Final Fantasy Infinite Loops
Chapter 6
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-
6.1 [Tovath]
It is nice to travel somewhere for nothing more then to pick up a birthday present for a little girl named Pilika to give her father, thought Terra. Leknaat, the Anchor of this world, had told her there would be a war soon that her in-loop adopted brother would play an important role in and after that she would have a chance to relax. However the war hadn't started yet, so she could run an errand like this with her brother and his best friend, Jowy.
As they approached Toto village, she smelled smoke. No. She ran towards the town. All that was left of the village was burned timbers and collapsed roofs.
"What...what the..." said Jowy as he came up behind her.
Terra ran toward the sound of a child crying. Pilika was in front of the remains of her family's house. Terra held her close and gave a shoulder to cry on. Terra knew that is what she needed most right now.
"Da...da...daddy said go hide. So Pilika hide real good... so nobody find. But Pilika hear lots of noise. Very Scary noise. Very, very, very scary noise. So...so Pilika take a little peek."
Terra winched. The poor girl was just as traumatized as some of the children in Mobliz.
-o-
6.2 [ThanosCradik]
Cloud could only wish that the Loop could end already. Ever since it started, he'd been itching fiercely. Seeing Zach walk up to him was enough to take his mind off of the itch for a bit.
"So... uh, interesting Loop we got, huh?"
"Bawk bawk."
"Hey, I'm not going to laugh, okay. Just because you're a chocobo this time around doesn't mean I'll make fun of you."
"Bawk."
"This time. I won't make fun of you this time."
Their conversation was interrupted as another chocobo strode up to them, this one wearing a black coat.
"Heeey, Sephiroth." Now Zach had a harder time not laughing.
Cloud just stared at the newcomer, as he stared back.
"...bawk."
"Bawk bawk."
-o-
6.3 [Chronopie]
There was a trick to this, Alternis Dim was sure. On what he liked to call 'world 6', Airy knocked him for six, and he always awoke on 'world 5' without his Dark Knight asterisk. When he worked together with the 'world 6' versions of his friends, they could even knock Airy dangerously low. Only, the others didn't trust him. Whoever was playing the white mage was always reluctant to drop him a heal, or a buff, and he had to resort to using absorb magic against the occasional bind.
On the rare occasion that it was Edea playing the white mage - she really was not suited to the role - she at least healed him freely. On those attempts, Airy mutated into her second form, the bizarre pupae, and blasted the party with the entire gamut of elements. The party of three almost never had a spiritmaster - too many roles, too few members - and he was stuck in his Dark Knight asterisk, and the Dark Knight asterisk alone.
While absorb magic prevented Airy killing him with the elemental onslaught, it was never able to protect the others - and she'd just knock him overboard to get him out of the picture.
And, once again, he'd awake on 'world 5' with nothing.
But one day, one day, he'd have access to more than just the Dark Knight asterisk, and he'd stop her right there...
But that wouldn't work either.
Alternis Dim hated this. It was a catch-22 situation. Encourage Agnes to shatter a crystal, and Airy would snap, and at least try to slaughter them all, and when they kill her it turns out that the big bad behind her, Ouroboros, would simply send another pet along to pick up where she left off - once the crystal shard regenerated of course. It didn't solve the problem, merely pushed it off onto someone else.
Play along to Airy's ends, and she gloated that she fooled everyone, despite it being blatantly obvious worlds in advance, and fight a near hopeless battle with a nigh-immortal, endlessly regenerating thing from beyond the stars. Until Lord DeRosso sacrificed himself to seal it's healing, and it resorted to consuming entire worlds to sustain itself.
And that wasn't really acceptable.
One day, Alternis Dim would find out how to save every version of his friends. And one day, Alternis Dim would find out how to take the fight to Ouroboros with having to sacrifice countless lives.
But this was, unfortunately, not that day.
-o-
6.4 [Slayst].
The Red Wings, Baron's airship fleet, was just returning from a dubiously crucial mission.
They had invaded the town of Mysidia, slain many of its inhabitants, and stolen a national treasure, the water crystal, from its resting place.
Captain Harvey, leader of the Red Wings, was puzzled. Like his men, he couldn't understand why their king had made they undergo such an operation. Why make a hostile move on innocent civilians? The king couldn't seriously expect this to go unpunished by other countries? And what was the crystal for?
Suspicion arose in the young general, as he stood, unmoving, watching the passing clouds from his flying vessel.
That's when Jak Awoke.
The Anchor took a few seconds to register that he wasn't in Sandover, nor in Haven City.
It could only mean one thing.
"Fused loop." he sighed.
He had almost started to believe that his Admin had joked about them.
He turned to a nearby soldier and was about to call for him when he received his in-loop memories, and they made him growled.
"Great, I just murdered civilians… and I'm corrupted by darkness."
He hoped there was a way to get rid of it, or he would be going all Light Jak on the loop.
But that would have to wait. Something was definitely wrong with the king, and figuring out what was top priority.
Now, what to do about this crystal?
An incendiary bomb, that damn signet was an incendiary bomb.
He had played with explosives for years now, he should have been able to recognize it at first glance… or by smell, in this case.
But he hadn't, and more innocents had died.
That was it, the king was either completely mad or manipulated by someone else, he had to be stopped. But before that…
Jak grabbed the wounded girl in his arms and took off toward the nearest town.
Saving her was more important."What the…"
Okay, this loop was just ridiculous.
Guards sent after Rydia, the young summoner, hadn't questioned theirs orders. He knew those men, he had trained them, or his unawake self had… why weren't they reacting? You didn't have to be a genius to understand that something was wrong with killing a young girl whose only fault had been to defend her home against her mother's murderers. Jak had been forced to take them down, though he'd done so with clenched jaws and a sour taste in his throat.
Things had gotten even worse when Rosa, supposedly his love interest for the loop, had contracted Sand Fever. The search for the cure to this disease had led them to the city of Damcyan, where they'd witnessed the theft of the fire crystal by the Red Wings' new Commander, a man named Golbez.
Edward, new king of Damcyan, had joined their party and helped them retrieve the Sand Pearl, in the Antillon's Den.
Rosa cured, they'd all traveled to Fabul, hoping to prevent Baron from obtaining yet another crystal.
They'd failed, badly. Kain had left with the air crystal, and Golbez had kidnapped Rosa.
Jak and his remaining allies had then attempted to travel to Baron, where they would have sneaked into the city.
It wasn't meant to be, as their boat had been attacked by Leviathan. Jak had ended up shipwrecked on a beach, alone, Rydia, Edward and Yang blown away by the waves.
He'd finally managed to reach a city a little over an hour ago, only to discovered that it was Mysidia, the town he'd stolen the water crystal from. The inhabitants were rather… bitter.
The Anchor wanted to curse, but he couldn't do that, given the state he was in. He puked once again, emptying his bowel of the nauseous feeling induced by the succession of poison, frog and pig spells.
That loop was getting on his nerves.
Jak dropped his sword and fell face first on the ground.
Facing his inner darkness wasn't a pleasant experience. Especially with said inner darkness adapting to his looper's status and gaining additional traits from his original dark persona.
But he'd prevailed, and he'd managed to cleanse his soul of yet another evil. He only hoped that other fused loops wouldn't sent him on other purifying experiences, he didn't know if he could stand this kind of thing for long.
The new Paladin sighed loudly.
Who was he kidding, of course the loops would screw with him…
Damn tree.
Jak eyed the Lunar whale with suspicion. The thing disturbingly reminded him of an oversized rift ride. It looked nothing the same, but he had the same gut feeling when he looked at it. Something bad awaited them on the moon.
Yes, he was about to take a ship to the moon.
He really wanted to sigh, but the others had complained that he was doing it way too frequently.
So, if he had understood correctly, Zeromus had been the hatred born from Zemus, who had possessed his in-loop brother Theodor, who had himself controlled a large number of other persons, including members of his own party…
There had to be a limit to the number of successive mind controls, right?
Anyway, this threat was gone for good now, and the world was finally at peace.
But for how long?
Probably not that much, with what he was about to do.
"Hey Jak, Cid said you asked for me." said the white mage cheerily, entering the royal quarters.
"Rosa, we… we need to talk."
Her face fell.
The looper began to explain that he couldn't be with her, that he loved another woman… and the loop ended abruptly.
The teary face of Rosa Joanna Farrell was his last conscious memory.
-o-
6.5 [Tovath]
Alma Beoulve Awakened while doing embroidery and chatting with her friend Teta. She sent out a Ping without messing a stitch and started checking her in loop memories. There were two replies to her ping and a most interesting memory.
"Is something wrong Alma?"
She shook her head. "No Teta, I was just thinking about last time I saw Princess Lena.'
"Oh," Teta looked rather sad and Alma remembered that some of the girls at their boarding school had said that the princess must have not wanted to take classes with a commoner such as Teta. "I think I know why she left now. They will regret their rumor spreading."
The tavern was typical of its kind; dark smoky and full the smell of stale ale. "Why do you continue to associate with these thieves and malcontents, princess?" asked Agrias
"A ruler must know her subjects." replied Lena.
"That is an excellent sediment, but the king is not dead and the line of succession is not very clear. If you don't know and are known by the nobility, then you will never be made Queen," said Agrias " besides I can't protect you from everything. I don't want to find you dead in a gutter, because I wasn't fast enough."
Lena wasn't sure if she should be moved by her bodyguard's devotion or annoyed that Agrias still hadn't realized that Lena was a better fighter than her. However she had been planning to reveal her continued existence soon, after all Ramza should be Awake by now."Then let's head for Gariland Academy. Do you think they will let you teach there while I attend."
Agrias groaned, "I doubt they will let you attend."
-o-
6.6 [Tovath]
Celes was heading down to talk to Cid when the Magitek Research Center exploded. She took off running. Is this some weird variant Loop? She definitely hoped not, having the rules of magic changed around on you when you had said magic was not fun.
As she reached the front gates of the Research Center that the destruction was not quite as bad as she first thought; A few holes had been punched in the roof, but it looked like one could still enter the building. "What's the situation?" she asked one of the soldiers at the gate.
He saluted. "General Chere, ten minutes ago there was a request for backup due to a problem with the draining tubes. Five minutes ago the explosions started. Neither the squad sent as backup or the squad sent to find out what was causing the explosions have returned."
Celes nodded "I'll have to find out myself then. Don't let anyone else past this point." She walked through the gate, but as soon as she was past she started running again. This could only be an esper. Hopefully they wouldn't be too maddened by pain.
She was part of the way to the draining tubes when she heard the sounds of battle. Peering around the corner she could see Terra's father fighting four Imperial soldiers. He was not in the best shape, aside from general malnutrition, he also had a couple of stab wounds and a nasty slash on his chest. Behind him one of the walls a hole through it from either a explosive or a spell. Above she could see the sky peeking through another hole. As she watched the soldiers tried to rush him only to be stopped by a wall of fire.
She strode into the room."Fall back men." The soldiers did so quickly. "Go report in at the gate. I will handle this." She made sure to sound confident and commanding so they wouldn't think to question her order, even though she didn't feel confident. She wasn't sure how to deal with this. There was no way she would kill Maduin, but what reason would he have to listen to her.
"Are you Awake?" he asked
She had not been expecting that. Things being easier than she thought never happened."I am feeling a bit loopy." She looked up at the hole in the roof. "I know a spell that will get us out of here."
Terra was surprised to see Celes waiting for them at the Returner Hideout. "I thought you were going to see if you could find out about your family this loop?"
"Plans change." said Celes, most people would think she was being curt and rather cold, but Terra could tell her friend was really happy about something "Follow me."
She followed Celes back to the room she usually stayed in while here. Her father was there. "Guess who is now Looping?"
The two of them talked for several hours. Terra told him about some notable loops she had been in and he told her about his one loop.
"So anyway Eiko asked me to give you a letter from her." He pulled a letter out of his subspace pocket.
"Great," said Terra, "Umm, could you read it to me? I never got a chance to learn."
"Of course," her father said, "After that I am going to teach you to read though."
-o-
6.7 [FTKnight]
Cloud sighed as he once again found himself facing the prospect of crossdressing to infiltrate Don Corneo's mansion. Usually he could either avoid this, figure a way around Don's guards.
"Why me?" He muttered under his breath, as stared at the dress, It shimmered in the soft light of the shop. He already knew that would fit him 'perfectly', and that would not bother him if not for the fact it was incredibly comfortable.
[SirKald]
Red XIII stared. It had been a mostly normal Loop up until now. Wake up, ignore Hojo, play checkers with an Unawake Aerith once she arrived, and so on.
He discreetly cast Esuna on himself. Sadly, his hopes that Hojo had somehow managed to slip him a hallucinogen were dashed.
"Boy, why the hell are you wearing a dress?"
Red could have wept with joy at those words. Everyone else in the world seemed to not notice Cloud's clothing and he was too polite to ask on his own; thank the Planet for that irascible old bastard Cid.
Cloud blinked owlishly at the older man. "Why wouldn't I?"
That seemed to put Cid on the back foot. "Er, doesn't it restrict your freedom of movement?"
"Not at all!" Cloud explained happily. "See, I've got a slit on the side up to my hip, so I'm not any more restricted than I would be in a large jacket."
"And the heels? Don't you lose your balance in those things?" Cid asked.
"Mako infusion gives me enhanced everything, and that includes balance. I could run across a tightrope in a hurricane without falling, heels are nothing in comparison. Besides, they make me taller so I can see further," Cloud said.
Cid nodded with a dubious expression on his face. "Fine, fine. What about the earrings, are they used for extra Materia storage or something?"
Cloud shook his head. "No, that's just to make me feel pretty."
That was, in fact, Cloud standing before him. He was for some unfathomable reason wearing a slinky dress and five inch stiletto heels, but it was nevertheless Cloud.
-o-
6.8[Facepalmist]
At the field of flowers near Edea's House...
"Rinoa... Just stay close to me," Squall told her.
Rinoa suddenly giggled. "Oh... Those words!"
"What?"
"That's what started everything," she said.
Squall blinked. "What are you talking about?"
"You don't remember?" Rinoa demanded.
"Something I said?" She opened her mouth to snap at him. "Really? I could swear I said something different..."
The Sorceress stood there frozen as Squall pulled out several notepads, flicking through them while mumbling. "Aha! Here it is... 'Better get going.' Yeah, that makes sense." He paused as he was putting the other pads away. "I should have kept that in mind. How much time did I waste lazing round in bed...?"
Rinoa answered with exaggerated calmness, "...You did say that. But THAT didn't start everything."
"...Huh." He flicked through the notepad again. "Uh, 'I may end up killing Seifer.' Yeah, that could fit..."
Her teeth flashed in a rictus-like smile, pressed tightly together. "No, that's not it..."
"Hm. 'It's all up to Irvine'?"
"No."
"'Just be ready to back me up'?"
"No!"
"'I haven't forgotten your order'?"
"No- Wait!" Rinoa stopped grinding her teeth, finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. "You said it RIGHT after that!"
Squall squinted at his notepad. "'Stay cool, Timmy?' ...What's that got to do with starting anything?"
The apoplectic Sorceress growled, stormed forward and snatched the pad out of Squall's hand. "Squall, how could you misspell THAT of all things!? How hard can it be to... t-to..."
Rinoa fell silent, staring helplessly at the page. There was no misspelling. There were no words to misspell. There was, however, some rather well-drawn sketches. Of her and Squall. Of her and Squall doing...things.
Her head tilted of its own volition. Her eyes burned, and yet...she couldn't look away...and kinda didn't want to...
"Well?" Squall asked, blinking innocently down at her and scrupulously not laughing.
-o-
6.9 [Arc_Zephyr]
"Princess?"
Now Garnet wasn't new to the Loops or anything, but this was probably the first time that she had Woke up wearing a dress. Taking a moment to scan the plush room that she was sitting in with her three eyes, Garnet took a moment to let her Loop memories settle in before she addressed the man in armor who was talking to her. From what her loop memories told her, Garnet was able to gather that in this loop she actually was a princess. Specifically she was apparently the princess of a country called Alexandria and apparently it was her unawake self's sixteenth birthday. Sending out a ping on instinct, Garnet pushed herself up off of what was supposed to be her bed this Loop. As she walked around the plush room, the fusion of Ruby and Sapphire received four pings back. While she couldn't tell where the other three came from, it seemed that one of the pings came from the knight, Steiner if her loop memories were correct, standing guard at the door.
"Are you Awake now? The play starts in an hour," Came the loud voice of the knight as Garnet began walking his way.
"Yes, I'm feeling quite Loopy. I'm Garnet of the Crystal Gems. What can you tell me about this place?" The gem asked as she tried to focus on her future vision to check for any surprises to come, but to her surprise the results she received were blurry at best. Huh it looked like she wasn't going to be able to accurately rely on her future vision this Loop. That was merely a minor annoyance in the grand scheme of things though. It was a bit of a novelty, not knowing the potential outcomes of future events. A lot of variables could throw off the results potentially after all.
"Ah, well I'm Captain Adelbert Steiner of the Pluto Knights. Welcome to the Gaia branch of the Loops, Lady Garnet." Steiner introduced loudly as his armor clanked together when he moved. "It's interesting. The person you've swapped places with is also named Garnet." He mused with his hand to his chin as if stroking an imaginary beard. The moment the formality of introductions were out of the way, Steiner began to explain to Garnet about this Fused Loop. Though she did insist after a few minutes not to know what the baseline was like, Steiner still stressed the importance of the play he mentioned. She had to admit that the idea of border crossing was interesting to say the least.
Steven had to admit that he usually didn't Wake up like this when he Woke up to a Loop. For starters he was lying face first on a cobble stone walkway. Pushing himself up off the ground as small children with red balloons in their hands played in the street, Steven took a moment to adjust to his surroundings. This place was decidedly not Beach City. The last time he checked Beach City wasn't a castle town with stone walkways after all. Was this some kind of Variant where he and the Crystal Gems lived in a different century. Taking the moment to check his Loop memories, Steven decided that this was more likely a Fused Loop. The name of this city reminded him of a game that he was able to play in a Hub Loop. It was something ending in IX, but he couldn't exactly remember what it was.
According to his Loop memories he was a young boy who was entering the city of Alexandria to watch the play 'I Want to Be Your Canary' after his grandfather died. That was decidedly sad in his book. Steven wasn't really sure what he would do if his dad or any of the Crystal Gems ever died so he really felt for his unawake self. Taking a moment to see if there were any physical changes to his body this Loop, Steven gazed into a nearby puddle. For the most part he didn't look like he changed much, but there were a few details that stuck out to him. Instead of his usual pink shirt with the star on it and jean shorts combo, Steven found himself wearing a pink jacket that only exposed his Gem and blue pants that were decorated with star patterns. It seemed like he was going barefoot this loop and he had to admit that the big tan hat covering his hair was a nice touch.
"This should be a fun Loop," He stated as he stared at the ticket in his possession. He wasn't sure where going to see the play would take him this loop, but at the very least it was sure to be fun right?
-o-
6.10 {DrTempo]
It was yet another Loop. Yuna and Tidus were relaxing after Tidus had helped the Aurochs defeat the Goers. "Hey, Yuna. Ya know, I was just remembering how we learned of the Loops."
"Yeah. That was an interesting experience..."
Several Loops ago...
Yuna watched the game between the Aurochs and the Goers closely. Through all these odd repeats, the game was never played the exact same way twice. However, what was on her mind was that in the memories she had of this repeat, Auron was replaced by a man named Ichigo.
Odd. Why this difference? Everything else is the same...
The fiends began their attack on Luca right after she'd pondered this (The Aurochs had won this time,) and she prepared herself for the battle. A black-clad figure then leaped in front of her and slashed a fiend to bits. Yuna smiled, and used a Thundaga spell to take out another fiend.
"Thank you, Sir Ichigo." The aforementioned man smirked. "You should be more Awake for such things, Yuna." Noting the way Ichigo had said 'Awake', like it meant more than not being asleep, confused her. As did him attacking Seymour, beating him like the Maester was but an ant to him.
Ichigo knows something. I'll ask him what is going on later.
After all that was settled, the group prepared to exit Luca, and Yuna frowned for a second. Tidus suddenly staggered, and asked her a surprising question.
"Uh.. who's the guy that squashed Seymour?"
Yuna smiled.
"Whomever he is, he's strong. I think he might even be stronger than anything we've ever seen."
Someone walked towards them while they were talking. Tidus quickly drew his sword.
"Someone mention me a minute ago?" Ichigo walked up to the duo, and said, "Let me guess. You two experiencing the same events over and over again?"
Yuna and Tidus nodded, making Ichigo inquire, "Who's had this happen more often?" Tidus angrily retorted, "Yuna has been at this longer than I have. But I have something to ask...WHERE'S AURON?", and then charged at Ichigo with his sword drawn.
As Ichigo knocked Tidus down with ease, Yuna said, "Sorry about that, Ichigo. You know why time's resetting, I take it?"
Ichigo nodded. "Well, time for explainations. You see.."
After Ichigo finished his story, Yuna was deep in thought again.
Time is repeating again and again..And I'm the one 'Anchoring' Spira. Well, best grin and bear it. I've done it before.
Tidus, meanwhile, had a bewildered expression. "PLEASE tell me other Loops have Blitzball!"
Ichigo facefaulted, and Yuna couldn't help but giggle.
At least I know how to keep my inventory with me next time around. Sin won't stand a chance! Things will be different from now on, that's for sure!
...
The two smiled as they recalled that Loop. Ichigo had literally sliced Sin to ribbons with one attack.
Tidus then grinned. "That was a heck of an experience. I'm just glad no fiends showed up after the game."
Yuna chuckled. "Don't worry about that. I made sure that wouldn't happen. Let's just say we won't have to worry about Seymour this Loop."
Tidus laughed. Finding ways to defeat Seymour was a favorite hobby of his. "Good. I really hate that guy. So, now what?"
Yuna smiled. "I have no idea. But, I know one thing. We have all the time in the world."
"We sure do, Yuna."
-o-
6.11 [Chronopie]
"Well this is different." Tis Arrior said, as she punched the Goblin twice. And then a third time. "Oh damn it, I'm going to have to deal with Ringabel like this."
Elsewhere, Alternia 'Ringabelle' Dim shook out her long blonde hair as she tried make sense of her memories. He'd fallen into the Pillar of Light and then... woke up as a She. What had Airy done to him?
They'd beaten Ouroboros, that was, Agnes, Tiz, Edea, and he, and then he'd gone back to his own world, where Airy's wings had borne a '6', and, as his Dark Knight persona, tried to take down the monstrous Airy. She'd backhanded him into the still activate pillar with her dying breath. And now he was a she.
On the upside, 'Ringabelle' could openly walk into the girls changing rooms. Yay for eyecandy.
Agni scowled. Cloud had told her - him - that this could happen occasionally. In this world, 'Vestals' were instead 'Augurs', whom both worshiped the Crystals and received visions from them... And were all male.
How Tiz and Ringabel managed to walk around with... everything below the belt getting in the way all the time, she had no idea.
On the other hand, she had more strength like this than she did in her normal body, since her memories informed her that as an 'Augur', the physical form was just as important as the worship of the crystals itself. In other words, she had muscles this time.
-o-
6.12 Final Fantasy IX / Digimon Frontier [Opus J]
The stumble he made upon awakening was the first thing to catch Tommy's attention. It wasn't that often that he woke up in mid-stride, so he knew something was off. His eyes, darting around furtively noticed the stone buildings were not the standard Digimon design, (and coincidentally calmed him down as he realized he was safe from HER.) They were very nice houses, though, huge and well put together, designed to shrug off all the elements could throw at them. It was the castle ahead in the distance that really made it sink in - after all, one digimon or another would have pulled the giant sword out of the castle long before now.
He kept walking, despite bumps and jostling, keeping on the path to the spacious building, until everybody nearby had vanished, then he walked over to a nearby puddle and looked at his reflection. He blinked as he saw himself - white and fuzzy, dressed in baggy green pants and a dark green jacket that seemed huge. His trademark orange hat was on his head, but a blue... Pom-pom for lack of better terms was coming out of it (and was attached to his head). A pair of handguns, popguns almost, were at his waist for self defense. He starred at the ludicrous image before him for a moment, then let the first word that came to his mind out. "Kupo...".
Zidane knew something was off from the moment the Troop began "I Want To Be Your Canary" on the stage. He hadn't been entirely sure what it was, but as usual, had been too busy to ping anyone. When he ran into the little black mage asking him to deliver mail, though, he knew that it was going to be a strange one. Dagger wasn't Awake, so he had to chase after her. Steiner, however, was Awake, as he was wearing the locket Beatrix had given him during one of their many courtship rituals. (None of them topped the time that a female Steiner had wooed a male Betrix, though. That had produced SO much blackmail...)
Everything went sideways when they reached the Prima Vista, though. Vivi had learned enough that he could keep the play going by being a moment of bizarre humor overlaying tragedy. The Moogle that ran on deck, however, obviously did not. The chaos and battle quickly became general, as he fought off pursuing not just the new player, but the princess as well. The Moogle was apparently a crack shot, and took up Vivi's distance battle style without needing to be told. Unfortunately, the Elephant Queen, as with every time she thought Dagger might escape, Fired off the bomb at them, and even when all of them had worked together, it still caused the airship to crash in the accursed forest.
As the world came back into focus, Tommy seriously questioned using the memories he had received as a guideline any more. Ending up trapped in a living plant-cage hybrid had landed in the top ten strangest things that had happened to him so far. Depressingly, he was fairly certain that it wouldn't stay there. That said, his head hurt, and it felt like he had been given a shot in his left shoulder. As his eyes finally cleared, he realized he wasn't alone. "Kupo... I mean, Hi." Tommy said
"Good evening to you too, kid." The grinning, teen with the tail of a monkey said in reply. "I'd say that you were right the first time, but I doubt you're from this loop. I'm Zidane, and this here is Rusty." He dodged a swipe at his head from a man in armor next to him.
"It's Steiner, you lowly pickpocket." Shaking his head in exasperation, though he could see that the two were friends. "And what shall we call you, young Moogle?"
"Tommy, sir." He paused for a moment. "Loop?" The terminology confused him.
The two in front of him shared a look that spoke volumes. "We'll tell you on the way to save Dagger - a friend in danger." Zidane explained as Tommy's eyes scrunched in confusion.
"Alright, Kupo." Tommy started to rise for a moment, then paused. "The 'kupo' thing is going to get old..."
Zidane snickered. "Probably so. Ready to go?" At Tommy's nod, he helped him out of bed, handed him his guns and led the way out into the forest.
One battle with a giant plant monster followed, where Tommy showed that he could infuse ice magic into his own shots, and after the frenetic escape from the petrified forest (which included Tommy riding Steiner's shoulder and blasting enemies behind them) they finally had time to talk - and Zidane was able to give his first 'Welcome to the Multiverse' speech. He also discovered that Tommy had looped a couple of dozen times, and though he wasn't the Anchor, was at least one of the earlier loopers (or so he assumed.) He also had at least one looper of questionable sanity, whom he had once called friend, but was now highly uncertain about.
"So this is a Fused Loop?" Tommy asked him to try and wrap his head around everything.
Zidane nodded. "Yep. And you're replacing a friend of mine named Vivi. Our loop usually lasts about five years, so we've got time to start teaching you a few tricks." Reaching into his own pocket he pulled out a thick copy of 'I Want to be Your Canary', and tossed it to the boy, who caught it - and then was knocked over by the weight. "Don't worry, we've got plenty of time to work on this... while avoiding deathtraps and savage monsters."
Tommy did not look reassured.
The Ice Caverns went smoothly at first. Steiner had long since figured out how to use his 'Magic Sword' techniques, and melted any walls in their path. Chests were opened, treasure recovered, and a new pair of revolvers were gifted to Tommy. Running into a married pair of Black Mages was hilarious. Then Tommy and Dagger dropped off, frozen by wicked magic, and he and Zidane ran into... not a black waltz.
"I am the first movement of the Sonata. Moonlight Sonata!" The grinning, Gigantic Moogle, with it's enormous pink bat wings, made him wish for the waltz. He flew almost constantly, and was wielding a pair of Cannons constantly spewing grapeshot in a way that made him seem like a 40K Orc - the only phrases he seemed to understand were 'Open Fire' and 'More Dakka!'. It wasn't lethal, not for a pair as experienced as them, but it Hurt.
Another shot hit his armor, knocking some of the breath out of him, and he decided enough was enough. He traced Excalibur II - and threw it, ending the battle with a bang. Zidane, who had seen it coming and had run behind him, took a moment to catch his breath. "Not... Fun." He wheezed out
Steiner was quiet when he spoke. "I'm starting to dread the town ahead."
Zidane, serious for once, said, "Me too, Steiner."
-o-
6.13 [Facepalmist]
Cloud walked out of the remote chalet scratching his head, followed by Barret and Cait Sith as he joined the rest of AVALANCHE's party by the airship.
"It's empty," the party's leader told them. "The hearth was still warm, and there was a chocobo. But other than that... Maybe they're just out somewhere nearby." He shrugged, then brightened as he pulled out a pearlescent sunny sphere. "The chocobo gave me a Materia, though."
The materia was promptly yoinked out of his hand by Yuffie, who examined it with avaricious glee before proclaiming it a new (and rare!) Enemy Skill Materia. Unnoticed, Tifa's eyes narrowed.
"Maybe they're just shy," Tifa said, cutting off any suggestions of staying at the chalet for the night before they could be spoken. "I think I'll go inside again and take a look. Maybe they're just hiding or something..."
"Tifa...?"
Tifa smiled at Cloud. "Just wait here, or go and look around the area outside. If they're hiding inside, we shouldn't spook them. I'll be fine," she added as she headed through the door.
–-
She looked around the chalet's darkened interior. Cloud had been right enough, she could detect a certain radiance from the hearth but the building otherwise looked deserted. The only thing out of place was a foot-cubed box tucked up against the railing along the upper level, but that was too small to hide anything sapient short of a Cait Sith doll - and it was open anyway (because Cloud, her lil' blond kleptomaniac).
Yep, looked deserted. But she'd been around long enough to pick up a sense of when she was being watched.
"I don't suppose you'd happen to know where I can find an Anchor?" she called. "We seem to be missing one at the moment..."
Tifa waited for several increasingly awkward moments. Then the point of a hat emerged from the upper level.
"You see, my Anchor's missing this Loop. If there's another Anchor..." Tifa trailed off, punctuating her statement with a Ping.
"What do you want?" a wary male voice sounded from above. Strangely, it didn't seem to sound from the direction of the hat.
"The person you're Replacing... he sells nuts and grass for breeding chocobos. If you have that stuff here, I don't suppose you'd be willing to trade?"
The hat edged back of sight. Then the cardboard box ruptured and fell apart as the man climbed out of...what turned out to be his Pocket.
Tifa scrutinized the man, who looked absolutely nothing like any iteration of the Chocobo Sage she'd ever seen. (Though to be fair, very few people tended to look like a big floating purple blob with a mustache.) Tatty red robes hanging over a gaunt frame, a wispy beard, eyes focused carefully on her as he edged over to retrieve his spare hat from the floor.
Tifa didn't bother with conjecture as to how he'd made it move, as any Looper who'd been around a while tended to pick up ways to do that kind of thing. What she did note with interest was the pointy hat on his head - or more accurately, the sequins which (mis)spelled out his purported occupation for the world to see...
Really that told her all she needed to know. She grinned.
"So," Tifa asked, "are you in the market for materia? I think I've got a couple you might be interested in, if you haven't got some already..."
Tifa walked out of the chalet chuckling, the rest of the party forming up over near the airship's ramp as she approached them.
"Okay guys, we're good to go. He was in there, he was just scared at all the attention. But he was falling over himself to trade once I told him what we were after..." She shrugged with a happy laugh. Indeed the visiting Anchor had been glad to see Tifa's wares. "I got all the grass and nuts we can carry, and a copy of the guy's notes on how to use them too!"
Cloud nodded with satisfaction, then frowned. "That sounds great, but...what did you have to trade with him?"
"Never you mind, it was nothing we couldn't spare," Tifa reassured him. She punctuated this statement with a medium-strength punch to first Cid's and then Barret's guts before they could announce their no-doubt lewd speculations on what precisely she had paid the Chocobo Sage with. "It seems we'll have to do some racing at the Gold Saucer to pull this off..."
She led the party up the ramp, AVALANCHE readying for a long air-trip back south...
Rincewind watched the party of nine (which was one more than normal for this point in the baseline of this place, if he remembered correctly) retreat from his chalet, and waited for several minutes. Then he slumped, widened his Pocket from the coin-sized aperture he'd used for surveillance, and clambered back out with his newly purchased items in hand and ready to equip.
The wizzard examined the pair of hard yellow balls Tifa Lockheart had traded to him for ninety-nine doses of each avian-issue vegetable variety the Chocobo Sage had stocked on hand. And he was very happy with this particular trade - sure, he could have tried for a mere discount on the hefty price tag attached to said specialty nuts and grasses, but the Lifestream Loop was one he'd only visited once before and the gil they used as currency tended not to be interchangeable between the various loops of the Final Fantasy Branch. So the money meant very little to him - especially when compared to these lil' glass globes of joy.
(Any possible innuendo inherent to that thought shot right over Rincewind's head without the least bit of notice. Even over eons, his impressions of the fairer sex had somehow never budged from the original theme, which might best be described as: just one more thing to flee from.*)
The two orbs he lovingly (not to mention obliviously) fondled were invaluable commodities to a person of Rincewind's disposition. It was a true pity that the native Looper Tifa had only had a few in her Pocket, but that was perfectly understandable as far as he was concerned - especially the second one, which was quite rare given the difficulty of obtaining it in this world's baseline.
The first materia, called Exit, was rather easier to obtain...assuming you could get to Junon. One ability, or rather two abilities considering that both materia were fully developed. (He'd insisted on this - after all, new materia were developed by defeating opponents in battle, which was exactly the kind of situation that he was dead set on avoiding.) Escape, to teleport oneself away from any encounter with an antagonist to a safe location - and Remove, to teleport the antagonist away to...wherever. That materia was on sale in Rocket Town, a place he'd never had the opportunity to visit on any of his iterations spent in this Loop - not that he was in any way keen on delving into the mystical practicalities of other Loops until he one day mastered that of his own.
The second materia, called Enemy Away, could only be obtained by racing chocobos an entire continent away from where he was situated, or by trade with certain passing Loopers. A fully developed one like this acted like a S.E.P. field tuned to potential enemies as he understood it, letting him slip beneath the notice of... (he checked) ...about seven-eighths of all possible encounters. It wasn't as effective as the shield he'd picked up from the Spira Loop, but it was still nothing to sneeze at - and unlike the Exit materia, this one worked automatically without the need to cast anything.
Yep, definitely worth trading away all those greens.
(Well, most of them. He still had enough to feed the chocobo for a few decades. Maybe he'd take it with him...)
In the meantime, Rincewind fitted the pair of materia on the Diamond Armlet Tifa had traded him for a copy of the notes on dosage instructions he'd racked his brains to produce over the past few weeks, then fitted the ornamental armor with great care under his robe's sleeve. (One advantage over the Spira-made shield: a lot less obtrusive.) The wizzard felt a subtle tingle that told him the newly equipped materia were operative but remained quiescent until they were needed.
Rincewind let loose a relieved breath and relaxed.
A little.
Maybe.
...Well, as much as he ever did.
-o-
6.14 Final Fantasy Senshi Part 3 [Tovath]
Squall found it odd to look in the mirror and see an unscared face, but that was the least of the oddness. Apparently he was the only son of a doctor who was a serious workaholic and never home. He had gone out yesterday to reconnoiter, but as far as could tell there was no magic and no monsters. The world was not in peril in any way. That was weird. Whatever.
This morning there had been a note from his 'mother' asking why the school had said he was missing yesterday, so he figured he'd better show up there today instead of continuing to reconnoiter. It probably would be boring compared to the Garden training.
He had been right; The math and science classes were stuff he already knew and none of the others were worth bothering with. Teachers tried to find out why he had been gone yesterday. At lunch break a guy with long pale hair came up to him. "You feeling Loopy?"
So the guy was a Looper too. Well Squall knew what to tell him. "I'm well anchored."
"So am I," he said, as some boy with big glasses started to approach, "but it seems that we don't have time to talk right now. Can you come to the Hikawa shrine after school is over?"
Squall didn't have anything better to do after class, so he headed over tot the [name] shrine. He did want to find out what was going on with this loop. The guy met him in front of the stairs leading up to the shrine with a cat. "Sorry, I couldn't talk with you at lunch. I was afraid that Umino would try to listen in. He might be my best friend when I loop into here, but it is best he doesn't find out about the supernatural. I'm Cecil Harvey, Anchor for the Mysida Loop "
"And I'm Firion, Anchor of the Wild Rose Loop." said a voice down near Cecil's feet.
"The cat is an Anchor?"
"Yes and I am not usually a cat." said the cat – Firion as he started up the steps, "Now we need to meet up with Terra and Bartz."
Squall's in-loop memories was saying that the red sorta gate like thing at the top of the stairs was called a Torii and was meant to signify an entrance to the spirit world. But was it actually true in this world?
There was a green haired girl who was not half as pretty as Rinoa sitting on a bench under a tree
"My sister said that she liked to read outside under a tree in her last letter, so I thought I would try it." She held up the book which was about combating mind control and possessions or some such. Sounded interesting.
"Good we'll be needing that soon" Cecil pointed to him "This is Squall."
-o-
The rate the chapters come out will likely slow down after this chapter, since I have gotten through most of the back log.