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 2020-07-11. This is the first of two chapters posted today.

Disney/Kingdom Hearts Loops, Chapter Forty-Three

43.1 (Masterweaver): [Phineas and Ferb]

Candace took a breath and let it out. "Alright, quick check. Pings, sounds like everyone. Loop memories normal. Busting urge at average levels. And also a craving for waffles?" She looked into the mirror. "Why waffles, though? Did I get hit by a waffleina-FOCUS. Focus... hmm. Hmm. Okay. So ordinary loop so far." She shrugged. "Oh well, going to get me some waffles before I try my basic bust."

She walked down the stairs, deliberately not looking into the backyard as she opened the freezer. "Ice cream, frozen meat, microwavable haggis, some sci-fi doohickey that... looks like a popsicle holder? Whatever, that's not important. Ah, waffles!" With a grin, she opened the box and pulled out a couple frozen waffles, sticking them in the toaster. "Ah, modern convenience. Let the machines do all the cooking for us! And also food storage. And temperature control. Yep. Machines everywhere. This is a thing."

Her fingers rapped on the counter as she watched the toaster.

"...Something isn't right."

She glanced out the kitchen window. "Phineas and Ferb have their blueprints, so that's still working... Isabella comes in, asks whatcha doin'... Phineas says 'Where's Perry...' Little early for Baljeet and Buford to be here..." She tapped her chin. "Hmm. Something is missing. What is it, what is it..."

The toaster popped.

"That's right!" Candace said, snapping her fingers. "I ask Mom if I'm in charge! Weird, usually she'd be getting ready to go to the grocery store by now." She glanced at the fridge. "Wonder what's keeping her."

She grabbed the waffles and put them on a plate as she walked into the living room. "Hey Mom? You doing alright? Are you... stuck on the stairs or something?"

Linda's descent down the stairs was a touch slower than usual. Her expression looked a bit bewildered, eyes drifting around the room without quite settling on anything. "I'm... not sure, actually. It's probably, not really, it's... it's probably nothing."

Candace quirked an eyebrow. "It doesn't sound like nothing."

"I'll... be fine, I'll be fine," Linda assured her. "Anyway, I'm going to go... get groceries. That's right, we're almost out of bread, aren't we?"

"Hmm." Candace opened the cabinet. "Yeah, it looks like it. It's incredible that you knew that without even looking. Hey, is there anything else we're missing?"

"Some... frozens. Ice cream, I think."

"Ice cream?" Candace opened the freezer. "But-oh, wait, duh, this is the Moon ice cream, that wouldn't be here in... base... line..."

She stared at the ice cream for a moment.

"...Hey Mom? Crazy random question. What do you think I should name my second son?"

"Fred," Linda replied distantly.

"Mmhmm." Candace shut the freezer door. "Hey, if you're going out, I'm in charge, right?"

"Nobody needs to be in charge, Candace." Linda grabbed her keys, shaking her head.

"But what if something happens, like, oh, I don't know..." Candace glanced at her askance. "A herd of moose bursting into the house and attacking everyone?"

"Well if that... happens..." Linda blinked. "A herd of moose?"

"Were you expecting a satellite?" Candace asked with a small smirk.

"...Yes. Yes I was." Linda turned around. "Candace, what's-"

"Wait wait wait! Do you remember-no, you were in the movie theatre for the invasion..." Candace rubbed her chin for a moment, then snapped her fingers. "Aha! The pop-up thingy! Do you remember the pop-up thingy the boys rode that one time?"

"I..." Linda blinked. "That was real?! And-why did I forget it? Or... will have forgotten-wait, but if that happened, then it wasn't a dream, and I've come back in time!"

"YES!" Candace pumped her fist. "Yes yes yes yes yes! You're looping, finally! Which means it's only a matter of time before-actually, you know what?" She held up her hands. "I think I need to put off the busting urges for now. It'll be a struggle, but you need to know what's going on before you bust Phineas and Ferb-OH MY GOSH!"

She rushed out to the backyard. "PHINEAS! FERB! CANCEL EVERYTHING, MOM IS LOOPING!"

43.1 continued (Masterweaver): [Phineas and Ferb]

Phineas and Ferb in: MOM'S LOOPING!

"Really?" Phineas rolled up his blueprints. "That's awesome! Ferb, get Perry inside it's time for a family meeting!"

Ferb grabbed Perry, scratching his head. Isabella giggled as she followed the boys into the house. "Have I mentioned how adorable your voice is the first day of summer?"

"Yes, yes you have." Phineas shot her an annoyed look, though the playful smile on his face nullified it. "Several times."

"Guys, come on, be serious here." Candace gestured toward the still dazed Linda. "Mom's going to have a panic attack if we don't talk this all out. Actually, should we talk this all out?"

"Krrkrrkrr," said Perry.

"Just the basics for now," Candace agreed. "We can cover specifics later. Mom, come on, sit down."

"Sit down? Candace, I-you know the future, and I know the future, and that-"

"Is perfectly normal and explainable," Isabella said calmly. "It's a lot to take in at once, though, so... do you want me to get you some juice to drink?"

"Or something to eat?" Phineas said, producing a cake. "We've got-"

"You just pulled that cake out of nowhere!" Linda exclaimed.

"Actually, I pulled it out of a localized subdimension created with the manipulation of-"

Candace coughed. "Phineas, I think she's more 'scared' than 'amazed.'"

"What, really? I didn't get that."

Isabella put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Phineas, you can be a lit-tle oblivious when it comes to reading other people."

"Really?" Phineas blinked. "What makes you say that?"

Isabella leveled a flat stare powered by years' worth of unrequited romance at him.

"Okay, but that was just childlike ignorance of the concept of love. Candace, you're with me right?"

Candace leveled a flat stare powered by summers' worth of stressful failures at him.

"I mean, fine, but that was just childlike naivety and enthusiasm. I mean, come on, Perry-"

Perry leveled a flat stare powered by days' worth of sorrowful regret at him.

"That was a high-stress situation!" Phineas protested. "With, you know, the whole... other dimension thing, and-Ferb. Seriously, bro-"

Ferb leveled a flat stare powered by hours' worth of bulgarian folk dancing at him.

"That... yeah okay, I got nothing." Phineas frowned at the cake in his hands. "Wow. I guess I am a little oblivious when it comes to reading other people."

"It's okay, Phineas," Isabella assured him. "We all have our flaws. That's why we work together to help cover them!"

"That's right. We can all do things to help each other." Candace gestured to Linda. "Like telling Mom about the loops. Seriously," she added to her confused mother, "you want to be sitting down for this, it's big."

"I... is this another busting attempt?"

"No! Geeze, Mom, not everything is about busting with me!" Candace threw up her hands. "Just-we need to focus on the important thing here, which is telling you what is going on!"

"Alright," Linda said slowly. "And... what is going on?"

"Ferb and I have constructed a fully infographic presentation," Phineas replied as Ferb produced a tiny disk and put it on the ground. "It's holographic with surround sound and-"

"Less technobabble more summarizing," Candace said quickly, glancing around. "I don't want the mysterious force to interrupt us."

Linda gave her an odd look. "The mysterious force?"

"Oh yeah, good point." Phineas cleared his throat, tapping the disk and summoning forth a semi-transparent image that hovered in the middle of the room. "Behold, the great worldtree supercomputer that is Yggdrasil! It underlies the entirety of the known multiverse..."

43.1 continued again (Masterweaver): [Phineas and Ferb]

Phineas and Ferb in: MOM'S LOOPING!

"...so that about sums up the basics," Phineas concluded. "Well, for looping in general, anyway. There's a bunch of stuff that specific universes have we need to talk about, but that can wait. What do you think?"

Linda was staring at the various floating images, blinking slowly.

"...That is a very creative story-"

Candace groaned. "Oh come on, Mom, you remember the future-even the parts that were erased from your mind! And there's holographic technology right there, in front of you. That Phineas pulled out of his subspace pocket, basically seeming to pull it out of nowhere. What do you need, a display of literal magic?"

"I'm a part-time fairy godmother freelancer," Isabella offered. "There's not really a call for it in Danville, but Drusselstein is only a short commute away by warp generator."

"I didn't know there was a fairy godmother patch," Candace said.

"There usually isn't. It's not one of the loop stable ones." Isabella rolled her eyes. "That doesn't mean I don't snatch it up when it is a thing, of course."

"Hold on, hold on." Linda held up her hand. "What... what I meant was... I'm suddenly in the past, and I'm being told that my children are older than me, and that magic is real and... and I'm just supposed to accept this? What's next, Perry actually being some sort of spy?"

"Krrkrrkrr," said Perry, walking in with a fedora atop his head.

Linda blinked. "I... I wasn't serious."

"Yeah, he's a secret agent," Phineas admitted. "I was pretty thrown when I found out too. Of course, if his cover is blown, the O.W.C.A. tries to relocate him, so we don't talk about it until he puts the counter-intelligence program Ferb made into place. And that only works in our house, so we don't talk about it outside until Perry tells us it's safe." He gave the platypus a look. "Were you just waiting for her to say that before you walked in?"

Perry smirked.

"Of course."

Linda shook her head. "This is... this is insane."

"Welcome to the loops, leave your sanity at the door." Candace put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, I get it. This is way out of left field, even by our usual standards. It'll take some time to adjust, sure. But you'll have all the time in the world, and you'll have us here to help you."

"And hey, now that you're looping we have a whole multiverse of possibilities to show you!" Phineas looked around. "What do you say, everyone?"

"I say take it sloooooow," Isabella suggested cautiously. "She's the local normie. Maybe keep it to baseline projects before we break out anything too radical."

Candace nodded. "How bout it, Mom? You stick around the house this time, and I'll handle the groceries."

"...I guess that's alright," Linda replied. "What do you mean, local normie?"

The others all chuckled. Even Perry's growl was amused.

"What?"

Candace took a breath. "I can't believe I'm saying this-it goes against all my ingrained instincts-but if you want to find that out, you have to swear not to bust the boys."

"What?"

"Just... trust me on this. Let them do their thing-and you'll be running baseline, right guys?"

"It is a greater sacrifice than you realize," Ferb said, "but I suppose we'll go through the motions this once. It really is a shame how much she's missed after all."

"Saves a lot on blueprints," Phineas agreed. "Oh yeah! We need to get to work on the rollercoaster, doubletime."

Linda blinked. "Rollercoaster?"

"It's a tradition! First day of the loop, build a rollercoaster-well, when we can." Phineas shrugged. "We're usually halfway done by now, but with having to get you up to date on the loops and all-"

"Kids, you can't build-"

Candace put a finger to Linda's lip. "You have to swear not to bust them. Not to ground them, not to put them down. You have to go with it. Or you won't understand."

"Candace-"

"Just this once. Just this loop. We can talk about it more when this summer comes to a close."

"We'll have at least ten years," Isabella added.

"Twenty," Candace corrected.

"Oh yeah. That whole thing."

"Come on, Mom." Phineas looked at her with wide eyes. "Just some fun with your kids? Best way to spend the summer, right?"

Linda looked at him. Then at Ferb. Then her daughter. Then the platypus in a fedora.

"...you are just not going to take no for an answer are you?" She sighed, and managed a small smile. "Alright. I guess I can watch you kids do your thing."

"You have NO idea how much that means to all of us," Candace said. "Oh! Perry, you'll have to tell Dr. D about this. The boys going baseline for Mom I mean, you know, so he can match up things."

Perry tipped his hat, tapped a few bricks on the chimney, and stepped into the small elevator that revealed itself.

"...Where's he headed?" Linda asked.

"Secret underground agent lair," Phineas replied casually. "Oh, come on! We've got a coaster to build!"

43.2 (Masterweaver): [Phineas and Ferb]

Phineas the Oblivious, Incident 23

"Hmmmm." Phineas rubbed his chin. "Ferb? I think I've noticed something over the last few loops."

Ferb glanced up from his partially completed industrial whipped-cream production facility.

"I think... and I might be crazy on this... but I'm pretty sure Isabella has a crush."

Ferb froze.

"Now don't give me that look," Phineas said flatly. "I'm totally cool with it."

"You're alright with Isabella having romantic affections," Ferb clarified.

"What you two do with your life is not my business," Phineas assured him. "Congrats, bro, I'm behind you all the way, no matter what you decide."

Before Ferb could even begin to formulate a reply, the lady herself entered the backyard. "Hey Phineas! Watcha doooin'?"

"Oh, I'm just about to head inside," Phineas said with a grin. "I'll leave you two lovebirds out here." Cocking fingerguns at the pair of them, he walked into the house.

Isabella blinked. She turned to Ferb. "Wait, does he really...?"

Ferb nodded.

"Oh my god." She put her head in her hands. "How can somebody so smart be so stupid?!"

43.3 (Leviticus Wilkes): [Frozen]

"I'm blowing it up."

"You can't blow up my space elevator Anna."

"It's asking for trouble."

"It's an elevator."

"It's a disaster waiting to happen!"

"What's a disaster waiting to- woah."

It had taken him much too long, but Kristoff had finally found Anna and Elsa. Sure he had to make a blood sacrifice to elder gods to open a trans-temporal portal to the Bahamas, but that was small potatoes in the broader multiverse, what with his auto-revives and all. He hadn't expected to see the seemingly infinitely tall tower of ice in the tropics though. "Uh..."

"Kristoff, thank Birch you're here, tell Elsa she needs to knock that tower over," said Anna.

"I am not knocking over my space elevator," Elsa retorted. The queen of Arendelle pointed at the gargantuan edifice. "Why would I?"

"The elevator glitch!"

"Elevator glitch?" Kristoff was scratching his head when the sisters took a break from their squabbling to throw incredulous looks at him. "What? Should I know about it?"

"An elevator glitch is a glitch where Loopers travel up a slowly ascending of descending elevator. It usually takes a few hours, they can't leave the elevator, and each floor is something weird and different."

"They're rare, but building an ice elevator to the stars is tempting fate Elsa. You know Fate doesn't handle temptation well. It's like a... a chocoholic in a chocolate factory," said Anna.

"I am not knocking it over," said Elsa with steel in her voice. "I made it to make ice starships, and I will use it for ice starships."

"I have a portal you can use," Kristoff said, pointing at the howling Eldritch spacehole that whispered horrific secrets.

"...I'm fine," Elsa said. "Besides, if it goes badly, I will be the only one to suffer." She pointed at the pinnacle of the tower. "I will be going there to make star ships of ice. You're welcome to join me."

Anna and Kristoff followed Elsa to the elevator. When she gave them a self-satisfied look, Anna was quick to retort: "When this goes wrong I don't want you all alone."

"She's not alone. Hi!" said a small snowman at knee height.

"I gave Olaf the title of royal elevator boy," Elsa said cheerfully. "Straight to the top of you please Olaf."

"Can do!" declared the cuddly snowman. Olaf happily pulled a lever, and in no time at all the quartet was at the top.

Elsa threw her sister a very self-satisfied look. Anna feigned blindness. She stopped pretending when a legion of men in red robes marched across the platform of the space elevator. "Um... what is that?"

Three men paused. "We are the Spanish Inquisition ma'am."

"What are you doing on my space elevator?" Elsa asked pointedly.

The trio exchanged looks. "Ma'am, we are here because nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition."

43.4 (Boohoooo!): [Billy Dilley's Super Duper Subterranean Summer]

Billy laughed hysterically, Marsha looked concerned and Anaximander was as apathetic as ever as Zeke gave an overexaggerated sigh.

"Ha! This Loop you're Geek! PUNS!" Billy giggled.

"...That was obvious Billy, you didn't need to explain it." Zeke deadpanned, annoyed as he adjusted his glasses and bowtie.

"Don't worry Zeke! I still think you look nice!" Marsha assured, earning a smile from Her blue-haired friend. Anaximander pulled out a Taco from his subspace pocket and watched as Billy and Zeke began arguing.

'Humans...' The Rat Anchor mentally chuckled.

43.5 (ThanatosTiger): [Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir]

Despite his bad luck when it came to these variants, Adrien actually liked it when he looped into Miraculous Chibi.

Admittedly, most of it was the art style, but, there were some pretty paw-some quirks.

Like the Catnip Cologne, which after a lot of prep and defense system sabotage, he would finally be able to use to prank his father Hawkmoth.

Step one, sneak in as Cat Noir and unlock the cages in the cat shelter.

Adrien donned an invisibility cloak and quickly set to work on the cages. Coaxing them out enough to escape the cages but not enough for the cats to interfere with his next step.

Step two. Coat himself with a liberal amount of the Cologne.

Taking advantage of the distance between himself and the cats, Adrien ran out of the shelter as fast as he could, then launched himself in the air with his staff. Despite the head start, the cats were gaining on him, leaping through the air as high as he was, picking up a few friends along the way. But Adrien managed to outpace the horde of cats long enough to arrive at his destination.

The Agreste Mansion, otherwise known as Hawk Moth's basement.

Step three. Destroy the window that led to Hawk Moth's lair, then Cataclysm the cologne off him.

He had no way of using Cataclysm more than once, and the cologne took a dip in the Seine to get rid of the smell, or more likely, mask it with something worse. But there was more than one form of destruction. Acid that was highly corrosive when it came to glass, for example.

When the window was fully opened, he threw the acid as fast as he could, and the glass melted away at an alarming rate. And not a moment too soon, as the cats were right on his tail. Using Cataclysm on the cologne, he jumped into his Pocket, and took a moment to catch his breath. Jumping back out gripped to his staff, he saw his prank was a complete success. Enjoying his branch's modern-day tech, he pulled his phone out of his Pocket to record Hawkmoth futilely trying to escape his feline wall.

For posterity reasons of course.

43.6 (smxsonic): [Kingdom Hearts] / [RWBY] / [Marvel] / [Bar Loop]

"I'm telling you, It's not that hard to understand!" Ruby huffed from behind her cookies and milk.

"Yup" Yang said beside her, "You guys pressed the family button."

"Look, for most people, Family is a straight line from Relative to relative, but if you look at it from a more subjective, more Multiversal viewpoint, It's more like... a big ball of wibbly Wobbly... Family Wamily stuff."

"Yeah, and Fezzes are cool, I can quote Doctor Who too," Peter Parker said taking a small swig of his drink, "Doesn't change the fact that Scott Summer's family tree is more decipherable."

Sora nodded, taking a bite from his ice cream, "I have to admit, Xehanort's plan starts to make a little more sense after seeing how big your family is, and that's not including the relatives from other branches."

"You guys are the worst" Ruby sighed, taking a bite out of her cookie.

The Subject then changed to new expansions and variants.

43.7 (katfairy): [Aladdin] / [Dungeons & Dragons cartoon] / [NCIS] / [Wizard of Oz] / [Moomins] / [Batman Beyond] / [Watership Down]

Princess Jasmine of Agrabah, better known as Jasmine Edwards in this Loop, looked at the dorm where she would be killing some time to make her in-Loop parents happy while she set herself up as a glassworker. As timekillers went, it wasn't too bad; Dartmouth was a good school in most Hub-likes and she didn't mind majoring in Anthropology. The fun part was coming up, though: arranging meetups with her fellow Loopers. She didn't expect to end up in the same dorm as any of the others—Dartmouth wasn't that small—but it shouldn't be too hard to find them.

"Hey, Jasmine!"

Or maybe one would find her first.

"Hank! Where's Terry?" She gave her old friend a quick hug, surprised to see him alone in a Loop they were both in. Hank just laughed, shaking his head.

"We really aren't joined at the hip, you know. Despite what some people think. Although we did end up sharing a room in our dorm, so I'll be seeing him before too long. Have you been here before?"

"Once, last fall. We didn't really explore the town much, just a quick look around before touring the campus. How about you?"

"I grew up in Woodstock, which isn't all that far away, so I've been here for concerts and stuff. There's a coffee shop you really need to check out when you can; I think you and Elena would get along great."

And there was another Looper located. They all knew they'd be ending up in the same town, except for Misty, but they hadn't bothered to give exact locations until the students were settled in and had time to visit. It was good to know that Elena would be somewhere she could drop in frequently without comment; after their first Loop together, the two had become good friends. Not as close as Terry and Hank or some of the inter-Loop couples, but Jasmine had to admit she considered Elena her best friend outside of her own Loop.

"Jasmine, honey, aren't you going to introduce us to your little friend?" Leila Edwards asked innocently, barely hiding a grin. It was Jasmine's turn to shake her head at her "mother's" teasing.

"Mom, this is my new boyfriend Hank Greyson. As soon as I can get you guys out of here we're going to do unspeakable things in my dorm."

"Oh, good, you're starting the college experience right off, then."

"Uh, is there something someone wants to tell me?" Hank asked, blushing. Jasmine cracked up, getting a mild glare from Hank, who then turned to Leila. "Hi. I guess you're Jazz's mother. Good to meet you."

"And you, Hank. Please, call me Leila, and I'm sorry we embarrassed you."

"HankHankHankHankHank!"

Before Hank had a chance to reply, he was glomped by a Goth girl about their own age and close to Hank's height in her platform boots. He staggered under the onslaught but stayed upright to return the hug with a huge grin. Seconds later, the girl hugged Jasmine almost as tightly.

"Jasmine! It's been forever!"

"Hey, Abby, it has been a while. Once we're all settled in, we'll have to go to that coffee shop Hank was telling me about and catch up. Maybe they'll have that drink you used to like. Oh, Mom, this is Abby Sciuto. She's from New Orleans, and we met at that summer camp you sent me to down in Virginia that time." It was the best cover story Jasmine could think of, and she knew her mother wouldn't bother checking up on it.

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry. Jasmine told me enough about that place that I never sent her back, but if I'd known she'd made a friend there, I'd have tried to get hold of your parents so you could go to a better place together." Leila held out a hand to Abby, who shook it. The older woman then continued, "I'm glad you and Jasmine managed to stay in touch, though; I do feel better knowing she's already got some friends here. Not that you have problems with that, honey, but I remember my own first weeks at college and how my own friends helped me settle in."

"We'll help each other," Hank promised. "Like I said, I know the area pretty well, so I can help them learn their way around. And we're all majoring in different subjects, so we can work together on our overlapping classes and tutor each other when we need to."

That wasn't likely to be necessary, Jasmine knew, but hearing it would make any decent parent relax. It didn't hurt that Hank was almost a walking stereotype of a clean-cut American boy in a completely unironic way; oh, she knew that, like most Loopers, Hank has his darker moments, but it took a lot of pushing to get him there, even after that thing those Mythos jerks had pulled.

"Hey, guys, starting the fun without me?" And there was Terry. Another round of hugs followed, and as usual, a tiny part of Jasmine's mind boggled at getting a hug from a Bat. She ignored it, reminding herself once again that it wasn't fair to judge all of them by Bruce, who she had just never been able to bring herself to like. Respect, yes, but not like. "Has Hank told you our plan yet?"

"We have plans? Hank, why didn't you tell me?" Abby swatted Hank on the arm, and he pretended to wince.

"Because we only started talking about it a couple of weeks ago and decided not to do too much until we could talk face-to-face. Which we couldn't do until a couple seconds ago. And I'd thought we'd wait until we were at least partly unpacked."

"That sounds like a plan to me," Jasmine said. She did want to know what those plans were and if it was anything she wanted to get involved with, but she also knew that if they started talking about them now, they wouldn't even get up to their rooms before dark. "How about we get our rooms sorted out now and meet up again on the library steps around four o'clock? Hit that coffee shop Hank mentioned?"

There was a chorus of agreement and they headed off in different directions. Jasmine turned back to her mother's car, grabbing the first bags to haul inside.

At 3:45 on the dot, Jasmine sat on the grass outside the library, finally having time to think about what Terry had hinted at. She'd heard from Aladdin and others that the two together could get up to serious shenanigans, but this was her first time in a Loop with both of them at the same time. She knew she didn't have to get involved—she could just hang out with Elena—but she did want to know what the plan was before deciding. She also wanted to know what the other Loopers would be getting up to. She knew most of them, but not all of them as well as she'd like. She'd known Abby for eons and was always good with sharing a Loop with her, and she and Moomintroll had shared an awkward but amusing Loop when he'd replaced Aladdin and a highly indignant Rincewind had replaced Jafar, but she'd only met Dorothy and Bigwig a handful of times in various Bar Loops and she wasn't sure if she'd met Moominmamma at all. Since this was a Hub-like, it meant they'd probably have a few years to remedy that; she was looking forward to it.

"Hey, Jazz, your parents leave already?" Hank plopped down next to her. "So where are you from this time around? We never did ask each other that, did we?"

"No, we didn't. New York City, and you would not believe my family history." Jasmine leaned back on her elbows, grinning. "I'll have to tell you sometime when we have a few spare hours; I think it might be one of the most complicated backstory I've ever gotten, and that's saying something."

"Mine's pretty simple this time; my parents run a jewelry store in Woodstock and volunteer at the national historical park. No drama for a change, which I am not going to complain about."

Jasmine gave him a sympathetic grimace; while Loopers liked some excitement to keep from going crazier, sometimes the tree just went too far with their histories. The last time she'd been in a Hub-like with Hank, his father had been a serial killer and his mother a Russian spy, while her parents had been fundamentalists who kept trying to force her to marry a cousin. Okay, second cousin, but still. Thankfully, there was nothing that bad in the hot mess that was her family history this Loop.

"How about Terry and Abby? Anything I should know?"

"Well, Abby's from New Orleans as usual, which you knew, and she sounds happy about her family this time, but that's all I know. Terry's from Juneau of all places, and his family wants him to finish up and come back home to be a tax attorney like his father. Since his major is Earth Sciences, that's probably not going to happen, so that may be our family drama for this Loop. He's not worried though, so neither am I. I got the feeling that they're just boring, not dangerous, which is good. Have you talked to Elena yet?"

"Chatted a bit, but we decided to wait until we could really talk, you know?"

Hank nodded, and the two sat in silence for a while, waiting for their other friends. It was a comfortable silence; neither one felt the need to make awkward chatter just to avoid other awkwardness. It was one of the things she'd always liked about Hank, that he was so easy to hang out with. For a brief time after that first Loop with him, she'd worried that she might have developed a crush—it happened amongst Loopers every so often, even the ones in a committed relationship like her—but she'd soon realized that it was more that she wasn't used to having a guy as a friend than any sort of romantic feelings.

"Our plans aren't really anything major this time," Hank said after a while. "Just something we thought we'd do next time we were in the right kind of Loop. It'll be a hobby for us, not like the storm-chasing we did or that Loop we spent doing adventure stuff for reality TV."

"Any hints?"

"Nah. Not 'til we're all together. Mainly so we only explain once, you know?"

Jasmine nodded; it made sense. She could wait, even if she was more curious than she had been. It was good to know that it wasn't a big deal, since she'd have felt guilty about saying no if it had been something important. Although now that she knew that, she felt a little more inclined to go along with whatever it was, even if it was only for a little while.

"So how's Tiamat doing?" Jasmine remembered to ask. The irascible old dragon had endeared herself to all of Jasmine's native Loop with one simple act, and even thousands of Loops later, the memory of her chasing Mozenrath around the Seven Deserts because his latest attempt to kill Aladdin had interrupted her nap could still make Jasmine chuckle. Hank responded in kind.

"Oh, you're gonna love this: a couple of Loops ago, we had sort of a Fused Loop with Equestria, and it turned out that her unAwake self had dated Venger's boss, and dumped him when she caught him cheating on her."

"No! Okay, I have to hear this one, even if the others aren't here yet. Spill it. By order of the princess." Jasmine sat up again, listening eagerly. Semi-mysterious plans could wait; this was prime gossip.

43.7 continued (katfairy): [Aladdin] / [Dungeons & Dragons cartoon] / [NCIS] / [Wizard of Oz] / [Moomins] / [Batman Beyond] / [500 Kingdoms]

Jake Peikko, AKA Moomintroll in his home Loop, sat across from his new "girlfriend", waiting for his friends to arrive. He'd gotten a text from Jasmine that read "Trouble Twins have plans", which under the circumstances had to be Hank and Terry; he'd never met Terry McGinnis, but Hank had landed in Moomin Valley a few times, plus he'd heard stories from others, and the name did fit. Unlike some of the other pairs that name could be attached to, however, their plans were rarely intended to cause trouble for anyone who hadn't done something to deserve it. He was looking forward to hearing this Loops plans, as a bit of adventure was always—well, usually—fun.

If there was one thing Moomintroll loved about the Loops, it was that it afforded him great scope for adventuring with a promise of returning home at the end, no matter what went wrong. It was a Moomin's dream: excitement, danger, exploration, and a good meal after. Granted, sometimes those adventures got a bit darker than he liked, but no matter how bad it got, he knew it would pass. Of course, there were certain Loops when he dove into his Pocket as soon as he Awoke and realized where he was, because there were reasonable limits, after all. But those were few and far between and this wasn't one of those. At this point, the biggest danger in sight was what the Snork Maiden would say when he told her he'd posed as Dorothy Gale's boyfriend; although Dorothy was an old friend and the Snork Maiden understood that sometimes you found yourself paired up in ways you hadn't intended, she was also a bit jealous when it did happen.

"They're here, Jake," Dorothy said, bouncing a bit. She was always up for an adventure too, while appreciating the comforts of home as much any Moomin. It was part of the reason she fit into his Loop so well when she was there. "I'm awf'lly int'rested in what they're planning. 'Specially if they're inviting us to come along."

Moomintroll nodded, watching the four walk in. He knew Hank and Jasmine, of course, and figured the dark-haired boy with the strangely pale eyes had to be Terry and the dark-haired, dark-eyed girl dressed all in black had to be Abby. He had met her before, but in one Loop they'd both been Pokémon and the other had been in Equestria. This was the first time he'd seen her in anything like her baseline form. As humans went, she was quite pretty, he thought, but on the whole he still preferred Moomins and Snorks.

"Hey, guys, good to see you all," Hank said, stopping by their table. "We'll order before sitting, but then we can talk, okay? Nothing that shouldn't be overheard, I promise."

A few minutes later, they were all comfortably seated on the plush couches, drinks and pastries if not in hand then at least within easy reach. A few minutes of small talk followed as they caught up as much as they could with non-Loopers around, then Hank leaned forward, setting down his iced tea.

"During our meet-ups, Terry and I usually talk about what we want to do the next time we run into each other, since it happens often enough that we can make plans. Last time, we decided we should give ghost-hunting a try. Not ghost-busting, just doing investigations to determine if a place really is haunted and if it is, does anything need to be done about it. Near as we can tell, a lot of what people think are hauntings do have a more concrete explanation, and the ones that are real tend toward residual: kinda like a video on an Infinite Loop."

"... Seriously?" Terry's glare was pretty impressive, but Hank just grinned, rubbing his shoulder where Abby had smacked it. Jasmine and Dorothy were rolling their eyes, so Moomintroll decided not to admit that he'd thought it to be a clever bit of wordplay.

"I think it sounds like fun," he said instead. "We could start at our house; we've got a lady who wanders around and doors that open at odd times. And Mamma wouldn't mind, so we wouldn't need to worry about getting permission."

"We've got a couple, too," Dorothy said. "Most places 'round here of any age have at least one, an' I know a couple of neighbors who're friendly enough to let us try."

"Okay, that was easier than I expected," Terry admitted. "Anybody not interested? No? Okay, but before we start any investigations, we do need to set ground rules, get some basic structure to our group. I'm not talking about who's in charge—"

"You and Hank, of course," Jasmine said. "This was your plan, so you get to run it. But you'll probably be doing the 'first among equals' thing, right?"

"Sure, why not? But nobody's going to be in charge of any particular aspect of the hunts; we'll all be able to take on whatever job needs doing so that if anyone isn't available for any reason, we can cover for them. That means taking the lead, too, but all of us have proved we can do that even if we'd prefer not to. I've done some preliminary work already, mainly getting a dedicated laptop with pertinent programs set up, a couple of second-hand EMF detectors and IR cameras, and one kinda kludged-together recording setup that we'll probably want to replace with something better before long."

"I'll take a look at them and see if I can help," Abby offered. She was about to say something else, but Elena Klovis came over and perched on the arm of one of the couches.

"We've got a quiet spell going, so I can say hello properly now. So what are you all up to, and do I want to get involved or do I want plausible deniability?"

"Ghost hunting," Jasmine said. "Interested? I think it'll be fun, and I know I'd like to have you along."

"You know you're always welcome to join in," Hank agreed. "When you can get time off from here, anyway, and when you can't, we can stop by and bring you up to speed when it's quiet like it is now."

"All right; I'm in. I can help with history and folklore; this is just my day job while I'm working on my dissertation. Oh, here comes the next lot; maybe we can talk more after closing." The blonde woman headed back behind the counter, pitching in alongside the others. Moomintroll nodded; he'd only met her in passing once or twice, but she'd struck him as a sensible, hard-working type and he was glad to see he was right.

"Okay, so we've got a group," Hank said. "Terry's right, though; we do need to iron out the details and find a good name for ourselves. Oh, and there's one thing I meant to point out before we got sidetracked: the vast majority of our investigations are going to end up pretty tame, Like I said, most are just misidentified issues or residuals, and the ones that are conscious haunts are mostly friendly or at least neutral once an understanding is reached. But... it's not impossible to run into some really unfriendly stuff here. Malicious haunts can be dangerous, although serious injuries are pretty rare. Still, it's something to keep in mind."

Moomintroll frowned at that, but then shrugged.

"It's like keeping an eye on the weather; most of the time it's just fine or at least not bad, but every so often you get a big blow," he mused. Dorothy nodded.

"You spent that Loop chasin' twisters, so you know how that goes. We can all look out for ourselves and each other, anyway."

"That's true," Terry agreed with a grin. "Okay, we've got a group and I think most of the discussion about the details can wait until our first meeting. Any questions for now?"

"Can you see if there's any more of those blueberry oat scones left? You're blocking my view of the counter," Hank said. Now there was a human with his priorities straight.

43.7 continued again (katfairy): [Aladdin] / [Dungeons & Dragons cartoon] / [NCIS] / [Wizard of Oz] / [Moomins] / [Batman Beyond] / [500 Kingdoms]

"This—ow!—is why I insist on at least all-wheel drive—slaggit!—when I Loop into New England!"

Elena Klovis braced herself as they jostled over the washboard road. Even by her standards, it was rough, and her Loop's roads were mostly just wide enough for an oxcart or stagecoach. But Terry McGinnis was doing the best he could, and the old Outback handled it as well as could be expected. Hank laughed, then yelped as one bump nearly slammed his head into the ceiling. Next to her, Abby Sciuto just shook her head.

"Still better than driving with Ziva!"

"Someday I have to meet this Ziva," Elena said. "But why did the homeowners let the road get this bad if they wanted to sell it?"

"Not their fault," Hank said. "Remember those storms last week? They were a lot worse up this way. They warned us there were washouts but that it should be passable to a sturdier car than theirs. They did offer to reschedule for after the road gets fixed, but it could take a few weeks and the plumbers won't come back until they've been promised that whatever's in there isn't dangerous. And since the last time anything but basic repairs got done to any of the plumbing was in the LBJ years..."

"Ouch." Elena had to search her Loop memories for that one; American political history wasn't her strong suit. "That's... what, fifty years?"

"Something like that—oh, good, we're on some decent road again: I hope Dorothy's mom's car can take that bit. The place should be visible once we're past the trees. I wish I could figure out why I've got this déjà vu thing going, though; maybe it's something from an old Loop?" Hank shrugged. "There shouldn't be any more washouts; the slope of the land would be carrying the runoff away from it now."

"Good!" The other three chorused agreement, then Elena finally thought to ask a question she'd had for a while but never thought of on the rare occasions they'd gotten together with non-Loopers around.

"May I ask why you decided to try ghost-hunting this Hublike? I don't want to pry, but you've said a few things that make me think there's more to this than just a way to kill time."

"Hank?" Terry shot his friend a glance before turning his attention back to the still-narrow, winding road. "Your call. I trust her, but it's up to you."

"Not like it's a secret; hell, a good chunk of the Loops know what those Mythos assholes did to me," Hank said. Elena nodded sympathetically, remembering her horror at hearing about it. She'd liked Hank from the moment she'd met him, and had been impressed at how genuinely nice he was, since he was also good-looking and fairly intelligent. Not brilliant like the Danville Loopers, but certainly above average, and that combination usually led to a fair amount of vanity; vanity that Hank just didn't have. Which was probably why the Mythos targeted him; he just wasn't screwed up enough.

"I still wish they'd let me sic Gibbs on those jerks," Abby muttered. Elena grinned; one thing the Loops had never shaken was Abby's total faith in Gibbs' ability to handle any threat. After that Loop with Gibbs replacing the Arcadian Captain of the Guard (and hadn't that made for an interesting bit of chaos?), Elena could understand it.

"And I'd still pay to see that. But I've been slowly working my way through my issues from it, and one Hublike Terry and I were in, we got talking about it and decided to get a little pro-active. The storm thing was pretty easy, since almost all Loops have storms, the emotional stuff just took a lot of patience and various types of therapy, and there were a few other things that were really just a matter of having time to work on, but the haunting thing, that was a problem. See, I don't usually have a lot to do with haunted houses, and the ghosts and other paranormal crap I deal with in my home Loop aren't anything like what I dealt with then. And since the odds that I'd just happen across a haunted house to test my nerve in aren't that great, we figured that forming our own ghost hunting group was our best bet. Honestly, I wasn't really expecting there to be much in the way of problems, since I have had to go into big old Victorians since then and I didn't have any problems, but I have been blindsided once or twice by stuff since then, so..." Hank shrugged. "This is really more to double-check than because we really think it's an issue. We've gone through that mess step-by-step and this was the last thing we could think might be an issue, since I dealt with the last of my storm issues by spending a Loop as a storm chaser. Last Loop I even went through a hurricane on my own with no problems—well, not that kind of problem, anyway. Plenty of the normal ones."

"Well, yeah, hurricane!" Abby grinned. "Hank, you should have just said something in the first place; you know we'd be glad to help!"

"Hey, guys, want to spend a Loop as ghost hunters in rural New England on the off chance I'm still afraid of the boogeyman?"

"I'm in," Elena said. "Honestly, though, it makes sense to me, and this is the sort of thing I deal with in baseline, just in different guise. And can you really call a town with such a prestigious school rural, even if... well, I suppose it is, isn't it? That's something I just can't get my head around; in my home Loop and most of the Loops I've visited, major colleges and universities are in large cities, not small towns."

"That's a history lesson for another day," Terry said. "Hey, there it is—wow, that is Victorian, isn't—"

The car didn't quite screech to a halt, but only because they hadn't been going very fast to begin with. Before Elena could ask or Abby could do more than yelp in surprise, Terry was out of the car. Elena felt a shield spell slam down, and for a second she thought Terry teleported to the other side of the car before realizing the thump on the roof had been him vaulting over it rather than waste time running around. He yanked open Hank's door, unbuckling his belt and hauling him out. Elena couldn't see Hank's face, but the look on Terry's told her that something was terribly wrong. She left the car as well, with Abby only seconds behind her. When they reached the two men, it became obvious why Terry had reacted: Hank was dead white, eyes staring at nothing, practically catatonic. Elena looked around, but couldn't see anything that should have caused it and hadn't sensed any kind of attack. Granted, there were any numbers of attacks that could have done this that she wouldn't be able to sense, but there was no indication that anyone or thing capable of those was in this Hublike Loop. On the other hand, they were here because the contractors trying to restore the property had been scared off by aggressive paranormal phenomenon, so... She looked around again, but all she could see was a rundown but still grand (a bit too grand, honestly) house, the remains of gardens, and sweeping lawns that badly needed mowing. The woods were quiet too; not too quiet, just the normal quiet of a late October day.

Abby was kneeling beside Hank, holding onto one hand and whispering something Elena couldn't quite hear. Terry was looking at him with the intense yet unseeing gaze that meant he was using telepathy at a much deeper level than usual. Feeling a bit frustrated that she couldn't help—her telepathy was strong enough, but Terry was better, more experienced, and had a deeper connection to Hank, as did Abby—she reached into her Pocket for her favorite wand. It wasn't one of her Godmother wands, or technically a Hogwarts wand, although it had elements of both and from a few other Loops as well. She'd contracted with Terry for this one eons ago, since he was the only Looper she knew who had studied so many wandmaking disciplines. She'd collected hairs from her friend Sergei the Little Hunchbacked Horse's mane and tail for the core, fused with powdered scales from Adam and Gina, encased in mallorn wood gifted by Galadriel herself, bound and capped with gold melted down from one of Genie's bracelets she'd picked up in one of her Agrabah Loops, and carved with Fae script from her own Loop threading through High Gallifreyan. Set in the tip was a star-shaped (to make the Tradition happy) piece of Druselsteinite, a silvery-lavender-blue stone that she always thought deserved a prettier name. It was a masterwork in many senses of the word, and if there was a threat that could blindside an experienced Anchor and warrior like Hank, it was probably her best choice for a weapon. She turned her back on them, scanning the surroundings again for any sign of the attacker.

After a few minutes, a deep shuddering breath from behind her brought her attention back to the others. She turned to see Hank shivering in Terry's and Abby's arms, and thankfully, from the looks of him, it was more from reaction to being brought out of himself than fear. There was some fear, but it was already back under control; so he had been blindsided by something. He said something in a harsh whisper that made Terry jerk back in surprise, temper visibly flaring.

"What?"

"It's the same fucking house."

"Same as wha—oh. Oh!" Abby was the next to catch on, and she wasn't any happier than Terry. Someone or something was about to learn why even Gibbs didn't want to get the Queen of the Perky Goths angry, and Elena approved. Whatever could get Hank to use that kind of language on top of everything else probably deserved everything it—and the penny dropped for her as well, making her feel a bit dim for not figuring it out earlier. Haunted, deserted, gigantic Victorian out in the middle of nowhere? Of course it would be at least a mirror image of the house the Mythos had used to break Hank.

Terry stood up, stepped back, and took a deep breath. When he spoke, his voice was what she'd once heard Hank call "Defcon-1 Bat Growl"; she'd never encountered it before, but it couldn't be anything else.

"If anyone in the tree is listening, we need to talk to an Admin right the fuck now."

"Ya think?"

They looked up. They stared. Elena was willing to bet that not one of them had expected a response that fast, and they certainly hadn't expected what they got. Okay, the woman was ridiculously gorgeous: thick black hair, dark flashing eyes, amazing figure, all the standards. But that beautiful hair was piled up messily on top of her head and secured with a sparkly pink clip. The amazing figure was almost hidden under battered jeans and a much-washed t-shirt for what Elena guessed was a band named Shriekback. But what really did it was the Pikachu slippers.

"Uhhhh..." Terry said intelligently, for once at a loss for something to say. Elena smacked down the little voice murmuring that anything really could happen in the Loops. The new arrival frowned at them before looking down at herself.

"Okay, I'll give you that one; I was in such a rush I forgot to change." And she was in less disreputable jeans, a scoop-neck tee, and hiking boots. The hair didn't change though, and Elena knew she wasn't about to say anything about it. "Anyway, you set off an alarm I'd completely forgotten I'd set up, for when any lingering damage from Those Idiots threatened your stability. Um, I might have been a little paranoid when setting the parameters though, because you might have been a bit freaked out, but not destabilizing. Still, it went off, and I wanted an up-close-and-personal look at what caused it."

Hank got to his feet, Abby hovering around him.

"We're ghost hunters this time and were on a case. Problem is, the house..." Hank closed his eyes for a moment, not quite restraining a shudder before opening his eyes again to meet his Admin's sympathetic gaze. "The house is exactly the same as the one the Mythos jerks used."

"Is it now." Tiamat-the-Admin turned to look at the house. "Seriously? Lazy copycat bastards, couldn't even come up with an original house; I know I've seen this one somewhere. Well, let me give it a proper look."

They stepped back, feeling the power gathering around her. Elena couldn't see her doing anything, but knew she was. It was almost anti-climactic, although she knew the lack of pyrotechnics was a good idea. No sense in drawing unwanted attention, after all. A few minutes later, Tiamat nodded, satisfied.

"Right. Not saying there aren't some ectoplasmic jackasses in there, but nothing eldritch. I'll keep an eye on this from the office just in case, though. I dropped the ball once; no way am I letting that happen again. I can't promise a trouble-free Loop, not that you'd want one anyway, but I can promise the Mythos assholes won't get another shot at you. Oh, speaking of eldritch, although they aren't really, this Loop has vampires and they mostly come in two flavors: emo and edgelord."

"I know; my roommate's one," Abby said. The Admin raised an eyebrow, getting a shrug in return. "She's pretty nice, and I just pretend I think she's got juice in her water bottle. I overheard her talking on the phone once, and it looks like they've got the usual masquerade going."

"Okay, so that's another thing we might have to worry about; although there aren't any stories about people going missing around here so either they don't kill their prey or your roomie's scouting new territory." Hank looked a lot better now with something concrete to plan for, Elena noticed. She made a mental note to keep an eye on him, in case he was using this to distract himself from his near-meltdown. She didn't think so, but she also knew that he could be distracted without intending to be, simply because he'd regard a threat to people in general as more important than his own mental health. But he wasn't done, so she started listening again. "Okay, guys, I gotta admit, I don't really want to go in there. But I think I have to. So give me your opinions: am I being sensible or pigheaded?"

"Yes," Terry said bluntly. "It's a good idea to face this and get it over with, but you'd do it even if it wasn't because you do think you should."

"What he said," Tiamat-the-Admin said. "My professional opinion is that, since this isn't Those Idiots, then the Tree thinks it's a good idea. And like I said, I'll be keeping an eye on things. So go ghost-hunting, smack some ectoplasmic heads to blow off steam, and call it good."

She disappeared without any flashy effects, and the four just looked at each other. Elena started to say something, then stopped as she heard the rumble of an approaching car.

43.8 (HollowedOut-Grimoire): [Classic Disney Shorts]

"Mickey! Are there any Awake lawyers in this loop?"

"Technically obvious, why?"

"Legal help for recalling harmful products with my face on it! I already started destroying them, but I want it official!" Donald Duck then showed the object in question.

Mickey gave only a glance before agreeing. "Yep, need a lawyer for that one."

43.9 (Boohoooo!): [Billy Dilley's Super Duper Subterranean Summer] / [High School DxD]

It was an average day In Subterranenia-tania.

"AHHHHH! ANAXIMANDER, THERE'S A CAT-GIRL COMING!" Billy panicked to his best friend and Anchor. Anaximander.. scratched his belly and rolled over. Koneko knocked on the door.

"YOU CAN'T EAT MY FRIEND!" Billy roared.

"...I just want to borrow some sugar." Koneko drawled.

"Oh. ...You sure?" Billy blinked.

"Yes." Koneko bluntly stated. Billy awkwardly gave her what she needed as Koneko walked off.

"...That was awkward." Zeke and Marsha mused.

"Ragreed." Anaximander nodded. Billy sweatdropped.

43.10 (NoLongerBreathedIn): [Mulan] / [Safehold]

"Ms. Fa, can I ask you a question?" asked Cayleb Armahk.

Fa Mulan (formerly known — in this Loop, anyway — as Pei Shan-Wei) was startled. The natural assumption was that Fa was her given name — after all, on Safehold, the only language was English. So why did the prince assume (correctly, at least) it was her family name?

"Um, sure. What?"

"What's your real name? Not Nimue Alban, I assume; if you were her, you'd have picked something Celtic — probably Merlin."

"What?" she said, stalling for time. Nimue Alban had, according to her memories, been the volunteer whose PICA she'd taken. But how could Cayleb know that name, or, for that matter, what Celtic meant, or the name Merlin? It made no sense. Unless–

"No, it actually is Fa Mulan. I was known in this loop as Pei Shan-Wei, but I'm normally born into the Fa family."

"I thought you were a Looper. We normally have Nimue here — she's not Looping yet, sadly — and she uses a male form due to height. Well, welcome to Safehold. Where are you from?"

43.11 (HollowedOut-Grimoire): [Inside Out] / [9]

Nine was completely alone when he remembered the repeats he suffering from.

The Beast was more efficient striking down enemies this time around, and seemingly serving no one. Hunting down and killing Nine's fellow-no, family one by one. Five, somehow, he remembered was the last one to die by its claws. The beast will kill him to If he did not act!

Nine didn't wallow in his predicament. He could perfectly scream and shout as to no-one WHY time allowed such things to transpire. Not now, for he needs to destroy The Beast on his own. For the memory of his family.

Somehow recalling a plan, Nine set out to put it into motion. Selecting choice objects from humanity's grave, Nine constructed-well not a device. Contraption was a close term, but what Nine made was a true death trap.

And its soon victim prowled near. Clocked in flayed cloth, brandishing the talisman, it crept to Nine.

Nine flared his light to blind it, but The Beast was cleaver, and pounced the stitchpunk from behind! The Beast rendered the last-

Wait, a decoy?!

It realized it was trapped in tar and attempted to pry itself free. Nine landed onto its back and grabbed The Beast prizes and jumped of to trigger the final machination.

Releasing various heavy objects from above, they all crashed onto The Beast and broke through the rotting floor.

Nine made sure it was dead before commencing the ceremony for his fallen family. It was strange how he had two talismans instead of the one. Well, two halves of a hole.

The spirits of the fallen appeared, free from the talisman. Five and the rest smiled to Nine in gratitude and dispersed peacefully, with the embers of the pyre.

Ashes long since cooled drifted away as morning came. Nine watch the sun rose, happy to see such a sight for the first time. He hoped time somehow repeated itself again, for everyone to see the sun with him.

Nine's eyes wandered to the lightbulb staff, and went to grab it.

Part 2

Nine crashed onto the floor.

"Are you alright?" He heard.

"I'm Fine-huh!?" He said out loud surprised he could speak. Getting up, he saw One through Eight seated around some control panel in a moderately sized room with a huge window in the back. A Monitor showing first-person perspective of..

Memories once again came flooding into Nine's mind. This time around, Nine represented one of the scientist's emotions. Also, today The Scientist was to give a lecture to an American school. It was also strange to see how.. prosperous everything was. Living people, plants, animals, a far cry from the wastelands he remembers. But the Scientist still preferred to work on machines. Nine put the idea to visit the park later in the day.

"Don't be preposterous! Why would we wander into some unkempt lot here?" One, or Fear as he is called here.

"It would be a nice change of pace.."

"Coming here is change enough!"

"Let's go through the lecture first." Two interjected.

Meanwhile...

"Gah, what's with this guy's hair? I've seen combs with better volume!"

Disgust, be nice.

"Yeah listen to Riley! At least we don't have to do schoolwork for half the day!"

Sadness then spoke up. "Doesn't he seem familiar to you guys?"

How so?

"We watch a movie, I think... maybe...

Rapidly, memory orbs flashed by until...

That's it!, Riley pointed to the 'flashback' to a rather dark movie they watched during one of their slower loops.

"I remember that one! I'm surprised the dream guys didn't use that!"

"Do you think that's looping?" Sadness spoke up.

Well, we can ping, but we would want to distract them, right?

"No.."

Meanwhile-meanwhile...

"Pandora!"

"Oh! Bes, hello."

"Janus got a code for an unexpected fused loop, with a branch of yours that just activated. Is this your doing?"

"Guilty."

"Why?"

"Oh, just testing the waters. Actually, I want you to ask Janus for a favor on my behalf.."

43.12 (Leoblade): [Kim Possible] / [DC Comics]

"This is so humiliating," a certain blue man whined shortly after he Awoke this loop. He was starting to pout as he leaned against a table covered in assorted plants when he heard a voice speak up.

"Come on Dr. D, I think it looks good on you," Shego said as she entered Dr. Drakken's current hideout, a greenhouse, through an open window in the roof while also avoiding the killer plants. She was wearing a green variant of Harley Quinn's jester outfit.

"Just look at me Shego!" he yelled as Shego walked up to the evil genius. She got a closer look at Dr. Drakken's appearance and observed he had massive flower petals around his head, his skin was his usual blue color... and he had on one of Poison Ivy's skimpier leaf dresses.

"Come on, it's not like it's the first time you've worn a dress," she said to her partner in crime after spotting nothing too usual. "Not even the millionth time."

"It's not about the dress," Dr. Drakken yelled/clarified before he pulled on the dress. "Look at this color, it completely clashes with my skin, do I look like a spring." Shego looked at the doctor before laughing.

"This is no time for laughing! Do you have any non-toxic blue dye in your Pocket?" Dr. Drakken asked. "This dress is literally growing out of me and I'm currently out of non-toxic dye."

"I think I saw a store selling dye on the way here," Shego said once she stopped laughing. "Let's go get some dye before Batman shows up."

"I'm already here," the dark knight said as he appeared from the shadows and set down a large container of non-toxic blue dye next to the visiting Loopers. Just as mysteriously as he entered, Batman left the greenhouse, leaving behind the stunned visiting loopers.

43.1/43.1 continued/43.1 continued again: A rare case of kid Loopers having a parent Awaken.

43.2: This is technically a flashback to much earlier in the Loops, as it predates the "Act Your Age" special from canon.

43.3: Elevator Glitches were eventually pretty much been eliminated at the Admin's level, but they still worry.

43.4: Yep, these guys are still themselves.

43.5: They can't deal with the supervillain permanently yet, so they'll settle for pranking him.

43.6: Ruby's family is apparently complicated.

43.7/43.7 continued/43.7 continued again: Even in a Hub or Hublike Loop, Loopers can get into some interesting adventures.

43.8: This involved a comic where Donald Duck's image was used a hand-amputating device. Yeah, if it were me I'd be asking for a lawyer too.

43.9: Cats are a concern when a rat is around.

43.10: ...

43.11: Well that happened.

43.12: Do not underestimate the Batman.