To make a long story VERY short, Yggdrasil, the World Tree, ended up being catastrophically broken. To fix the great tree, each of its branches - separate worlds and universes - have been placed into Groundhog Day style Time Loops. However, there are a few catches.

1. The person who remembers all the resets is called an Anchor. Anchors make sure that their universes don't fall to pieces. Every world has an Anchor.
2. People who sporadically remember the resets - called Loops - are termed Loopers. There are a lot of these floating about. They are really strong.
, there are people who know of the loops but do not loop themselves - they are called Dreamers.
4. The people trying to fix Yggdrasil are mythological gods. Because Yggdrasil works like a computer, they are called Admins.
5. Certain events - Ascending to the Admin level, Crashing a Loop, Erasing entire universes - are considered very bad things.
6. Certain indviduals wish to enact said Very Bad Things. These are known as MLEs - Malicious Looping Entities.
7. Branches can occasionally intersect in odd ways; these are called Fused Loops.
8. EVERY LOOPER LEARNS HOW TO USE A SUBSPACE POCKET. SERIOUSLY, THOSE THINGS ARE AWESOME! YOU CAN STORE EVERYTHING INSIDE IT! When it get's big enough, at least.

Well, that's it for the "Welcome to the Multiverse" Speech. Now, onward to snips!

- Magi-Nation (GBC) 1.1 -

Tavel Gorge, 5:32 PM. Tuesday. Month undisclosed, year unknown.

The first thing Tony found odd about the situation was being called "Foney Bones" again. The second thing odd was that he was outside the cave where he had found Furok's Animite. And the third thing odd was that despite all these things, he could still feel the energy he had gained from his travels in the Moonlands. The raw, unrelenting power of the Dreams that marked him as a Magi.

Just like before, Tony agreed to go into the cave to retrieve the crystal. Despite knowing what would happen because of it, a part of him desperately wanted to see all of his Eliwan friends again; wanted to pummel Agram into little bits of paste for what the Ancient had dared to do. And just like before, taking the Animite crystal resulted in the cave's collapse. He didn't run this time though. He knew what would happen if he did; knew that no matter how far he ran, he would just end up at a dead end. And so he fell, once again somehow traversing time and space to end up falling into the lake near Vash Naroom.

He didn't know whether to be happy or sad to see Korg and Zet again. The two bumbling Core Magi (or at least, one bumbling Core Magi and one smart-but-short Core Magi) didn't seem to notice that anything was wrong, didn't seem to notice that time had reset. Tony had to repress a grin. Maybe, just maybe, dealing with these two would be fun.

When Korg Summoned the Black Agovo, Tony debated whether to Summon Furok, or to use Leaf Cut on the offending Core Creature. The Leaf Cut won out, despite how close he was to Furok. The look on the Core Magi's face was well worth it, and fortunately less conspicuous than Summoning without a Ring.

Despite knowing his way around and despite being much stronger, it was with great relief that Tony noticed Eidon approaching. Gia's student was always a welcome friend here. "Eidon, do you know what's happening? Time has somehow reset, Korg and Zet don't remember me (even though that makes sense), and I'm a lot stron-"

"EXPLODING SOCK PUPPET!"

Oh yeah, there was that. He'd forgotten all about that.

It was only after he defeated Agram that he started to wonder. Last time, he had found himself back at the cave after returning home. Hopefully this wouldn't be like some sort of Groundhog Day -

"Foney Bones is more like it!"

Loop. Of course it would be.

Here we go again.

- END SNIP -

- Magi-Nation GBC 1.2 -

"NO, Eidon! You think someone is Kyros every year! Let's see, who was it last year? Poad? What were you thinking?!" Tony heard Eidon mutter something about superhuman soup; he had heard Orwin's shouting match with Eidon a couple of times now, and while it had been awkward to listen in the first time, currently it just left a sour feeling in his stomach.

"And before that was Yaki! We couldn't shut him up for months! He went around shouting OOOH YEAH! I'M THE GREAT MAGUS KYROS! DIG IT! WOOO!"

Tony almost wished that it was the optimistic Magi who was Kyros. If only someone else had the burden instead, had to face Agram's ranting about destruction. Tony had tried to stay home once. He had tried to avoid being Agram's "key", the sole reason the Core Magi could create the awful Shadow Geysers. It had resulted in Core energy radiating out of the Cave and corrupting everyone in Tavel Gorge.

If he couldn't prevent Agram's actions by avoidance, then by the Core he would make sure he was strong enough to stop Agram quickly.

"... must be the boy."

Orwin's words caught Tony's ear, and he shook himself from his reverie to "greet" the old Magi.

"Yes. Tony, I'd like you to meet Orwin, Elder of Vash Naroom."

Yes, stronger would definitely be good. Maybe this time he'd focus on Spell instead of relying on Dream Creatures. Relics wouldn't hurt either.

- END SNIP -

- Magi-Nation GBC 1.3 -

Tony couldn't fathom how - in his many, many trips around the cycle, this abomination had occurred. This loop seemed to have had everything replaced by pink fluffy unicorns. They were bridges and water and lips doing that flappy fpthty thing. There were also rainbows - lots of rainbows that became rain-posies. Water flowed in the sky and the bees seemed to have created a collision monarch opposing the doors.

"Core-take it! What in the world caused this - this - this - mess?!"

He spotted Yaki nearby, and was relieved to see that his friend was unaffected by what was going on. "Yaki, please tell me that everything is normal right now. Please!"

Yaki just grinned and then the grin went sideways into a mess of distorted colors and sounds. Through the Chaos Tony ran, though the only thing he could hear was a single word, repeated over and over and over until Tony was afraid that would start glitching as well. Through it all Yaki just stared at him with soulless white eyes.

"One."

Didn't take long for him to find Pruitt. In retrospect however, it was probably for the best. She was twirling merrily to an UnSound, and as she danced, the floor started to become puddles everywhere and the world twisted - He caught a glimpse of her eyes - glowing white and soulless. Lips spilt further than they should and her voice was not her own. Tony didn't stick around to find out what was going on or who had spoken. He started heading for the city gates, hoping to avoid whatever this THING was.

"Two."

In his frantic dash to get away from whatever it was, Tony ran headlong into someone crossing the street. The earthling apologized profusely, trying to help the stranger stand.

The guy looked kind of Underneathien, even if his fungus-hair was coloured weird (Seriously? Purple and Turquoise? What was up with that?). The kid seemed to be clutching his head and in great pain. It was about then that Tony realized that everything had become shadows and reaching mushrooms and the street seemed longer than it should have been. Then it was as if reality twisted again and the kid's eyes were empty gleaming white and Tony ran once more from the rasping un-voice that followed him.

"Three."

Tony hadn't found anyone who was even remotely sane around town. Everything was somehow wrong and there was nothing he could do. All tony could rely on was himself, and even then it might not be enough. He was currently trapped inside a bathroom and - he glanced over at the toilet. Everything was sideways and the shadows where cackling at him from who knows where. Tony tried to gather his failing courage and glanced in the mirror behind him. His own reflection stared back and began to laugh. An ugly, grating laugh that emerged from within Tony himself.

Hollow white eyes stared back at a mad, laughing boy with no clue about what was going on. Tony's lips split open in that manic grin and spoke a single word.

"Four."

All the world was white and Tony blinked a few times to get his bearings. As his vision adjusted, he noticed a rather... loosely dressed woman standing in front of a high school holding some pamphlets.

He stumbled over to her (and tried his best to avoid her highly endowed features) to try and get his bearings. "Hi, I seem to have gotten lost. Could you tell me where I am?"

She smiled at him like a cat cornering her prey. The voice she used to greet him was another warning bell; it was far too high pitched and seductive to belong to a normal person. "Hi! We're dedicated to serving your every need, and we hope that your stay will be a very pleasant one. WELCOME TO EIKEN!"

- END SNIP -

- Magi-Nation 1.3 - Admin Aftermath -

The message kept flashing irritatingly on Breksta's screen. The same message that had been playing for about an hour now. The one singular irritating message that signified that the-thrice-Nhiddhog-taken-stupid-love-spam goddess was at it again. By the time Thoth arrived (with a welcome cup of coffee), the ticked-off night goddess was trying to burn a hole in aforementioned spam.

"Am I correct in my present assumption that your most up-to-date endeavour to secure the terms and restrictions of the Magine Code concluded with Aphrodite conveying intrusive mail at an inopportune moment?" Thoth handed her the cup of coffee (she preferred Klah when she could get it) and set a fairly substantial stack of papers next to his terminal. "You are aware that you may invoke paragraph 213 of section .2 of the Proper Actions and Administration Etiquette Accord?"

Breksta glared at him over her coffee. "It's not just Eiken-Spam. Hermes knows we get enough of that stuff; I think he's been trying to contact IT in his spare time to handle it. No, the problem is that those Nhiddhog-Taken hackers infected the email with a virus. Said virus crashed the loop and sent my Anchor to Eiken!"

Thoth looked over to her from his terminal. "I surmise that your emotions are feeling rather affronted as of present?"

Breksta almost made to shatter her cup. "My duty is to protect those in my branches. Punishment is to be solely for misdeeds and improper conduct, not thrown about willy-nilly by a stupid virus!"

Thoth rolled his chair over to Breksta's station and opened up the code for the glitch. "Hmmm... This seems reminiscent of a malfunction Hephastus encountered in the Mega-Man Loop Branch pre-Crash. I would advocate transporting the data you have gathered to him; your twofold operation might be able to compose an alternative stratagem to better combat the virus's menace and inhibit it's further distribution."

Breksta sighed. "I know, it's just that I want to prove that I can handle whatever get's thrown my way."

Thoth smiled at her. "You have not yet accumulated the knowledge that every Admin is place in a postion where requesting assistance is not a negative prospect." He turned back to his own terminal. "I am afraid that my current situation requires me to monitor the most recent Baseline Expansion for my assigned branch. I hope that you will be able to eliminate your current dilemma post-haste."

Breksta glanced at the screen and the still-present horrendous cursive. It took a few tense minutes to delete the email and clean her terminal of the Virus, but it was worth it in the end. "I can always get revenge on Aphrodite later; maybe I'll take Thoth up on the Regulations thing. Right now, I have the Magining code to work on!"

- END SNIP -

- Magi-Nation 1.4 -

Tony sat dejectedly outside of Gia's cottage. He had hoped to come to the elderly Weave Magi for advice; had hoped that by some miracle she would know what to do. And after the past two loops - the horrible failings of the universe itself and that awful thing that pretended to be normal... he was at the end of his rope. He was unwilling to go home until this whole mess had sorted itself out, which meant that he had voluntarily isolated himself from his family. How many months - how many years had it been since he'd seen them? Some nights he felt like he couldn't take it; felt like he just wanted to scream or cry or do something to alleviate the horrible, lonely ache that was growing inside. But as of yet, he couldn't bear to go inside. He didn't dare tell Gia what was happening.

Gia watched the earthling silently from inside her hut. "Something is wrong with him, Eidon. The weight he bears inside... has he told you what it is?"

The Naroomi shook his head. "No. Like I said, I found him near the forest lake with a hunk of raw animite. He handled himself well against the two Shadow Magi that assailed him - Dreamed up a Furok from the hunk without any practice or training. I tried to introduce him to Orwin, but he refused to believe that the boy could be Kyros."

Gia propped her elbows up on the table and steepled her fingers. "And are you so sure that him being Kyros is a good thing?" Noticing her pupil's confused expression, she sighed. "The prophecy says that Kyros will appear during a time of destruction. What if Kyros is meant to bring that destruction? What will you do then? Can you handle placing that burden - that horrible terror on his shoulders?"

Eidon's fingers traced a well-worn knot in the wood of the table as he contemplated his teacher's words. "I don't know. I certainly don't want to trouble him any more than he is, but I've spent so long believing that Kyros would bring salvation... I can't give up the hope that we'll get through all of this safely."

Gia smiled warmly and placed one wrinkled hand on top of his. "I'm sure we will. But even if he is our saviour, we can't rely on him to act alone. I cannot allow it – we all need each other in order to grow strong. Let the stronger grasses support the weak."

Eidon nodded. "I trust your wisdom." He glanced outside at the slumped red figure. "Do you want me to bring him inside?"

Gia stood up and made for the door. "It would certainly be rude of us to leave him out all night."

Tony had taken to plucking pieces of grass and flicking them everywhere. Despite his dejection, he was determined to defeat Agram as soon as possible. That, however, was dependant on the Shadow Magi creating the Geysers – and there was no telling how long that would take.

He was so distracted that he didn't notice Gia until the Weaver Elder was standing right behind him – and it gave him a bad fright.

"Aagh! Gia! What are you doing there; don't sneak up on me like that."

The Elder laughed. "The wind moves unnoticed by the grass; so do I move unnoticed by those of distracted thought. Please, come inside. Night will be here soon and we can't have you sleeping in the dirt, now can we?"

Tony blushed. "Thank you for offering; I'm sorry to be such a burden on you."

Gia placed her hands on her hips. "No talk of that; you're hardly a burden and we're more than happy to help you." Her gaze softened and she placed one hand on his shoulder. "No matter what troubles you, you only need to ask and we shall listen."

Tony couldn't help a few tears coming to his eyes. "I know, it's just – I don't know if you'd quite understand, or if you'd even know how to help."

Gia shook her head. "Sometimes the ability to help matters not. Sometimes all it takes is a friendly ear to listen and a caring shoulder to cry on."

Tony considered her offer. "Can I tell you after dinner? I'm kind of hungry right now."

This made Gia laugh again. "Of course. Come inside; I'm sure that we'll be able to scrounge something up."

After they had eaten, Tony told them everything. About how time was repeating itself, about what he had seen happen, and about Agram.

"That certainly explains a few things." Gia said. "You being Agadon's reincarnation in particular; Agram's hatred for the first Magi would be unparalleled, and of course he would ensure that the Geysers required the presence of his greatest enemy in order to activate." Noticing the Earthling's glum mood, she moved to comfort him. "It's not your fault in the slightest. That crotchety old ancient is the only one to blame in this situation; you just happened to have the bad luck to get mixed up in all of this."

Tony sighed. "I know. It still doesn't make things any easier to deal with though. He always gives me the speech; he promises to send me home if I don't fight him. Sometimes I'm tempted to accept, but… I can't help but worry about what will happen if I don't fight him."

Eidon nodded, his face grim. "And you can't exactly rely on us to handle things in your stead. From what you've said, it seems that we never remember like you do. I'm sure that if we did, then we could help to make things easier on you. And who knows? Maybe one day we will remember."

Tony brightened at that. "Do you really think so?"

Gia smiled. "Most certainly. It may be many, many years before we do, but I am most certain that one day we will take note of what is happening. Until that time, we can only move forward."

Eidon started as he realized something. "Tony, have you ever tried to take a different path?"

Tony frowned and grasped his chin in thought. "No, not really. I usually try to help Orwin as fast as possible – even try to stop him from entering the Geyser – but since Agram sometimes varies when he opens the Geysers and I usually have to act fast in order to prevent bad things from happening, I haven't had much time to try shaking things up. Why, what did you have in mind?"

Eidon smirked. "A resistance." He turned to his teacher and smiled. "Gia has often taught me that strength comes from co-operation; if you can somehow find a way to get each region to fight back while you're in the Geyser – and especially if you can find a way to extend the Core Glyph's protection to others – then you'll be able to at least relax a little. And when we remember, we'll be able to set it up on our own. It'll take some time to do efficiently, but we should eventually be able to let you relax a little with your family." The Naroomi Magi found himself the recipient of a sudden hug, the Earthling's tears soaking his brown robe. "It'll be okay, I promise. We'll find a way to make this work."

Gia nodded. "You shouldn't have to suffer this burden. If ever we can do something – even if we don't remember – please, don't hesitate to visit. We would be happy to help you no matter what."

Tony wiped his tears away on the sleeve of his hoodie. "Thank you, so much." He paused for a moment, and took a deep breath. "But what if something like last time happens?"

Both Magi were puzzled by that. "Last time?" Eidon asked. "What happened last time?"

Tony grimaced; he didn't like to think about it. "I arrived here no problem and everything was going okay until I visited Orwin. Then the world started to go nuts, and eventually it just sort of… glitched out and everything went white. When I came to, I was in this weird high-school place (high school is an Earth thing) where everybody wanted to… to…" Tony stopped speaking, desperately trying to forget what had happened. "Anyways, it was really bad. So what do I do if that sort of thing happens again?"

Gia frowned. "I suppose it depends on how badly the world 'glitches' as you put it. If it's not that bad, then find a way to roll with it. If not… come and see us the next possible time you can. If there's something we can do to help, then we will."

Eidon's smile returned. "But enough of that. This time around, you won't be going it alone. I don't care how many times I have to fight against that barrier, I will be joining you. You can count on that."

For the first time in ages, Tony felt content. And this time around, he was actually looking forward to stopping Agram. The future felt a little brighter.

- END SNIP -

So, that's it for Loops 1. Hopefully soon - Loops 2!