Mega Loop 1.0 Part 7: Online.


Last time, on Mega Loop 1.0:


"TREMBLE BEFORE THE POWER OF–"


CHANCE OF LOOP ACTIVATION SUCCESS:


"–METAL WILY!"


0.0001%


And now, the conclusion:


.

..

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

'No...' Hephaestus stared at his terminal in despair.


"Maybe we could summon Godzilla?" Charmy suggested.

"Which one?" Vector snarked. "The one that comes up to his shin or the one that comes up to his knee?"


"No..." Hephaestus tried to deny the reality in front of him.


"Just a moment more, Thomas," Dr. Cossack told his comrade. "I've almost managed to wrest control of his fleet, so we should have a figh–"

Two beams from the metal behemoth's eyes lanced out across the sky, and a series of explosions were heard in the distance as whatever crafts left aloft in the Egg-Wily fleet were obliterated.

"Well..." Dr. Light trembled as he typed away at his portion of the controls. "Maybe we can hack the Wily Egg directly and shut it do–"

The good scientists both had to jump back as the console shorted and sparked dangerously the moment a connection was made. The craft lurched sharply and would have crashed if not for Silver's telekinesis.


"Oh, Tartarus..." Hermes breathed in shock. "What if we–?"

"Divine intervention's accounted for in the calculations," Hephaestus shook his head.


"Tails?" Sonic asked his long-time sidekick, partner, and friend as the doctors were attempting their own solution. "You still got a good stockpile of rings tucked away? Enough for those alternate kinda-unstable super forms we sometimes use?"

"Yeah, Sonic," Tails ejected himself from the Tornado in preparation.

"Good, we're going in hot," Sonic told his pal as he drew on his own immense stockpile as well. It wasn't a good idea due to the three empowered transformations he'd done already, but they were officially out of options.

At the same time Metal Wily made his shot on the compromised fleet, they made their move. Hyper Tails with his super flicky familiars and Ultra Sonic surrounded by black stars rocketed into the air towards their massive opponent.

The eye-lasers locked on to them next, but Ultra Sonic and Hyper Tails managed to block them with the powers inherent to their forms.

"Let's see how you lik–ng!" Ultra Sonic suddenly stumbled woozily in mid-air. (1)

"Sonic?" Hyper Tails called to his friend worriedly.

"I'm fine, buddy," Ultra Sonic reassured him. "Just a little ligh–"

The distraction had been enough to allow Metal Wily to bring his massive hands to either side of the pair and unleash an energy field so intense that nothing else could be heard over it. When it was released, the metal arms were smoking from shorts and blown fuses, and the once-again ordinary forms of Sonic and Tails were falling limply.


"Then that's... That's game, isn't it?" Hermes observed despondently.

Hephaestus found himself nodding mechanically. Yggdrasil never declared impossibility nor certainty due to the sheer number of variables in any situation, but that was the lowest non-zero odds it was capable of calculating in its current state.

It was as good as a death sentence.


Silver managed to catch Sonic and Tails as well while Metal Wily gloated.

"FINALLY!" he boomed. "I'VE WON! IT TOOK MORE POWER THAN I ANTICIPATED, BUT EVERY FORCE YOU HAVE CAPABLE OF BESTING ME HAS BEEN NULLIFIED!"

Blaze cursed under her breath. She was still recovering from being forcibly knocked out of her own super form earlier. It would be at least a few minutes before she could do it again. Minutes they simply didn't have.

Silver sympathized. He didn't quite understand how he'd pulled off the trick with the Time Stones earlier, but even if he wasn't cooling down from the transformation he could feel the restrictions on their use back in place.

"AND EVEN IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE SURPRISES LEFT IN RESERVE, I CAN DESTROY YOU ALL BEFORE YOU CAN USE THEM!"

"Rock?" Roll asked her brother. "You got any ideas?"

"Yeah," he replied, "but even putting it in active weapon memory, I have no idea how to get Top Spin up to sufficient velocity with our current resources."

"FAREWELL," Metal Wily laughed, "IT HAS BEEN... ENTERTAINING. 5... 4..."


"We need a miracle," the god of the forge stated, "and I'm fresh out."

He turned to look sadly at his terminal, determined to at least see this through to the end, and noticed something...


"Not so fast, 'pops'," a voice cut the tableau.


CALCULATION ERROR: VARIABLE UNACCOUNTED FOR DUE TO JARRED TERMINAL.

Hephaestus stared at the screen before him incredulously. "Are you telling me that you made a mistake because I hit you?!"

AFFIRMATIVE. (2)

RECALCULATING...


"...BASS?" Metal Wily halted his countdown out of confusion as he spotted the black-armored robot, once again unioned with Treble for some reason, standing next to Shadow. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"Wondering why I ever wanted to be your son!" Bass yelled back as he crushed an empty E-Tank in anger. "You say that I'm your greatest creation! Your foremost pride! And then you treat me like garbage! I remember everything!"

"IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!" Metal Wily insisted.

"You brainwashed me!" Bass bellowed back in fury. "And then you threw me aside so you could play giant robot!"

"You're through doctor," Shadow the Hedgehog declared as he produced seven gems from seemingly nowhere.

The Chaos Emeralds.

"SO..." Metal Wily rumbled. "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO TOOK THE EMERALDS..."

"And the one who saved your son from being consumed by your new body," Shadow retorted as the emeralds whirled around both he and Bass.

"..." Metal Wily paused at that fact long enough for the transformation to finalize, revealing the pale gold forms of Super Shadow and Super Bass hovering in mid-air.

"Your doom is at hand doctor," Super Shadow declared confidently.

"I THINK NOT!" Metal Wily shot his potent eye-lasers again at the two.

"CHAOS REFLECTION!" Super Shadow yelled and formed a barrier against the assault. The powerful energy beams struck the barrier and were each deflected right back through the other eye.

"So that's how it is..." Super Bass growled.

"CHAOS BIND!" Super Shadow declared, energy enveloping the self-proclaimed Metal Wily, freezing the mechanical behemoth in place.

"You think you can get away with changing my history?" Super Bass growled as he formed both arms into cannons and began charging up. "My memories? You think you can reprogram my brain?! And then you think you can try to kill me and I'd actually be okay with it?!"

The energy Bass was accumulating began to grow blinding.

"YOU WANT A BLINDLY LOYAL WEAPON?! YOU WANT A SOLDIER WHO NEVER QUESTIONS?! YOU WANT A MINDLESSLY OBEDIENT SON WHO WILL LAY DOWN AND DIE FOR YOU?!"

"Will you shoot him already?" Super Shadow grunted as he strained to hold their foe in place.


VARIABLE ACCOUNTED FOR.


"YOU–"


CALCULATION COMPLETE.


"–CAN KISS–"


CHANCE OF LOOP ACTIVATION SUCCESS:


"–MY–"


99.9999%


"–DOUBLE BASS CANNON!"

The energy Bass had been building up erupted from his busters and blew a hole in the metal behemoth's lower torso so wide as to nearly bisect it.

"BASS... YOU..." Metal Wily gasped in disbelief.

The remaining structure proved unable to support the upper half of Metal Wily and easily buckled under the weight. The upper half of Metal Wily toppled forward right at the gathered heroes as Super Bass's form faded from the energy output it had just produced.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" Super Shadow yelled right before it hit.


The relieved cheers of two grown deities could be easily heard in the outer office.


The entire combined forces of two Loops reappeared many miles away from the mountain and watched as the remains of Metal Wily finished falling into the crater before erupting in a skull-shaped mushroom cloud.

"–BAKA!–?" a confused Amy looked around the spot her hammer had cratered the ground instead of her unusually resiliant opponent.

Shadow smirked as he dispelled his super mode and turned to his fellow anti-social savior. "Shouldn't that have been your 'super' double bass cannon?"

"Bite me, hedgehog," Bass growled.

"Not my type," Shadow grinned as he casually walked back to his allies.


"Dr. Lalinde?" the voice of Dr. Cossack came over the dimensional communicator. "We're ready for a return portal. I'm activating the beacon now."


"Well, I think that's a wrap," Hermes grinned cheerfully as the battle finished. "I'm gonna double-check my firewall on Wily and then I'm headed back to my office. I'd say let's do this again sometime, but I don't think this many heart attacks is good for my health."

"Thank you for your help, brother," Hephaestus told the god of travel.

Hermes blinked for a second, surprised. Sure they were brothers, or at least half-brothers, but Hephaestus didn't particularly like acknowledging anything that connected him to his parents. Thus the gesture... actually meant quite a bit coming from him.

"Anytime," Hermes replied, before deciding to tease the god of the forge a bit. "So long as your credit's good at least."


"Oh, Shadow!" Rouge gushed to the black hedgehog's discomfort as the group exited the portal and entered the lab. "You were so dashing! Why, it's enough to make a girl... excited..."

"Would you stop that?" Shadow attempted to put some more distance between them.

"Oh, but Shadow..." Rouge giggled impishly as she followed him. He was so fun to tease...

"Hmm..." Amy mused as she watched the two. "Not bad. I'll give her technique an 8.1."

"Mission successful, mother," Quake Woman declared as she dismissed her armor and returned to her civilian identity as Tempo.

"Excellent work, daughter, I'm proud of you," Dr. Lalinde told the robot girl before turning to the russian scientist in the group. "I got a call from your lab Mikhail. Apparently when the world went back to normal your robot masters reappeared there as if nothing was wrong and your daughter was curious as to where you disappeared to. I'm not entirely sure why I'm unaffected, but I suspect it has to do with my proximity to the open portals we used."

"Thank you, Noel," Dr. Cossack made his way over to the communications terminal. "It would be interesting to study, but I sincerely hope that we never get the chance for repeat observations of this phenomena."

The monitor sprang to life, showing a young blond girl. "Poppa!"

"Hello Kalinka," Dr. Cossack smiled warmly. "Sorry to worry you darling."

"Hey, Sal," Sonic grinned as Rouge managed to gigglingly latch onto Shadow in a deliberate parody of adoration. Bunnie and Antoine had staked out a nearby corner and were passionately kissing in relief that the ordeal was over. "Those four give you any ideas?"

"They tell me you could use a cold shower," the princess smirked.

"Ouch, Sal," Sonic winced as several of his friends laughed. "That's harsh."

Off to the side, Dr. Light was hooking Duo up to a regeneration pod so he could recover after Chaos 0 separated from him.

In the general confusion, Roll noticed Bass and Treble slipping away and followed them.


"And where do you think you're going?" Bass heard the voice of Mega Woman... Roll... behind him as he exited the lab.

"Home," Bass told her. "Or anywhere that isn't here really."

"You could stay," she offered.

"Yeah... Not happening," the black-armored robot dismissed.

"Bass... you saved our lives," Roll told him. "Our worlds. Possibly all of reality."

"So what?" the son of Wily growled and turned on her. "Not like it changes any–mph?!"

Bass had been cut off as Roll closed the distance between them and grabbed him in a kiss.

"..." the anti-hero stared as the girl he'd been crushing on in one set of memories and trying to just plain crush in the other broke the kiss and stepped back. He thought he could hear Treble laughing at him. "Habba?"

"Oh, give me some credit, Bass," Roll put a hand on her hip and glared at him. "You're not exactly a subtle suitor. You've been after me since before the Evil Energy thing but I wasn't really sure if I wanted to give you a shot. But you just saved the universe in general and my family in particular. If that isn't enough to earn you a chance, nothing is."

"What?" Bass tried to reboot his processor.

"I gotta spell it out for you?" Roll smirked in amusement. "You are taking me out on a date. Tomorrow, noon sharp. You will be wearing appropriate civilian attire instead of your battle armor. Preferably something that won't make blind men tear their eyes out either."

Bass continued staring as the daughter of Light sauntered back inside. It took him a few minutes to realize that Rock, out of his Mega Man armor no less, was standing next to the door giving him a level gaze.

"What do you want?"

"Just to remind you of something," the tool-user turned living weapon replied levelly. "I may be a fighting robot, but I was originally made for the express purpose of aiding my father in the lab. Use of tools comes naturally to me. As does the maintenance, repair, assembly, and disassembly of machines."

"So?" Bass challenged.

"So if you break my sister's heart, I will take you apart and spread you out across the spare parts bins all over the city," Rock replied coldly.

Bass gulped despite himself as his eternal rival stepped back through the door. He'd never seen Rock in scary mode before. He wasn't really sure he ever wanted to again.

"Oh, good, Rock did the traditional brother death threat already," another voice spoke behind him. Bass whirled around, arm cannon ready, only to have it blocked by a familiar white ovular shield with a red border while the shield's owner's finger tapped his forehead mockingly.

He could definitely hear Treble laughing now.

"You should be flattered," Proto Man smirked. "He's been practicing that routine for months in case Roll ever decided to give you a shot."

"And what about you?" Bass glared.

"You mean, what's my threat? How I'd get revenge if you hurt my little sister?" Blues returned smugly. "You assume Roll would leave anything to get revenge on. But let's say she did..."

Bass watched as Blues's smirk turned downright evil.

"You'd never see me coming." (3)

Bass stood there gaping as Blues strolled back in with the others before turning to a chortling Treble.

"You know you're the only one I let get away with that," Bass rubbed Treble's head affectionately as the two walked away from the lab.

He'd gotten the chance to kick serious ass, he had a date tomorrow with the girl he liked, proof that his fiercest rival wasn't a complete bleeding heart like he'd thought, and absolute total freedom.

All things considered, that was a damn good day.


"Well, guys," Sonic told his hosts as the ring portal to his home Loop opened up, "it's been fun. We should do this again sometime when the universe isn't on the line."

"See you around, Sonic," Rock smiled and held out his fist.

"Until next time, Rock," the hedgehog bumped the robot's fist with his own as his friends and allies began filing through the portal.


"While you're busy, I'm going to pop down and talk to my new loopers," Hephaestus declared. "Don't give me that look. The Loop's stabilizing as we speak and the danger of early termination or crash while I'm down there is negligible at this point. Plus I've got plenty of time before the scheduled Loop end to give them a talk and get back up here."


Sonic and his friends had bid farewell once the doctors and Tails managed to get the Ring portal open to their universe. Cossack, Lalinde, and the other robots had taken their leave shortly afterwards as well and Dr. Light had decided to retire early.

As a result, the three Light siblings were spending a rare moment together outside the lab, recovering from their ordeal when a stranger appeared in front of them. The man was fairly average in appearance with a thick shaggy beard, and his labcoat and face were streaked with soot. His hands bore the signs of dirty machinery work and he favored one leg.

Despite that, he gave off an aura of strength more potent than even Duo's.

"Who are you?" Blues stepped in front of his brother and sister in case the stranger was hostile.

"I am Hephaestus," the man stated. "Volcanic god of the forge, patron of inventors and technology, and the assigned administrator for your Loops."


Sonic stood on a hill overlooking Mobotropolis and thought about his new friends from the other Loop, especially a certain blue robot.

They were so different, and yet so similar.

Two heroes who stood against impossible odds against brilliant madmen who sought to impose their will on whole worlds.

Two beings who simply could not stand idly by while others suffered.

One who was impulsive and one who was calculating.

One of passion, the other of thought.

One of wind and flame, the other of metal and lightning.

One who would always crave a new adventure, one who would always crave an end to adventure.

One who sought attention and one who shied away from it.

One who thrived on conflict and one who simply bore its weight with good grace.

One who could never be at peace and one who would forever seek it.

One of Chaos, one of Order. Each tied to an eternal cycle of war.

Two souls. Two philosophies. Two warriors. Two sides.

One coin.

"Heh," Sonic chuckled to himself as he shook off his musings. "Welcome to the Loops kiddo. Gonna be a wild ride now that you're here."


"So, these 'activation attempts' require 'Anchor candidates' to not die?"

"Yes and no," Hephaestus hedged. "What they require is that they run long enough for the universe to stabilize and the Anchor to be set. Sometimes that is a full baseline run from start to finish, and others it can actually be considerably less. Death of the Anchor candidate prior to being fully set in place as the Anchor is one of the most common reasons attempts fail, but not the only one. And what counts as 'dying' to Yggdrasil depends on the events of the baseline and the inherent rules of the universe in question."

"Glad to know you have this down to a science," Blues retorted, his arms folded.

Hephaestus raised his eyebrows. "Count your blessings that you are robots. There were no less than three times where that fact prevented one of you from reaching a state Yggdrasil would have interpreted as 'dead'. Or did you think a human could have survived those wounds you suffered from King?"

Blues remained silent, but acknowledged the point.

"I would also like to apologize for the troubles you had getting online," Hephaestus told them. "We were expecting difficulties of course, but what happened went above and beyond our predictions. There were a number of times I thought you might not make it despite the precautions I took."

Rock shrugged at the forge god's statement. "Misfortune, treachery, and Dr. Wily can circumvent any safeguards."

Blues and Roll looked at their brother for a moment before nodding in agreement as Hephaestus chuckled.

"How very true," the admin admitted with good humor. "I do believe you will all do well in the Loops, no matter what you face from here on in. It has been a privilege serving as your administrator, and one I hope to keep up for a good long while. Feel free to enjoy your last few hours before your first true Loop ends and stabilizes, and I will most likely see you around. Probably during my next break."

And with that, the Olympian patron of technology vanished from the universe.

Rock looked to his siblings, wondering what to do for the few hours they were together before time reset. "Movie?" he asked. "We could see what's playing at the megaplex."

Roll smiled and looked at Blues hopefully.

Blues stared back at his siblings through his ever-present shades. All too soon, they were going to be thrust full force into these 'Loops' and at times have to fight every inch of the way in order to keep their 'section' stable enough so repairs to the other 'sections' of their 'Loop' could be made. Times like this, where they could just be themselves with no fighting or expectations on them, much less together as a family, were bound to be rare.

"Oh, why not?"

And with that, the three robots strolled into the city, one whistling a favorite tune all the way.


"Well, the virus in Wily's as firewalled as it's getting," Hermes stated as he began shutting down his remote terminal. "I couldn't manage to delete it, but it's not going anywhere either. I also linked the damage restoration of Wily's code to the Loop reset. Even if the virus slips the firewall, it can't do anything permanent to the guy."

"Not as good as I'd like, but better than I'd hoped," Hephaestus admitted.

"Oh, and I'm calling in my marker," Hermes said to Hephaestus as he finished packing up his remote terminal.

The god of the forge blinked. "Already?"

"Yep," the god of travel replied and handed Hephaestus a file. "I'd like you to code up a fused Loop scenario according to these parameters and arrange for it to be Rock's first fused Loop."

Hephaestus took the file and looked over it before asking one question: "Why?"

Hermes sighed. "Because while Sonic has many people he loves like family, many more he considers friends, and still others he treats as friendly rivals, there are precious few beings in the multiverse that he truly respects as equals and your boy Rock is near the top of a very short list. It's something he really needs more of in his life, especially now with his baseline back up."

"He feels the same way towards Sonic," the smith god admitted. "And he really needs more of that himself too, so–"

Hermes held up his hand. "Look, I know how you feel about this stuff. You don't like doing favors when you feel they benefit you as much as who you're helping. Heck, I don't want to be known as the kind of douche who does things in my own interest and acts like the heavens owe me for it either. So, answer me: Would you have done something like this of your own initiative?"

Hephaestus glared back at his co-worker. "...No."

Hermes grinned. "Then it still counts as me calling in my marker."

Hephaestus continued to scowl as his co-worker took his leave, along with his Nymph companions. A few minutes after Hermes left, Hephaestus began to chuckle to himself.

"Sneaky as always. Well played, Hermes. Well played."

He was so caught up in the humor of the situation that he was a bit surprised when Brynhildr plucked the file out of his hand and put on his desk.

"Yes? Was there something you needed?" he asked.

"So forgetful," Brynhildr purred. "But I suppose we can forgive you after all that excitement."

"You see," Herfjötur sauntered up tantalizingly to his other side, "the Loop you needed to get online is active and stable for the time being so you don't have to watch it every moment. Hermes' request will keep for now, which I understand means you owe us a custom armor fitting."

"Indeed," Eir cut in. "We like comfortable, flexible, and sturdy armor of course, but only the most skilled smiths can tailor such things so perfectly they fit like a second skin. And of course, that means many detailed measurements must be taken. So we better get started right away."

If there was anything Hephaestus would ever thank his wife for, it was the ability to not blush or stammer like a mortal teen right then and there.

"Well, then," He replied with a tone of light teasing, "we simply must begin immediately. Ladies, let us away to my workspace." (4)


ACTIVATION SUCCESSFUL.

BRANCH DESIGNATED 'MEGA' STABILIZING.

SECTION 1 LOOP STATUS: ACTIVE

DUAL ANCHOR CONFIGURATION HOLDING STEADY.

ANCHOR 1: ROCK LIGHT

ANCHOR 2: ROLL LIGHT

ANALYZING DATA FOR LOOPER CANDIDATES:

LOOPER CANDIDATE DESIGNATED 'BASS' APPLICABLE FOR LOOPING STATUS.

ASSESSING...

NO SIGNIFICANT STABILITY ISSUES DETECTED.

ACTIVATING LOOPER...

ERROR: LOOPER ACTIVATION FAILED.

BRANCH DESIGNATED 'MEGA' CURRENTLY UNABLE TO SUPPORT CANDIDATE 'BASS' AS LOOPER.

COMPILING LOOP MEMORY DATA FOR LATER ATTEMPT...

BEGINNING NEW LOOP...

ERROR: LOOPER DESIGNATED 'BLUES LIGHT' HAS FAILED TO LOAD CORRECTLY.


Loop 1.1


Rock shook his head. "No response to the signal. Either he's refusing to acknowledge me, or he's not Awake."

Roll frowned. "Didn't that Hephaestus guy say that Blues may have been knocked 'loose' from our Loop? Maybe he is Awake, but just not here."

Rock was thoughtful for a moment. "Could be. I wonder where he ended up if that's the case though..."


Meanwhile, in another part of the multiverse:

"The hell?" Kennex muttered to himself as Rudy revealed the old DRN model he'd been assigned. It... wasn't what he had been expecting.

While the series was clearly stated to be DRN, whatever this was wasn't Dorian. For one, he had a much lighter skin tone. For another, Dorian had never had a pompadour, nor was he particularly in the habit of wearing shades.

He'd been repeating this part of his life several dozen times by now, and it was always Dorian that he ended up partnered with, no matter what was different about how the assignment came about. Dorian was his friend, no mistake, but he'd gotten tired of rekindling it time after time, and had decided to try and see if he couldn't get a different partner. If he didn't throw the MX out of his car, it was still somehow destroyed and Dorian was assigned to him anyway. The time he'd started early enough to avoid having his leg blown off? He just got partnered to Dorian all the sooner. Categorically refuse to return to the department? Sandra got the bright idea to send Dorian to make him come back. Transfer to another city? Dorian got shipped there by a clerical error. Who did they assign to him any time they didn't try an MX first? Dorian. He'd once tried to hide out in an abandoned warehouse off the grid. He'd tripped over Dorian the second day there.

So what was so different about this time?

He tuned out Rudy's explanations regarding the DRN series. He'd heard it more times than he'd ever wanted to by now and could recite it in his sleep. He accepted the rod and touched it to the strange DRN's ear.

The DRN didn't gasp like Dorian. He simply blinked behind his shades and spoke as he sat up.

"Where am I?"

"You're in The City," Rudy told the DRN, "2048. You've been out four years."

The DRN sighed and looked around, his eyes locking directly on Kennex.

"You were expecting someone else," the DRN stated.

Kennex was starting to get a little weirded out, but decided that being honest was probably the best decision. "Yeah, I was."

The DRN nodded. "You the local Anchor for the Time Loops?"

The mention of 'time loops' got his undivided attention. It could only be describing one thing. The other term though... "Anchor? What are you talking about?"

The DRN sighed and facepalmed. "Great. One Loop in, and I have to give someone the 'welcome to the multiverse' speech."

"Okay," Rudy backed away. "I'm just going to go into the next room and one of you let me know when things start making sense again, alright?" With that, he beat a hasty retreat, leaving Kennex alone with the strange android.

"Multiverse?" Kennex tried the word. "As in, other people in other universes are experiencing parts of their lives over and over again? It's not just me?"

"In a nutshell," the DRN agreed. "I'll give you the full version later, but basically all of them have someone serving as an Anchor who holds their reality together. Some start later than others and some have more problems getting started. One of the problems with mine resulted in me being 'untethered' from my Loop of origin, which apparently means I'm going to end up drifting to all sorts of other universes almost as often as I'll be in my home universe. You just got the dubious luck of being the first."

"Well," Kennex offered as he tried to digest all of this, "the guy you're... replacing I guess... is my partner on the police force, Dorian. Which means you're now my partner instead. You got a name?"

The DRN nodded in understanding. "My name's Blues."


1) This is his fourth major distinct transformation using a major non-inherent power source in under an hour. You'd get light-headed too.

2) THE VIOLENT IMPATIENT ACTION INDUCED A FAILURE TO CARRY THE ANTI-HERO.

3) Remember, Blues is military hardware.

4) Not telling you what they did while there. It's probably NSFW though.

1.1) Blues is... *Puts on Shades* Almost Human.


Bonus: Mega Loop 1.0 Omakes!


(If Skaia was working normally Omake by Masterweaver)


"...Huh."

Rock looked over the the blue hedgehog. "What?"

"...Okay, so, this facility here? Usually, when Skaia crops up, it's used to create paradox clones of the selected player to send back in time to become the players." Sonic shrugged. "Confusing enough, but yeah. This time, though... you and Roll are among the selected players and... you don't have a genetic code, so..."

The blue bomber glanced at the consoles and blanched. "...please tell me that doesn't mean what I think it means."

"No, it's pretty clear. Genetically, Light and Wily are brothers." Sonic leaned in. "And apparently the children of Eggman and... Eggman's grandfather? Huh."

"This is disturbing on so many levels."

"Yeah, this only counts for this loop, they'll go back to their normal origins next time."


(Deus ex Jenny Omake by masterofgames)


The newcomer leaned against her impossibly huge gun, smiling at a shocked Rock as she pulled a hairdryer out of her dufflebag to blow away the glowing smoke from the muzzle. "Did somebody call for a deus ex machina?"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Yes, hello Jenny, thanks a bunch."

-) The character of Jenny Everywhere is available for use by anyone, with only one condition. This paragraph must be included in any publication involving Jenny Everywhere, in order that others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed.


(Bass vs Mega Man and Sonic aftermath Omake by masterofgames)


Bass managed to slowly drag himself out of the room. With effort, he eventually managed to slowly pass the door frame, and prop himself up against the wall in the hallway. "D-damn those t-two!" he glitched. "I-I-I wasn't out {crackle} y-yet!"

Glaring at the door he had just left through, he cursed both the doctors. "O-one fight, t-to the finish! Is that t-too much to ask for!? No! But again, my {bzzt-crackle} fi-fi-fight is interrupted! He calls me h-his ultimate c-{zap}-creation, so w-why does he n-never show any confidence in m-my skill to get the j-job done?!" he growled. "Well th-that's it! As soon as I get r-repairs, I'm going to {bzzt} sh-show him just how much I need him! I'll rip him a new one so hard that..." he paused. Something was on his shoulder.

Slowly he managed to turn his head. Treble was resting his paw on him, looking sad and worried. He was scorched, covered in dents, walking with a limp, had his muzzle cracked, an ear was missing, and his left optic lens was clearly offline, but he seemed far more concerned about his partner.

Bass couldn't help it. He smiled. "H-hey boy... got out of-{bzzt}-of there m-more or less intact, huh?" he sparked, managing to lift an arm to rub him behind the ears.

Treble licked his face a few times, then turned around and picked up something off the floor, turning back to give it to his master.

"O-one of those rings rolled all-all {pop} the way out h-here, huh?" Bass smirked, perking an eyebrow. A few moments passed. Then, he chuckled. "Ah, f-forget W-Wily... he's not worth the ef-{bzzt}-effort. Tell you w-what boy... You h-help me-me-me {spark} get outside... and once w-we recharge a bit, we'll pl-play a few games of fetch with that thing... okay? Least I can d-do for what you-{br-zap}-you've been through for m-me today."

Treble just grinned and barked, letting Bass slump over his back.

Bass couldn't help but laugh quietly as Treble helped him along... so there WAS one thing he cared about more than being the best.

So sue him.


(Inside the Wily Egg Climax Omake by masterofgames)


"SUPER SONIC MAN!"

The roboticized hero slowly emerged from the cloud of smoke, then stopped to casually brush himself off, as if taunting his foes that they weren't worth his time.

"It's genius really!" Wily cackled. "Convert the roboticizer from a chamber, to a wave, shielding ourselves in it! Anything organic that passes through it now works for us, and anything mechanical explodes! Ivo has outdone himself!"

"Oh come now Albert, you had the idea to have it chaos powered, to be able to work on those pesky super forms! It's brilliant!"

"Oh, but I couldn't have even conceived of such a thing without all your painstaking notes on how those jewels actually work! Your study into the science of chaos is downright inspired!"

"But you were the one who found a way around that 'billionth ring' nonsense that shielded him from my last attempt at something like this! Mecha Sonic would have been a total success if not for that, and your Robot Master blueprints had just the workaround we needed! It's marvelous!"

"Wondrous!"

"Remarkable!"

"Incredible!"

"Breathtaking!"

"Uh, guys?" someone interrupted. All turned at once to face the newcomer.

Or all three of them in this case.

"You do know he has, like, fourteen billion rings by now. Base minimum." Amy grinned, leaning against her hammer casually.

"Plus, we all worked out ways we could take each other out in emergencies LONG ago." Tails smirked, arms folded.

"I have no idea what's going on..." Sally gasped, hands on her knees, not having had any prior loops to get back into shape after the politics of baseline.

Both doctors paused, then as one pulled out calculators. "... factor of fourteen..." "... resonating fields..." "... power multiplied, not just doubled..." "... does the first one count, or was it one use only?" "I don't know! Err on the side of caution!"

A few moments later they both grinned and started laughing again. "Ha HA! STILL not enough!"

"Barely..."

"Hush! They don't need to know that!"

"Sorry."

"(Ahem) With our upgrades, even THAT couldn't keep him his free will!"

"And all that really means, is that HE also knows just how to take YOU out!"

"And even if you DID manage to either beat or revert him, you can't fight us up close thanks to the field, and we can negate any chaos powered abilities you throw at us!"

"Ah, SHADUP!" Amy shouted, using her hammer as a golf club to launch a chunk of debris at them, which the shields deflected, but still snapped the doctors out of it.

"R-right. Albert, gloating later, fighting now!" Paradox Eggman stammered, quickly returning to his controls.

While Mega Man took Super Sonic Man on, Knuckles and Shadow guarded Proto Man, and Roll kept the doctors busy, Sally was understandably a bit startled when Tails and Amy grabbed her, pulling her behind some rubble. "Wha-?"

"Shh! We can't let them overhear us!" Tails hissed. "Even in this racket, Eggman has always been observant."

Amy nodded. "Right. It's going to be our job to come up with a plan. Close combat is out entirely. Anyone who tries is either suddenly working against us, or scrap metal. So we need ranged options."

Sally blinked, taking a moment to process, but this WAS her usual role in baseline, making the plans. "W-well... they said they were chaos shielded..."

Tails shook his head. "No, they said they could negate chaos power. Negate. Not drain. We'll need chaos power just to get through that layer of the shield, to cancel it out."

Amy giggled. "Looks like the Doc's big mouth has betrayed him yet again!"

Sally couldn't help but grin. "Okay, okay, but we still need something strong enough to both get through the conventional shielding, and still take them out once it gets through."

Tails nodded. "We have an option there. Plain old magic."

"Magic?"

Tails clenched a fist. "The blood of Merlin Prower flows through me! I am a firstborn son of the second most powerful line of mages Mobius has ever created! And I will give every drop, of both magic AND blood, to protect those dear to me! I am the chosen one, of the Zone Prime! And I will NOT let my friends down! But... I am NOT the one with the power to take the doctors down. YOU are, Aunt Sally. You're the single most powerful magical force in our universe, maybe any of them. You KNOW what I'm talking about..."

"Th-the Source Of All! T-Tails, how did you discover that!? It's been the single greatest Acorn reign secret since my family first took the throne! A-and besides, I rejected it! I refused to let it rule me!"

"Maybe." Tails shrugged. "But that doesn't mean it rejected you."

"Sally..." Any interrupted. "You're new to all this. Think carefully over everything we've told you about the loops. Some loops, you take the place of someone else. And that means you learn things. Now picture those loops going on, and on, until you lose count, and then lose count of the number of times you lost count, and then lose count of how many times you did that. Over. And over. For what may as well be forever. To know the universe, intimately, from all points in space and time at once! Take a good look at Tails. Right in the eyes. And tell me what you see..."

And so she did.

And then Sally saw him. REALLY saw him. As the way he was, not the way he had been. With a tiny smile and a sigh of resignation, she placed her hand against his cheek. "... When did you grow up when I wasn't looking? My god, it only just hit me how much you must have seen with all this looping business. Your eyes... so old..." she laughed as a she wiped away a tear escaping from her eye. "... and yet, you still call me 'Aunt Sally'..."

Tails just smiled and pulled her into a hug. "You just mean that much to me."

And really, that was all that needed to be said.

A minute later, Sally had finished her first good cry from the loops. "O-okay, I'm... I'm sure this will all hit me a lot harder when this is all over, but... I'll do it."

Tails nodded. "Okay then, we'll need this though." he grinned, taking the Sword Of Acorns from his pocket and handing it to her, taking her hand in his own and curling her fingers around the hilt. "Amy, she's going to need the crown as well."

Amy blushed. "Yeah... the crown..."

"... Amy..."

"Funny story there..."

"AMY!"

Amy paused, then started waving her arms frantically. "W-wait! I have an idea for something even better! Where did I leave it... Aha!" she grinned, pulling her prize free from her pocket.

"... Amy, is that...?"

Amy nodded. "The Ring Of Acorns! I've had it just sitting around, recharging... for a few centuries... almost forgot about it completely." she laughed nervously. "It should work as a circlet, and it HAS to have at least one wish by now."

Tails just facepalmed and groaned. "It'll have to do."

Sally couldn't help it, and broke into giggles. "S-so old... and you still act like kids! No wonder it took me so long to catch on!" she laughed.

"Ooh, just take it! We still have a job to do." Amy pouted, plopping the ring down around Sally's head.

Where it promptly burst into dust and light particles, reforming into a golden circlet, a bright blue jewel inlaid in the center.

"... Well, the wish worked. And... oh wow, Aunt Sally, that's a Super Emerald! That should handle the chaos shield no problem! Now, you aren't used to magic, so I'll guide you, and you just... Aunt Sally?"

But Sally wasn't there. In her place was the start of something more. Her eyes were gone, replaced with twin pools of golden light, infinitely deep, a sparkling golden miasma was slowly emerging from her body, and her hair was starting to blow in a wind that was not there.

Sally herself was seeing what she saw the first time she had immersed herself in the Pool Of All. The crowning of her ancestor, the war to unite the feuding tribes into a single kingdom, the meddling of the echidnas, the formation of the planet, the Ancient Walkers themselves!

And then it all stopped. Her vision slowed to a crawl as it reached the point she had rejected it last time. She could FEEL the All, looking at her, inspecting her, asking her 'are you ready to submit?'. And with a (purely metaphorical) deep breath, she answered.

'NO. No I will NOT submit! I will NOT let you rule me! I am Princess Sally Alicia Acorn, and I demand that YOU submit to ME!'

'Well...' the All responded. '... it's ABOUT TIME!'

And the visions resumed. More than resumed, they came faster. She could see her solar system forming, the galaxy, the universe! She could see the first beat of eternity as Time itself began! She could see the raw, primordial power of creation! She could see it weaving and threading together, forming everything that was, and would be. And she could see the very source of it! At the base of each ribbon of creation, linking them all, was the branch of an enormous tre-...

Sally's Self paused, and turned to look at the being with their hand on her shoulder. It was a being she could not quite comprehend, but she could tell it meant her no harm. She got the feeling it was smiling at her.

'THIS FAR. AND NO FARTHER. YOU ARE NOT READY. WHEN ALL IS WELL, I WOULD BE HONORED TO HAVE YOU JOIN US. BUT NOW, YOU ARE NEEDED ELSEWHERE.' the... being, said. And then, it carefully turned her around, and with a gentle push, returned her to her body.


Hermes leaned back in his chair with a grin, arms folded behind his head.

"Saw you zoning out there for a second. Something up?" Hephaestus asked as he considered a choice between three lines of code.

Hermes shook his head. "It's nothing. I had a free moment while the code was compiling, so I was just checking on an old project I started eons ago."

Hephaestus just shrugged and got back to coding.

"Ah..." Hermes sighed to himself, leaning forward and wiping a tear. "They grow up so fast..."


Sally's body erupted in a pillar of spiraling gold light, the Sword Of Acorns in her grasp transforming, the hilt etching itself with oak leaves, the pommel shifting to the shape of an acorn shell, and the blade growing thinner and longer. No longer was it her family sword. Now, it was Her sword.

The entire battle halted as Super Sally flicked the three-and-a-half tons of rubble the three of them had been hiding behind aside with a casual backhand.

"You Forget Your Place!" her echoing voice thundered as she pointed at the doctors, her other hand shifting Her sword into an underhand grip. "You Meddle Where You Were Never Meant To Tread, And Show Neither Caution, Nor Compassion. Thus The All Does Make This Decree... SUCK IT!" she roared, flinging the blazing sword like a javelin.


(Metal Wily Omake by masterofgames)


"And FURTHERMORE! I, the glorious Doctor Metal Wily, have created THIS!" he boomed, holding up an odd spherical machine in one hand, and a chalkboard in the other.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... BE IMPRESSED, DAMN IT!"

"It would be easier if you told us what it WAS!" Roll frowned, arms folded in defiance.

"O-oh... right... (ahem). THIS, my woefully ignorant friends, is the result of decades of research! My life's work! Have you ever noticed, pray tell, that no matter what the math says about your odds in pulling something off, they never seem to match with the actual success rate? Well THIS-!" he declared, holding the chalkboard up higher. "is raw, mathematical proof that a higher power, that none here can even begin to comprehend, is able to predetermine the outcome of any event, based on what would be the most dramatic! I call this being 'Fate'."

Sonic shrugged. "So?"

Metal Wily resumed the mechanical laughter, holding up the machine. "Because of THIS you fool! With this machine, I can cut off 'Fate' from the flow of events, and enforce the power of raw, untainted math as the most powerful force in this zone!"

Tails started to pale. "Wait, you mean..."

"That's right! No last minute rescue, no pulling it off despite the odds, no power of suspense, and no drama! Here, a one in a million chance, is genuinely one in a million!" he cackled.


(Crack Omake by LordCirce)


As Hephaestus' workshop was made home to a relieved god and three excited Valkyries, a lone terminal flickered on in his abandoned office.

"Hit me, will he? Honestly, I work my circuits off, and I get pounded on. He isn't the one with bugs crawling in his circuits. And anyway, he should know enough to see that 0.0001% and 99.9999% mean the same thing, the Probability Generator is coded using the FNC conventions.(*)"

Yggdrasil continued griping to itself as it finished settling the new Loopset into its place in the multiverse.


*) Fate and Narrative Causality conventions - Basic Coding Conventions discovered by the Norns as the basics behind the Yggdrasil Command Language.