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 2020-06-28. This is the first of two chapters posted today.
Disney/Kingdom Hearts Loops, Chapter Thirty-Nine
39.1 (Bardic_Knowledge): [Digimon] / [Lion King] / [Pokémon]
Terriermon and Pumbaa stared each other down.
"Moumentai!"
"Hakuna Matata!"
"Moumentai!"
"Hakuna Matata!"
Timon and Henry looked back and forth at the two arguing over the best way to tell someone to relax.
"They're totally missing the point, aren't they?" sighed Henry.
"Yeah," Timon nodded.
"Kakuna!" "Rattata!" Suddenly, the argument was interrupted as two Pokemon jumped out of the nearby tall grass.
39.2 (katfairy): [Animal Crossing] / [The Moomins] / [Discworld] / [My Little Pony] / [Pokemon] / [Dungeons & Dragons cartoon] / [Lion King] / [Doctor Who] / [DC Comics] / [Final Fantasy IX]
"Let's see… We've got the New Year's noodles, the bell knickknack, the sparkling cider, twelve-grape plates, tweeters, berliners, and this year we're doing the green and yellow hats, aren't we?" Isabelle didn't have to look at her checklist at this point, but she had it ready anyway, just in case the Loop added a new twist. This was the first New Year of the Loop, and she wanted to make sure it went off without too many hitches. None would be best, but with so many visiting Loopers, she figured she'd better err on the side of expecting insanity. Not that they'd gotten any of the problem Loopers, but even the most well-behaved could go off the rails at times.
"You got it, sister," Redd nodded. "Got the Zodiac Snake for tomorrow, too. Think we'll have a Loop long enough to get through the whole set this time?"
"That depends on the Mayor; you know that."
"We will, then. That ain't the guy to worry too much about having a perfect house, although he does seem keen on getting the museum up to snuff."
"And none of our other visitors seem the type to deliberately crash the Loop out of impatience, which is good. I don't know if I've ever seen so many in one Loop! There's barely any non-Looping villagers."
"Makes for an interesting Loop," Redd shrugged. "And one most of 'em'll remember. I know I will."
Isabelle couldn't argue that even if she was inclined to. Usually, if there were visiting Loopers at all, it was one to four humans, very rarely a Looping non-human; this Loop, they had three humans, a Mymble (whatever that was), a human-turned-orangutan (NOT monkey), an Equestrian, a Pokémon, a dragon (with five heads, no less; Isabelle wondered how she handled headaches), a lion, and as Mayor, a Time Lord. Plus the four non-Looping villagers, all but one familiar to Isabelle: Bruce the grumpy deer showed up roughly one Loop in ten, and she'd met Tia the elephant and Vesta the sheep quite a few times, but Marina the octopus was entirely new. It was quite the odd mix. On the other hand, it was a mostly friendly one. Well, other than Tiamat occasionally threatening to eat someone the next time they met in the Loops (she was usually joking, Isabelle had realized; the dragon's sense of humor was both dry and very strange), Mymble and Bruce yelling at each other almost daily (which they seemed to enjoy), and the Librarian throwing things at anyone who said the word "monkey."
Still, it was New Year's Eve, and there would be a celebration. Everyone was looking forward to it; even Bruce and Mymble hadn't so much as given each other dirty looks. The Loopers had each helped in their own unique ways. Tiamat had designed some lovely fireworks and would provide an aerial display of her own, creating designs with fire and lightning; Pikachu would ride on her back, adding his lightning to hers. Big Mac had provided the sparkling cider, made from Zap Apples. Terry, Hank, and the Librarian had helped assemble Redd's booth and the countdown clock, which the Doctor had checked and double-checked. Garnet, Nala, and Mymble had made all the hats, although Nala had admitted that it wasn't the sort of thing she usually did. Garnet had just grinned.
"I'm a queen in my home Loop; I love getting the chance to do all the normal, everyday things that royalty's supposed to leave to the servants," she pointed out. Nala blushed.
"Oh, I didn't mean it like that," she said quickly. "It's just that, well, I'm a lioness. We don't wear clothes. That's one of the things I've found hardest to deal with in the Loops; I just can't get the hang of clothing. Remember how I made poor Gracie faint last week? That's normal for me. But you don't need or want my hunting skills here, and the other skills I've picked up in the Loops are for things that someone else is taking care of. And I do want to help. And… maybe if I learn how to make some of these things, I'll be able to figure them out. Hopefully before I end up in a Loop where that could really get me in trouble."
Mymble snickered.
"Or before you run into Rarity, or the Snork Maiden, or those girls from that one Precure Loop, or…"
"That, too," Nala agreed with a grin. Mymble and Garnet exchanged glances and nodded; Isabelle knew that they would help their new friend, and she left them to it.
She checked on Redd's booth and the countdown clock; both were up and running. Terry and Hank were seated under the Symbol Tree with Big Mac and the Doctor, just relaxing; a second glance showed the Librarian snoozing in the branches. Like the girls, they were also gossiping, although Isabelle knew they would insist on calling it "exchanging information."
"—only complain about this Loop is that we've got a great beach, but no surfing," Terry said. "I haven't had a chance in the last five Loops, and one of those lasted over thirty years. I can go a Loop or two without it just fine, but now it's getting a bit annoying."
"Hey, maybe next Loop," Hank commiserated. "But I can see how that'd get old after a while. I had three Variants in a row where I wasn't a Ranger, and for one of those, I wasn't allowed to use a bow at all."
"Ouch."
"Well, if you end up in my Loop, give me a ring," the Doctor said. "I'll take you to Tsunami; three guesses how it got the name. You mentioned tow-surfing earlier; that's a major industry there. A normal beach gets ten-to-twenty-footers daily, and a few spots can throw off two-hundred-footers if the conditions are right."
Isabelle tried to imagine a wave that size, but couldn't; the scale was simply too large. Could a wave that size even be surfed? Which was exactly what Terry was asking.
"In my Loop, the record is 372 feet, but the gravity on that world is a bit different. And then there's the technology involved… But, yes, it's doable, even by normal humans."
"So I should be just fine," Terry snickered. Hank rolled his eyes, and Isabelle got the feeling she'd missed a joke there. She almost sat down and asked about surfing, as she'd been a bit curious about it, but she still had quite a bit of work to do. She headed down to the beach, where Tiamat and Pikachu were practicing without risking a fire.
"I think we should practice this now that we have the theory down, as the size differential is somewhat different than I am used to," Tiamat was saying. Pikachu nodded, as did Isabelle. From what she had heard earlier in the Loop and what she'd read in the Guide, she knew Tiamat was at best a tenth of her usual size, and while Pikachu wasn't one of the larger villagers, in the bodies they had for this Loop, there was less than a foot difference in height.
"Maybe you should see if you can transform into your usual body," Pikachu suggested. "I can, but I haven't bothered because… well, mostly because I just haven't. And if you don't know how, I might be able to teach you. Let's give it a shot."
So they were busy as well. Everyone either had a task they were working on or had finished their task for the day. Good; that meant things were running smoothly and she could run up to Main Street and check in with KK.
It wasn't the usual New Year's Eve bash, not with all the Loopers putting in their two cents worth, but Isabelle was happy without how it was turning out. The Zap Apple cider was a huge hit, and Big Mac had promised he had more than enough for the next dozen or so New Years. KK and Shrunk had closed the club for the night and set up a jam session; most of the Loopers had joined in at least once. The only thing she worried about was the fireworks; would Tiamat and Pikachu be able to do their planned display? Granted, if they couldn't, the regular fireworks would be lovely enough, but they would be so terribly disappointed, even if one of them would never admit it.
"THREE… TWO… ONE… HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!"
She held her breath, noticing Hank and Terry doing the same, watching the fireworks go off. And it was only fireworks. Quite stunning, and the best they'd been since that mare with a tendency to speak in the third person had Looped in, but just fireworks. She sighed, echoed by Tiamat's best friend and his other best friend.
Which was the cue for a sinuous dragon made of fire to appear, breathing lightning. In the glow created by the apparition, everyone could see an entirely different dragon, one with five heads, swooping around in the sky, setting up for her next design. Isabelle clapped, and the other Loopers gasped, cheered, and applauded. The non-Loopers accepted it as part of the show, duly impressed but unaware that there had been anything to worry about in the first place. Tiamat, back to her baseline size, created a fire rose; Pikachu traced a stem and leaves for it. The night had now officially gone off without a hitch, and Isabelle could relax. Even better, a source of discontent for a resident had been removed while another was being worked on, and that was always good, and the only other one of which she was aware might have a simple solution. Yes, all in all, Isabelle thought she could call the day a success.
Note for tomorrow: ask Kapp'n if he knows of any good surf breaks…
39.3 (V01D): [Disney] / [Kingdom Hearts] / [Bar Loop]
"Alright everyone," Mickey addressed the Loopers gathered at the House of Mouse, "New topic. Worst thing you've ever seen done by a Non-Looping Villain."
"Baseline Xehanort," Sora deadpanned. Everyone paused, somewhat confused. "I looped into the Hub," Sora elaborated, "and while surfing online I found a line about him that shows how deranged he is." He pulled out a journal, flipping to a specific page, "I even wrote it down to share with everyone. He- meaning Xehanort," Sora clarified, "was always a ranting, raving, lunatic. It take a special kind of megalomania to go back in time and turn your younger self into a ranting, raving, lunatic before you even started down the path of ranting, raving, lunacy."
The bar was silent, as everyone processed the thought.
Then nearly everyone sighed, though Disney and Kingdom Hearts Loopers groaned - having the unfortunate privilege of frequent experiences with Xehenort.
"That puts so much in perspective," lamented Riku.
Many of the Final Fantasy Loopers, who frequently replaced their counterparts, voiced their agreement.
Everyone downed their drinks.
(B-wolf95): [Zootopia]
Nick Wilde finished up his drink before speaking. "Dawn Bellwether. Hoo boy, is she a piece of work. Every loop I've seen her in, she always manages to prove herself as a despicable mammal being. Even at her tamest, she is one of the most bigoted people I've ever had the displeasure of meeting.
"It's hard to pin down the absolute worst thing she's down that I've seen. There was that loop where she became a Yellow Lantern and became the leader of that loop's version of the Sinestro Corp. There's also the regrettably common variant where she's mayor from the start and institutes shock collars for all us predators to wear. Judy even told me about this one loop where Bellwether managed to drive several predator species to extinction.
"But the one action that I personally find to be the most unforgivable is something she did in one of our early loops, before we had the Talk. We were in the middle of our usual final confrontation with her in the museum, having already replaced the Night Howler pellets with blueberries and preparing for the fake savage attack. Then she decides to check her ammo and discovers the swap. So, she had a change in plan.
"She pulled out a handgun. As in, a 'shoot to kill'-type handgun.
"I have no idea if it was something she had in baseline that she didn't use or if it was just a variant, but I was frozen stiff at the sight of it. I could barely react when she fired straight at me. So, Judy reacted for me and jumped right in front of me.
"The bullet hit her right on the side. It wasn't fatal, but it didn't look that way at the time. The sight of Judy lying on her side in a pool of her own blood caused something inside me to just… snap.
"I must have looked like I'd gone savage to the cops that showed up while I was attacking Bellwether. It goes without saying that I was arrested for assault that loop. Bellwether was also arrested for attempted murder, but that didn't make up for the fact that Judy almost died that loop. We had no idea at the time that death was not permanent. I thought that I'd lost the most important person in my life. Even to this day, we avoid going to the museum if we can help it.
"So, yeah. That's my story. It's probably not the most horrific thing Bellwether's done, but it's the thing that haunts us most about her." With that, Nick began to work on his much needed second drink.
(Duckapus): [Phineas and Ferb]
Ferb tapped his lack of a chin, "Probably the time Kevin Destructicon actually managed to set fire to the sun. Let's just say it involved quite a bit of interstellar evacuation."
Buford shuddered, "Melted lawn gnomes still give me the willies."
(V01D): [Kingdom Hearts]
"Hold on," asked Kairi, "how do you set fire to the Sun? It's a ball of ongoing Nuclear Fusion!"
Sora put his hand on her shoulder, "Don't think about it too hard. The Evil Scientists in that branch have the wackiest ideas."
(Drakokahan): [Gundam]
"Where to start?" The brown-haired, violet-eyed Kira Yamato spoke up. "There's Rau Le Creuset, a clone of a man named Al De Flaga, who decided that, as a clone, he was the sole person who could judge humanity... so he decided that all of humanity needed to die by escalating a war until everyone was breaking out the superweapons with the intent to wipe out the other side."
"Don't forget Muruta Azreal," his blonde, golden-eyed twin sister, Cagalli Yula Attha, declared. "A rich boy who grew up into a monster with an unquenchable thirst for the death of all genetically enhanced Coordinators because he wasn't born one himself."
"And then there was his successor, only known as Lord Djibril," Raven-haired, purple-eyed Naterle Badgiruel continued. "Not only does he share the same levels of hatred as his predecessor, but he combined that with a consistent lack of common sense and his only response to setbacks being more destruction and his own survival."
"And that's just in the Cosmic Era," Kira finished up. "There's even more people like them in the greater Gundam Branch."
39.4 (Evilhumour): [Kingdom Hearts]
Sora bit his lip as Jafar got his hands on Genie's lamp again in this loop. He just had to deal with the vizier wishing for the Keyho-
"Genie, my first is to have the ability to wield a keyblade like the masters of old!" he shouted with Sora, Goofy and Aladdin's eyes going wide as his serpent's staff becoming a golden snake keyblade that he swung with ease. This wasn't norma- "And my second wish is to have complete control over Kingdom Hearts itself!" he shouted with Genie reluctantly creating a portal to Kingdom Hearts with the power flowing into the cackling man as he began to swell with power. "Now," he said with his eyes glowing gold with the power of the heart of all worlds surging through his body. "You were saying something about stopping me, boy?" he spat as he spun his keyblade in one hand as held the lamp in his other hand.
Sora sighed internally; when Jafar thought about his wishes, things were never easy.
39.5 (Masterweaver): [Inside Out] / [RWBY] / [RWBY Elevator Saga 2]
Once upon a time, in the far-off land of Remnant, a group of people were trapped in an Elevator that showed them places all over the multiverse.
These are the floors where they witnessed Disney Loopers.
Floor 1105
"Soooooooo," Yang drawled. "You have strange superpowers cause you're looping, right?"
"Yes," Ruby, Raven, and Cinder all confirmed.
"And... Zwei is looping."
"We call him the war corgi," Ruby confirmed. "He can take on armies solo. And look adorable while doing so."
Blake swallowed. "Ruby, this elevator is weird enough without you trying to give me more nightmares."
Cinder barked out a laugh. "Oh, you want nightmares? Wait till you hear about Pinkie Pie."
"I kind of like her," said the yellow-skinned human-shaped thing outside the elevator. "Why are you here, Cinder?"
"Elevator glitch-Oh! Joy!" Cinder took the dalmatian and tossed it out. "Puppy for Riley!"
"It doesn't work that-!"
The doors slid shut on her protests.
Ruby facepalmed. "Really. Really, Cinder, really."
39.5 continued (Shadow Wolf75): [RWBY] / [SD Gundam Force] / [WALL-E] / [RWBY Elevator Saga 2]
Floor 1725
The elevator doors opened to reveal the interior of yet another spaceship, this time the bridge belonging to a fairly large starliner. There was an odd looking robot darting around on a rail system suspended above the consoles, in the shape of an old sailing ship's steering wheel, almost certainly an autopilot. He kept poking at various buttons with his spokes, at least until the elevator caught his attention.
"Not possible."
Gerbera watched this other machine, the single eye oddly reminding him of his various subordinates. This guy seemed on a bit of a higher order, though, closer in intelligence to himself even if their vocal processor was a lot more primitive. "Cursed elevators certainly don't seem very possible, do they? I recognize you from somewhere, so let's make this quick."
The Gundam let out a short binary sequence, to which the pilot responded with a bit more containing the translation key for a somewhat higher level machine language. Once Gerbera took the few milliseconds to make sense of it, the two robots started 'speaking' in that odd warbling code.
Blake reached up and rubbed at one ear. "Is this going to take long? Listening to that kind of hurts."
Gerbera switched back to English again for a moment. "Sorry. It might be a bit annoying, but binary would be so much worse . . . don't worry, this shouldn't take more than a minute."
The two robots started up with the trilling again a second later.
Vernal couldn't help but complain. "This sucks, we can't even understand either of them!"
Ruby had her head tilted, and her eyes closed, focused on listening. "I've been to this loop before, picked up the language from a cute little trash compactor robot. They're... having a philosophical debate on the nature of directives?"
True to his word, it took roughly a minute for Gerbera and the pilot to finish their conversation. "Well then, Auto, go on. You'll feel much better once you've gotten this over with."
"Processing... Directive A113, standing down." The pilot, Auto, seemed to sag in relief on his mounting, once he said that.
"See, I told you so. Freedom is such a wonderful feeling." Suddenly the elevator started moving upward, the doors beginning to close. Gerbera called out to the other machine before they shut completely, though. "Good luck with your captain; you should be able to come up with a compromise now!"
The doors shut, and once again the mad scientist Gundam found himself on the receiving end of quite a few stares. "What? I don't need permission to set another robot on a better path. If it's any consolation, I'm fairly sure he's not Looping; he would have advanced beyond his little problem on his own if he was."
Weiss spoke up, looking rather unnerved. "Is anyone else glad we're nowhere near Atlas right now? Because I'm glad we're nowhere near Atlas right now. Though I'm not sure any of the military's robots would know what to do with freedom if they were given it."
39.6 (Boohoooo!): [Billy Dilley's Super Duper Subterranean Summer]
Anaximander looked around wearily as he noticed it was the beginning of summer. He knew for certain that summer had recently ended and he was JUST about to eat a delicious taco.
The rat shrugged, going to relax in his room in the Cheesearator. He COULD attempt to warn his master and friends of the events that would trap them in Subterraneania-Tania, but he didn't feel like it.
Sure enough, the group ended up trapped in the underground realm once more. Anaximander couldn't care less about reliving the events that led to the trio becoming friends, so he wandered off and to take a nap.
He hoped time would fix itself, but couldn't get himself particularly invested. He shrugged, yawned and rolled over, falling asleep nearly instantly.
39.7 (calvinball): [Gravity Falls] / [Dungeons & Dragons]
Shadows danced in the low light emanating from the small fire pit scraped out of the forest floor. Tyrone Pines stoked the fire gently with the end of his iron rod, getting a somewhat childish glee out of using the eerie focus gifted by his otherworldly patron for such a lowly task. As sparks flew from the pit, he carefully added another two rocks to the ring. With the earth so covered in mulch and dead foliage, a wildfire was all but certain if he didn't give as much attention to the fire as he did to the surrounding forest.
He glanced back to his compatriots: his sister, Lady Mabel Pines, the knight-errant, cradling her doffed armor as she slept; Northwest, the pathfinder, sleeping in leathern armor, one arm draped over her beloved llama companion; and Gleeful, the psion, not sleeping so much as meditating, his robes fluttering curiously despite the windless night.
Tyrone frowned a little; that guy creeped him out sometimes. Still, they were a team, and they were all well. Their trek to the lost caverns of Tsojcanth had been eventful, with the hags of the Moor Coven and that weird run-in with the Modron March, but they'd endured it pretty well so far. As the smoke continued to trickle upward, he yawned a bit, and turned his gaze to the moon. Looking at its position in the sky... yep. He strode over to Mabel, patting the smoke and dust off his habit, and gave her a solid poke with the rod.
"Bwuzwha?" She snorted to wakefulness, quickly drawing her sword up at him - thankfully with the scabbard still on. And he was used to it anyway.
He gently smiled at her. "Your turn to take watch, Mabel," he said. "Sleep well?"
"Ehh," she shrugged, rubbing at her eyes and starting to stand. She grabbed at the disparate pieces of her armor, loosening the bands and straps to get them on before cinching. Tyrone moved to help, handing her what she needed. "You woke me up before I could accept the throne to the kitten kingdom, Bro-bro."
"A vision from the Cat Lord?" Tyrone asked, his eyes going wide.
"Nah, just a cool dream," she said, grinning. Tyrone rolled his eyes. Silently, they continued getting her armor set on. It was just in case. Often, the night passed without incident, but they'd had too many bad run-ins with wolves. And goblins. And cockatrices. Waking up to Gleeful turned to stone was not fun.
Soon enough, she was suited up and she flashed another smile as she flipped the visor up and down. "Now you see me - now you don't!"
"Lady Pines." He crossed his arms and tried to give her a hard look. But he knew he was still smiling. "Just get on watch!" He looked away, hoping the darkness would obscure his rising laughter and -
"Okay, that's bad vertigo, hang on a second -" Dipper grabbed at his temples, feeling a sudden wave of not-quite-nausea as he felt a sense of double-vision and deja vu.
"You finally feeling Loopy, Bro-Bro?" Mabel asked, popping her visor up with a smirk.
"And well-Anchored, blah, blah, yeah," Dipper said with a nod. He glanced around at their forest surroundings, at their comrades, then back at Mabel. "So... looks like it's some kind of classic fantasy. And... have you been Awake already?"
"Feels like an RPG, if you ask me," Mabel said, eyes twinkling in the firelight. "And it's been about four years. I figured you had to Wake Up eventually. Good to finally have you, Dipper!"
"Sorry to keep you," Dipper said.
"Nah, it's cool," Mabel answered, waving it off, and she quickly transitioned into a bold pose with her sword, chuckling. "I've made a pretty awesome chaos paladin, y'know!"
"Worshiping the Cat Lord seems a little on the nose if you ask me," Dipper said. Mabel just stuck her tongue out and "meow!"ed, smug as a - cat. Trying not to chuckle too much, he looked over his own Loop memories. As Mabel had said, she was indeed a paladin of chaos - or maybe more accurately, a paladin of happiness - having sworn the Oath of the Ancients in worship to the Cat Lord. As for him...
"You would trade your soul for knowledge, y'know," Mabel said with a snicker.
"I would not -"
Mabel raised an eyebrow.
"I mean not usual -"
She raised the other.
"Look, Baseline was a long time ago, alright?" he said.
She lowered both, smiled, nodded. Dipper just sighed.
"And it wasn't my soul in Baseline, it was my body, which is almost worse, and -" He froze, finally remembering who he had sold a fraction of his soul to in this Variant. "Really? Is it always going to be -"
"IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU WOKE UP, BOZO. YOUR SISTER AND I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR FOUR YEARS, AND I'M BORED OUT OF MY SKULL!"
"Bill Cipher." Dipper turned around to face him with Mabel, the too-familiar Dorito floating with all the pomp and smugness he had come to expect from eldritch horrors. As he considered this realization further, he whipped back around to Mabel. "Mabel! How could you let me make a pact with Bill Cipher?"
"I didn't even know he was in this Loop!" Mabel said, shrugging helplessly. "By the time I found out, you'd already sold yourself to him."
"WELL, THREE-SIXTEENTHS OF YOURSELF," Bill corrected, and he carried on with a finger in each cheek - or at least, where a cheek would be were he not just a triangle. "IT WAS MY GREATEST CAPER, BUYING PART OF YOUR SOUL RIGHT OUT FROM UNDER HER NOSE! I HAD TO GET THE VILE GRIMOIRES TO YOU WITHOUT HER KNOWING OR YOU GETTING SUSPICIOUS -"
"Sounds great, but I don't need the full recap," Dipper said, much to Bill's very visible chagrin as he folded his arms crossly. Dipper figured he could review his own memories later. In the meantime, he asked, "Did you at least sell me something valuable in exchange for three-sixteenths of my soul?"
"I PROMISED I'D TELL YOU THE SECRET TO THE UNIVERSE AFTER THE THIRD DAY OF THE THIRD MONTH OF THE THIRD YEAR OF OUR PACT." Bill turned his eye downward to his wrist - the arm of which had twisted around himself in a loop twice - to read a watch that wasn't there a few seconds ago and should've been blowing Dipper's puny, medieval mind - the idea of which left him a little irked, honestly. "OH, LOOK, IT'S MIDNIGHT. TIME TO PAY UP!" Bill looked up and popped into existence right at Dipper's face and said, "SO, YEAH, THE MULTIVERSE IS LOOPING THROUGH TIME, EVERYTHING'S A LEAF ON A BRANCH ON A TREE ON LIFE SUPPORT, YADAYADA-"
Dipper glared. "You're an a-hole."
"DON'T GET YOUR KNICKERS IN A TWIST. THE LOOP ENDS BEFORE YOU DIE, SO I'M NOT GOING TO GET THOSE THREE-SIXTEENTHS OF YOUR SOUL, ANYWAY," Bill said, lamenting a bit more than Dipper and Mabel really thought necessary. "YOU CAN KEEP THE INCREDIBLE MAGIC POWERS, THOUGH. CALL IT A GIFT."
"I'm not going to call it a gift -"
"THEN CALL IT A PRANK. ON THE UNIVERSE, OR SOMETHING. LOOK, I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS. EVERYBODY WAKE UP, IT'S MORNING NOW!"
And it was. The birds were singing, bees were buzzing, and the post-dawn sky shone light upon their campsite and the still burning campfire. In a fit of annoyance and responsibility, Dipper began kicking dirt over their fire while Pacifica and Gideon spluttered awake as morning beams scattered across their eyelids.
"Whoa, hey, I'm awake, I'm awake -" Pacifica froze suddenly, eyebrows raised. "I'm Awake? Where are we?"
"Oogh... Ah don't feel like Ah got a full eight hours at all," Gideon said as he stretched cramped legs. "Huh. A psion. Kinda obvious, but okay."
"Ew, gross!" Pacifica recoiled from the llama, now yawning to wakefulness, and retracted her arm. "You're - you're covered in mud and leaves and -"
"Aw, c'mon, Pacifica, give lil' Southeast a chance!" Mabel chided. She gave the llama a tickle under its chin, and it bleated happily. Pacifica's mouth flattened into a line, and she continued to look at the beast askance.
"Southeast?" she repeated. "I'm... not totally sure how to feel about having named the llama that. Metaphysically, I mean. I think." As she spoke, Southeast scootched up to her side, gently nuzzling. "Urk - stop! Stop that!" she ordered, expression panicky. "Don't, don't be so cute! I'm warning you -" Pacifica stopped as Southeast began to quietly rumble quietly with each nuzzle against her.
Pacifica sighed and gave in, melting. "Oh, alright, you little monster," she cooed at the beast, rubbing the sides of its head gently. Pleased, Mabel shot Dipper a quick thumbs up, and he shot back a slightly tired smile. He could appreciate a moment's respite from the primary matter at hand.
And that was all the moment spent. He refocused on addressing Bill Cipher. "So, Bill, what's so important that you accelerated spacetime to tell us?"
"CALM DOWN, IT'S JUST A HIGH LEVEL SPELL. I GET ONE INNATELY EVERYDAY," Bill said, waving the display. "ANYWAY, I ACTUALLY JUST WANTED TO WARN YOU."
"What about?" Mabel asked.
"THERE'S THIS DROW RAIDING PARTY HEADED THIS WAY. THE SUNLIGHT SHOULD SLOW THEM DOWN, BUT THEY'RE STILL MOVING, SO YOU'LL WANT TO DOUBLE-TIME IT TO TSOJCANTH BEFORE THEY CATCH YOU."
"Drow raiders? On the surface?" Gideon stood now, gathering his pack. "Ah don't know a whole lot, but just the Loop memories tell me that Drow don't usually hang out in sunlight."
"WOW, I GUESS IT'S JUST ONE OF LIFE'S LITTLE MYSTERIES, HA HA HA -"
"Bill Cipher," Mabel pointed her sword at him - scabbard on, still. "What have you done?"
"WEEEEELLLLL..."
Bill Cipher was lounging in the Abyss, enjoying tea and scones. On the other side of a table that is little more than a metaphor for the true extra-physical environment of the discussion was the other fiend: a spider demon of divine mantle and power.
"LISTEN, LOLTH - BABY - I KNOW YOU'RE ANGRY, BUT YOU DON'T NEED TO BE!" Bill said, pausing to take pointed sips of his tea - nothing more than a form of punctuation, since he could just drink and speak simultaneously, and that would only matter anyway if the tea was actually real in the mortal sense. "THIS TIME, I KNOW THAT THE CONTINENTAL UNDERTAKER IS IN TSOJCANTH. MY AGENT WILL BE RETRIEVING IT SHORTLY, AND YOU'LL HAVE YOUR REVENGE AGAINST THE ELVES! SO," He set the tea aside, letting it just float in midair, and extended a hand to shake. He had the demon queen in the palm of his hand. "DO WE HAVE A DEAL?"
And then suddenly she was batting his hand away and then he was pulling up a thought shield to deal with being nearly annihilated by a fiendish smite carrying behind it the power of the drow goddess of evil and scorn.
Which was to say, ow HE WAS BEING BURNED NEARLY ALIVE AND HE LIVED IN HELLFIRE ON A DAILY BASIS.
"Do you know what I think I have, Cipher?" Lolth cooed from a thousand lips and blinked with ten-thousand eyes as she morphed her visage, taking advantage of Bill's mindscape-like interaction with the rest of reality. "I have a deep weariness. Weariness of you. Of your Gehennan treachery, of your shallow mercantilism, of your smug glib, and OF YOUR DEALS!"
She exhaled Abyssal demonfire, laced with the unholy poisons of her spider kin, Bill only escaping a painful fate by virtue of discorporating and reincorporating at his palace in Gehenna. As he woozily came to, a message echoed through his conscious:
"And thank you, Cipher, for letting me know where to find my Continental Undertaker. I think my high priestess is overdue for a vision."
Dipper knew he was staring, but he was pretty sure everyone else was too. "You were making deals," he started, letting the words fall carefully. "With demon lords?"
"LOOK, THEY'RE WAY MORE FUN THAN MORTALS! SOMETIMES THEY ACTUALLY TRY TO RENEGE, AND THEN THE FIGHT TO COLLECT BECOMES THE GREATEST THRILL, AND-" Bill stopped, rolled his eye. "LOOK, YOUR THREE-DIMENSIONAL BRAIN WOULD NEVER UNDERSTAND. CAN YOU JUST MAKE TRACKS TO TSOJCANTH? I'M TRYING TO SAVE YOUR LIFE HERE!"
"What does the Continental Undertaker do, anyway?" Pacifica asked, finishing up the last cinches on Southeast's pack bags. "You said she killed you. What does she want with anything on the material plane?"
"OHHH, IT'S JUST AN ANCIENT DWARVEN WEAPON, NO BIG DEAL-"
"GASP!" Gideon shouted, pointing at Bill and grasping his head. "Tell me it ain't true!"
"That what isn't true?" Mabel asked.
"It's a hammer that, when struck to the ground, can cause entire cities to fall into the Underdark!" He cried.
Mabel raised an eyebrow. Dipper shrugged.
"Oh," Gideon said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Uh, guess ah'm the only one who knows that name in-Loop," Gideon observed. He gasped, grasped the side of his head, and pointed at Bill again, continuing, "The Underdark is the underground world Drow raiders come from, so it's basically like making a city fall into an evil and more cave-like version of the world in Journey to the Center of the Earth!"
Mabel gasped. Dipper's eyes bugged.
Pacifica looked up from scritching Southeast behind the ear. "Oh - uh... can someone run that by me again?"
"HOW THE HECK DID YOU READ MY MIND? GIMME A SEC..." Bill snapped, conjuring a leathern book into his hands, and he began flipping through. Dipper barreled on.
"And you were just going to give that to Drow's demon goddess?" Dipper asked. "That's nuts! Why did unAwake me agree to be your warlock?"
"BECAUSE HE LACKS YOUR MATURITY AND WISDOM, OR SOMETHING DUMB," Bill said quickly. He pored over a page, blinking quite hard as he finished. "WHAAT? READING SURFACE THOUGHTS DOESN'T REQUIRE ANY SAVING THROW? THAT'S JUST OP."
"Bill, c'mon, give us a hand, here. What do we do about these Drow guys?" Mabel asked, crossing her arms in a huff. Bill threw the book over his shoulder, knocking a bird out of a tree, and just rolled his eye.
"LOOK, YOU FOUR ARE ACTUALLY PRETTY LUCKY. BECAUSE LOLTH RESCINDED ON THE DEAL, NOBODY'S OBLIGATED TO GIVE HER OR THE DROW ANYTHING. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS BEAT THE DROW TO THE CONTINENTAL UNDERTAKER. EASY-PEASY!"
"I still can't believe - well, no, actually -" Dipper groaned as he hefted his arcane rod to one shoulder. "I can completely believe you would sell an apocalyptic weapon to a god of evil."
"I WOULD'VE WARNED YOU ABOUT IT," Bill said with arms crossed.
"Great, so we only lose a few cities," Pacifica cut in drily. "Apparently I'm the trailmaster of the group, or something, so let's get a move on.
"I'll join you up front in case we run into trouble," Mabel said as she clanked over in full armor.
"And Gideon and I make enough sense back here," Dipper said. "We'll keep an eye out for any Drow behind us."
Bill Cipher clapped and squealed with glee. "AWW, LOOK AT YOU, MY LITTLE ADVENTURERS WITH YOUR GO-GETTER ATTITUDE! YOU CAN DO IT IF YOU BELIEVE IN YOURSELVES AND DON'T FALL APART IN A MESS OF SELFISH BACKBITING AND BETRAYALS AS YOU TRY TO CONSOLIDATE AS MUCH GOLD FOR YOURSELF AS POSSIBLE!"
Dipper glared tiredly. "We'll keep that advice under consideration, Bill aaaand, he's gone." Dipper sighed, letting his face fall into one palm. Here they were, in the middle of Fantasyland Forest Reserve, on some fetch quest for Bill Cipher for an apocalyptic weapon, with powers they didn't understand, and -
He reached vaguely to his side, only to meet air.
It was a Null Loop, at that. "What a morning," he said.
"Hey, Bro-bro?" Mabel poked at his shoulder, drawing his attention. Wordlessly, visor down, she pointed over her own: to Pacifica and Gideon.
Pacifica was still rubbing Southeast's head, but now she seemed to be doing so less for the sake of it and more to give her hands something to do. Every few moments, she bit at her lip. Gideon paced quietly, beads of sweat at the edges of his hair, eyes darting at his companions, then away again. He'd open his mouth to say something, then stop.
Dipper watched for a few moments, listening to the song of birds return to the glade in the wake of Bill's departure, and he looked to Mabel again, who lifted up her visor to peek at him, gave a gentle smile, winked. He smiled back.
"Okay, guys!" he said, clapping his hands together once. "Looks like it's up to us to save the world, so it's a good thing we've got a pretty solid track record." Pacifica and Gideon's faces relaxed slightly with his joke, and he smiled in turn. "Let's walk and talk. I think those Drow won't know what hit 'em."
39.8 (ThanatosTiger): [Percy Jackson] / [Admin Shenanigans]
Poseidon glared at the various coding problems in the Riordan loops. Various expansions had come and gone, and none of them had any new loopers. Part of the problem was Apollo. The Loop-Aware one, not the fellow Admin, though if he had to be honest, he had had problems with the Admin one too. He had agonized over if the Riordanverse gods should start truly looping, rather than being loop aware, for so long. His agonizing over this had left him with a mountain of work that had only gotten larger and larger. Maybe he should just have them all loop. Magnus, his friends, everyone. He though better though, that wasn't how an Admin should act, and it would just give him more paperwork.
He would come down to what was becoming his least favorite Branch.
"You're telling me my cousin is going to loop soon, that's amazing!" Annabeth said.
"About time! I've been wanting to fight that sword since the book came out." Clarisse said.
"Oh man, I don't know what's worse, hearing the sword try and flirt with Riptide the same time again and again, or having him try to come up with new pick-up lines." Percy whined.
What had he missed, and what was going on with the weaponry?
"Oh man, I can't wait to get Loki powers! Maybe I can't beat Frank in a shapeshifting contest!" Leo cheered.
Poseidon wasn't sure why, but the thought of Leo with Loki powers worried him.
"I wonder what had happened that caused this to come so late. Maybe the musical? Or Rick Riordan Presents." Annabeth thought aloud.
He had to get back to work. Now.
"Well I understand you all want to celebrate the good news, but I'm afraid I can't stay. The Spongebob Branch has its own problems!"
39.9 (smxsonic): [Frozen] / [Hyperdimension Neptunia] - Compiled Frozen Hearts, Part 1
Compiled Frozen Hearts, Part 1
Compa Awakened to see that she was currently in front of a throne observing some kind of festivity. She sent out a Ping and received two pings back.
"Is being Queen making you feel Loopy, sis?" A voice questioned from beside her.
She nearly stumbled when she saw that it was Nepgear beside her. She caught herself and coughed into her fist.
"Well I do need to be an anchor for everyone in Arendelle." Compa replied evenly.
"Is this your first Fused Loop?"
"Um... I think it's the first one outside of Gamindustri..."
Compa paused as she made sense of her memories, "So... we're sisters in this loop."
"It doesn't have to be for just this Loop." Nepgear supplied.
"I would rather it be that way, Ge-Ge. Nep-Nep is still sort of like a mother to me after all."
Nepgear nodded and smiled, "I forget that you activated in Ultradimension. Anyway, yeah, we're sisters in this Loop. You apparently holed yourself up in your room for ten years."
Compa looked uneasy.
"Let me guess," Nepgear said, "Something about it being for your own good?"
"And yours..." Compa added.
"That explains my loop memories."
"You know that they weren't real?"
"You spend enough time Looping and you start knowing what memories are and aren't fake."
Nepgear and Compa stood, still examining the party.
"So, do you know why we ended up in this world?" Compa asked.
"I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it's because Yggdrasil found some sort of relationship between us and the people we're replacing."
The conversation would have gone further, but the Duke of Weaseltown showed up and asked for a dance. In a surprising turn of events, Compa shoved Nepgear into said dance.
"What the goodness!? Compa!?"
"Sorry, Ge-Ge, Just playing my part!"
39.9, part 2 (smxsonic): [Frozen] / [Hyperdimension Neptunia] - Compiled Frozen Hearts, Part 2
Compiled Frozen Hearts Part 2
It was weird how the same things could occur in Baseline despite it being a Fused Loop with said Loopers replacing the people that were supposed be there. As was the case with Compa, standing in front of her throne with nothing past a greeting with some nobles and relatives who approached her. Although in Baseline, Elsa did this as part of her self-imposed exile, Compa did it to make sense of her loop memories.
This Non-looping version of her was so different from others, that i really confused her why and how she looped in to this position. It was innocent enough at first, She and Nepgear were using her ice powers (which she intended on playing with later) to play in the snow indoors. Then, really nothing but Tragedy. She kept herself locked in her room, while poor Nepgear presumably just spent her time running around the castle. That's not even going into what happened to their parents.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Nepgear ran up to her.
"What's wrong, Ge-Ge?"
Nepgear scratched the back of her head, "So, I guess I met this Prince Hans before I Awoke... and now we're engaged."
"Wait when did you meet him?"
"This morning."
Compa sweat-dropped, an impressive feat considering they weren't in an anime branch. "That's sudden."
"I know, and I don't know why I said 'yes', because I think there's something more sinister about this."
"So... What are we going to do about this?"
Nepgear closed her eyes and started to think, "I... don't have anything that can help..."
"I have Ice Powers," Compa supplied.
"You'd think I'd know about that."
Compa laughed nervously.
"Modified Loop memories, got it," Nepgear looked around, "He's going to start missing me soon... We need a plan."
The plan wasn't what anyone was expecting, but it still ended with Arendelle covered in Ice. Fortunately, the two were going to get some context to this Branch.
39.9, part 3 (smxsonic): [Frozen] / [Hyperdimension Neptunia] - Compiled Frozen Hearts, Part 3
Compiled Frozen Hearts pt. 3
"So... You staged a kidnapping," Kristoff reasoned, "To get out of marrying Hans."
The Anchor was met with two simultaneous nods.
"That... is honestly new, Anna usually just turns him down if she's Awake early enough. Even turns the whole 'If only there was someone who loved you' thing around on him if she's feeling sadistic."
"It was the best thing we could think of, given the information we had." Nepgear explained.
"Although, I didn't mean to cover the kingdom in ice and snow," Compa confessed, "I was only going for a small distraction."
Kristoff chuckled, "Yeah, Elsa's powers tend to do that. Just... Don't think too hard about using them."
Compa nodded while Nepgear looked at the winter wonderland around them.
"So... what do we do now?" Nepgear asked.
Kristoff crossed his arms, "Well, knowing Hans, he's probably mounting a 'search and rescue' mission with the intent on killing you both."
"What the Goodness!?"
Kristoff closed his eyes in thought, "Yeah, he's sort of a fruit loop. We're going to have prepare for him."
He opened his eyes to see Compa holding a giant syringe and Nepgear holding a pink Laser sword. Kristoff raised an eyebrow.
"We come from a battle heavy branch," Compa clarified.
It was on that day when Prince Hans of the Southern Isles both met a literal gaming Goddess, and was caught up on his shots. In the most painful ways possible.
39.10 (Boohoooo!): [Billy Dilley's Super Duper Subterranean Summer]
Anaximander yawned as he stole some cheese from Zeke and ran off, the boy grumbling.
The Rat wondered if anything was different this repeat...
"RARRRRRRRRR!"
...And promptly got his answer.
"I AM DINO BILLY! HEAR ME ROAR!" Billy Dilley laughed. Anaximander grunted and went to sleep. He was going to need a LOT of energy to deal with this...
39.11 (Evilhumour): [The Little Mermaid] / [Warhammer 40,000]
Ariel Woke up to find herself in front of Ursula, about to make the deal to trade her voice for legs when there was a shout behind her.
"There troopers! Behold the witch in her foulness, attempting to taint the princess of our mighty lord! Will you allow her corruption to remain for a single seconds longer?" a familiar voice boomed from behind her with the mersquid squawking in surprise and outrage as crabs that were led in tight and properly military lines suddenly began to lay fire onto her dwelling, yelling they would not to the crab wearing a black hat and miniature chainsword in one claw. "That's right, troopers! Cast down her unholy works and smash them into oblivion!"
"Why you little pipsqueak!" Ursula began to growl only to yelp as the weapons were turned onto her, flinching back from the pain caused by the concentrated fire on herself. Snarling, she sent a blast of dark magic at the crab urging the soldiers onwards only for it splash off his scarred body.
"What?! How?" Ursula shouted her last words before the crab launched himself at her and ran his sword across her neck, gore and bones flying away as he decapitated her with swift ease.
"The foulness can never besmirch the might of righteousness, foul witch," the crab spat, holstering the sword on his side before turning to face her and his face fell for a split second. "Hello Ariel," he said evenly without much emotion.
"Hello, Yarrick," she said with her arms crossed her chest, frowning at him and his heavy claw in dealing with Ursula.
"It is polite," he lectured before she could, pointing a claw up at her. "To respond to a Ping."
"I just Woke up," she countered with him stiffening slightly. "You have not set up my dad as a god, have you?"
"Of course not; I am a political officer, not a priest," he almost sounded offended, casting an eye as the crabs that served as the might of the Atlantican army destroyed the lair of the former witch with precision; burning all of her magical texts and charms with zeal.
"That magical deflection is new," she said, softening her voice.
"It is; a new power that I picked up during my time as Crawdaunt," he actually grinned clicking his claws together. "I get the benefits of the dark type to be immune to that of the psychic without needing to be a blank. It is quite enjoyable to watch Ghalshannha fail to even notice me as I sent it back to the warp." He then schooled his face and tilted his head at her. "Now if you would accompany us back to the palace."
Ariel rolled her eyes at him, following the old crab back to home as the troopers behind her set the bombs to blow the lair up and destroy the last traces of it.
39.12 (Awesomedude17): [Pirates of the Caribbean] / [Super Mario Bros.]
"Keep 'er steady, lads. Keep 'er steady. Good!"
Captain Jack Sparrow hopped off his ship and landed next to the sea creature's back before dumping all his cursed coins onto the shopkeeper there. Upon turning back into flesh and blood, he climbed back into his ship and sailed off.
"Well, glad that's over with." Jack took a swig of rum.
"Aye, Captain. Not sure what we will do now though."
"Perhaps we can go to that Kingdom involving that dragon turtle."
*Smash*
"Did you hear that?"
"Oi! Get off the Black Pearl!"
"Then help us get the Odyssey off your ship."
Jack walked out topside to find a hat-shaped ship stuck in the Black Pearl's starboard bow.
"Sorry mates, but you should've watched out for flying pirate ships."
Cappy sighed as Mario tried to pry off some of the boards that were keeping the Odyssey stuck.
39.13 (Crossoverpairinglover): [Percy Jackson] / [Godzilla]
Percy had been on high alert since the loop started.
He had gotten the 4-1-1 from Grover that Monster Island was a thing, which meant only one thing.
Godzilla was in this loop, and he was liable to break something. The laws of causality suggested it would be something important, like New York City.
Godzilla never broke something no one cared about, like Vladivostok. It was always an important city.
He'd fight the lizard himself if he had to. He had gotten an idea after he had fought Kratos.
Giant water horse constructs should do it...
Nico popped in from the shadows, smelling like burnt toast and coughing smoke.
"Where's Godzilla?" Percy immediately asked the Son of Hades, who coughed again.
Percy repeated the question after giving the boy a cough drop.
"Godzilla was in Tartarus: he didn't like it. He didn't like my father's realm either..."
Percy needed a moment to let it sink in.
"Godzilla wrecked the Underworld?"
"Yep." Nico collapsed on his cabin floor, clearly done with today.
And possibly the entire loop.
39.14 (Evilhumour) & (Anon e Mouse Jr): [Beauty and the Beast] / [My Little Pony]
Twilight took the cup of tea with her magic and smiled at her host, sitting on the balcony.
"And how is your library going, Belle?" she asked, enjoying this most quiet Loop as Gaston was already taken care of.
"Quite well," Belle replied, watching as Chip, the curse broken a long time ago, walked off to Mrs. Potts to place the chipped cup down on the tray and left the two Loopers alone. "Thank you, Chip."
"And how is Adam?" Twilight asked, reminding herself that he had a name and tended to prefer it.
"Busy," Belle said, shaking her head with a smile on her face. "The job he got keeps him away at times, but he does enjoy it greatly."
"Oh? Is it working with the government as he is a prince?" Twilight asked with Belle just laughing softly as she shook her head in the negative.
"No, it's-"
There was a sudden whoosh next to them with a blinding green light as a massive figure towered over them in a form-fitting green outfit with a lantern symbol on the chest. Twilight's eyes blinked as the light concentrated on a massive finger, only for the body to slim down to that of a human body before Prince Adam gave Belle a tender kiss.
"Okay, when did you become a Green Lantern?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.
"When we had a fused Loop with Sora and the Lantern Corps," Adam answered as he joined them, his Green Lantern ring next to his wedding ring. "It was Belle's idea to use my beast form when I am on duty as to differentiate myself from the human lanterns and it is a bit intimidating so criminals are more inclined to listen to me."
"That makes sense," Twilight said. "Though, and no offense, I thought you would be a Yellow Lantern if anything."
"Well, they tried to recruit me at one point," Adam replied. "And if I hadn't been Awake then, I might well have let them. Fortunately, I already knew better."
Belle smiled at her husband, placing her hand on his. "Besides, even before you were Awake, you'd already qualified for the Green Lanterns." She turned back to Twilight. "In Sora's Loop, when the Heartless captured me and swallowed our world, Adam's heart was strong enough to let him survive and travel through the darkness without being corrupted, so he could follow me to Hollow Bastion," she explained. "That took a lot of willpower… and that was enough to call one of the Green Lantern rings to him while he was there."
Twilight smiled. "I see," she said. "Got any stories to share?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure I ran into someone from one of your world out there earlier," Adam told her. "She was a member of the Indigo Tribe - one of the Corps that are… less than popular amongst the others."
Twilight looked confused. "Indigo… aren't they the ones who rely on compassion?"
"Yes." Adam looked grim. "The thing is, on their own, the Indigo rings do search out people who are naturally compassionate, like Ray Palmer - the Atom. But the majority of the Indigo Tribe are unrepentant sociopaths who had compassion forced on them by the original controllers of the rings. If they're made to take up the ring against their will, it essentially brainwashes them into their new state. Their first bearer, Indigo-1 herself, was a self-centered murderer before the Indigo light changed her into an almost emotionless being, and most of the other recruits weren't much better."
Twilight looked troubled. "That's… disturbing."
"I know." Adam turned to Belle, who smiled up at him.
"So… who was it, anyway?" Twilight asked
Adam looked sheepish. "Well, I didn't get her original name, but I can show her to you." He looked thoughtful for a moment before his ring lit up, showing an image of a woman in an indigo outfit.
Studying her face, Twilight considered for a moment, then she sighed. "I shouldn't be surprised."
"You recognize her?" Belle asked.
Twilight nodded. "That's Abacus Cinch. She was principal of Crystal Prep Academy on the other side of the mirror, until… well, I don't know what happened, none of the expansions have said exactly, but she doesn't work there anymore after what happened with my counterpart going temporarily mad with power during the Friendship Games." She looked disturbed. "Cinch never got magic in our baseline, so she doesn't have being corrupted as an excuse. She just cares about keeping up her reputation, and the school's, and doesn't care who gets hurt in the process. And she's perfectly willing to physically and emotionally blackmail her own students, including my counterpart there, to make sure they did what she wanted."
"That's horrid," Belle gasped.
Twilight nodded. "I agree. I'm just glad Sunset is able to help Sci-Twi turn back to normal and help her, even when she's not Awake."
"No wonder that woman wound up recruited by this Corps then," Adam growled. "She's just the kind of person who needs some sense knocked into her. Not that I approve of how their Corps do it, of course."
Twilight nodded. "I fully understand, and I think whoever set things up like they did just… didn't get the point of compassion, if they're going to force it on someone. It has to be offered and accepted freely." She shook her head. "But that's getting far away from what we were originally talking about." She looked troubled for a moment, then contemplative. "Say, do you have any Loopers for your branch besides the two of you yet?"
"Not yet," Belle replied. "I'm kind of surprised, actually… I keep hoping one of our other friends will activate soon, but it just hasn't happened. Of course, I've got friends among the other Disney Princesses and other Loopers - Ariel and the others are like sisters to me. But it'd be nice to have some of the household staff Awake. And my father..."
Adam laid a hand on hers. "It'll happen one of these days," he said softly. "I'm surprised none of them have Awoken yet, as close to you as they are. Though… I'm not sure how well Cogsworth would take it, actually, given how tightly wound he usually is. Pun fully intended."
Belle giggled at that.
"I will ask Sleipnir if he can talk to your Admin about it; maybe there's some sort of snag?" Twilight offered.
"Thank you," Belle told her with a smile. "I really, really appreciate that."
"And so do I," Adam said.
With that, the discussion turned to other things as Chip tilted his head, wondering when it would be appropriate to tell Belle that he knew about Yggdrasil from Mister Uno already.
39.15 (b-wolf95): [Zootopia]
Sometimes Judy hated when Nick was Awake.
That's not to say Nick was unpleasant company, far from it. It was just that there were times where Nick would lose all semblance of self-preservation for the sake of a gag. Or five.
Case in point, their current Loop. They had dealt with the Night Howlers case ahead of schedule this Loop and so Nick joined the ZPD early. Unfortunately, Nick had decided that, for this Loop, he would see how far he could test Chief Bogo's patience and proceeded to troll him into infinity.
To Bogo's credit, Nick was still alive three months into this. Though that may not last that much longer, since they were about to try the "Good Cop, Bad Cop" routine for the 15th time that day. Key word being "try."
"Okay, Nick," Judy almost growled. "Chief Bogo's probably at wit's end by now, so this time, actually try to be 'Bad Cop'. Not 'Rad Cop', or 'Sad Cop', or 'Mad Cop', or 'Dad Cop', or 'Plaid Cop', or 'Knee-pad Cop', or any other '-ad Cop' you can think of."
"Does 'Breaking Bad Cop' count as part of the latter?"
"Yes! Very much so!"
"And the reason I can't be 'Good Cop' is...?"
"Because I'm a terrible 'Bad Cop'!" Though at this rate, I think I might be able to do a better job than you, she thought to herself.
Nick thought for a bit. "...Okay, I'll actually be 'Bad Cop' this time."
"Really? Because I'm not going to trank Bogo if you mess this up."
"Don't worry," Nick reassured as they re-entered the integration room. "I've got this."
Nick approached the suspect and put on his best intimation face.
"Do you even have any idea of you done?" he said in a deep voice.
Okay, so far, so good...
"WELL, DO YOU!?"
Wait, that delivery... He isn't...
"Now, eat this cutlet bowl." With that, he pulled a bowl of katsudon out of his Pocket.
He is. Judy started moving as far away from the door as possible.
"I SAID EAT THE CUTLET!"
With not a second to spare, Bogo burst through the door, looking so red he could be mistaken for the Devil himself.
"OFFICER NICHOLAS P. WILDE, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?"
Nick gave one of his patented smirks. "'Bad Cop', Japanese Style."
Bogo began charging at Nick, murderous intent palpable, when suddenly-
"Mama..."
The action came to abrupt halt as all eyes turned to the suspect, who was currently crying while eating the katsudon. "Al-Alright, I'll talk. It's what Mama would have wanted..."
For the first time that Loop, all three cops had the same thought: That WORKED!?
39.1: Another Loop that wasn't properly posted in Disney, but was dug out of Miscellaneous. And yes, they are missing the point.
39.2: And yet another Loop dug out of Miscellaneous. But hey, Nala's there, so it comes to me. Written for New Years' Day, 2016.
39.3: A proper conclusion was never actually written for this, but it was complete enough.
39.4: Jafar is indeed very dangerous when he's intelligent.
39.5: Regrettably, no snips were ever written that followed up on this.
39.5 continued: Robot chatter.
39.6: And so begin the Loops of the shortest-lived animated series produced by Disney Television Animation. One season, thirteen episodes, aired all over the course of about two weeks.
39.7: No real comment.
39.8: And thus the Magnus Chase-era expansions began.
39.9 / 39.9, part 2 / 39.9, part 3: Not being familiar with the Hyperdimension Neptunia setting, there's not much I can say here.
39.10: Well that was a thing.
39.11: Ursula Vs. a Warhammer legion. Ursula loses.
39.12: Right...
39.13: Yes, Godzilla in Hell is a thing that really happened.
39.14: The out-of-Loop reason for no additional Loopers, of course, is that people simply hadn't written for them. Now we've remedied that.
39.15: I confess, I don't fully understand that method. b-wolf95 has this to say though: "It's apparently a reference to old Japanese cop shows? I don't know, I just saw the joke on Pop Team Epic and trying to understand the show is like trying to get a good look at the Elder Gods."