Final Fantasy Infinite Loops
Chapter Four
Disclaimer: All of the Final Fantasy characters belong to Square Enix. The original idea for the infinite loops comes from Innortal and later codified by Saphroneth. OathtoOblivion started the Final Fantasy Loops thread and was the first compiler. I think that's every thing...Oh yes Spacebattles is who hosts the Infinite Loops threads.
-o-
4.1 [Drakohahn]
"Well, this takes me back," the brown-haired, violet-eyed Kira Yamato commented to himself as he gazed at the tail waving behind him. "But I'm certainly not dressed like a Saiyan."
He was wearing: a blue, embroidered vest over a white shirt, puffy blue cuffs with no sleeves, blue trousers and off-white boots. On his belt were a pair of large, mismatched daggers. Apparently he was part of a group of thieves/theater troupe called Tantalus which was on its way, by airship, to the city of Alexandria for a performance. The wooden floor creaked a bit as he walked towards the destination his Loop memories told him to go.
The room he found himself was nearly pitch black, so he pulled a match out of a pouch on his belt and lit it. Seeing a large candle set on a table in the middle of the room, he stepped closer and lit it. As the room got brighter, he heard someone call out, "Who's there?"
"It's me, Kira," the monkey boy replied. Seconds later, three young men came out of a connected room off to the right. They were his friends: Sai Argyle, Tolle Koenig and Athrun Zala if they were fantasy humanoids.
Sai had a brutish physique, pointed ears and small fangs poking up from his jaw and wore: a faded red bandana over his head, a dark blue shirt with a massive bandoleer from his right shoulder to left hip, belted cuffs with no sleeves, knee length blue shorts and fur-lined shoes.
Tolle...Kira mentally sighed at seeing what the Loop had done with his friend...had an obvious potbelly with a cylindrical head and facial hair around a rather creepy grin. He had what looked like some kind of metal chef's hat on his head. Leather shoulder pads were all that covered his upper body, plus more sleeveless cuffs and leather shorts for his legs.
Finally, Athrun looked kind of like Frankenstein's Monster with mismatched colors of skin obviously sewn onto him on his chest, face, arms and left leg. He wore no shirt, but he did have a bandoleer over his right shoulder and two thick belts over his abdomen. Also, he had a large belt on his forehead, covering his eyes. Puffy fur cuffs and fur lined boots completed his outfit with his right leg having a leather knee pad.
As one, the four friends gave the Tantalus salute. Athrun then spoke up, "Hey, Kira! You sure are late!"
"Sorry," Kira replied, relying on his Loop Memories for dialect. He then looked around, "So, where's the boss?"
"Ain't here yet," Tolle answered. Suddenly, after he answered, another door opposite the one Kira's friends came out of and up some stairs opened up. And a very large man with a dragon's head and long neck jumped down and roared at them. Immediately, the four of them readied their weapons as the much bigger man pulled out a very big sword.
What a way to start a Loop... Kira thought to himself.
-o-
4.2 [Zerorock41]
It was that time again. Time for the Emperor to unleash his Cyclone upon the world again. This time however, Firion had an idea. It was a genius idea. A wonderful, brilliant idea. It was also a stupid idea but he wouldn't realize why until later.
While he left his party to go hatch the Wyvern and retrieve Ultima, Firion himself was approaching the Cyclone by foot. Utilizing specialized protection magic, Firion slowly walked right into the center of the vortex, the Emperor's citadel looming above him. And so Firion began his plan.
From his Pocket, he removed several weather control devices and set them to start creating a Tornado that spun opposite of the Cyclone. Next, he began casting every wind based magic he had managed to learn and master over the Loops, even tossing in some Airbending on the side. Finally, after seeing that everything he had was slowing the Cyclone down, Firion began the coup de grâce, a high level Wind spell of his own creation. Mustering all the power he could, Firion cried out:
"AEROZA!"
That did it. A final burst of tremendous gales stopped the Cyclone completely.
Firion cheered, "Yes. The Cyclone is stopped and the Emperor's castle is falling."
...
Firion balked, "Shit. The Cyclone is stopped and the Emperor's castle is falling ON ME!"
Firion ran, ran as fast as he could in any direction to escape the falling building. Sadly, the Wild Rose rebel, distracted by his panic, tripped over himself. The Loop then ended with a tragic sound.
*CRUNCH*
(Next Loop)
Firion Awoke in a classroom. At its head was the Cid from Squall's Loop, who was tapping his whiteboard to get the class' attention.
"Right then. Today we will be studying a wonderful force in the world known only as... Gravity."
Firion groaned.
-o-
4.3 [MyrnaMaeve]
They were fighting the Cloud of Darkness, just as they had many times before. And just as before, Luneth was the only one who seemed to remember. He frowned as he dodged the Cloud's physical attack before throwing a shuriken at it. He couldn't help but wonder why he was the only one to remember the fact that time was repeating itself over and over again.
Distracted, he didn't realize the Cloud of Darkness was charging an attack until it was too late, and the Particle Beam was heading right for him.
Luneth winced, bracing himself for another painful death, only to freeze in horror when his childhood friend pushed him out of the way and took the attack instead.
"ARC!"
-o-
4.4 [Tovath]
Rydia blinked.
"Are you doing alright dear? I'm sorry I won't be able to teach you magic today."
"Mommy, you're alive." Rydia was shocked. Her mother had died years ago when she was a child… like she was now.
"Of course dear, I'm not going to leave you. I just have to get rid of some invaders."
Rydia's eyes widened could it be that I'm back to that day?The day that mom died ... "Mom, if you focus energy through the Epeon then if your summoning is destroyed it will rebound on you."
"How?" Rydia's mother started, "Have been you been reading books that you weren't supposed to?"
"No, I just seem to have traveled through time somehow." Rydia winced, realizing how ridiculous that sounded.
"Ranal, Donnan, can you take care of the invaders." she knelt down and gave Rydia a hug. "We'll figure everything out, honey."
A short while later Donnan came to talk to mother.
"A man was at the pass. When he saw us there he commented on this being different and then said that if time was repeating for Rydia, she should find him at the town where she first met Rosa."
-o-
4.5 [Flametusk]
Somehow, Auron found himself back in Zanarkand after being Sent. "So this is what the Farplane's like," he thought to himself, "I wonder where Braska, Jecht and Tidus are. If this is Zanarkand, then the latter must be at the Blitzball stadium,"
As Auron walked to the Blitzball stadium, he heard something that sounded like Braska's name on the radio.
"...Ten years later, the Braska Memorial Cup is today! The to teams, of course, are the Abes from A-East and the Duggles from C-South. We are in for an exciting game tonight, folks! The Duggles have been playing well this season, but will they be able to play against Braska's daughter herself? Maybe we'll get to see what tricks Yuna has picked up from her father."
At this, Auron's breath got caught in his throat. He made his way to the stadium to apologize to Yuna for failing to keep her alive, when he heard Braska's voice calling out to him.
"It's been ten years. Time to see how well you've been taking care of my daughter, old friend. Get to a high vantage point, and bring her to me. It is time I take her to Spira."
Now Auron was confused, as those were the same words Jecht said before attacking the city that was actually an Aeon. Fortunately, he knew just the building to go to, but when he saw the giant bulge in the ocean, he started to feel like this may not have been the Farplane, after all...
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4.6 [tovath]
This was either going to be a very interesting loop or a very short one, thought Celes as she looked at the Emperor that she had sworn oaths to, all broken now, as he gazed at his throne room. I still think this idea of Bartz's is crazy. The only thing that was different this loop was that Bartz had replaced General Leo. If this plan worked than it would completely derail Gesthal's plans of world conquest. If it didn't, well, Gesthal had many ways to punish those who got in his way, none of them nice. For that reason she made sure that no trace of emotion was on her face, even though inside she was laughing her ass off.
The throne room had been redecorated. Atrocious pink and purple banners lined the walls. Some of them had trees being beaten up or doing interpretative dance on them. Bartz had said he was originally going to use them in a prank on the Big Bad of his loop. There was also a big sign welcoming people to Evil Villain HQ.
"What happened here?" Gesthal shouted.
Bartz stepped forward. Now she would see if he could pull off the next part of his crazy plan, not that she wouldn't be helping, or if she would be breaking him out of the cells beneath the place later. "Since the depiction of trees are too elegant for Kefka to have done himself, it must be the interior decorator ninjas," said Bartz.
"Interior decorator ninjas?"
"Yes, sir," said Celes, as had been planned earlier. "They are quite dangerous. We should see if we can find proof of this."
Bartz made a big production of searching before revealing a painted symbol. "See here is the proof we need."
"I am surprised that you both know so much about these ninjas," said Gesthal. If Celes hadn't known that Bartz had come up with the 'ninja' last night, she would have almost believed that Gesthal knew all about them. Damn man, could speak with such absolute conviction that one would believe in him and follow him if they didn't know better.
"I thought that there was a large chance that Kefka would defect to them so we researched them."
"Good, do you know where they are located?"
"Yes, sire, Their hidden village is on a dessert island called Zone Eater Island," said Bartz, acting in all ways like a proper officer. "Should I...?
Gesthal waved the question away. "I will set Kefka to the task." He nodded. "Yes that would be best."
Celes couldn't believe that Bartz had pulled this off. Just a little bit of industrial sabotage on the ships Kefka would be using and he wouldn't be a problem anymore this Loop.
-o-
4.7 [Chronopie]
The silvery-haired nineteen year old blinked, and punched the goblin in front of him. Why he was face to face with a goblin, Tiz had no idea. The red aura of activating a Brave flared around him, and he punched the Goblin again. And a third time.
With the goblin defeated, Tiz sat on a nearby rock to think. The last thing he remembered was sitting down on Til's gravemarker, in the Caldisian graveyard, preparing to release the Celestial spirit who'd been sustaining his life...
Then he was face to face with a Goblin in... yes, in the Norende Ravine.
Still, punching that Goblin hurt more than he recalled. Especially as a fourteenth level Monk. He shook his hand again, sure he'd bruised his knuckles. Probably didn't help that he was currently a Freelancer...
...
And the Asterisks were missing.
...
This was not the time to panic. Just because he couldn't feel the connection to the Asterisks didn't mean he was helpless. He just... Couldn't use black magic, or white magic, or time magic, or summoning, or any kind of debuff... And the Freelancer job wasn't a terrible skillset. It just didn't stand out, with no real proficiency of any kind, and equal skill in all kinds of weapon...
…
Which were also missing. No, wait, he had a Broadsword. A plain, iron Broadsword.
Well, his fists would do for now. Just need to find Agnes, Ringabel and Edea. One of them would have his gear, and the beacon for the Grandship. Then he could work out who activated the Holy Pillar this time, and why.
-o-
4.8 {Facepalmist]
Squall stood at ease in his place in the line-up, staring straight ahead as Headmaster Cid Kramer addressed the students who would take the SeeD field exam. Cid waddled back and forth, running through his prepared speech.
Or at least, so Squall assumed. He couldn't understand a word that Cid was saying.
"Quack quack qua-quack, quackquackquack. Quack quackquackquack qua-ack?"
Assuming this was any kind of speech, let alone a prepared one.
"Quack qua-quack quack quackquack quarrck qua-quack quack Quack Quay quack Queek..."
And that this was, in fact, Cid.
"Quack quack quack quackquackquack quack-ack quack quack-a-quack."
As opposed to a common, everyday, normal-sized duck. Wearing a red waistcoat. But still a duck.
"Quack-qua-quack, quack qua-quack quack quack queack. Quack quack quack, quacka-quack quack qua-quack, quack-qua quack qua-quaack..."
Yep. Keeping eyes forward and pretending it was the standard speech seemed to be the thing to do here... Well, that and keeping a camera on hand for the day that Zell Dincht appeared as a chicken - but that went without saying.
-o-
4.9 [Zerorock41]
Standing right out on one of the outcroppings above the Mushroom Rock Road, Tidus steeled himself for what he was about to do. "He's trying to kill himself," thought several of the onlookers, including his fellow Guardians. Perhaps this was gonna kill him. But he had waited oh so many Loops for this chance.
As Operation Mi'hen began, Sin started to rise from the sea. Weapons fired, all bouncing uselessly against the monstrous beast.
As the semi-space whale approached, Tidus dug his feet into the ground, pulled out a giant megaphone from his Pocket, and began to yell.
"ABOUT DAMN TIME YOU SHOWED UP OLD MAN!"
Sin slightly turned it's head, but continued forward. Meanwhile everyone on the cliffside turned towards Tidus, wondering what he meant.
"YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD FEW THOUSAND GIL FROM ALL THOSE TOWNS YOU BLASTED!"
With that, even Sin stopped and made a strange guttural sound, almost as if saying "Huh?"
"YOU HEAR ME JECHT! YOU'VE GOT A GOOD TEN YEARS OF CHILD SUPPORT YOU OWE ME!"
-o-
4.10 [Flametusk]
When Tidus Awoke in the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth, he could quickly see that this was going to be a very short and bad loop for him. He consulted his in-loop memories, but didn't get much farther back than noticing he attacked a Tonberry right before he Woke up.
Tidus avoided the robed fishpeople as often as he could after one loop where he learned that Karma takes in to account all kills, not just the ones from that loop. This loop, however, his unawake self didn't know about Karma, and thought the thing would be easy spheres. Suffice to say, he wasn't strong enough to kill the Tonberry in one hit, and now Awake Tidus would be the one to suffer.
"Oh for crying-" He never got to finish his exclamation as the Tonberry executed him.
Yuna, who was Awake at the time, allowed the unawake Tidus to attack the Tonberry only because his kill count was low enough that Karma wouldn't do anything that a quick Curaga couldn't heal. Upon hearing his cut off sentence, however, she realized that not even a full-life would be enough to bring him back.
-o-
4.11 [Tovath]
Ramza Awoke and saw that he was at Orbonne with Gaffgarion and Rad again. In a way he was glad of this. The last few resets of time has sent him back to Gariland Military Academy. He kept trying to avert all of the tragedies that happened. He kept failing as well. Teta kept dying, if not at Algus' hands then at the hands of someone else. Milluda was too stubborn to back down and truly what way out could he offer her. Rafa wouldn't believe him until too late.
He was half sure that all this was some punishment in the afterlife for his mistakes. Despite all his attempts at following the path of honor, he has been declared a heretic after all. Yet he had seen proof of the lies of the church.
Ramza shook away his thoughts as he followed Gaffgarion into the chapel to see what was taking the princess so long. Gaffgarion got into an argument with Agrias as usual. What wasn't normal was the princess. She wasn't Ovelia. Despite this rather large change no one else acted any differently and events unfolded the same way as they always did. He told Gaffgarion that he would stay and guard the princess.
Once everyone left he turned to the Princess. "You are not Ovelia."
"No, I seem to be replacing her this loop though. Are you the local Anchor?"
That was the last thing he expected her to say. "What are you talking about?"
"You are repeating the same events over and over, right?" At his nod she continued, "I will have to give you the Welcome to the Multiverse speech then." She paused for a moment. "How long do we have before something happens?"
Ramza wasn't sure what was going on but if this woman was offering to explain then he wanted to hear what she had to say."In a few minutes Delita is going to come in and try to kidnap you."
"What should we do about him?"
That was a good question Ramza had tried many different ways of dealing with Delita. "I'm not sure, I don't want him to die. He used to be my best friend, but we won't be able to talk him out of his plan in time."
"I have an idea, but first I think I should introduce myself properly. I am Zelda of Hyrule." she pulled a red cape out of nowhere. "One of the things I will be teaching you is how to make your own subspace pocket." She unfurled the cape. "Now this is the Magic Cape* It can make it so no one can see us, but we are going to have to stand very close for it to cover both of us."
There were sounds from outside. "Quick into the shadows" She pulled the cape around both of them. It had been a long time since he had been this close to a woman. He saw Delita come running in, look around, say a few curse words he hadn't known when he was younger and leave. Zelda pulled away. "I better give at least the first part of the speech before anything else happens."
She then started to explain about Yggdrasil and how the Admins, who sounded like Gods to Ramza, were trying to fix it.
"Now before we get into the next sections, do you have any questions?"
Ramza had only one very important question. "Why is someone chosen as an Anchor?"
"I believe, and understand that I haven't had any long conversations with them, that the Admins chose the person who is best able to withstand the stress of the position."
Ramza wiped tears out of his eyes. "Thank you, I've been wondering why me for so long."
"There is one more thing. It was what I really wanted to hear. Others will start Looping. You won't be alone forever."
*From A Link to the Past
-o-
4.12 [Drakohahn]
Marche found his first fight against the White Monk and Fighter Bangaa with Montblanc to be much easier than last time. He only had access to his Soldier skills, but that was fine. He was getting some additional gil to bolster his soon-to-be clan with Mug, after all.
Anyway, they both went down quickly enough and then the White Monk used a potion on a day where item use in battle was forbidden. Apparently, he's had multiple offenses today as he was given a red card rather than the standard yellow and was then sent to prison by the Judge. Then Montblanc pulled him away from the scene to have a chat.
"That was a rather reckless thing to do; calling a Bangaa a lizard, kupo!" the Moogle about half his size admonished.
Now, Marche was conflicted. Should he try to follow the "script" from last time or should he try to explain what happened? Perhaps he should just split the difference.
"Well... It's technically my first time seeing a Bangaa," the young man replied sheepishly. That gave the Moogle some pause.
"Technically?"
"Does it count as your first time after going back in time?" Marche asked confusedly. Montblanc looked at him like he just said the sky was mango.
"So, you're saying that we've met before, that you came here because of a powerful magic book and you can't go home without defeating the embodiment of said book?" Montblanc summarized.
"I know it's crazy. I can barely believe it myself, but I've experienced some very powerful magic before and this seems right up the Gran Grimoire's alley."
The moogle shook his head before asking, "Okay, say I believe you. What do you plan to do next?"
"Find my younger brother, for one. Things will be much easier this time around if I can get through to him before he starts causing trouble."
Montblanc nodded.
"That sounds sensible enough. I'm the oldest of six and I know that we don't always get along."
"You'll help me then?" Marche asked hopefully. The Moogle grinned and held out a hand.
"Sure I will."
The young man took hold of his old friend's hand and shook. As they began walking towards the Pub where their soon-to-be named clan awaited, they conversed some more.
"So, you mentioned crystals before," Montblanc started. At Marche's nod, he continued. "I do believe you about that much. After all, I believe in the 'Crystal Theory' myself."
"Yeah, you told me that last time through." The young man gained a thoughtful look as he put a hand to his chin. "Actually, perhaps that's why you chose to believe me the first time trough as well."
"What's a story about being from a world where your species only exist in fiction when you think the palace has made crystals that haven't been found yet for some strange purpose?" the Moogle replied in good humor.
"Right!" Marche agreed as they weaved through the crowd. Then he realized what his friend had said and began to apologize, but Montblanc waved it off with a chuckle.
"You'll find all sorts of crazy stories out there. Have you heard about the Nu Mou who was raised by Rockbeasts?"
-o-
4.13 [Chronopie]
Tiz rolled his shoulders and punched the goblin. Again. Every five or so loops, after they defeated Orouboros, he ended up back in the Ravine without the asterisks, rather than in Karl's inn.
He hadn't said anything to the others yet. Airy never seemed to be out of Agnes' sight, and there was no way he was going to risk her turning into her monstrous form without his friends in the know and with the power of the asterisks.
Speaking of which... The silver-haired nineteen year old grinned. In this world, the Freelancer job was actually an Asterisk, unlike the last couple times, where it was simply the lack of one, but, more importantly, he could feel the knowledge of its techniques.
The knowledge of how to make the most of any (other) Asterisk, how to roll with the blows just so, to endure the hits properly. The mystic connection that rendered him immune to poisons, and allowed him to survive massive damage and fight on. And, significantly, how to mimic someone's movements just right to draw out effects he shouldn't be able to use as a Freelancer.
It was even strengthening his body slightly. It only took two hits, rather than three, to drop that Goblin.
Now he just needed to work out how to carry over Asterisks between these resets. And maybe some of those Asterisks that only showed up rarely, like the Wizard Asterisk that Ominas Crowe had one time instead of his normal Black Mage. Or that Matchlock girl that replaced Artemia, but fought like Khint with a gun. Or that Guardian job that attacked with beams of light.
But he was getting sidetracked. Speaking of sidetracking, maybe he'd be able to get the drop on Barras and Holly this time, now that he could use the Freelancer job to its fullest...
-o-
4.14 Final Fantasy Senshi part one [Tovath]
Cecil Awoke while running to school. He stopped and looked around at the businesses, cars and apartment complexes then started running again. This time to go save a cat. He had been to this loop several times before and rather liked it. He had learned so much about being a Looper from Usagi the first time he was here.
The boys were in the same parking lot they always were and they were run off just as quickly. Their parents were doing an awful job raising the kids if they thought such a thing as tormenting a cat was fun. His own son would never do such a thing. Cecil told himself to stop woolgathering.
He took the band-aid off the cat's face. "Are you Awake?" he asked. He got an unbending stare in return. This is when he realized that he had forgotten to Ping. After doing so he got ten replies back, but there was no indication that the cat before him had even noticed them.
Then the bell at his school sounded out indicating the start of classes. He swore and ran off. Best to keep this baseline until I have some idea of who is here.
xxx
The test at school went fairly well for Cecil. He got a 75; Usagi had once told him she got a 30 in her baseline. On the way back home, he kept his eyes open for Mamoru, or possibly (hopefully) Rosa, but no such luck. He did see a young man with blond hair in a ponytail, but Tokyo was the largest city in a world whose medium sized cities were larger than Baron. There was no way to be sure that man hadn't been there before.
Nothing else of note happened until that evening. Cecil was laying on his bed thinking about the awkwardness of having friends and family who were not actually his when Luna showed up. "I have been looking for you for some time. You see you are the reincarnation of a great warrior. I am here to help you regain your old power, so that you can defeat the evil power that is plotting to take over the world."
Cecil was going to take this as his cue to ask how she was going to do that when Luna did a little flip and a pin in the shape of one of the crystals appeared. "Now put this on and say 'Moon Power."
When he said the transformation phrase a sword came down from the Heavens. Once he grasped it he was wearing armor. Blue and white armor that he knew quite well since it was his Paladin armor. He already knew where to go, so he jumped out the window and —
"Wait for me."
—headed to the OsaP with a cat on his head.
xxx
When Cecil arrived the jewelry store was full of unconscious people and a monster in a black dress, who was ranting about Queen Beryl and the Negaverse while choking Cecil's classmate, Naru.
"Let her go," he called out.
The monster turned its head around 180 degrees to look at him. "What... Why do you have a cat on your head?"
That was a good question, but not one he wanted to answer. He shrugged and decided to roll with it. "I am the Cat Paladin. Now release the girl and stop your evil deeds or I will punish you!"
"I've never heard of you and I'm sure I never will again." She raised her arm incidentally releasing Naru. "Arise my children and serve the great power that is the Negaverse." she might no longer be choking Naru, but all the women who had been collapsed on the floor were now shambling towards him. He avoided the fat woman trying to grab him and a couple other girls. Suddenly, but not surprisingly for Cecil, a rose came flying at the monster. Cecil looked up toward the window to see a young man who was most decidedly not Tuxedo Mask. He had a black mage's hat on that was casting shadows over his face, the armor of a knight and a cloak the same shade of green as Rydia's hair.
"Spirits of time, Hide us from the judging hand of God! Stop!"
Cecil hadn't even known that spell had a full incantation, but he wasn't going to waste this chance. He rushed forward sword in hand and sliced the monster in half. When he turned back to the window to thank the man there was no longer anyone there.
"Black mages can't jump like that." said the cat who was possibly not Luna after all.
"When did you Awaken?" Cecil asked.
"Um, sometime today. I freaked out when I first awakened, 'cause of the whole cat thing and the expecting to be attacked thing..."
Cecil facepalmed "So what is your name anyway?"
"Firion."