Disclaimer: All Disney works are the property of The Walt Disney Company. All other characters and settings are the property of their respective legal owners.
Author's note: Originally posted by Anon e Mouse Jr. on 2017-11-10. This is the second of three chapters posted today.
Disney/Kingdom Hearts Loops, Chapter Sixteen
16.1 (dragonraptyr): [Kingdom Hearts]
"...What are you doing, Sora?" Riku asked, looking at his friend in confusion.
Sora was grinning madly. "You know that new Trinity Limit that I unlocked? It gave me an idea..."
"And that's why..." Riku looked at his friend, and at the full-scale copy of the Black Pearl that was currently Sora's keyblade. He shook his head. "Knock yourself out. I'm taking a vacation."
Behind him, Sora started smashing heartless with the ship. "Fore!"
16.2 (wildrook): [Five Nights at Freddy's] / [Treasure Island; referenced only]
Mike Schmidt could only look at the new layout of Treasure Island... with one word running through his head.
'MOTHERF**KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!'
Two of the Animatronics looked at each other... then one decided to toss new underwear for him out of pity.
16.3 (Sonic Raynboom): [Jurassic Park] / [Inside Out]
Owen Grady stared in shock at this loops' I. Rex... if it could even be called an Indominus Rex.
"Who's the friend who likes to play? Bing Bong, Bing Bong!" The I. Rex sang, leading several children through the park.
"We decided to go in a more child-friendly direction, you see," Claire explained, "So we decided to model him after an imaginary friend. Of course, he did escape, but I don't think we have anything to worry about."
"What did you even make him out of?" Owen asked.
"I believe it was cotton candy, with some cat, elephant and dolphin." Claire replied.
"Dolph... you know what, I'm just glad it's not killing people."
16.4 (Harosata): [Inside Out] / [Big Hero 6]
Riley Woke up. She knew she wasn't in San Francisco, or at least not the one she usually goes to. It was too... Eastern for her.
"So what did Phineas say it was? I should Ping out..." Riley sent a Ping...
Riley opened her eyes and got an eye full of white... "Bing Bong?"
"I am not Bing Bong, nor does Bing Bong exist in my files. I am Baymax, your temporary personal healthcare assistant." Riley then realized that she was talking to a giant marshmallow...robot thing. "Your vitals are operating at an optimal level. Here, have a lollipop."
"Uh, thanks?" Riley looked around the room and spotted her parents talking to two boys, probably brothers.
"I can't thank you enough. If your robot hadn't found her in the park..."
"Think nothing of it, Mr. Anderson. I'm glad to see that the upgrade to his scanner worked," the taller boy explained. "You should see what kind of upgrades my brother Hiro gave him."
"Well, this wasn't what I had in mind about see this city's technology up and close. And to be created by two young boys like you..." Her mom looked at Riley with concern. "What happened to her?"
"Sorry, doctor's confidentiality and all that. Not the stuff her parents want to hear." The younger boy known as Hiro quickly escorted Riley's parents out of her room and then locked the door. Then Riley felt a tingle… and then clutched her head. "Sorry! I guess you're the Looper?"
Riley nodded. "Yeah, first time Pinging."
However, Baymax spoke up. "She has just sent out two Pings simultaneously. This seems to correlate with the six Pings that was sent out earlier, which may be the result of her fainting. Judging from previous cases, she may have multiple personalities."
"No guys, I'm just one personality..." Riley took a deep breath. "This may sound weird, but my Emotions are also Looping and we just recently met each other."
"Huh, that's… Actually, that's pretty new." Tadashi looked like he wanted to open her head. "And I'm guess some of them don't Wake up."
"Sometimes, I don't Wake up, at least according to Joy... Er, one of my Emotions. I'm not certain how that works." Riley admitted. "Oops, I just realized my Pinging… Yeah, I don't think any of us thought this through."
Baymax quickly pulled a pen and piece of paper. "As the issue seems to be dealing with emotional stress..." "Hey!" "It may be beneficial to go through mental exercises. If you happen to be visiting these Loops, I suggest you contact their Anchor in regards to the issue. I also have it on good authority that Heroing is a powerful stimuli to invigorate your mental state."
Riley looked at the list of names and placed it in her Pocket... "Wait, heroing?"
16.5 (Harosata): [Inside Out] / [Powerpuff Girls]
Some people have good control over their emotions. Some people have emotions with good control. But when Riley saw her parents in a sickly green coma, it was time to press the panic button.
"Fear, press the panic button." And Riley ran around the dining room. "I knew it! I knew broccoli was evil! Why did I have to Loop into a world where broccoli was actually evil!? We're doomed! Doomed!"
"Ah, is this a bad time?"
Riley looked at the window and saw three little girls standing... where there isn't any ground. "Eek! Okay, enough panic button! Okay, and you are..."
"We're the Powerpuff Girls, we need everyone Awake, and we need your help. Pwetty pwease?" The blonde one asked.
Thankfully, the memory came up quickly. "The Powerpuff Girls? I may sound a little… Loopy, but aren't you guys pretty strong?"
"It's not a matter of strength with this enemy." Blossom picked up the untouched broccoli from Riley's plate. "Alien broccoli planned to knock out everyone with these, but thankfully, there isn't a kid who eats vegetables. The aliens look like broccoli and can regenerate no matter how many times we beat them up; the only way is to eat them."
"E-eat them?" Disgust was evident on Riley's face. "I don't like regular broccoli and you want me to eat a walking, talking broccoli? I think you have enough mouths out there."
Bubbles seemed concerned. "Sorry, but sometimes the Big Tree will Loop us into what we don't like, and believe me, an alien invasion isn't as bad as adults infecting every treehouse base with broccoli..."
"Or having to eat rancid broiled broccoli stuck between a big fly's toes for three weeks in order to save an old lady..." Blossom added in.
"Or fighting a Super Saiyan named after broccoli," Buttercup added in. "He's the guy that's willing to blow up a planet just because the guy who lives there cried a lot as a baby."
Riley stared at them. "Out of all the vegetables I had to hate, it just had to be the one with aliens. Why didn't I choose something less harmful like eggplants?"
"Don't worry, you don't have to love it forever. You just don't try to avoid it forever." Bubbles reassured her. "Besides, they go well with cheese sauce, and we want to try out a new recipe this time..."
16.6 (Harosata): [Inside Out] / [God of War]
Riley eyed Anger once she came back to her senses. "Anger?"
"Yes, Riley?" Anger looked at the scene around him, figuring it was something he would do but didn't do this time.
"If you're out there, then who's in here?"
"Oh come on! That was a rational amount of anger!"
Fear subtly backed away from Kratos, who had been chained up and locked in a closet. Which was locked up, chained and barricaded. Once he had a good amount of distance from the tower, Fear pulled out a clipboard. "Things Riley shouldn't have when a Looper replaces an Emotion: Bubble Tea..."
16.7 (Sonic Raynboom): [Inside Out] / [Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends]
Riley was scared. This was like that awful zombie loop. It had even started out normal, too...
This loop was pretty normal. Instead of moving to San Francisco, she had moved to Retroville, which was a nice town. Riley had pinged, but no replies came. Luckily, Anger, Fear, and Joy were Awake. This was going to be a good loop.
Then that TV show came out. Everyone had watched it, and they all became zombies. They were all... happy. Just happy. Nothing else but happy. It was terrifying. Luckily, Riley still had some rocket boots in her Pocket from Phineas and Ferb. Now, she was holding a mental conference with her Awake Emotions.
"So, what should we do?" Riley asked.
We shouldn't go down there. They could turn us into one of them.
No, this loop, you can only become one of them if you watch that show. All we'd have to do is close our eyes! And make sure Joy doesn't go nutso and take over.
Hey!
What?! For all we know, that's what the show does! I say we find where it's coming from, find out how to undo it, then smash whatever's causing this.
Anger actually has a point. So, where is the show being broadcasted from?
"I... I don't know."
Let's let them capture us!
What!? Are you insane?! It's way too dangerous!
Agreed. Instead, we can just look it up online!
Huh. Yeah, that works better.
"Alright then." Riley said, pulling out a laptop and googling it. "It's being broadcasted from the... Happy Valley Retirement Home."
Riley slowly and sneakily made her way to the Happy Valley Retirement Home, aided by Fear. When she got there, she quickly found the broadcasting area. Riley looked in to find a grandmotherly Joy hypnotizing everyone to be happy, happy, happy all the day. Riley was too stunned to speak.
Oh great, it's an Unawake Joy with power!
Am I really that bad?
YES!
16.8 (kingofsouls): [Inside Out]
-Reality-
One by one the buildings of San Francisco fell as the earth itself split. Throughout the city, citizens screamed in horror as they ran. It was beautiful chaos, as people ran as a single minded herd trying to get as far away from the danger as possible, despite the fact that there was little hope for escape.
A fair distance away from the herd, Riley followed her own path. With a pair of inline skates and her trusty hockey stick, she sped past the quickly forming ruins, doing her best to stay calm throughout the chaos.
Which was harder than it looked.
-Headquarters-
"YOU TOLD ME EARTHQUAKES WERE A MYTH JOY!"
"I... may have... fudged the truth a bit." Joy forced a smile, as Fear gave her the worst death glare he could give her, but it seemed to fall short.
"YEA, NO KIDDING JOY!" He screamed. He then clambered to the console, smashing as many buttons as he could, the most prominent being the communicator. "LEFT! LEFT!" Riley in turn did so, barely avoiding the falling debris from above.
'Wait, Joy told you earthquakes were a myth?"
"Which turned out fantastic by the way. LOOTERS!"
'What made her tell you that?" The sound of a hockey stick smashing against a looter.
Joy coughed awkwardly. "It's a long story."
16.9 (Awesomedude17): [Inside Out] / [Sentinels of the Multiverse]
-Reality-
Riley just raised an eyebrow at the sight.
"Riley."
"Yes, Disgust?"
"Why's there an ice cream monster thing?"
"I don't know, but what I've heard about Setback, this is a whole new level of fail."
"Oh yes."
The monster roared as Setback landed in a crumple by the visiting looper.
"Ouch."
-Headquarters-
"I'm really hating this loop already, especially since Fear's going crazy now." Anger growled, right before punching out the rogue emotion.
"...You take this one, Disgust." Joy nervously smiled.
"Thank you~!"
16.10 (LordCirce): [DC] / [Inside Out]
Darkseid chuckled while watching his parademons ravage the human shopping building that they had emerged in when invading. A symbol of the humans' arrogance, greed, and stupidity, he would take great pleasure in watching it burn.
He then turned his attention to more immediate matters, namely, the three humans that had been standing at ground zero when his Boom Tube had opened. A human couple and their female offspring, the three of them were cowering before him, having been knocked down by his forces' arrival.
"Ah, it is good to see you pathetic worms already acknowledge your place, groveling at my feet. Still, I don't have the time to properly educate you on your new position, so allow your deaths to be a warning to those who still struggle here." As he spoke, his eyes began to glow as he gathered power for his Omega Beams.
"Not if we have anything to say about it!"
Darkseid glanced around for the source of the voice, which, while female, had not issued from either of the figures on the ground, who had not moved their lips, or seemed to be in the mindset to make such bold declarations. "Show yourself!"
There was a brief pulse of mental energy that left an odd feeling in the pit of Darkseid's stomach, before five figures appeared, standing around the family. To the left, were a pair of male figures, one short and wearing a rumpled white shirt and tie, while the other was taller, with a tweed jacket and an obvious comb-over. To the left was two female figures, one shorter and wearing an overly large woolen garment, while the other was slightly taller with a fashionable green dress. Directly in front of the family stood a third female, clad in a short sundress, and she pointed a finger at him, and spoke, revealing herself to be the one who had interrupted him earlier. "While we are here, we won't let you touch a hair on Riley's head!"
Darkseid grinned. "Then I shall savor your despair when your struggles are shown to be in vain."
At that, the five figures burst into motion. The taller male stepped sideways, positioning himself right next to the family, and he raised his hand, revealing a glowing yellow ring, like those borne by the followers of Sinestro. Yellow light spilled out from it, forming a golden barrier around the family. The shorter male and green-clad female then turned to face the nearby parademons. The male roared, red flames bursting to life on his body, which rapidly swelled, gaining a reddish hue. The contrast was startling, as was the force as he pushed off and promptly batted away the nearest parademons as if they were mewling kittens. The female shouted a word "Requip", and her garment promptly vanished in a flash of light, being replaced by a metallic armor that seemed to be made of swords. She then stepped forward and showed she was capable of wielding them by cutting into his forces like a threshing scythe.
The last two females stepped forward in front of him, each raising a hand as though gesturing for him to stop. He once again gathered his power to the Omega Beams, but before he could release it, the two women spoke, one in a tone that was happy and fierce, the other in a lower and steadier voice.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
"Shishi Hokodan!"
The world turned white.
16.11 (LordCirce): [Inside Out] / [Naruto]
Genin Yamanaka Rairi, better known as Riley Anderson, jumped to the side to avoid a fireball, while sweeping the bo staff she was wielding to knock back a Sound ninja. Naruto, the blond kid who was Anchoring this universe, had warned her about this invasion, but it was still super-scary to be in the middle of. However, even as she thought that, she felt a surge of anger tinged with joy, resulting in a sort of savage excitement, as Anger and Joy took over in Headquarters, with Fear taking a backseat.
Stepping back and planting her staff, Riley ran through a quick set of the odd handseals they used here. Naruto had helped her develop this technique, and now was the chance to use it in the field.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Bing Bong!"
A large cloud of smoke surrounded her, and then a voice called out in English. "Who the best in every way? Bing Bong Bing Bong. Who's the guy who'll blow you away? Bing Bong Bing Bong!"
Before any of the Sound ninja around her could react, a massive gust of wind blasted the smoke apart and sent then flying into walls and across roofs. Riley grinned at the large elephant-cat-dolphin hybrid next to her, who smiled back.
"Bet I can knock more of them down than you!" Riley laughed as she grabbed her staff and darted off.
"You're on!" Bing Bong responded, grinning from ear to ear as he bounced after her.
16.12 (LordCirce): [Inside Out]
"YOU'RE BOYS!"
Anger and Fear looked at each other, then back at Riley. "...Yes?"
"You're boys, and, you've been in my head this whole time, watching me!"
Anger opened his mouth, then paused, scratching his chin. "I never thought about that. That is a good point."
Fear gave him a sideways glance. "Are you saying that because you agree, or just because she is channeling you at the moment?"
Anger just shrugged.
16.13 (Harosata): [RWBY] / [DuckTales]
Blake knew something was off about the heist as she and Adam stormed the train. Sure, there were plenty of guards and robots, but it seemed that McSchnee was saving costs by shipping fish.
And when Blake picked up a crystal... she licked it. "Adam, we have to abort this mission. This isn't a Dust shipment, it's a rock candy shipment."
"Wha..." Adam sniffed the air and cursed. "The fish was masking the scent. Damn that McSchnee! Looks like we have no choice but to abort..."
"Alright Weiss, I'll forgive Ms. Belladonna this time as long as she doesn't disrupt any further shipments." Scrooge McSchnee put the phone down just as a worker came in with a crate. "Thank you for your hard work. You can put it down there."
Scrooge had a random crate from any McSchnee "Dust" shipment from the mines brought to his office in Atlas before it was distributed to the rest of the continent. Once the worker left, Scrooge pried open the box and licked one of the crystals. "Bleh! They need to cut back on the cherry extract. Now then..."
Scrooge dove in and managed to fish out some more solid crystals. "Hehehe. Those White Fang hooligans haven't figured out the fake Dust shipments were actually the real Dust shipments. And with that, I managed to secure my profit for the week."
Scrooge leaned back in his chair. "No matter how many new worlds there are, it warms this soul to know that old tricks still work well. Now, if only there was a way to lock up that Torchwick fellow..."
16.14 (SpokenSoftly): [Pirates of the Caribbean] / [Admin Shenanigans]
In Which There Is Not Enough Rum In All The World
Walking along the beach was nice. Really, really relaxing after all that mess with Teach and the Spaniard. Lucky Hector got a proper ship but honestly Jack could do better than that at his time of life. A nice beach, surf and gulls in the air and the occasional shipboarding on the horizon that he could spy on. He wouldn't've said, twelve years ago, that retirement would suit him, but it really did. It really, really-
There was a moment of strangeness quite unlike anything he'd ever felt.
Oh my. What happened there. "I... there was a beach," he said to himself, leaning back against the wall of his cabin (no, no that was a mast, strange...), blind-drunk and sitting in a dinghy on its way to some piddling little port or another (Port Royal, a part of his mind reminded him), wondering vaguely when he'd become thirty-seven... ish... again. "There is a beach," he corrected himself. That rum must have been... or had it been sherry...? It must have been really fantastic for him to start dreaming this vividly. Or muzzily, at it were. He was, after all, quite sloppily drunk, and that happy state of affairs could have continued, unchanged, for a good several days if he hadn't come to the abrupt realization, on waking up from a nap, that not only was the rum waterlogged and therefore effectively gone, but so was the rest of the boat and most of his hair, even moreso than usual!
"Bugger! Buggerbuggerbuggerbuggerbugger!"
The bailing took up most of his energy until he started to approach the docks, at which point he gave up entirely on the boat as a lost cause (again) and decided to make a grand, dramatic entrance, stepping off the tiny crow's nest onto the pier.
It would have gone so much better if he'd timed it right. Face-first into the water, he'd been just a few feet off! "Pfffffvbtt...! What have you lunatics been dumping in the harbor, tastes like bad booze," he muttered as he hauled himself, soaking wet and at least ten pounds heavier, up onto the pier. He wasn't dreaming, at least. Or in an alcohol-induced stupor either. Water to the face brought a man out of those, it didn't usually make the details clearer and the early spring air that much more nippy. "Excuse me, sir," came a voice that put him in mind of nothing so much as a very effusive sheep. "It's a shilling to tie your boat up at the dock."
Jack turned to look at the mast poking out of the water, his eyebrows rising up his forehead in time with the mast tipping sideways and vanishing beneath the water. No big loss. "What boat," he asked indignantly, turning to face the man. "What you have there, my good sir, is salvage. Good money and gainful employment, that makes! Frankly, you ought to be paying me for my generous contribution."
The man, who put Jack even more strongly in mind of an overly-effusive sheep, seemed to come up short by way of a response before deciding to plow straight on through with his usual routine. God bless British pragmatism. "Well that'll be an issue to take up with the Governor, Mister...?"
"Smith," Jack answered, taking a pair of shillings out and palming it to the sop.
Money makes the world go 'round, and for all that the man with the book and the little boy following after him looked to have all the cunning of a soft cheese, he knew this basic function of the world at least enough to get by, if not nearly so well as Jack knew it. "Welcome to Port Royal, mister Smith."
Jack needed a drink in the worst way.
In Which There Has Been Rather Too Much Alcohol In The World For Quite A Long Time
"A mister... Jack Sparrow? Would a Captain Jack Sparrow please come to the second floor," came the voice, cutting through Jack's drunken haze. He hadn't been actively looked for in Port Royal for a few of these whatever-you-call-them recursive dream sort of things. Mostly just Jackie, the guy who drank until he couldn't drink any more. His first recursive-dream-whatdoyoucallit had ended fairly early when he'd broken out of the jail, swam to the Pearl to cut a deal with Hector, and got his throat slit for his troubles, and what kind of thanks is that for maybe saving them a good long time of mistakes and grief?
His next few recursive-dream-whatdoyoucallem's had been a good deal longer, when he'd discovered that his mind really liked keeping things about the way they were, so long as he went vaguely along with things. And that was the good thing about being him, he could be vaguely going along and because Mister Gibbs and (most of) the crew were fairly competent things would still get done.
He'd only started shortening them when he'd realized that his alcohol tolerance kept going back to the way it was at the start of the dream. As it turns out, being able to drink literally as much as you can afford is really good for being a pirate but really, really bad for long-term not-pissing-blood-ness. However, frequenting the same bars and always starting the recursive-dream-thingiewhatsits in that bleedin' dinghy was really pretty good for improving his ability to avoid Norrington and no matter how much blood he ended up pissing away in one dream he was always good to go when the next started.
And that brought him to today. He'd spent this dream seeing, just for kicks, how quickly constant alcohol would put him into another. He was approaching the point where, even having been in various stages of inebriation for the last twenty-something years before the recursive-dream-things even started, he couldn't quite keep track of time. Except he could. Because now, stumbling off his barstool and moving towards the stairs, he was finding himself a mite bit more clear headed than he was used to recently.
"Spoke too soon," he said to himself when he saw who was sitting on a crate, legs crossed in front of them, just out of sight of the first floor. Some foreign-looking bugger with skin that looked like it was made of chalk and hair that looked like nothing so much as seaweed. "Jones sent you, then?"
"No, Jack," the man said (and wasn't that a strange accent he had?), "I'm here to ask you to please, please stop drinking yourself to death. You're making my job very difficult."
"Right," Jack said. So he wasn't sober after all, or even what passed for it in his brain. This was an actual hallucination to go along with this recursive not-quite-hallucination he kept having over and over again. "And what might that be?"
"Making sure that the tree larger than oceans that runs the universe is properly repaired."
...
"Come again?"
"Making sure," the man said again, slower, "that the tree larger than oceans that runs the universe is properly repaired."
Jack, swaying drunkenly, made his way over to the man and poked him in the cheek hard enough that someone made of skin would have bruised. "Right," he concluded, the man's skin just as chalky and porous as before. "I can't be drunk enough to be seeing you, be off."
"My name is Poseidon," the man said in response and wasn't that interesting? Davy Jones hadn't a patch on this man, though granted his presence could be a bit better around the ocean. Storms and whatnot. Taken care of, sort of thing.
"A tree larger than oceans, says you," Jack said, considering things again. If this was part of his future recursive-dream-thingummies then he could do a lot worse than to play along. "Tell me more."
The first thing Jack did, the very first, after Poseidon explained, was walk down to the bar and order a jug of something strong for the man. This Loops situation would get on anyone's nerves, but for a chap that was the god of the oceans to have to deal with all this rot on top of it? He'd earned a stiff one.
The second thing he did was walk right back down to the bar and order one for himself.
16.15 (LordCirce): [Marvel] / [Phineas and Ferb - Candace is present]
~Tell me what's makin' you jump like that!~
~S.I.M.P. Squirrels in my Pants!~
~Ain't got no chickens, ain't got no rats!~
~S.I.M.P. Squirrels in my Pants!~
Steve Rogers slowed as he approached the location in Central Park where Spider-Man's distress beacon was going off, distracted by a rather unusual dance-off competition going on along one of the park's paths. The competition itself wasn't unusual, but the participants...
Steve shook off his confusion when he noticed Spider-Man convulsing off to one side, half-hidden behind some bushes, and quickly made his way over.
"Spider-Man, are you alright?" Steve bent down to check him, and realized that the convulsions were actually repressed laughter. Discreetly, Steve slid a tricorder out of his Pocket and scanned Spider-Man for laughing gas, specifically Joker's blend. If the Clown Prince of Crime was in this Loop, Steve wanted to know about it immediately.
The scan came back clean, and Steve put the tricorder away. He then noticed a small camera on a stand, half-hidden in the bushes, and pointed towards the dance-off. Steve sighed.
"Peter, did you set off your distress beacon just to get me to see that... spectacle?"
Peter broke down into another fit of laughter, nodding as he did so, and Steve sighed and stood up, before glancing back at the dance-off.
~Can't even focus on my villainous rants!~
~S.I.M.P. Squirrels in my Pants!~
~Got somethin' in my trousers, thwartin' my plans!~
~S.I.M.P. Squirrels in my Pants!~
Doctor Doom, and a girl that he vaguely recognized as a Looper (Candy? Chandra?) were currently flailing around and busting moves in the middle of the park, cheered on by a small crowd of people while two other young men beatboxed to the thumping music. Their movements were surprisingly well-coordinated, if somewhat obviously unintentional.
"Why is he even doing that? What brought it on?"
Peter hoisted himself up to his elbows, and stopped laughing long enough to point up into a tree nearby. "Let's just say, Doreen has learned yet another villain disruption technique."
Steve tilted his head, actually listening to the lyrics as he followed Peter's pointing, then groaned as he got the idea.
Up above, Doreen Green, AKA Squirrel Girl, mimicked the dance moves of the pair flailing below as she boogied on a thick tree limb, joined by several of her furry companions.
16.16 (LordCirce): [Pirates of the Caribbean] / [Admin Shenanigans]
Gibbs, First Mate on the Black Pearl, wet his lips before nervously glancing up at the Crow's Nest, then back at his captain, Jack Sparrow.
"Ah, Jack. I, um, I have to ask. Is this one of those, y'know, loop things?"
Jack Sparrow turned to stare blankly at Gibbs. "What are you on about Mr. Gibbs?"
Gibbs glanced around, before point his finger up at the Crow's Nest, where a large... thing made of noodles and balls of meat lay, lounging in the sun. "That, Jack. The thing, that's taken over the Crow's Nest. Is it, y'know, a Looper?"
Jack stared at Gibbs for a few more seconds. "I think you've been standin' too long in the sun, mate. His Noodliness has always been in the Crow's Nest."
Gibbs nodded, hesitantly. "Er, yes, Captain, this time, it has. I mean, when it's not here."
Jack frowned. "It is always been here, savvy."
Gibbs was silent for a long moment as he mulled this over, determinedly ignoring the dripping tomato sauce that was plopping onto the deck behind him. "So, it has always been there, even when I have never seen it before."
Jack nodded solemnly. "It is only now that His Noodliness has allowed you to see his presence, see, whereas before you couldn't perceive it, on account of you not being aware enough, as opposed to the state of awareness that you now have been bestowed with, forthwith. Savvy?"
Gibbs nodded, then paused. "And that time you had me sit up there a week straight, on account of you fearing an alien attack?"
Jack nodded again. "Aye. His Noodliness supported you even then."
Gibbs stared at him blankly. "Aye… well, I, ah, think I'll go lie down then, get out of the sun that you so rightly pointed out I have been standing in too long." And with that, he turned, stepped deftly around the growing pile of tomato paste, and descended below, Jack smiling broadly at his retreating back.
16.17 (LordCirce): [Atlantis: The Lost Empire] / [Harry Potter]
"Alright, let's try another phrase."
"Okay… hmm… hesiyathsessuh..."
A trio of students sat in the library of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. One was the well-known, and even occasionally beloved figure of Harry Potter. The other two were unknowns to most of the Wizarding World, though the woman would have likely attracted stares thanks to her exotic looks.
Milo Thatch, currently a Sixth-Year Ravenclaw, paged through his notes, while one ear was tilted into an odd-looking device, shaped rather like a mix between a record player and a seismograph, with a short tube that Milo could listen at. "Ok, let's see. I definitely detected at least part of the sub-harmonics, and the cadence was the same as when you said you wanted to eat eggs, so that was... indicative of level of intention?" Milo continued to mutter to himself as he consulted his notebook.
Yawning, Harry turned towards Kida. "Is he always this intense?"
Kida smiled. "Only when he has discovered a new form of communication. My husband has taken the study of language as his passion. In addition to learning to speak and write in most any tongue, he has invented five languages that I know of."
"Six," Milo muttered distractedly. "I finished the bubble-gum popping language that Audrey inspired me to make two Loops ago, I was meaning to show you." Cracking his neck briefly, Milo straightened up. "Okay, so, I think you said that you wanted to find a place warm to go shed your skin."
Harry chuckled. "Pretty close. I did say I wanted to go someplace warm, but shedding my skin wasn't the activity I mentioned. I actually specified that I wanted to change my clothes, so swap my skin would probably the closest direct translation."
Milo scratched his chin, nodding. "Interesting. I still don't quite get how the underlying power behind the words is able to translate incompatible metaphors, given that you mentioned that the idea of limbs and hands translates across. I still think that it must be some kind of broadbase enchantment to enable snake's minds to understand higher thought."
Harry shrugged. "That still doesn't explain how audio recordings can still get snakes to respond, even without the underlying power matrix."
Milo huffed, but tilted his head to acknowledge the point. He was about to dive back into his notes, when Kida laid a hand on his arm.
"Before you descend back into your quest for understanding, I was hoping to swim out to visit the Merpeople's village this afternoon. I've already resized the 'swimsuit' that I purchased when we worked with the SGC."
Milo blinked, then his eyes glazed slightly as he remembered the two piece bikini in question. In a snap, the device and his note disappeared from the table and he quickly stood and started towards the exit. "Well, I suppose this can wait, not all that important in the grand scheme of things. Yep, and it is a brilliant day for a swim, indeed."
Kida giggled and gracefully slid out from around the table and loped after her husband.
16.18 (kingofsouls; Awesomedude17; VS21): [Inside Out]
(kingofsouls)
—Dream Productions-
"Okay people, listen up!" The Director of Dream Productions clapped his hands, and at once all activity ceased to be. "We got a lot to go over before Riley goes to sleep for the night, so I'm only going to go over this once.
"First, the big issue. I just got a message from Headquarters about why the Islands of Personality just up and changed, including that new one at the base of Headquarters. Long story short Riley is a deity-mandated time traveler, and the whole Island transformation thing is supposed to happen. So please do not go crazy over that. Everyone clear?"
There were murmurs of general agreement. "Good. That being said, we got a lot of material for dreams here," as that was said, a cart full of memory orbs was given to the Director, "and we got tons of potential here. So, let's go over this week's plan for dreams."
The Director then picked up a golden and red orb, the image inside Riley racing on the ice chased by a polar bear. "Tonight, we're going to have one of those surreal, artsy dreams. Let's have it be mixed with a flashback with these two. Make is hectic and exciting, especially with the that polar bear. The closer it is to eating someone the better." At once, prop makers ran off to prepare the recreation of Hockey Z-9.
"Okay, let's see what else we have here.." The Director then practically dove into the bin of memories, looking for new and exciting material for Riley's dreams.
(Awesomedude17)
—Dreamscape-
Riley looked around, and wondered what was happening.
"Hi."
Riley turned to see giant baby head, which flew away. Wiping her eyes, she then saw a red headed man in trench coat and sunglasses.
"How'd I get here?"
"I like trains."
"What?"
A train then hit the man.
Riley turned and walked away.
(Awesomedude17)
The Director grabbed an orb, showing three animatronics, singing and dancing.
"Too run of the-"
"Screeeeeaaaaaaah!"
A fox pirate shoulder charged a man in purple and restrained him. The Director blinked a few times, before shrugging.
"We can use this."
(VS21)
The Director continued to pore into the bin of memories to try to find more material for Riley's dreams with many memories that she made as a Looper, there were a lot of opportunities for dreams that she could have...
If they wanted to give her a nice calm dream, her time in Equestria could serve as a brilliant base...For more nightmarish dreams there were few that he could find but he knew they were near the bottom of this bin...and if they wanted to give her another weird dream...
The Director soon took out two orbs with one greenish-gold orb detailing one of her more recent Loops replacing Haruhi Fujioka at that Ouran High School and the other gold orb containing the memory of her first adventure with the Straw Hat Pirates...
The Director soon hopped out of the bin with those two orbs excitedly exclaiming, "I know what we're going to do for the next weird dream! Can someone say Straw Hat Host Club?"
(Awesomedude17)
Grabbing a purple and green orb, The Director looked in.
A... Person in red was setting itself on fire, and tried to give a scrawny guy with a Bostonian accent a hug.
"Pyro, I don't wanna hug! Get away you freak!"
"Pyro, if you do not stop that right now, I'll strrrrip down and cover myself in honey, AGAIN!"
"No way, no how! That's a bit much, even for me!" The Director tossed the orb to the reject pile.
(kingofsouls)
The next one revealed a skinny grotesque, hunchbacked man in a lab coat ranting about dominating the Tri-State area. "Hey, who wants to see how Riley would react if Dad was an evil pharmacist?"
The Dad lookalike tried his best to escape unnoticed.
(VS21)
After the Director put those memory orbs away, he dove back into the orbs in order to find more inspiration for dreams...
As he kept wading and looking through the orbs he saw a gold and red orb detailing her time spent as Mario during a game-Loop particularly of her scream at the heavens as Bowser had moved the princess(or in that Loop the Prince) to yet another castle. He grabbed that orb and tried to find more memories that would go with it. But then a particularly evil moment crossed his mind as he grabbed the memory orb that contained Riley starring in the Tripledent gum commercial...and said, "While the mind workers up in Long-Term Memory have been having their fun with the gum commercial...Why can't we go and use it ourselves?!"
The Director then handed those orbs to an intern and said, "Get this to the script writers and tell them gum commercial first then cut to the scream, and also go find Bing Bong, Sadness and Joy visit him frequently when off duty and I want to know when Anger has his next dream duty."
16.19 (RowanEx): [Tomorrowland]
Frank Walker looked at the button that was right in front of him.
A small, seemingly safe button.
He checked if the button was wired and clicked it.
Nothing. Frank sighed and went back to work for his fifth dimension backpack, until Casey came into his room, wet.
"Oh." Frank commented.
16.20 (LordCirce): [Pirates of the Caribbean]
Will Turner paused as he entered Jack's cabin on the Black Pearl, only to find Jack kneeling in prayer before a small glass case set on the central table, containing a somewhat moldy looking, half-eaten fruit.
"What are you doing?"
Jack held up a finger, and kept praying for a few moments, before straightening up and putting his hat on from where it had been sitting next to the case. "Jus' getting in a few prayers before we begin the next portion of our exciting voyage."
Will glanced back at the case. "And why were you praying to a fruit?"
Jack blinked, looking a bit confused, before shaking his head and giving a grin. He swaggered around the table and threw an arm around Will's shoulders. "Because, my fine, occasionally heartless friend. That, is not simply a fruit. It is, in fact... a very special fruit."
Will nodded, his face screwed up in an expression of mild disgust at Jack's breath. "Right..."
Jack nodded solemnly, before swaying over to a cabinet. "Ya' see, Will. Willie, Willie, William." He shook his head and turned to point a finger at Will. "That fruit, it has a name. Sock-y sock-y, something like that, but I like my name better." Reaching behind himself, he pulled a large wooden mug out of the cupboard and slammed it down on the table, then gave Will another grin. "The Rum Rum Fruit".
He then pointed a finger into the mug. After a moment, the tip of his finger shifted, changing color, and a thin stream of liquid poured down into the mug, filling it to the brim. He hefted it up, sloshing some onto the table, then took a big swig. "I'm made of Rum, Will, savvy? All the rum, and it's never gone. Who needs to swim?" He took another swig, then pulled out another mug. "You want some?"
Will shook his head, making some excuse about needing to go swab the deck, and quickly raced out of the cabin.
16.21 (SpokenSoftly; wildrook): [Pirates of the Caribbean]
In Which Will Displays A Remarkable Ability To Cope
William Turner, Captain of the Flying Dutchman, stumbled before catching himself against one of the cocoanut trees that lined the avenue that most certainly wasn't on his ship. A green flash as he'd crossed between worlds had cleared from his vision to reveal the walk up to Governor Swann's manor, a small box with his best work tucked under his arm.
He'd faced undead pirates, the men that would eventually be his crew, a giant squid, Chinamen, a giant squid again, the British Royal Navy, the East India Trading Company, the crew of the Pearl (almost), Jack (twice), and a nasty encounter about eight years after he'd got the Dutchman when some bastard of a Spaniard with the most horrible mustache had tried to claim the afterlife in the name of his country. That on top of thirty years of ferrying souls through to the afterlife, some of them had really interesting stories. If Calypso had chosen to send him back in time for whatever lunatic reason, or if some other meddling deity or curse had stuck their nose or coin or goblet or what have you into the mix, then the best he could do was just try and run with it. He already had eternity, after all. And, he noticed, he still had the scar on his chest where his heart ought've been. Another seven or eight years before getting his ship back, at the outside, wasn't too much hardship.
And he would get his ship back from Jones. He could feel the hull in his bones, subtly younger but as rotten as she'd been before he'd first claimed her, and that just wouldn't do.
First, though. He had a really nice sword to deliver. Then, maybe, a certain Captain Sparrow to free.
In Which Captain Jones Receives A Nasty Surprise
"You are neither dead nor dying, what is your purpose here?"
The question was the same, lending some credence to Will's guess that it was rehearsed, but the time was a year beforehand. Jack had been eminently agreeable to getting things out of the way in an efficient manner, resulting in them tracking Jones down off the coast of Barbados instead of on a sandbar in the middle of some forsaken stretch of ocean. The funniest thing about the situation, though, wasn't Jones's almost-rehearsed behavior, but that Jack had gone along so easily. Will would've thought that whatever god or curse had sent him back had done the same to Jack, but... well, it was Jack. He'd tried explaining what was going on, but Jack had just let it pass right over his head.
"A traveler," he said with confidence he hadn't possessed the first time he'd met Jones. "Looking to sail the seas he so loves forever. And I'd rather like to see your ship, Captain," he added, standing up and looking Jones in the eyes.
The squid-faced Captain's beard twitched and writhed against itself, a surprised but eager look on his face. Or, at least, Will thought it was eager. "Welcome aboard, traveler," the creature said in his Northern brogue as the waves swelled and parted to reveal Will's ship, the Dutchman festooned with rot and barnacles, the sails choked with weeds, the whole thing looking like she might fall apart at any moment if not for the hateful will of her Captain.
It took less than ten minutes for him to be aboard with the rest of the crew. "Hello, old girl," he said once he was aboard, laying a hand against the railing. The Dutchman was so much more than just a ship. She was... almost like an animal, abused and mistreated but who recognized that here, finally, was another Master who would treat her as she needed to be, help her do what needed to be done.
It helped that Blackbeard had been very talkative about how he ran his ship. He'd given Will some ideas that had worked out splendidly. "Ready to lead a mutiny," he asked casually as he slid his hand over the railing, the rigging starting to twitch and writhe at his direction. No-one noticed yet. "What was that," asked the Bosun furiously, reaching for his sword just before he was grabbed by an animate rope and hauled up by the leg to dangle twelve feet above the deck. A great deal more than half the crew was suspended similarly. Almost too easy...
And then there was a sword through his chest, Jones laughing in his ear, and he remembered the hard bit. "No-one takes mah ship, trave-lah. Enjoy the ocean!"
Honestly, it didn't really hurt that much. Though he'd have to track his heart down at some point, he figured. It would be... inconvenient... if it were still with Elizabeth in some cosmic joke and she'd just forgotten about it in her dresser back in Port Royal. "You're not the only heartless wretch aboard, Jones," he said with perhaps too great a degree of satisfaction as one of the ropes hooked itself under his arms and hauled him into the air along with the rest of the crew that'd drawn weapons thus far. "And between the two of us, I think the Dutchman likes me more."
Ignoring Jones's enraged threats with the ease of a man who'd spent three decades putting up with the worst newly-dead sailors could throw at him, he turned to the ones that hadn't drawn weapons. A good deal of them were the ones that, if he remembered right, hadn't been on the crew for more than a decade. The rest were just flatly shocked by someone no more than twenty who'd climbed aboard and done something to the rigging that'd strung up half the crew plus the Captain inside of half a minute. "Two choices, gents," he said with a little smile. "Either you persuade your Captain to wipe Jack Sparrow's debt clean, I let him live, and he has five years to turn himself 'round and get the old girl looking good again..."
It didn't take long for a still-furious Jones to ask what the alternative was, in tones that suggested he'd rather live on land the rest of his life than take it. "The alternative is I dump you overboard and take my ship back," Will responded, utterly confusing the crew and Captain. "I'll give you a few minutes.
He'd not have offered the first option a year ago when he'd broken Jack out of jail and stolen the Interceptor, but the visit to Tia Dalma - Calypso - had given him cause to think on why he'd been sent back in time by whatever curse or god had done it. Maybe he was being given a second chance to grow old with Elizabeth? Set aside the Dutchman and have a family? It would be one of the nicer things that'd ever happened to him, but not beyond the realm of possibility.
Or, maybe, he could persuade Elizabeth to come aboard. After all, it was a nice ship.
(wildrook)
Captain Jack Sparrow then looked at Mr. Gibbs after watching the debacle.
"Well, that confirms it," he said. "Young Turner's control over the ship is still fresh, so I might as well stop beating around the bush."
"Jack," Mr. Gibbs replied, "I start to worry about your plans half the time, but... the Dutchman is Aware?"
"Ever since he started Waking Up, the seas felt like changing. Considering what happened to him, I might as well try to convince him to sail to Tortuga just so he could pick up his love after this is over."
Considering that Beckett was in control, that would be a minor pit stop. Although it did explain why Jack had them steal empty buckets and fill them with water.
16.1: Apparently based on the fact that Kingdom Hearts III is going to have new moves based on Disney World rides.
16.2: More of Five Nights At Treasure Island.
16.3: No, Bing Bong is not Looping at this point.
16.4: Riley, meet Baymax.
16.5: And more of Riley meeting other Loopers.
16.6: He rather fits the part.
16.7: …
16.8: Not the smartest move she could have made.
16.9: Yeah.
16.10: Oh Darkseid… you have no idea what you're in for.
16.11: Interesting summon.
16.12: This was one of her earliest Loops. So it has been declared by the compiler, so shall it be.
16.13: Scrooge makes a profit.
16.14: And now we go back in time to see how Captain Jack Sparrow learned about the Loops.
16.15: Yes, Candace is here.
16.16: The Flying Spaghetti Monster is a thing. He runs the cafeteria in Yggdrasil.
16.17: More of Atlantis.
16.18: Riley has some weird dreams, apparently.
16.19: … Okay.
16.20: There are means to hold onto Devil Fruit powers between Loops. Jack's figured out how to keep this one accessible.
16.21: Welcome to the Loops, Will.