actually use an iron like on cows?!” Wendy asked, a bit worried.

He shrugged, “It was futuristic tech so it probably didn’t hurt as much as an actual iron. They also gave me this cool watch that tells you the year and dimension you are in! Pretty handy, all things considered.” he said with a small chuckle. Eri couldn’t help but think how messed up that was.

Stan and Mina lightly scolded Izuku that he needed to tell them these things. Soos and Wendy noticed the similarities between the two of them as well. Eri shared a knowing look with them and went back to watching.

Once that issue was dealt with, Mina asked, “Now that we’ve got money, what are we gonna do with it? Because I think we should get our own rooms. We should also buy you a better boat. Stan O’ War needs an upgrade because it literally has three holes in the bottom.”

This led everyone to making suggestions and daydreaming together about what they could do. They drank Pit Colas and decided that at some point, they needed to splurge some of it on a really fun road trip. Eri loved that idea! By the end of the night, Stan said that most of it would be going toward savings accounts, retirement, and fixing a few of the Shack’s most major issues. But that didn’t ruin the mood one bit. 

Eri barely remembered falling asleep on Mina’s shoulder as the teen laughed at something Soos had said.

 

 

Omake:

“I love sharing a room with you guys, but three people, a pig, a hand, and a giant ladybug are too many living things for one little room. Especially when we play games like attic-stuff mini golf.” Mina said, trying to convey their extreme living situation.

Eri swung her club and the ball rolled too far to the right. Izuku swung his and it masterfully landed in the plastic cup. The girl groaned, “It’s not fair, why are you so good at this?”

He shrugged and refocused to hit his next ball.

Mina was only half watching. She was fixated on the dilemma, “If we could use some of the money Stan just won to add another room to the Shack, it would be a game changer.”

There was a crashing sound from downstairs. The three of them paused what they were doing. They heard Soos yell, “Hey, Dudes! I found some kind of secret, hidden room in the Shack!”

They ran downstairs. Stan had also heard and made his way over.

Soos explained how he found the mysterious door behind a bookshelf. Opening the door was a mystical experience.

“Woah! Grunkle Stan, what is this place?” Eri asked.

“I don’t know, another room for me to clean,” he said, picking up a pair of glasses. They didn’t quite look like his style.

Mina grinned, “This is perfect! Eri and I can move in here and Deku can keep the attic!”

Izuku laughed, “It’s like the universe heard you complaining and solved the problem for us.”

“Or it has great comedic timing.” Soos said.

“Yikes. The first thing to go will be this rug. It’s the ugliest piece of decor I’ve ever laid eyes on. What were you thinking when you bought this, Stan?”

“I don’t know, it was probably the eighties or something. Trends were different.”

Eri mumbled, “Not that different.”

Notes:

Stan and Mina are very similar. Both understand the importance and joy of money. And both can’t help but be a mother hen when the situation arises.

Also, what do you think of Izuku’s “tattoo?”

Sorry for the wait between chapters. I’m also sorry to say that it’ll continue to be a very inconsistent upload schedule. Lol! Have a good day!

Chapter 11: Friends Don’t Let Friends Learn Ventriloquism

Eri was very interested in this puppet show that she and Mina had been seeing posters for. It was being held in the library today and they decided to go check it out. Izu tagged along but only to mess with the laptop and do research on it.

Eri had almost forgotten about it because he hadn’t pulled it out in a couple days, waiting for a good time when Mina could help him with it. He kind of gave up on that front because the girl was always busy with something.

They got to the library and he immediately ducked away into a quiet corner. Eri and Mina found a small stage with a bunch of chairs set up for the audience. It seemed to be a good turnout. Every seat was filled and there were a lot of people standing on the edges and in the back. Mina put Eri on her shoulders so the smaller girl could watch. A blonde man stepped on stage with a case and a microphone, everyone clapped for him, “Oh, hey everyone! Wow, we’re a lively bunch today. My name’s Gabe and I guess you all came here to watch me?”

There was some more clapping and small cheers.

Gabe smiled, and a different voice rang through the mic, “Boo! This’ll be a boring show.” Gabe looked confused, but Eri could tell that he was just acting. He opened his case and brought out a puppet that looked like a cartoonish, grumpy old man, with a sagging face, square glasses, and a mess of white hair..

Mina whispered, “Reminds me of Stan.” Eri giggled. She couldn’t deny she was right.

The puppet folded its arms as Gabe frantically told it, “You’ve got to stop doing this, Carl. You can’t tell people that the show will be boring before it starts! They might not stay!”

The puppet expressed its annoyance and said, “Good for them! They’re better off. The show is literally just the two of us talking to each other. What would you call that? Boring, that’s what.” The crowd laughed with Eri and Mina joining. She was impressed by how easily the puppeteer was able to argue with himself in that funny voice without moving his lips.

Gabe motioned toward the audience, “See? They laughed! They think we’re entertaining. Even that little girl thinks you’re funny!”

The puppet looked in Eri’s direction, “Eh! Is that true? Oh man. The quality of entertainment must’ve gone down since I was a kid.”

“And when was that? World War One or Two?”

The bickering between the ventriloquist and the dummy went on for a little over an hour. Eri thought it was hilarious as they compared first date stories and competed who could sing higher. She was a little sad when the show ended, Gabe and Carl both taking a bow before walking off stage.

Mina set Eri down, “Geez. I think I’m going to have a stiff neck for the next week, ouch. I should work out more. What did you think of the show, Eri?”

“I loved it! I’ve never seen a real life ventriloquist! It was so cool. Do you think he will have another show?”

“I dunno. It’s worth looking into if you liked it so much.” Mina smiled and they went to find Izuku. 

Walking towards the corner they were pretty sure he’d be at, Eri heard a commotion. She ran around a bookshelf to see her brother and the ventriloquist on the floor. Between them was a broken puppet.

Izu picked it up, “I’m so sorry! I should have watched where I was going!” He bowed deeply in his apology, handing the puppet back to its owner. Gabe took it with a sad look in his eyes.

“It’s… it’s okay.” He said.

Eri rushed to Gabe, “Oh no! Will Carl be okay?” It didn’t look like it would be okay. Whatever happened caused an arm to be ripped off and whatever the eye was made of completely shattered. 

Mina inserted herself before Gabe could answer the question, “He will be okay if I have anything to say about it. Don’t nobody worry your pretty little heads. I can fix the dummy.”

Gabe gave her a look of hope, “You can? Are you sure? What’s your name?”

She stuck her hand out, “Mina. And these are my siblings, Izuku and Eri.”

He shook her hand nervously, “I think I see the resemblance?”

Eri snorted, “We’re not biological siblings.”

“Whew! Good, because I was genuinely confused. Though, maybe you could be twins if one of your parents was an extraterrestrial married to a human, you two do have the exact same hair besides the color.” He said, pointing at Mina and Deku, “Man, that actually sounds like it could be a good movie.”

Eri immediately reached up with both of her hands and grabbed fistfuls of their hair. She gasped, “He’s right! It feels exactly the same! Oh my gosh, your guy’s hair is so fluffy I could die!”

Izu laughed and Mina reached her own hand to feel their brother’s hair, “Huh. I can’t believe I didn’t notice this before. Dude. You need to take better care of your curls. I shall teach you my ways. But only after I fix this kind man’s puppet that you broke.”

Gabe looked like he was enjoying their sibling antics. He gave Mina the puppet and they exchanged phone numbers so she could tell him when it was ready.

 

Before Eri knew it, for the next couple days, Mina was breaking out all of her craft supplies, working with Gabe to make all sorts of puppets. They even started writing a show, which from the bits and pieces Eri heard, actually sounded super fun! Mina focused a lot of her time on creating puppets while Izuku was stuck on the laptop. Eri knew what of those two things she would rather do.

Izuku typed away in the corner of the room with Bugsy sleeping on his head while Soos, Wendy, Mina, and Eri worked on making puppets, costumes, and set pieces that were starting to look pretty professional.

Mina put a top hat and bow tie that she had just finished on top of Waddles’ head and let him run loose with it, “Waddles, be sure to give those to Izu when you’re done!” She wasn’t talking to the pig. Mina was shouting toward Izuku, not so subtly, “That’s his ticketing costume since he promised he would be part of the show…”

“Yeah. I’ll help. I’ll do whatever you want if you can think of a password.” He said, without looking up.

“Maybe it’s DekuComeHelpNow.”

“No, that’s much too long. It can only be eight letters.” he said, very genuinely as if he considered typing it in.

“Hmm, I really thought it would work.”

Wendy shook her head with a smile, “Mina, your sarcasm really makes life worth living.”

Much later, Stan walked in to see glitter and fabric all over the floor as they all listened to the song Don't Start Unbelieving. Eri held the laptop hostage in the air with her amulet. She danced with a very dapper Waddles while Wendy and Soos finished up a few puppets. Meanwhile, Mina had switched tracks, forcing Izu into a lecture about proper hair care with a giant ladybug on her shoulder. She hadn’t forgotten Gabe’s comment about them having the same hair.

Stan stared at them all before saying, “I don’t even wanna know,” and walking away.

Eri shrugged. She took the top hat off of Waddles and put it on her own head, “Hey, Mi, can Waddles and I help with the show? I could help move stuff around with my amulet!” She demonstrated by floating herself and Waddles up to where the laptop was and continued to dance in the air.

Mina tapped her chin, “Actually that could be super helpful. Plus this could be a show like the muppets or Sesame Street where there are people interacting with the puppets. That would fit Gabe’s aesthetic a lot better! Eri! You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

She set Bugsy on top of Waddles’ back and ran away, leaving Izu on the floor with a bunch of product in his hair. He chased after her, “Wait! Mina! Don’t just leave me like this!”

“Does this mean we won’t need all of these puppets?” Soos asked.

Wendy said, “Nah, we’ll probably still use most of ‘em even if her vision changed.”

The song ended and Eri bowed, tipping her hat to her dance partner, who just oinked back.

 

The next morning, they were eating breakfast when Izuku strolled into the room, looking like a zombie.

“Woah! Bag check for Deku’s eyes!” Stan laughed. Eri giggled and Stan held up his hand for her to high five, she could never leave him hanging.

“His eyes always look like that when he studies past curfew. Kacchan says he hyperfocuses and .forgets self care. Then Kacchan knocks him out to make him go to sleep.” Eri explained. Izu looked confused by this while Stan was amused at the thought.

Mina scowled, “Deku! Don’t tell me you stayed up with that laptop all night! I told you to go to sleep.”

He frantically waved his hands in front of him and shook his head, “That’s not it at all! I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I could relax on the roof for a bit, but I fell asleep up there and had a really crazy dream.”

That concerned Eri. Every time her big brother had a “crazy dream” that always meant he’d had a nightmare about bad guys or his mom dying or the vestiges were warning him of something. But… this Deku hadn’t started high school yet, and he didn’t know about his mom… so maybe that meant his dreams were different. “What did you dream about?”

“It was a bright yellow triangle telling me that it knew the password to the laptop. It wanted to make a deal, but I told it no.” Huh. Not what Eri had expected at all.

Stan had his own look of concern, “Nothing good can come from making deals with dream demons. Make sure you remember that.”

Mina punched Stan’s arm, “Triangle demons aside, you still look like the son of death.”

 “Do you want some of my Happy Juice to help you wake up?” Eri asked. 

“Don’t do it, Deku. It’s like coffee and horror movies had a baby.” Stan warned. Next to him, Mina stiffened and tried to subtly gesture for Izuku not to drink it.

She gave them a glare and poured some of her concoction into a glass, “I will have you know that Dad and Izu love my Happy Juice. They both drink it all the time. They even go to school with glitter in their teeth from it.”

Izuku eyed the glass of sparkling, pink liquid warily, “I mean, if the older me likes it…” 

“Yes!” She shoved the glass into his hands and they all watched him in anticipation. She had worked with Dad for a couple months, perfecting the recipe last year. So she couldn’t wait to see Izu’s reaction tasting it for the first time again. The first time, he had just come home from a work study and chugged it. It had made Eri really surprised and excited when he had then picked up the blender and drank straight out of it. 

This time, he took a sip and immediately started coughing really hard. It lasted a bit too long like he was dying. Mina slapped Deku on the back really hard until he stopped. Needless to say, that was not the reaction Eri had hoped for. 

Stan leaned back in his chair, unfolding his newspaper, “I warned ya.”

Izuku groaned, “No, I think my throat was just too dry. I’m sure if I have more I’ll be fine.” He quickly took another swig and gulped it down. His eyes were now frighteningly wide. It reminded Eri of how someone looks when a gunshot goes off. “See? There we go! Now I feel refreshed. What are we doing today?” 

Mina frowned, “You’re kidding. My man, the show is tonight. Sets and props are being taken to the theater as we speak.”

“Oh,” he looked down at the floor, “I’m sorry I forgot. Well, is there something else I can help with?”

“Yeah. Just be ready to go when it’s time… And also learn these lines. You're officiating the wedding scene.” She shoved a script into his chest, “It’s the easiest role so I know you can handle it.”

“What is this play even about?” He asked.

Eri filled in before Mina could get annoyed, “It’s about an alien who falls in love with a human girl. They get married and have twins. One looks human, the other an alien. They decide it would be best if he and the alien daughter go back to space. The mom dies and the dad turns evil. Years later, the human son travels to space and meets his sister and together they take down their evil dad.”

“This plot feels very familiar.” Deku mumbled.

Eri snorted. In a mean sort of irony, Mina and Gabe had basically written Deku’s life. It was terribly funny, but only to her. While he didn’t have a twin in space, he did have an evil father. She would explain this to them, but she didn’t think Izu would take the knowledge well. 

“So I need you to be there for the wedding in the beginning of the show.” Mina finished explaining.

“Got it. You can count on me!” He pumped his fist. 

Eri smiled, “Let’s go beyond!!”

Deku and Mina had a moment of surprise before returning her smile and they all cheered, “Plus Ultra!”

Mina squealed, “I’ve always wanted to do that! Eri, you have just fulfilled my dreams.”

“You three are the strangest children I’ve ever met.” Stan said, still reading his newspaper. Eri forgot he was even in the room.

 

——

 

After breakfast, Izuku quickly memorized his lines and went back up to the attic, which was his own bedroom since the girls moved into the new room. He got back to work on the laptop. He couldn’t help it. He was obsessed with the challenge. Not only that, but this device could have answers about how to get home. It felt like Mina and Eri didn’t completely understand that. If they did, Mina would’ve helped him instead of writing a puppet show. But he didn’t blame her or anything. Both girls were easily bored with stuff like this.

But, he wanted to see his mom again. He wanted to go to UA and be a hero. Izuku didn’t mind being in Gravity Falls, but if there was a chance that he could figure out a way to get home, he wanted to solve it.

He looked through his notes, Mina still had the journal, but he wanted to remember what it said. The laptop was mentioned in the journal but nothing about a password. At least he was pretty sure. Izuku wasn’t sure if he had used the backlight on that page or not. Later pages had talked about interdimensional travel and described that the author was trying to build a portal. He needed to know how to build that portal. The laptop could have the blueprints for it or a scientific log. 

Izuku considered himself pretty good with computers, but this one was sucking the life out of him. He’d tried so many passwords, that he’d given up on random guesses and strategic elimination. The error sound was corroding his ears. Now it was time to move on to hacking. If that didn’t work, it would be time to seriously consider using his Time Wish.

He was a bit experienced with hacking. Izuku taught it to himself starting at the age of nine or ten when he was obsessed with the idea of becoming a vigilante since everyone said he couldn’t be a quirkless hero. But that wasn’t important right now. Point was, he was confident that he could do it.

He plugged in an external drive to give it his own virus he had created to let him in. It took a few minutes before it was done. The laptop started beeping loudly and he jumped, almost dropping it on the ground.

He read the message on the screen and his stomach dropped, “Tampering detected. System erase in five minutes.”

What kind of device was this? How did this paranoid author design it to be so infuriating? Rather than freak out, Izuku rushed to action, trying more passwords and trying a different hacking strategy.

Three minutes left.

Suddenly, the world turned gray around him. All of the colors in the room disappeared except for the blaring red countdown on the laptop screen. A blue flame ignited in the air, and the next thing Izuku knew, the yellow triangle was back. He remembered the conversation from last night. But, wasn’t that just a dream? Was he asleep again?

The triangle thing twirled a cane in its hand and said, “Yep, this is real, Greenie. I’m back to offer assistance. Looks like you’re in a pickle!”

“What are you, anyways?”

“The name’s Bill. But that’s not important right now. I can help ya, kid. You just gotta hear out my demands.”

Izuku didn’t like the sounds of that. From what he saw last time, Bill was demented. He had taken a deer’s teeth from its mouth and reinserted it just to show off. Izuku glanced at the timer, ticking down faster than he would like. He was feeling desperate. “You can give me the password?”

“Sure I can! I wouldn’t be here if I couldn’t. I’ll help you break open that device of yours. All I want in return is a Puppet. That's not much to ask, after all, you’ve got a surplus!”

That didn’t sound right. Why would this weird thing want a puppet from him? Maybe he really did want to help him and thought he was asking for something small in return. The problem was, the puppets weren’t his to give. Mina and the others all worked really hard on this show.

Izuku answered, “I can’t give you any of those puppets, but… would it be alright if I made one for you afterwards? I’m sure there is extra fabric and things laying around.”

Strangely enough, Bill was able to contort his eye to look like he was smiling as he let out a grating laugh, “It’s a deal.” He stuck out his hand.

Izuku didn’t have the best feeling about this, but he also felt like didn’t have much of a choice. He glanced at the screen one more time. Only one minute left. He needed to know what was in that laptop. He reached out his own hand, unused to American handshakes and afraid that he would mess it up. Bill took his hand and a blazing blue fire erupted between them.

Bill clasped his hand tighter, and Izuku got nervous as the triangle spoke, his eye turning a demonic red color, “Oh, and you don't have to worry about making a new puppet. You’ll do perfectly!” He yanked Izuku’s arm, sending him tumbling through the air. 

But Izuku didn’t land on the ground. He was floating. He looked down and his legs were wispy and see through. On the ground, he saw himself looking back up at him. The irises of his eyes were yellow and his lips were curved up mischievously.

“Wha- what happened?”

“What do you think happened? I took your body, kid. You’re my Puppet now!” Bill laughed and slammed the laptop on the ground, breaking it into pieces. He used Izuku’s feet to further shatter it until there was no hope of repair.

“What are you doing?! You were supposed to help me!” Izuku shouted in alarm. In response, Bill pulled out his analysis notebook and stared Izuku in the eyes as it caught blue flames and burnt to ash.

“No, no, no. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.” Izuku tugged at his ghostlike hair and paced around the air. Meanwhile, Bill was discovering how legs worked and was slapping himself in the mirror.

How did this happen? The triangle just stole Izuku’s body, so logically there was a way to get it back. Right? But how? Izuku rushed at Bill to forcefully take his body back, but he passed through and phased his way downstairs where he found Stan picking his ear. Izuku did not want to see how much wax the man was about to pull out, so he quickly flew out of the room to find his body again.

That’s when he heard a loud crashing sound. He felt nothing but horror as he saw his own body lying at the bottom of the stairs, laughing insanely as blood began to pool around his head. Bill looked up at him and said, “Wow! Pain sure is funny! I’m going to get some human soda!” He abruptly stood up and smacked into a wall on his way to the fridge in the kitchen.

“You good, kid? I don’t wanna have to fake some records to be able to take you to the hospital.” Stan called from the other room.

Izuku shouted back, “No, Stan! I need help!”

“Heh. It’s no use. He can’t hear you.” Bill said before answering Stan, “All good, Pines! Just getting a soda!” The body stealer popped open a can and dumped it into his eyes. Izuku cringed, just imagining how much that would sting. Bill was going to make him go blind. “Hey Puppet, now that the laptop and that pesky notebook are destroyed, I need to burn that journal of yours. Do you know where it is?”

“Why are you doing this? What are you?” His voice trembled. Izuku wouldn’t lie, he was scared. 

Bill leveled him with a look that sent chills down his ghostly spine. “You’ve come too close to some big answers. Answers that would ruin my plans and change your whole perspective of the universe. I needed to get you out of the way. Now. Where is that book?”

Answers. Izuku really had come close to figuring it all out. He was really onto something. If only he hadn’t made that stupid deal, maybe he could have-

Mina chose that moment to walk in. She had a confused expression, “Deku, why is there blood on the floor?” She saw his body dripping with blood and soda, bruises forming on his arms. She gasped, “What happened, are you okay?”

Bill smiled, making both Izuku and Mina feel unnerved., “Yeah. All good, sis. I’m just a bit clumsy today. Hey, tell me, do you still have the journal?”

“How did you-“ Izuku stopped himself. How did he know that Mina had the journal? Would he attack Mina to get it? Would Mina catch on that he wasn’t acting right?

“If you say so. Be more careful, Deku. As for the journal, I was planning to have you use it in the show for the wedding scene. This house doesn’t have any other pretty books. You’ve got your lines down, right?”

“Of course I do, now where’s my costume so I can go over there immediately?” Bill asked. Izuku wanted to face palm at how obvious the demon was being, he had thought that Mina would see through Bill’s act, but no. He couldn’t blame her, though. She had been pretty wrapped up in her show with Gabe that she didn’t have much time for anything else.

She turned to leave, “your suit is in the living room and the book should be with the props at the theater. If that’s all, I’ve got to head over and finish Eri’s costume. Stan’s driving us.”

“No, Mina! Wait, that isn’t me. Wait!” He tried reaching for her, but his hand went through her shoulder. She shuddered but had no other reaction to him.

Bill wagged a finger at him, “Ah ah ah, I told you before. Without a proper vessel, no one can see or hear you. Welcome to the mindscape, kid.”

“Mindscape?” Izuku muttered to himself. That word seemed familiar. Maybe there was something in the journal about it. It was possible. That book had so many pages containing a plethora of information. He’d tried to organize it in his own notebook, but even then, he couldn’t remember everything from it. Not that it mattered because Bill had destroyed that too. Maybe the journal could help him out of this mess. Izuku had to get to it before Bill did.

He gritted his teeth as he watched Bill grab the costume and hop into a truck with Soos and Wendy. “I’ll find a way to stop you, triangle.”

“But how can you stop me…” With a wide smile that belonged in a horror film, Bill turned Izuku’s head to face his ghostly form, “…if you don’t exist?”

The place where Izuku’s heart should have been pounded in his chest. It was creepy to see Bill’s unhinged expressions on his own face. He clenched his fists and flew as fast as he could to get to the theater. He guessed that he beat the truck by a few minutes.

There was probably a half hour until the show started. There were early comers in the audience, already making themselves comfortable. Everything was set up and almost all of the cast members were ready. Izuku had no idea how big of a production this would be, but there were quite a few people manning the puppets and he spotted at least five people in costumes.

He ran his intangible hands through the props to find the journal, but it wasn’t there. He floated around until he spotted Mina and Eri. True to her word, they were in a back room putting some final stitches on Eri’s costume which was a poofy, blue, princess dress. Despite the situation, he had to smile. That costume probably didn’t belong in a sci-fi muppet-esq show, but Eri always seemed to get her way.

“Hey guys! Where is the journal?” Izuku tried. But neither of them heard him. There had to be a way to warn them. He started muttering to himself, “Alright, I’m a ghost so maybe I can write them a message in the mirror? No, that would freak them out too much and it would take too long to explain. Plus this isn’t like being a regular ghost. If it was, I could make myself visible and I’d be glowing green like the ghosts at the store. But maybe that just means I’m not strong enough of a ghost to make an apparition. Bill said he threw me in the mindscape, so either that’s where ghosts live or it must be a different plane of existence... Or both, I suppose. He also said I can’t be seen or heard without a vessel. But what vessel could-“ Izuku glanced down and saw a pile of puppets… One of them looked strangely like himself, freckles and all.

He was able to pick up the puppet and put it on his hand. That was a good sign, right?

Eri screamed and pointed at the puppet through the mirror. The two girls turned around and started shouting. So much for not scaring them.

Mina picked up a curling iron to use as a weapon, “The puppets are coming to life! Eri, grab something to defend yourself.”

Eri clutched her necklace. Mina nodded and the two of them charged.

Izuku simply sidestepped, “Guys! Wait, it’s me. It’s Deku!”

They paused and looked at each other. Mina pointed the hot curling iron at the puppet menacingly, “Explain.”

“Okay, so you know how I said I had a dream with a talking triangle in it? Well, his name is Bill and it turned out that it wasn’t a dream. He tricked me, stole my body, destroyed the laptop and my notebook, and now he’s going after the journal. We need to get it before he does!”

Eri looked like she was beginning to worry, “That’s definitely Izu.”

“Yep.” Mina sighed, “He’s the only one who could get into a situation like this.”

“Problem Child.” Eri nodded solemnly.

He would love to glare at them, but there was no time, “Now that we’ve established that. I really need your help. Where’s the journal?”

Mina set down her makeshift weapon and said, “follow me.”

Two girls and a sort-of-ghost ran backstage and up the catwalk to where there was a giant wooden cake on a pulley. The book was inside. Izuku was about to fly in and grab it, but Eri jumped in without warning. She held up the book triumphantly and Izuku realized that either he wasn’t a very good role model or Eri became way too comfortable with heights since she got her amulet.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” It was Bill. How did he get here so fast?

Mina stepped forward in front of Eri, “Stop right there, whatever is possessing my brother’s body! Give it back. Now,” she demanded.

Bill ignored her, “I see you were able to find a vessel. That’s cute. But you kids have no idea what you’re dealing with.” He pushed past Mina and jumped into the cake with Eri and the rope snapped, sending the both of them plummeting onto the stage.

“No!” Mina screamed, reaching over the catwalk railing.

Izuku flew to catch Eri but she had already used the amulet to lower them safely down the last few feet. She scrambled out of the set piece, still holding the journal. But just as she was about to escape, her dress got caught on a nail outside of the fake cake.

She pulled and tugged to get it free, but instead it ripped. She fell to the ground and the journal was sent flying across the stage. There were gasps in the audience and Izuku looked out to realize that there were a lot of people watching them right now.

From offstage, Gabe frantically whispered, “What the heck is happening? Did they plan a pre-show? Without me?”

Bill easily crawled out of the cake and grabbed hold of Eri’s arm. He yanked her to her feet and snatched away her amulet. Fear danced in Eri’s eyes as her biggest defense was taken away. “Puppet. Give me the journal, or your sister gets it.”

“No! Izu-“ Bill covered her mouth and held her tight.

At this point, Izuku didn’t know what to do. All he knew was that this monster was threatening Eri. Bill would not be getting away with this.

He flew in to attack, but Bill just used the hand that had covered Eri’s mouth and grabbed a hold of the vessel he was using. He squeezed until Izuku cried in pain. And Izuku couldn’t do anything to stop him. His ghostly form couldn’t interact with anything, he couldn’t kick the ground or gain traction to push into him or pull away. He was stuck.

“Stop! You’re hurting him! Let go of me!” Eri yelled as she squirmed to get out of his grip.

Just then, Mina swung down from the catwalk with her grappling hook, “I’ll rescue you guys. Leave it to me.”

Bill laughed, “And what are you gonna do, Pinky.”

Eri froze, “How did- How did you know her hero name?”

Bill looked down at her and stated, “I know everything. I know you’ve been keeping secrets about the past from everyone because you know it’ll tear your family apart. I know that Shooting Star, over there, has always had a crush on her friend from middle school. And I know that your dumb brother is too trusting of people who say they want to help him.”

Izuku deflated. Bill was right about that last part. If Kacchan were here, he would’ve realized that Bill was bad and beat some sense into him. Instead, he got them all into this mess. With the demon distracted, Izuku could finally slip his hand out of the puppet. He floated over to the book. 

Mina stepped forward, ready to tackle Bill, but something flipped in his hand. Izuku only caught a glint of it, and he could tell on his own what it was just by the audience’s horrified gasps. “Don’t come any closer Mina. I won’t hesitate.” He held the knife up to Eri’s neck. Mina looked like she was trying to judge whether he was bluffing. She took a step closer. “Oh? You don’t think I’m serious?” He threw the knife at Mina. It grazed her right arm, causing it to bleed, and landed in a set piece behind her. Bill pulled out another knife and replaced it back at Eri’s neck. 

Izuku saw red. He grabbed the journal ready to hit Bill over the head with it. Anger surged through his ghost, and energy radiated off of him. It might’ve been his imagination, but green bits of lightning sparks raced around his arms and legs, eventually covering his whole self. He stomped forward and the stage cracked beneath him. Bill stumbled, which was all the opening Eri needed to get away and for Mina to take the advantage to attack. 

Without any hesitation, Mina knocked away the knife and flipped him over her shoulder in a move that Wendy had taught the both of them. She brawled with Bill.

Izuku only looked away when Eri came barreling into him. Wait. What? She shouldn’t be able to do that. He was still a ghost in the ‘dreamscape.’ But he was holding the journal, and he was grounded to the floor. She looked up into his face. He asked, “Eri, can you see me?” 

She had a teary smile, “I can, now that you are using your quirk.”

He looked at his hand, surrounded by lightning. His veins glowed with power. The stage floor was demolished. He had done that. That shouldn’t have been possible, for quite a few reasons. But he doubted it was a quirk, especially because those didn’t work in Gravity Falls.

Mina shrieked as Bill grabbed her by the horns. He looked like he was about to break one off.

That’s right. There was no time for this, he had to defeat Bill and get his body back. He gave Eri the journal and told her to run and find Stan. Have him protect her in case things went south. She ran without question.

Remembering the moves that Wendy taught him and the countless hero fights he had seen, Izuku leapt ten feet in the air in a single bound. He slammed his fists down on Bill’s head, making him let go of Mina and fall to the ground.

“Hah! I guess Puppet found out he can cut his own strings.” Bill said, standing back up into a fighting stance.

Izuku ignored him and asked Mina, “Are you okay?”

She shook it off, “Great. Deku? How much sleep did you get last night?”

He felt himself relax. She was okay. The glowing around him began to fade away. “About two hours. I had a hard time with my head stuck on the laptop and my body sore from strength training with the Manotaurs. Eri’s Happy Juice helped, but I’m not sure it should last much longer.”

She smirked, “Do you know what that means, Billy Boy? It means you inhabited a weak body. Meanwhile I’ve had eight hours of sleep and ate a healthy breakfast.”

Bill’s attention was drawn inwardly and he started slowing down. It was like Izuku’s body had chosen that moment to start shutting down and he seemed to realize that Mina was telling the truth. In a battle of stamina, he would lose.

“Wait. What’s wrong with this body? Why are my eyes not staying open? No! I will not go down like this.” Bill dragged his feet away from Mina and pulled another knife out of his jacket. He aimed the point of it at his torso.

“Wait!” Izuku screamed. He flew to stop Bill, but soared right through him just like before.

Luckily Mina saw and was able to knock the knife away, so there were now three knives strewn across the stage. Bill scowled at her and moved to hit her, but she easily side stepped out of the way. He continued to attempt chasing her or hitting her, but he was winding down. She took the liberty of slamming her knee into his stomach for good measure

Bill dropped to his knees in pain and exhaustion. Mina stood in front of him with the most confident and terrifying expression Izuku had ever seen on her. “Now. If you know what is good for you… Get. Out.” Her yellow eyes pierced down into Bill’s. 

“You win this round, Shooting Star.” Izuku’s body collapsed and Bill was kicked out of it. Taking his opportunity, Izuku swam through the air, landing back in his own body.

He was immediately hit with an agonizing wave of pain. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to move. He made a small grunt and squeezed his eyes tighter.

Mina dropped down next to him. She propped his head up, “Izu? Please tell me you’re back.”

His head was pumping, his arms were sore, he couldn’t feel his legs, his stomach ached, and it was hard to breathe. Despite all of that, he was able to slightly open his stinging eyes to see Mina leaning over him. He was able to give her the smallest of smiles and whisper, “Thank you. I am so sorry.”

He was confused when her eyes started watering, “You’re welcome… Lettuce Head.”

Izuku chuckled and coughed a little, “Let’s never do this again.”

“Agreed. Like Stan always says, never make deals with dream demons, at least always since this morning.” She tucked her arms under him and helped push him back onto his feet. “Now, we should probably get you to a hospital. If you looked like death this morning, now you look like someone who went to the underworld, got chewed up by Cerberus, then reincarnated into a zombie, and was hit by a crashing plane.”

She supported him as they limped their way toward backstage, “Heh, I’m not sure if that makes any sense.”

“It does. Your brain is just too mushed to understand. It’s okay bro-bro. We’ll fix you up.”

 

Stan stood in front of Izuku who was put on mandatory bed rest for a few days. His arms were folded and he was tapping his foot. Both of which were very bad signs. Not to mention, the look on his face. It was a look that would haunt Izuku’s nightmares. 

“You got yourself possessed because a triangle said he wanted to give you the password to a random laptop you found in the woods. These medical bills are through the roof! If we hadn’t just won a crap ton of moola, I’d be in debt. Two fractured ribs, a concussion, sprained ankle, broken wrist. Izuku. They had to surgically remove a soda can tab because you swallowed it whole, along with the pit in the Pitt Cola! That shouldn’t be possible! Half the town thinks it was part of the performance while the other half is telling me you need a mental asylum.” He paused and sighed, “Which is exactly why I’m tightening your leash.”

Izuku snapped his eyes up to the old man. He knew Stan wouldn’t be happy with the cost of fixing him, but he didn’t think that he would be so upset that he would restrict Izuku.

Stan glared, “Don’t give me those doe eyes. I know I’m not told about all of the trouble you get into, which is worse, not better. I am the adult who needs to know where you are and what you are up to so things like this don’t happen. Normally I wouldn’t do this, but son, you’ve been kidnapped by time police, stalked by my arch nemesis, and had your body stolen. I don’t know much, but I think that warrants giving you some new rules. From now on, you don’t leave the Shack without my express permission.”

What?! But how was Izuku supposed to research the magical things in this town if he couldn’t leave? How would he find out who the author is so they can help him build a portal home? “Sir! I am so sorry. But please-“

“I’m not done,” he said, “You will have a 9:00 curfew. You will tell me if and when anything goes wrong. And finally, I will be hearing about that book that the demon was after. It seems to be causing trouble just as much as you do.”

“Huh? The journal?” Izuku straightened up in his bed. He was confused.

“Whatever it was on stage that Eri and Mina were protecting.” Stan said as if he was tired of this conversation. 

“I thought… I thought you already knew about it. I didn’t think we were trying to hide it.” Eri had given it back to him after he was discharged from the hospital. Izuku handed it to Stan. The man stared at the cover wide eyed in an expression that Izuku interpreted as recognition. “Wait. You know what book this is, don’t you?” he asked.

Stan opened the pages and flipped through. He looked like he was reminiscing, “Sixer. I was beginning to think that there weren’t any more of these.”

Now it was Izuku’s turn to be surprised. “You’ve seen the other journals? I mean, we theorized that there had to be two others because of the three on the cover.”

Stan snapped out of it, ”Yeah. Listen kid. I’m going to borrow this. And you are going to stay out of trouble while you’re on house arrest or you won’t be getting it back.” He pointed his finger at Izuku the same way his mom did when he would stay up too late researching or if he got too close to a hero fight. The comparison made him shrink into his sheets.

Of course he wasn’t happy about being grounded like this, but Stan was his guardian right now. Stan must’ve been feeling that responsibility. And Izuku understood that he hadn’t been the safest this summer. He didn’t want to put more of a burden on his guardian. So he nodded his head, “Okay. I understand, Sir.”

He rolled his eyes at Izuku, “Geez! Could you sound any more miserable? And stop saying ‘sir’, it’s weird. It won’t be long for you to get your freedom back if you can prove to me that I can trust you.”

Izuku wasn’t sure how to get someone’s trust. Even though he’s quirkless, he almost always chose to trust people, but not a lot of people trusted him back. This felt very new to him. But, he was determined to make it happen, if only so he could leave the house whenever he wanted again. “You’ll be able to trust me, Stan. I promise.”

Notes:

Bill is here. Oh boy.

Sidenote, look up the title of this chapter for a good joke (Video by Joe Brogie).
I feel like it’s pretty fitting.

Chapter 12: Greatest Game Ever Played

“Please! Please! Please! Please! Please!”

“No! Gosh darn it, Mina! For the last time, no!” Stan said, exasperated, “If you don’t quit, I’m going to throw this Stancake at you. It’s like a pancake, but it might have my hair in it.”

Stan had been eating breakfast and watching tv until she and Eri interrupted. Now, they were having an argument in the living room. 

Mina begged, “But he’s been missing out on so much!”

“That’s the whole point of putting him on house arrest. He’s learning a lesson.” Stan showed no signs of backing down. In fact, he was coming close to ignoring them.

That meant it was Eri’s turn. Manipulating Stan was her own personal magic, “It's been a whole week! Izuku didn’t get to go to the mall with us to find Soos a girlfriend.”

“You told me he had a history with malls.”

Mina tried, “He didn’t get to go to that concert with us and help rescue the boy band.”

Stan shuddered, “Hey, I saved him from having to hear that awful, mind destroying music. In fact, we were doing something else anyway, so I doubt he cares about that.”

“Please, Grunkle Stan.” Eri pouted, “He was really bummed that he didn’t get to spar with the video game character we accidentally brought to life. He likes playing that game with me and was sad he didn’t get to be there. It made me sad, too.”

Eri’s eyes got infinitely bigger and Mina smirked. Eri was pulling out her secret weapon, which had yet to fail. This was all part of the plan. Mina was sure the puppy dog eyes would bring Stan to his knees.

He rubbed the back of his neck, “I don’t know, girls. Deku is nothing but trouble when he leaves the house.”

He was wavering! Time for Mina’s special negotiation tactics. She whipped out some neon yellow, blue-light glasses and smoothly set them on her face, “Mr. Stanford Pines, while that is true, you are guilty of taking Izuku Midoriya on a few outings over the course of this week. During those outings, did he exhibit any behaviors that would warrant you declining our request? If the answer is no, then it becomes clear that Izuku is not the cause of any dangers he encounters, which means that the requirement to terminate this house arrest will have been met and he should be free to walk the streets once again.”

Stan grinned, “I know where this is going. I’ll make you a deal. Grab a club and golf ball. If you can shoot it into the eye of that skull over there, then he can come. If not, you’re doing all of his chores for the rest of the summer.”

Mina knew Stan would do something like this. He was a betting man, after all. And she had turned into a betting woman. The issue was, she had lost their last wager and now Izuku had to wear the Loser Shirt all the time. 

But this time would be different, she would make it up to him. Stan was proposing something that was a win-win for Izuku. Mina was putting herself on the line here. It was exactly the kind of opportunity she wanted. “You have a deal, Maverick.”

“Comparing me to that old cowboy? That kind of flattery just earned you today’s ice cream trip. Now, Eri, go get your sister a golf ball. I wanna see this.” Stan said while rubbing his hands together.

 

Eri came back into the room with a golf ball and club, handing it to Mina, “You’ve got this, sis!” she encouraged, “For Deku!”

“For Deku,” Mina agreed as she pumped her fist.

She set the ball on the ground and readied herself. Mina put all of her focus into making this shot. She had to prove herself. She aimed the ball, pulled back the club, ready to swing, and…

“Hey guys!” Izuku shouted as he jumped into the room.

His voice startled her. She swung way too hard and it bounced off the dining table, into the air. In a crazy series of events, the ball traveled around the room, falling down shelves, breaking glass, and eventually hitting Stan in the head, causing it to ricochet directly into the eye of the skull decoration.

Stan screamed from both the pain and the defeat, or at least that was jow Mina saw it. 

Izuku scrambled, “I-I’ll get you some ice!” And ran back out of the room as quickly as he came in.

Eri just looked up at her with stars glittering in her eyes. Mina rested the golf club across her shoulder. She totally meant for all of that to happen. Totally. She gave Stan a smug look.

He rubbed the spot of his head that had been hit, “Oy! You kids’ll be the death of me! I don’t know how that just happened, but a deal’s a deal. Freckles can go.”

Eri and Mina both cheered.

“This is going to be so much fun! Thanks Grunkle Stan!” Mina said.

“Yeah yeah, whatever.”

Izuku walked back into the room and handed Stan some ice for his head. “What are we celebrating?”

Mina wrapped her arm around his shoulders and said, “We’re going places, kid! So put on this blindfold and get in Stan’s car!”

 

Mina was so excited, she could hardly contain herself. This was going to be so much fun!

She braced herself as Stan made a sharp left into the parking lot. Izuku went tumbling, “Ah! Seriously guys, where are we going?” There wasn’t any time to respond before Stan slammed the brake, sending all of the children flying forward.

“We’re here.” He said simply.

Mina grabbed Izuku’s arm and pulled him out of the car so they were facing the building. She took off his blindfold with a “ta-da!”

He blinked at the harsh sunlight and took in the sight before him. Mina kept grinning from ear to ear, doing little jazz hands. He smiled as well, “Mini golf! Are you kidding?! Stan, you’re letting us all go mini golfing?”

“Yeah, yeah. Your sentence is up. So, I don’t see what the big deal is.” The man said, rubbing the bottom of his nose and looking away from him.

Mina and Eri cooed as she watched Izuku slam into Stan, giving him a big hug. Stan’s face flashed with a bunch of emotions, typical of a grumpy old man’s heart getting melted, and settled with a fond upward twist of his lip, “It’s just mini golf, kid. Now come on, let’s go get some clubs.”

 

They stepped onto the course and took in the sight. Mina leaned against Izuku “Ahh mini golf, the sport of mini champions.”

He smiled at her and said, “The grass is fake but the fun is real.”

Eri joined in, “There’s something here for everyone!”

“If you’re going to start making slogans for these people, make sure you’re getting paid first, knuckleheads.” Stan said while patting Eri on the head. Honestly, it was a fair statement, Mina thought. There was no way she’d give free advertisement to someone. She’d been taught better than that.

They approached the first hole and Mina went first, “and a one, and a two,” she swung extra hard and the ball flew, hitting the walls and set pieces, and bouncing right back to where it started. She really believed that would have gone better, “Aww.”

“My turn! My turn!” Eri shouted, setting down her blue golf ball. She readied herself and swung. And she missed. The club was about an inch off from hitting the ball. A breeze blew by and the ball slowly rolled to the right, straight into a pond. The unicorn girl gawked, “seriously?!”

Izuku retrieved the ball from the water and set it next to Mina’s so they both sat at the beginning of the course. “Don’t worry about it, Eri. It’s all for fun. Here, can I show you how to swing?” She nodded and the three of them watched as the boy pivoted his feet and mumbled something about hip positioning. He swung and hit the ball so it moved at a leisurely pace across the course until it easily landed in the hole. It was one of the most satisfying things Mina had ever seen. 

An amazed smile crossed Stan’s face, “Holy Smokes! There’s someone in this family who has talent! And all it took was illegal adoption!”

Before Mina could say that she resented that remark, Eri scoffed. She folded her arms and said with a cocky grin, “Grunkle Stan, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

This threw Mina for a loop, “Did you just say ‘ain’t?’”

“She sure done did!” came a voice from behind. They all turned around in surprise at old man McGucket who definitely hadn’t been there a second ago. No one knew what to say to that. After a moment of awkward silence, he sulked and said, “I just wanted to feel included,” and walked away. It was honestly sad… and way random. Mina would regret it if she didn’t say anything to him.

She hesitantly called out to him, “Hey, dude, how’s your robot? Is ol’ Gobblewonks doing alright?” She saw Stan facepalm in the corner of her eye. He could be as annoyed as he wanted, she was choosing kindness today.

The old man lit up and took off his hat, “She’s purttier than a gi-raffe! Although, I reckon she left me to the bottom of the lake to live with the real Gobblewonker. But, you can bet that’s swampdoodlin fine by me! Thanks for askin’, you’re an alright family, Pines’.” He dramatically put his hat back on like an old west cowboy and walked away with more confidence than he would’ve before.

“What a lunatic.” Stan stated. Mina punched his arm. “Ah! I see you’ve been working on your form,” He complained, rubbing his arm.

She grinned up at him and pointed forward with her club, “Glad you noticed. Now, let's get this family day started!”

Eri and Deku cheered and they all ran to the next hole together.

It turned out that Eri had been right about Deku’s mini golfing skills. Most of his shots were a hole in one. It was totally unfair! And he kept thanking Mina for making sure he could come along, which both rubbed it in and made it better. It was fine that she wasn’t as good as him and it warmed her heart to know that she put that smile on his face today. As for the others, Stan was pretty okay, making his games feel like a casual Sunday stroll. Eri had completely given up and taken to score keeping and holding extra golf balls for everyone. It made her happy.

She shared the results of every hole, and it was no surprise that Deku was in first place for every hole. They came up to one of the last holes on the course. At this point, there was a small crowd gathered to watch Deku as Eri gasped, “If he gets a hole in one here, he’ll beat his record!” Everyone murmured excitedly.

He turned around to look at her, “I thought I already beat my record. And how would you know what my record is? I’ve only ever played alone in Japan.” he was very confused, which was silly because even Mina had figured out that Eri knew almost everything about Deku from before the rewind. She says ‘almost’ because they still haven’t figured out why he acts so weird whenever quirks and heroes are brought up. Eri, Mina, and Wendy had tried being both subtle and upfront. They got nothin’.

Eri responded, “Me and you went indoor mini golfing last winter. Mina, Kacchan, and a bunch of friends came too. They mostly went bowling and played at the arcade though because they got discouraged after seeing you in action.”

Izuku snorted and got himself into position, “Kacchan should know better,” he said, then he shifted and everyone quieted as he focused on the game. He was eerily still for a moment. Mina began to wonder if someone had a magical remote and pressed pause on him. Then, with practiced aim, he hit the ball. Mina held her breath. 

The ball easily rolled its way up a ramp and dodged the windmill’s blades so it successfully got inside of the mini windmill. There were a bunch of clacking and clanking noises until finally, the ball came out… and missed the hole. 

There were some sad, disappointed sighs and the crowd dispersed. Wow, people in Gravity Falls were weird. Stan pat Deku’s shoulder and said, “Tough luck, kid. But don’t feel too down about it. The thing’s random.”

Deku looked up at him, “I’m not sad. I already beat the record that I knew about. I’ve never done this well before.”

Mina heard Eri mumble under her breath, “yes you have.” But she decided to be polite and pretend not to hear. Instead she said, “You really did great, Deku! How’d you learn to play mini golf so well?”

Stan put his hands on his hips, “Yeah, as far as I’m concerned, you’re the best player in town.”

He turned as red as a strawberry, “Oh, well I just had a lot of hobbies growing up and that was one of them. I honestly haven’t played in over a year so I was really excited when you brought me here!”

Mina smiled, “Now I need to find a girl for you to take here on a date! Then you can show off your incredible skills and get yourself a girlfriend.”

Eri laughed at that, but didn’t expand on the topic. Stan also laughed at the thought, but Mina was being serious. She would just have to find a girl for him.

They moved on to the next hole and Deku left to go to the restroom. Mina was struggling on this one, but managed to get it in after the eighth hit. She pumped her fist, “Yes!” and Eri gave a little clap while Stan lined up his next shot.

“Oh. Would you look at that? I didn’t know it was hobos golf free day.”

Mina came face to face with the one person she absolutely despised in this town, “Pacifica,” she rolled her eyes, “What do you want?”

“I’m just doing what any other contributing member of society would do. I’m saying hello to the poor. That includes you, Pines family. Old, tiny, and alien.” She said pointing at Stan, Eri, then Mina. The audacity of this chick.

Stan rolled his sleeve, “Would it be wrong to punch a child?”

Eri shrugged. As the daughter of an underground hero, Mina thought the girl would’ve been more against it. Mina personally would’ve loved to see anybody punch Pacifica. In fact, she wanted to do it herself. But she could settle for just taunting, “Hey, what’s it like living in a family of frauds?”

There was a glint in Pacifica’s eye as she said, “Not an issue. That’s the great thing about money. It makes problems like that go away.” She strutted over to the bonus hole at the end of the course, a big volcano structure, and simply hit a hole in one. Mina’s jaw dropped open. She had genuinely thought that Pacifica wasn’t good at anything besides being rich and snarky. Who knew she had skill?

The blonde girl walked away, knowing she had won this battle, but Mina wasn’t done, “You know what? You walking, one-dimensional, bleach blonde, valley girl stereotype, let’s settle this.”

“What did you just call me, you Hollywood Alien wannabe? It is on! You. Me. Midnight. We’ll see who’s best.”

“I’ll be here.” The anger between the two was palpable, Mina saw people backing away in fear and others stared in intrigue. This would be a mini golf game for the history books.

 

It didn’t occur to her until later that night, when they were sitting down in a restaurant, eating tortilla chips, that there was a big problem with this game.

“Oh no!” She yelped, putting her hands to her face.

“Woah, what! What is it?” Stan said, jumping at her sudden distress.

She dropped her head in shame and cried out, “I can’t beat Pacifica at mini-golf! I suck at it!”

Stan settled down again and munched on a chip, “I thought you had a card up your sleeve, like dress up Deku to look like you and take your place.”

Eri chuckled, “Wouldn’t have worked. He doesn’t like cheating.” She turned to Deku and considered him for a moment, “But it would be funny to see you with pink hair and skin. Then you really would be twins.”

The boy put his hand to his chin, “the twin thing would be an interesting experiment.”

“Or give Mina pale skin and green hair.” Stan said, further entertaining the idea, “That would be interesting to see. Summerween is around the corner-“

“Guys! This is a serious problem! What do I do about Pacifica?” Mina whined. She flopped her head to the table and waited for an answer.

Izuku finally spoke up, “Well, I won’t trade you places, but I can teach you some techniques.”

Eri questioned, “Does that mean we’ll have to break in?”

“Yeah I don’t know. Breaking into the golf course at night? Just kidding! Let’s break in!” Stan yelled. 

With newfound enthusiasm, the Pines finished eating dinner and rushed to the car. Eri made sure to grab the leftover burritos for the road. They went flying as Stan drove as recklessly as he had earlier in the day. He smashed the car through the closed off, gated entrance and swerved haphazardly into a parking spot like he was doing a Tokyo Drift. It was better than any rollercoaster. Mina decided she needed this old man to teach her his driving skills. If she was going to be a hero someday, she would need to know how to drift a car into a parking spot, and she doubted UA would teach her cool stuff like that. She looked over to her brother and realized he must be having similar thoughts.  

Stan pulled out a loose board from the fence, allowing Mina and Deku to crawl through. Eri chose to stay behind with the ol’ geezer. They wished the teens good luck.

On the other side, Mina was pleasantly surprised by the sight of the empty course. Izuku found a switch and the whole place lit up. With a mischievous grin he stood in front of the first hole and said, “Mina Ashido. Welcome to your Mini-golf Academia!” Somehow he cued sparklers to go off behind him, driving her excitement to new heights. Mina couldn’t wait for her epic training montage to begin!

 

(One epic training montage later)

Mina gave up! “Grrr, this stupid- why won’t it just-? I hate this windmill and I wish I could throw acid at it But I can’t because my lame quirk doesn’t work!” She had tried getting a hole in one at least thirty times, but no matter what she did, it never made it, always slightly off.

Izuku put up his hand to signal her to stop, “First of all, I will not have you slander your quirk. It doesn’t deserve to be called lame. Secondly, Mina, you’ve done extremely well with the whole course, you shouldn’t beat yourself up over the one that is randomized.”

She didn’t want to hear it, even if it was the truth. Sure she shouldn’t beat herself up over it, but she felt entitled to hate this infuriating hole. Feeling angry and stuck, she took her club and threw it against the back of the mini windmill.

“Woah! Mina, what-“ A wooden panel broke off of the windmill and landed on the ground. Izuku sucked in a breath and had a pained look on his face. It was the look of a guilty child who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“We are not going to be in trouble.” Mina said at the same time that he said, “We are going to be in so much trouble.”

She punched his arm and walked over to the broken panel, “All we have to do is put it back.” She picked it up and turned to replace it back on the windmill. But what she saw inside made her scream. A bunch of tiny voices screamed back. Deku ran to her side to see what the matter was. He yelped and fell backwards. The little people screamed again.

One of them stepped forward and asked, “Okay, is everyone alright? Are we good?” 

Mina helped Izuku up and the two of them nodded to the little guy. She asked “what are you? You’re so Mini!”

“Oh, giant ones, we are the Lilliputians. The lil’, lilliputt, you know, it makes more sense spelled out. We control the balls! It’s only our life’s greatest work!” 

Izuku tilted his head, “you control the balls? So it isn’t actually random?”

“Allow us to explain in song form!”

Mina clapped her hands in excitement, “Go for it guys!”

The next minute was filled with cheery singing and dancing from the little golf people. It vaguely reminded Mina of that one scene from the Shrek movie with the figurines singing “Duloc is the perfect place!” It was funny and, admittedly, adorable.

When the song ended, Mina and Izuku gave a polite applause.

With a big smile on his face, the little guy said, “Thank you! We really appreciate when humans support our life’s work. But I have to ask, it’s the middle of the night, what are you hugelings doing here?”

Izu answered, “I’m teaching my sister some techniques.”

“Yeah. I have a tournament with my rival tonight. But don’t worry, I’m gonna win!” She said, pumping her fist to let them know she meant business.

His tiny eyes darkened, “Oh. We know all about rivals.”

“Put a clog in it, ya windmill lubbers!”

Mina and Izu turned toward the new voice. The lights around the pirate themed hole turned on, revealing a tiny crew aboard the ship.

The lights then turned on around the Eiffel Tower hole, then the medieval castle. Soon all of the lil’ people of the mini golf course were yelling at each other and preparing to battle.

Mina watched dumbfounded, “Well that escalated quickly.” They fought with each other around her feet. “This feud is really intense.”

“Do you think there’s a way we can stop it?” Izu asked. He was upset to see the little people fight like this.

The windmill guy looked up at him and said, “Sadly, unless there is a way to determine who is the best, there is nothing you can do.”

That's when a little French guy came along and said, “Wait, Franz! There might be a way! What if we help them defeat their rival?”

The knight from the castle hole caught wind of the conversation, “An excellent strategy! He who is able to help her win shall be determined the best at controlling the balls.”

Soon the other leaders seemed to agree they would use Mina’s game to decide who was the best.

Izuku put a finger to his chin, “This doesn’t seem very regulated. Are there rules to this? If you make her win every hole, wouldn’t that mean you are all amazing at your jobs. How would you decide the winner?”

The pirate captain simply said, “We’ll make you the judge.”

His arms fell to his sides and his face dropped, “Great. Not at all what I meant.”

But it was too late. “Yes! The green one shall judge. He is pure of heart!”

“And the pink one will play for us! She isn’t good, so our work is cut out for us!”

“Hey!” Mina yelled, pointing menacingly at the mini people, “I heard that! Y’all can’t say nothing about my skills or we won’t help you.” That seemed to shut them up. “That’s better. Alright, if we’re going to do this like you want, you all have to agree that whatever Deku decides is final. You have to accept it and move on. No more fighting.”

Deku added, “I want to judge properly, so here are the rules. No sabotaging other holes, give me a detailed report on your methods, and no tampering with Pacifica’s golf balls. Hers will be used as a comparison since she’s a pro.”

Mina liked this, her inner Pines was aching to see how this deal would go. “Yeah! You have to show us that you’re better than a girl who grew up with private training.” She crossed her arms, feeling confident that this competition was going to be a blast.

The leaders put their heads together to talk it out, they came to an agreement and announced, “One more condition. The winner has to receive something as a trophy of their victory.”

“Uuuuhhhh…” Mina had no idea what they could give them.

Deku rescued it saying, “We agree to your terms. Whoever wins gets one of my most prized possessions.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his yellow pen with an orange question mark on it. He had been using that thing to write notes all summer. Mina wondered if it held sentimental value for him. Maybe it was low on ink at this point, so giving it up wasn’t a biggie.

“You’ve got a deal.”

 

By the time Pacifica showed up, the golf people were set up and ready to go. This was a one-on-one match, but Izu would still have to be present, so he hid away to analyze their work from afar. It would just be Mina and Pacifica. Or at least, that’s what Pacifica would think.

“Mina Pines.”

“Pacifica.”

“Let’s do this.”

“You’re on.”

The tournament was honestly so fun with the two of them trash talking each other the whole time. It helped that her ball always magically ended up in the hole. It made her feel good about herself.

“I bet you wouldn’t be any good at this if your parents weren’t rich.”

She calculated the angles she needed and swiftly hit the ball in a satisfying motion that landed it in the hole. “Don’t hate on it. I’m rich, got training, and became nationally ranked. I’m surprised you had enough money to even come here.”

Okay. Mina had to admit that was impressive. She swung her club and the ball went in the wrong direction. Weirdly enough, it was still a hole in one. “Nationally ranked? In mini-golf? What about real golf?”

Pacifica paused, “I’m okay at it. It’s not as fun.”

“That’s so real. It looks so boring, I mean, are there exploding volcanoes in real golf? No!” Mina said, throwing her hands in the air.

Pacifica smirked at that. She took her turn at the Eiffel Tower, landing it effortlessly into the hole. “Well, it’s not like you’ve ever played. It’s a sport for successful businessmen, and your family is so poor that-“

“Seriously, Pacifica. What do you have against my family being poor?” In fact, they weren’t poor since Stan won all of that money on a game show, but they weren’t about to change their lifestyle over it.

“You have to understand, Alien girl. In real life, there are winners and losers. The poor are the ones who are losing. Stanford Pines is a loser.”

“Oh blondie, that’s where you are wrong.” She swung and let the Eiffel Tower people take care of the ball. Mina wasn’t even watching anymore, knowing it would go in. “The only losers in life are the ones that don’t live it to the fullest. Stan isn’t a loser because he understands that. Your parents on the other hand…”

Pacifica glared, “Don’t go there.”

Mina held up her hands, “Geez. So you can make fun of my family but I can’t talk about yours? What even is this conversation?” 

The girl stayed silent as they walked to the next hole. Then she dropped her club and walked away saying, “I’m going to get a drink.”

“Whatever. Just don’t take too long. I have a tournament to win.” Mina shouted after her.

Once Pacifica was out of sight, Deku came out from behind the pirate ship, reading from a tiny piece of paper, “These reports are all very well written. Who knew tiny golf people could produce such in depth documentation of their work?” He looked up at her and smiled, “How are you and Pacifica doing? I noticed you guys stopped yelling at each other.”

“Oh we’re great! Having a real heart to heart.”

His smile widened and he exclaimed, “That’s good! You guys seem like you could be good friends if you put aside your differences!” He was too precious.

She smiled and shook her head, “I was being sarcastic.”

“Oh.”

“You should get back to work. It looks like the miners are waving you over.” She pointed at the mini people jumping up and down, yelling for Greenie. He went over to them and Mina chuckled. These magical creatures were so cute. 

After a few more minutes or waiting for Pacifica, Mina was beginning to get restless. It was almost 1am and they only had two holes left in their game. She was startled when bright lights turned on at the windmill hole.

She gasped, “Woah woah woah! What is this !” The golf people had tied up Pacifica and were standing in little poses as if to say “ta-da!” 

They came forward saying, “Well, we thought about how we could be sure your rival was defeated and decided that killing her would be the best option!”

“ What?! ” No longer cute. These guys were full of bloodlust! She quickly calmed her nerves. “Tell me how you thought that was what I wanted?”

They looked confused. One said, “B-But, we’re helping! If she’s gone, we win!” 

“Nope! The windmill hole is disqualified.”

There were a bunch of tiny, shocked gasps that came from behind her. She turned to see every mini golf person staring up at her. They began whispering to each other about being disqualified. Then Pacifica screamed about being let go.

One of the knights stepped up and said to Mina, “You cannot change the rules and disqualify us! Greenie is the judge. And killing her was not mentioned in the rules. I commend the windmill hole for their creativity. You are the one who is wrong!” Then they all started jeering at her and attacked her with pencils.

“That’s it! I’m done with you people! You can’t kill someone just because you don’t like them! Stop poking me!” She took her club and hit them away from herself. But they just kept coming. She looked up and saw that Pacifica was being conveyor belted toward the windmill which spun at death inducing speeds. She needed to get over there and save her, but she was being overtaken.

“What’s happening?” Deku asked. He was walking back from the miner hole. He took in the situation and seemed to realize that it wasn’t good.

Mina knew he was quick in dire situations so she yelled, “Deku! Rescue Pacifica!”

His face turned serious and he nodded to her. Using the gymnastics she had taught him, he sprung through the crowd of golf people and landed next to Pacifica. Mina was proud of that. The student had become the master. She heard the girl yelp, “Deku? What the heck? I thought you were a figment of my imagination!”

Mina wasn’t sure what that meant. She thought that the two of them had never met. She’d have to ask later. Right now she was busy swinging her club like a maniac. When she found an opening, she ran away to where she knew there was a golf cart. Once she found it, she thanked the heavens that the key was in it. She turned it on and floored the gas pedal.

She crashed her way through the course and stopped just in front of Deku and Pacifica. “Get in.”

With the three of them squished together, they were able to escape the Lilliputians. Or whatever they were called. She had never been more proud of her driving skills as when she squeezed the golf cart through the almost completely closed doors to the course. It only got slightly damaged.

Pacifica got out of the cart, fuming. She marched to the closed doors and angrily shouted, “I will sue you! I can buy you and own you! Never mess with a Northwest! Ugh!” She kicked the door and a battle ax stuck through the door from the other side. She backed away right into Deku. There was a moment where they both seemed unsure of what to do, then awkwardly pushed away from each other. Ooh? What’s that about? Did Mina see somebody blushing?

She quickly got a hold of herself and turned to Mina, “You! I don’t know what happened tonight, but I know it’s your fault!”

Mina couldn’t really argue with that. She agreed to cheating and it landed them all in trouble, “I’m sorry, Pacifica. I got you in this mess. I’m sure you would’ve beat me fair and square at every single hole. You’re a really good mini-golfer.”

She huffed a little and looked away, “I hate to admit it, but you weren’t bad yourself when it came down to it. A bit rusty, but that goes away with practice.” Mina smirked at that.

Stan and Eri pulled up next to them and they hopped in the car. Pacifica was confused, “Deku? Why are you going with them ?”

No one completely understood why she would ask that, but he gave her a kind smile and explained, “Because Stan is my guardian!”

“Huh. So… are you two…”

“Adopted twins,” Mina answered.

Deku chuckled, “You realize that no matter how many times you say it, it still doesn’t make sense.”

Stan rolled down his window and looked around, “Hey kid, your parents comin’?”

It seemed weird that they weren’t here yet, Mina asked, “Do you want to ride with us?”

She scoffed, “Puh-lease. As if I would-“ lightning struck and rain began to fall. Pacifica groaned, but got in the car without further complaint. She sat in the middle, between Deku and Mina.

As they drove, Stan and Eri were singing a BABBA song together, which was really cute. Mina loved the fact that Stan learned the songs just because Eri loved them and played them all of the time. He had even bought her a little mp3 player with a few of their albums.

Mina looked around the car until she found the leftovers from dinner, “Sweet! Nothin’ like 1am tacos!” They were cold, but that didn’t matter. She needed food! There were two tacos left. “Here.” She gave one to Pacifica.

“Why did you just hand this to me?” the blonde girl asked in disgust.

“Eat it.” Mina said, then took a bite of her own.

Looking unsure, she followed Mina’s example. Once she took a bite, her eyes lit up, “I didn’t know cheap, peasant food could be so good!”

“All food tastes good after midnight!” She replied with a smile.

Deku laughed and said, “Not all foods! I once thought that I saw a mannequin move on its own and decided ‘no more sushi at 3am.’”

“Dude! What if it did move on its own and it wasn’t the sushi?” Mina asked.

He had to think about that one. He sat there, contemplating. With Deku lost in thought, Mina was able to notice how Pacifica kept glancing at him. 

After she finished her taco, Pacifica tapped his shoulder, “I wanted to thank you for saving me tonight.” Her whole demeanor changed. She was acting kind and considerate! Mina knew they were supposed to be rivals, but this was a game changer. She had the hardest time containing her squeal of excitement. Pacifica had a crush on Deku and he was oblivious!

He shook his head, “You don’t have to thank me, I’m not a hero.”

Eri made eye contact with Mina and they shared a look.

They all kept talking together until they pulled up at the Northwest Mansion. Pacifica got out and took one last look back, “Mina, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I had fun. Maybe I could show you the ropes a bit and we can have a real match.”

Her lips tugged upward and Mina mumbled, “Or I can set you up on a golf date with Deku.”

Her face flushed red and she turned around and walked away through the gate to her house. Oh yeah, Mina was going to have so much fun with this.

They drove away and Stan simply said, “You should’ve charged her ten bucks for the taco.”

“Probably.”

 

Before going to bed, Eri pulled Mina aside and gave her the shock of her life.

“Mina. Izu has a girlfriend back home.”

“WHAT?! And you didn’t tell me until now ?” She felt betrayed that Eri would hold back like this.

“Her name is Ochako Uraraka. But… I guess they can’t be a couple anymore if he’s a middle schooler and she’s about to graduate high school. That’d be weird.”

“Dang. So…”

The little girl thought about it and sighed, “Fine. You can play matchmaker.”

“Woohoo! Thanks Eri-Cherry! You da bomb.com!”

She laughed, “But I thought you hated Pacifica.”

Mina waved her off, “Yes, but everyone deserves a love life.”

“And?” Eri gave her a skeptical look. 

“And… then I have something I can hang over her and make fun of her for.”

 

——

Izuku timidly walked into the dark living room. The others had gone to bed, so he figured this was the perfect time to ask.

“Grunkle Stan?”

The man looked up from his spot on the living room chair, “What is it, Cabbage Patch?”

Izuku hesitated, “Well, now that I’m not grounded anymore, I was hoping I could have my book back.”

Stan studied him for a second, then stood up, “yeah, yeah. It’s in my office, let’s go get it.”

Izuku grinned, bouncing up and down slightly, “Thanks, Stan!”

Together they went to the office and Stan pulled the journal off of a shelf, handing it to Izuku. He was elated to have it back in his hands, to know it was safe after the whole fiasco the week before. Suddenly, Izuku remembered some strange things he had questions about.

“Hey, Stan, you knew what this was when I first showed it to you? Are there really more of them?”

“…Yes. There are more.”

Wanting more answers out of the man, he pressed, “How do you know about the journals? Do you know where they came from? Stan, I have to know! This could be our key to getting home!”

“Slow down there boy, the truth is- the truth is…” Stan looked him in the eyes. An expression that Izuku wasn’t sure if he could decipher, “Gee, kid. I guess I’ve got a little explaining to do. Sit down.”

Izuku sat and watched him expectantly. Stan began to pace, “The truth is that I don’t know much more than you do. A long lost relative showed up with these books years ago. I thought they would be great additions to the Mystery Shack, but people thought they were boring, so I gave ‘em away.”

That was it? Did that mean that Stan’s relative is the author? Who had them afterwards? Could they have added to the books so there is more than one author? Why was Izuku’s buried in the woods? He guessed Stan wouldn’t know the answers to those last few. Instead he asked, “Who was your relative that gave them to you? Did they write the journals?”

“It’s possible, but again kid, I haven’t seen ‘em for decades.”

“That’s a bummer.”

Something in Stan’s eyes shifted, “Tell me about it.” He then stood up and stretched, “Well, it’s getting late. We’d best go to bed.”

“One more question?” Izuku asked hopefully.

“Fire away.”

“Did you read them?”

Stan hesitated, letting the question hang in the air before answering, “I didn’t read them when they were given to me,” he shrugged, “But, I did browse this one since you got out of the hospital. Crazy stuff.”

Izuku agreed, “It sure is! I still can’t believe magic is real in this dimension!”

Stan snickered, “You get excited easily. Now for real this time, go to bed you little gremlin.” He rubbed Izuku’s hair and walked out of the office.

Izuku laughed and watched him leave. He looked back down at the journal he was holding and considered their conversation. Something felt off about it, but he couldn’t figure out what.

He walked up to his room in the attic and set the journal on his bed stand. He would just have to sleep on it.

Notes:

Izuku isn't grounded! Pacifica needs to get in touch with reality. Mina just craves any kind of tea she can get. Stan is getting better at lying to the kids. And Eri continues her struggle between the past and the present.

Chapter 13: The Bottomless Pit- Part 1

“In this land of ours, there are many pits. But none are more bottomless than the bottomless pit. Which, as you can see here, is bottomless.” Stan said, showing off the pit. The pit that was bottomless. The bottomless pit.

Soos raised a finger, “Question. Is it bottomless?”

Stan sighed, “Mina, you mind explaining to Soos?”

She shook her head, “Nah, ‘cause I was about to ask the same thing.” She said and high fived Soos.

Izuku looked down the hole. It was pitch black and had a daunting presence. “Are bottomless pits normal for this dimension?” he asked, thinking of how that would affect society if this was a common occurrence.

Wendy pat his back, “No. This one is probably just really deep, so we call it bottomless.” That made sense to Izuku, considering that it could bring in more tourists.

“Hey, far as I know, this baby is the real deal.”

“Grunkle Stan, it’s cool and all to sit in front of the deep hole, but what are we doing here?” Eri asked.

At that, Stan grinned “We’re disposing of things we don’t want!” He reached into his jacket and threw out a bunch of paper, “So long, Mystery Shack suggestion cards!”

Wendy chuckled, “Oh, that’s why you had us bring all of this stuff. I just thought you were going senile.”

“Watch it.”

Izuku put a finger on his chin, “In hindsight, we probably should’ve been able to put the two and two together. What else would you do with stuff you don't want and a giant hole?”

“Now we’re talkin’,” Stan wrapped an arm around Izuku’s shoulder and handed him a stack of letters, “Try it out, Greenie. It’s liberating.”

The letters were the ones Gideon kept sending him, as if they were pen pals. Izuku considered it for a moment, then chucked the papers down the pit with all of his strength yelling, “Die!” Haha, his inner Kacchan kind of came out. Admittedly, watching the letters scatter into the darkness of the hole was very satisfying.  

Everyone joined in, Wendy stuck out her arm and wordlessly dropped a CD made by Robbie. Eri threw down a box of buttons that were leftover from sewing the puppets. Soos contributed a large chained up chest, which was a little sus. And Mina had a pile of shirts. Wait!

“Mina! What are you doing?!” Izuku shrieked, “Those are mine!” 

Without even looking at him, she walked over to the bottomless pit, “Yes, and these monstrosities have been vetoed by yours truly.”

“But-“

“Ah! No. You know I told you, you can’t have the puma shirt. Or the panther shirt. Or the one that just says Tshirt, or the-.” 

“I get it, but please Mina. Don’t do this.” He pleaded.

“I’m sorry. But it would be a crime to let you keep them.” She said, as she dropped the pile into the pit.

Izuku dropped to his knees. And Stan said, “Drama queens, the both of ya.”

Soos said, “My question is why you had so many of those shirts if you still have to wear the Loser Shirt all summer.”

Eri answered, “Summer will end eventually. And for the record, his wardrobe in the hero universe is just as bad.” 

Mina had an evil glean in her eye, “The second that summer is over, I am burning that Loser Shirt.”

Just then, the sun was covered by dark clouds and the wind picked up significantly. Izuku felt himself become less and less grounded. Soos yelled over it, “It’s some sort of invisible pushing force!”

“We need to get to the Shack,” Wendy shouted to them.

But before anyone could take a step, Eri screamed. Izuku saw her falling backward toward the pit. He dashed to her and swiftly grabbed her ankle just before it was too late. But the unearthly wind was pushing hard against his back. And he felt himself going over the edge of the pit. The next second, he felt everyone around him, pulling up his arms and torso, but it was no use. All six of them were sucked into the bottomless pit.

Izuku was barely aware that he was screaming, and so was everyone else. He was disoriented and scared. The light at the top of the pit had long disappeared, drowning them in darkness. He didn’t know what way was up or down despite the stomach dropping sensation of the never ending fall. He knew he was spinning and could only hear the wind whistling and the thumping of his own pounding heartbeat. His breathing became shallow and he no longer knew where he was. He felt like he was back in Stan’s cheap amusement park sky tram when it broke and fell. But Eri’s amulet didn’t save him. He felt like he was back in the portal that brought them to Gravity Falls, but the other side never opened. He felt like he was back at school when Kacchan wasn’t around and Tsubasa flew him to the roof, and told him to dive for a quirk. But the ground never came.

Someone grabbed his arm and he was no longer spinning. Things came back into focus. He looked around with wide eyes to see that Mina was holding a bright green glow stick, talking to Wendy about how spooky and freaky the place was. Stan was gruffly holding onto his forearm, avoiding eye contact. Eri was smacking her amulet, which kept fizzling out, making her frustrated. And Soos. Well, he was pretending to skydive, doing a bunch of flips and trying to swim. Everyone seemed relieved that there was light now. 

Soos laughed, “Who wants to scream some more?”

Izuku shuddered. Nope. He did not like the places that his mind went to. Stan side eyed him and slowly let go of his arm, “Ya good, kid?” he mumbled.

Izuku quietly nodded and said, “fine.”

Mina asked Wendy, “So… what should we do? The amulet clearly doesn’t work for whatever reason, so we’ll probably die down here. In the meantime…”

Wendy shrugged, “We could find a way to entertain ourselves since we’re in it for the long haul.”

Stan immediately perked up, “You kids wanna see some card tricks?”

Izuku frowned “Uh, I think that physics- eh whatever.“

Stan had already tried shuffling his cards, making them fly upward and vanish into the abyss. He was briefly disappointed before doing jazz hands and saying “ta-da!” They all clapped and he did a fake little bow.”

Eri said, “Ooh! I know! Let’s tell stories!”

“I like the way you think, mini dawg! We’ve got the perfect ambiance.” Soos said.

Wendy pat his shoulder, “Dude, you used ambiance correctly in a sentence! I’m proud of you.” Izuku thought that sounded a little mean, and Wendy must’ve seen it because she clarified, “He used to think it was a sauce.” 

Mina said, “Hey, I’ve got a story! Can I go first?” There were rounds of yeahs, sures, and a whatever. “Good. I call it, Multiverse of Madness.”

“Isn’t that Dr. Strange?” Eri asked.

“Huh?”

“Oh, nevermind, we watched it for the first time two years ago, so you wouldn’t know.”

Izuku joked, “Wow, I’ve never felt so jealous of myself for spending time with the sister I didn’t know I had.”

 

——

Multiverse Madness

Mina was having a great day, she had played Spin the Pig with Eri and Wendy, she baked brownies with Izu, and now she was on her way to the mall to go shopping with Candy and Grenda.

While she walked down the street she felt someone tap her shoulder, “Are you Ashido Mina?”

She turned around and came face to face with her own face! It was a girl in a black cloak that looked exactly like her, but she was taller and had gold hair and skin. Before Mina could ask who she was, the girl grabbed her wrist and pulled her away, “perfect, you need to come with me.” 

Mina saw red flags with this, so she utilized her gymnastics and Wendy’s training to flip away and throw her to the ground. “Who are you, and why do you look like me?”

“Turtle Duck”

Mina gasped. That was the code she made up when she was little in case she ever time traveled so she would know her future self was telling the truth about being from the future.. She had thought it would be a bigger issue than it was when she was seven. “You’re from the future? You’re saying that instead of wrinkles, I turn golden? Wow this is the best news of my life!”

“No! We just don’t have a code for multiverse travel, so I used the one we do have. I know it’s dumb, but it’s true.”

She didn’t know what to do with that information. Multiverse? As in… other dimensions? Was this other version of herself going to take them home? Mina helped Gold Mina get back up and apologized.

Gold smiled, “No, it's fine. I would’ve been more worried if you hadn’t done something like that. Most of us are hero course students, it’s our job to be jumpy.” She began walking again and Mina decided she wanted to stick with her.

“So… if you’re not from the future, why are you taller than me?” Mina asked.

She laughed, “That’s what we need to figure out. I’m part of a council that tries to keep track of each universe’s Mina. But I’ll go into it more when we get there.”

“Get where?”

 

The arcade. Gold Mina had decided that the arcade was where they could talk about this more. Scratch that. The arcade is where the Mina Council decided to hold their meeting. Honestly it was a very Mina thing to do. She couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw a group of girls sitting around a table eating pizza, fries, shakes, and hotdogs. Each was a different color of the rainbow, each had the same features as herself. She saw a green one, a blue one, an orange one, and a purple one, each one dressed fabulously in very different styles.

Mina and Gold were greeted with excited smiles. Green gasped, “Oh my gosh you guys! She’s a Pink Mina! I’ve only heard of a few. There's only Cerise, Flamingo, Fuchsia, Barbie, and Magenta.”

Orange said, “I’m thinking we name her Bubblegum Pink.”

There was a quick round of agreements and they introduced themselves as Gold, Lime Green, Baby Blue, Topaz Orange, and Periwinkle Purple. It felt like they were using code names, but Mina couldn’t think of a better identifier when they all had the same name.

 “Alright, Bubblegum, we’re here to figure out why you are such an outlier so we know whether or not the council needs to keep an eye on you.” Baby Blue said after slurping a bit of her root beer.

Mina swallowed a bite of pizza and thought about it. “Oh, yeah!” she snapped her fingers, “I got rewound. So I guess that’s probably why I’m younger than y’all. Wow. So, I really grow that much in three years? No wonder Eri was freaking out before!” She shrugged and took another bite. The others all seemed to share a look.

Topaz scrunched her eyebrows together, “Why hasn’t anyone found a quirk to reverse the rewind?”

“Oh, yeah that’s an easy one, there aren’t quirks in this universe. Do you mind passing me the fries?” The table went quiet and no one made a move to pass her fries, “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

The whole table exploded with exclamations of “ what” and “ How does that make sense? ” Periwinkle asked, “Can you explain further? This shouldn’t be possible. We don’t really exist in universes that are without quirks.”

Mina didn’t want to go over the whole story of getting kicked out of their dimension again, but she did, and honestly, their reactions were valid.

Gold folded her arms, “This is so typical of Izuku. It’s not often that one of the Mina’s gets dragged into it though.”

“Count yourself lucky. Poor Scarlet inherited OFA and got Izu as her Support Course buddy.” Lime said solemnly.

Topaz added, “Or Forest. She got mistaken for him from behind so often that it led to kidnappings and media outrage.”

“The point is…“ Gold interjected before someone could bring up another Mina who got stuck with Izuku’s weirdness, “… it usually ends up alright. This universe seems relatively safe, so we’ll leave you be until it all blows over. Usually the teachers find a solution, or the class takes it into their own hands, or you figure it out yourselves.”

Mina almost choked on her fry, “Huh? You mean that you have the power to take us home and you won’t?”

Baby Blue gave her a knowing smile, “It’s not that we won’t. We can’t. I wish we could, but trust. It’s complicated, but it’s the natural way of things. In the meantime, we’ll take a look at your home universe for you and come back.”

Yeah. Mina wasn’t too shocked by that. This wasn’t devastating news, in fact, it kinda made her hopeful again. She had been beginning to plan what the rest of her life in Gravity Falls would look like. But these other versions of herself confirmed that there is a way back and they would find it.

 

A few days later, while Mina was alone in the gift shop, manning the cash register, Topaz walked in.

“Oh! Hey girlfriend! How’s life treatin’ ya?” Mina asked.

She waved hello, “Oh, you know. I just got beat up by Aizawa-sensei and hounded by your class. I love how fiercely loyal 3-A is, but it's painful to be on the other side of it.” She stretched her arm backward until there was a loud pop. Then she smiled at Mina.

“Are you okay?”

Topaz snickered, “You know how it is. The life of a hero is never easy.”

“Uh. I actually don’t know. I’m a middle schooler.”

“Right. Note to self, Bubblegum is fourteen. Anyway, I took care of everything. Your universe was totally on fire. OFA somehow delivered itself to Katsuki. Everyone thought you were dead, but he’s been insisting you aren’t. Your poor senseis were brokenhearted. And your parents… they were really happy to hear you are okay.”

Mina’s heart sank. She had a feeling they would worry. It felt weird for strangers to care so much. But she felt bad about her parents. They deserved better than to have their daughter drop off the face of the earth. “What about Izu and Eri’s parents?”

“He's doing a lot better now. I think he’ll be able to catch a few z’s now that he isn’t scouring the face of the planet looking for them.”

That confused Mina. Just “he?” The phrasing was weird but she smiled and nodded. It was good to know that things had been taken care of back home.

 

——

 

Stan grumbled, “That’s it?”

Eri shouted, “What do you mean, ‘that’s it?’ Did that actually happen? Are you being so for real right now?”

Izuku was shocked as well. What kind of story was that?

Mina kept a straight face, “It didn’t actually happen. If it did happen, then obviously the council of Mina’s would make me sign an NDA to keep the multiverse and their visits a secret.” Her voice remained monotone but it had an unsettling edge to it. “If anyone were to talk about it like they thought it was true, they’d probably get their mind erased.”

 Izuku stared at her. There was a lot to unpack there. That was basically a confession that she had met herself from other dimensions and didn’t ask anything about how to actually get home. Instead the Minas told their families they were fine and told her to figure it out. It was also interesting that the Minas each had a different color and deemed her Bubblegum. And why did Topaz say ‘he’ when describing his and Eri’s parents? Did she misunderstand and only talked to Eraserhead? What about his mom, Inko? Surely she got the news. The worst part about this was that, judging from the hard look Mina was giving him, he couldn’t ask his questions because she wasn’t allowed to give answers. This was going to be difficult.

Soos didn’t get the memo, “What is this OFA that you talked about?”

Wendy slapped her forehead and dragged her hand down her face, “What part of mind being erased did you not understand?”

Eri sheepishly cut in, “Actually, I think I know. I overheard Izu and All Might talk about it sometimes. It has to do with a dangerous villain named All For One. OFA is One For All, so maybe it’s the hero who is supposed to take the villain down. That’s all I got out of it though.”

“Woah. Really? That seems a little confusing to keep track of. Do a lot of people know about this?” Izuku asked. If it’s something that he talked to the legendary number one pro hero, All Might about, then he must’ve been trying to get exclusive notes and anecdotes from him for his analysis books.

Eri shook her head, “Far as I could tell, it was a secret between the two of you.”

Stan groaned, “This is boring. Wendy! Tell us a new story.”

A mischievous grin grew on her face, “Oh I’ve got a story. The story of an old man and a teenage boy.”

Izuku grimaced. He had an idea what this story would be, “Wendy, I don’t think I like this story.”

She pat his head, “Thank you for speaking up and telling us your feelings, but it’s time to be a big boy and listen to my totally made up story. I call it, The Hypnotist’s Song.”

 

——

 

The Hypnotist’s Song

It was a slow day of work. Wendy was sure she would die of boredom if Deku wasn’t there. Honestly, the whole house arrest thing was benefitting her by giving her an almost constant work amigo. Poor dude was a little grouchy the first day, but got over it fast. Wendy watched as the kid climbed up a display case to hang a decoration above it on the ceiling.

Then the door opened, making Deku startle and fall off the display and flat on his back, “Ah! Why won’t Stan let us have ladders in the house?”

The person who walked in was none other than Robbie who started laughing at her fallen friend. Wendy didn’t want to spare him a second look. She ran over to Deku, “You good, man?”

She got a nod in response and helped him back to his feet. He definitely had the wind knocked out of him.

Robbie strolled up to them, “So Wendy, Nate and his girlfriend are going to Lookout Point this weekend. Maybe we should go too.” 

She felt annoyance bubbling up as he spoke. She put her hands on her hips, “Are you kidding me? First you stood me up last night, then you laugh at Deku, and now you don’t even have the decency to apologize for either!”

She felt Deku slink away to the other side of the store to look busy with a different display. She knew he was still listening, but she appreciated the attempt at privacy.

“Look, Robbie. I don’t think this relationship is going to work out. Maybe we should see other people.”

He began to panic, “Hold on, before you do anything crazy, I want you to listen to this. It’s a song I wrote. It’s for you.”

She glanced at Deku. He looked as skeptical as she felt. Robbie threw the CD into the player and pressed play. And honestly, by the time the song ended, her heart had melted a little. 

It could have been the lyrics or the way Robbie looked like a kicked puppy when he was sorry. She didn’t know why, but she decided she would give him another chance.

She left the room to grab her coat and overheard Deku ask Robbie, “What was with that CD? It looked… weird.”

“It’s called romance, kid.” Robbie answered.

Wendy let out an amused huff and came back with her jacket. She said bye to Deku and let Robbie sling his arm over her shoulder as they went out to his car.

 

A few hours later, they came back to pick up the rest of Wendy’s stuff from the shack. Stan and Deku were in the living room, listening to some old record. It sounded terrible, but she guessed they were bonding, so it was fine.

 

What wasn’t fine was once she and Robbie were alone at Lookout Point, a familiar red car spun its way to the edge of the cliff. Deku ran out from the passenger door, shouting “Wendy! Stop!”

Robbie was just as confused as she was, “Kid? Mr. Pines?”

“That’s Mr. Pines to you!” Stan shouted.

“What? That’s what I just said…”

Stan just kept a firm glare on Robbie. Deku pulled out a tape, “Here. Listen, it's the song he made for you, played in reverse!” Greenie looked worried and out of breath, while Stan looked ready to throw hands, so she gave it a listen. It talked about mind control. Knowing all the freaky stuff about this town, it could very well be real. She was angry again and extremely disappointed with her boyfriend.

“Why is that in our song?”

He made up a sorry excuse.

“You know what? This was the last straw! We’re through!”

She walked away, but saw Stan and Deku high five and talk about their victory. "Yeah! Now that's taken care of, let's go bowling. Hop in, Wendy. I've got a five finger discount on some bowling alley cheese curds."

Deku cheered, "Yes! I'm going to win this time!"

"Not likely, Freckles. Not unless you can strike five times in a row."

"Five bucks says I can!" 

Wendy couldn't take it anymore. Her pent up emotions won out. She was officially single, and she felt awful. Tears welled up in her eyes and she yelled at them, “No! You two do not get to celebrate this. No high fiving. You’re going to get me a gallon of chocolate ice cream and drive me home, if you know what's good for ya."

So that’s what they did.

 

——

 

“Woah. Wendy, that’s how you and Robbie broke up? You didn’t tell me it was their fault.” Mina said, pointing at Izuku and Stan. They both grimaced. It wasn’t their proudest moment, they thought they were rescuing her. Izuku swore to Stan that he would keep it a secret, but he guessed that didn’t matter.

Eri folded her arms, “And you two never mentioned that you go on adventures together too. Grunkle Stan, what happened to the whole ‘Izuku has to be on house arrest so he doesn’t get into trouble,’ when here you are getting him into trouble.” She looked peeved. 

Izuku nervously laughed. That was the other reason they didn’t want them to know. Stan and Izuku even went bowling afterwards… They also retreated to the Manotaur cave a couple times in the week. And might’ve stopped a robbery while they themselves were trying to rob a replacement for Stan’s Goldie statue at the mall. 

Stan leisurely laid back in the air, “I don’t like your stories. They’re lame. The only good part about Wendy’s was that I was in it.”

Everyone silently looked at him. They kept their opinions to themselves, and he continued.

“Really, what is this nonsense? I’ll tell you a good story. It’s called Grunkle Stan Wins the Football Bowl.” Oh boy. Everyone rolled their eyes, but listened anyway.

 

----

 

Omake:

Topaz Mina had finally got them to stop attacking her. They were in the UA dorms and she was being pulled in a million directions as everyone asked her questions. Obviously, Katsuki was the loudest.

"What do you mean they're middle schoolers again!?"

Topaz dragged her hand down her face, "I already said. Eri rewound them."

Aizawa backed her up, "I already told you this information as well. Did any of you actually listen to the briefing?" The class remained silent. She loved them, but the whole class could be idiots sometimes. Obviously she usually included herself in this, but today she was in the clear.

"Yeah, I spied on them for a bit after meeting Bubblegum, she and Deku are so widdle! They're so cute! Everyone in town calls them the Pines Twins. No idea how that started. And Eri has a pig! Oh and, Y'all! When I tell you that they found themselves a weird cross between a grandpa and an uncle, you best believe they are the funniest little family ever!" Aizawa cleared his throat, "Oh. Haha, sorry sensei."

There were a few laughs at that. Then Ochako spoke up, "But if they're rewound, how much do they know about us? Do they remember becoming heroes?"

Topaz shrugged, "They only know what Eri has told them. Bubblegum Mina said that Eri confessed to her and their Grunkle that she doesn't know how to tell Deku about being adopted by Eraserhead. She also said that she could tell Eri was holding back a lot of secrets about high school from them."

Everyone looked at their sensei to see his reaction. He was trying to stay collected, but they all knew him too well. His adopted son didn't remember him. That was legitimately heartbreaking. But it also wasn't Topaz's business. Every universe was different. In her own, Deku failed the entrance exam and was taken on as Nedzu's personal student. The point was, they all have different backstories, and she was part of the council that dealt with interdimensional threats. It wasn't her job to set this right. If it wasn't a world destroying issue, she wasn't allowed to help. But still, every Aizawa was a major softie after you got through his almost unbreakable wall. So, it was hard to watch.

Kirishima was the next to ask a question, "Did they look happy?"

"Yeah." She knew where they were going with this, "Deku is being forced to wear a shirt that says 'loser' on it, but they do love it there, I'm not gonna lie. Don't worry, though, they're looking for a way home. You should see the three of them pouring over some creepy book about anomalies. Nerds." Topaz chuckled. "From what I saw, Deku and Bubblegum really want to meet you again. And Eri misses all of you a lot."

Iida raised his hand, "Miss Ashido, if you are an interdimensional traveler, can you simply bring our friends home?"

"Good question. The thing is, I can't. There is a force keeping them there for the time being. It's complicated, and if I explained all of it to you, I'd have to erase your minds because it's dangerous for anyone outside of the Council to know the natural laws of the multiverse. But don't worry about it, these situations always work out. That's the one natural law I'm allowed to tell you. Either they have to figure it out, or you will. So good luck with that!" And just like that, Topaz disappeared. 

Katsuki found the nearest wall and started banging his head. Tsuyu tilted her head, "You okay there, Bakugo?"

He started swearing, then kicked the wall, causing his foot to break and the entire wall to be torn down. He winced and said, "Yep. Was really hoping to get rid of this dumb quirk soon." Then he shuffled to the closet to get a broom. Without even glancing at his teacher, he knew he had to clean up his accidental property destruction.

Denki laughed at the blonde boy's misery, "Ha! I still can't believe you, Deku, and All Might kept it a secret through all of high school. But now that we know about OFA, a lot of things make sense."

Suddenly, someone was standing next to Denki. He yelped and latched onto Jiro. It was Topaz Mina, she was back, "Wait. Y'all know about OFA? Sweet!" She plopped down on the couch "I have been needing to tell someone about this. I found a universe where Izuku and Hawks are biological brothers, and it is one of the best things I've ever seen. Oh! and there's a universe where Aizawa-sensei is turned into a cat and everyone on campus thought he was a stray. Or a universe where our class is friends with the League of Villains because they all met at a cafe during off hours. There's even a universe that is one of my personal favorites because everyone sings and dances. It's a vibe."

Hagakure found a pillow to give to Topaz to make her more comfortable. Then she sat down next to her and said, "Mina. I am going to need you to stay here for a bit and tell me everything you know."

 

 

Notes:

Hey! Long time, no see! Sorry, I'm having a hard time planning out future chapters, and I started a new job. Lol, motivation is hard.
Anyways, this is a two parter because I love having them tell each other stories. Wendy's is so funny to me. Basically, when Izu is on house arrest, the girls are the ones going on adventures and felt bad the whole time because they couldn't include him. So they're mad that Stan and Izu lied about not doing anything all day when they were having adventures of their own.