Yo-kai Watch Infinite Loops

by Black Omochao

What good is a watch in a world where time keeps repeating? Summoning yo-kai? Ok! Nate-Keita... whatever your name is, welcome to the Infinite Loops!

2. Chapter 2

2.1

Nate sat at his desk as the teacher droned on about…something. He tapped his pencil on the desk and muttered a few things to himself… before jumping up, kicking his desk over and screaming.

"I can't take this anymore!"

"Nathen Adams!" The teacher turned to him, appalled by his behavior - but Nate paid him no mind.

"You're all ignorant to the truth! They're all around us! See for yourself!" Nate reached into his sub-space pocket and tossed his stockpile of Yo-kai Watches to his confused classmates. "Look! Shine the lights and see them for yourself!"

"Nate, what is the meeting of this!?" the teacher called out, but the other students gasped loudly as they shined the lights of the watches around the room and found various yo-kai moving about.

"What are they!?"

"Monsters!? Ghosts!?"

"What's going on!?"

"Everything we know is a lie!"

As the various students panicked, Nate stood there with a frown on his face as Whisper came up behind him.

"And what exactly was the point of that?"

"… I had a bet with Yang," Nate answered briefly, Whisper surveyed the chaos as the teacher tried to get the panicking students under control.

"And?"

"I lost."

2.2 KaiserRichard

Whisper stretched after being released from his Crank-a-kai jail for the Xth time "Geez Nate! How long do you have to wait to free me...?" He ghost stopped ranting after seeing that his master, wasn't the one who freed him. "...Oh."

After the shock of a ghost coming out of a capsule, Hiro Hamada, with his usual snark, "So, this is that Yo-kai Universe I heard about..."

Whisper, shocked from a new looper knowing about Yo-kai, wondered how he heard of Yo-Kai

Hiro laughed "Well it all started when my Bonehead brother ran into a fire and became a Kitsume..."

2.3 GammaTron

Keita yawned as he sat up in bed, letting his Loop Memories come out. He blinked a few times as he realized that he was now the youngest of four kids and that he had the Yokai Watch for roughly two months now. The door opened up, making him look and see a familiar face peek in.

"Morning, Keita!" Ruby greeted, a ruby-red Yokai Watch around her neck on a rose-colored chain, "You Awake now? Mom and Dad are out so Grif's making us Anchor-shaped pancakes!"

"Yeah. I'm Awake, Ruby," Keita replied, "Just woke up right now."

"Great!" Ruby beamed, "Everyone else is awake and since it's summer break, we're gonna be having some fun!"

"That's great to hear, Ruby," Keita nodded.

"Cool! And hi, Whisper!" Ruby greeted the shocked ghost before she dashed off, leaving behind rose petals.

"Where did she get a Yokai Watch?!" Whisper gawked.

"Anchor-shaped pancakes..." Keita gawked, seeing the pancakes were in the shape of different anchors.

"What? You Loop in as a chef you learn how to get creative in your cooking," Grif shrugged, an orange Yokai Watch U on his wrist as he put the last plate on the table.

"Mornin'..." Yang mumbled as she saw down.

"Dang it, Yang! At least put on some pajama bottoms!" Grif snapped as Whisper quickly covered Keita's eyes, "And when did you get a tattoo?!"

"A dare with Blake. Blake won," Yang replied as she pulled a pair of short-shorts from her Pocket and slipped them on.

Grif sighed as he facepalmed, "You want honey or syrup with your pancakes?"

"Honey. Always honey, Grif. You know that."

"I know. Just making sure you were Awake-awake and not just dreaming," Grif replied as he poured the honey on her pancakes, "Because Unawake you liked syrup more than honey."

"So dad's a professional boxer while mom travels all over Japan for a magazine this Loop?" Keita pondered.

"Yep!" Ruby beamed.

"So you're Whisper, huh," Yang looked the ghost over.

"You're not even wearing a Yokai Watch!" Whisper facefaulted.

"I let her look through mine," Ruby explained.

"Glad you're Looping, Whisper," Grif patted the ghost, "Thanks for being there for Keita through all this. You're a great butler."

"Oh come now..." Whisper sheepishly laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

"So once we're done here, what's the plan, Ruby?" Yang asked.

"Well, I was thinking since this is Keita's hometown, he'd give a tour?" Ruby noted.

"Really? Well, sure," Keita agreed.

"Here," Whisper handed Yang a normal pendant Yokai Watch, "For some reason, I had both versions of the first model this Loop."

"Where do you even get them if Keita's gramps is the one who made them long after you got sealed up?" Grif asked.

"Hmm... An excellent question," Whisper rubbed his chin in thought.

"He has no idea how it happens," Keita shrugged.

"This is kinda nice," Grif noted as they walked down the shopping district, "Feels like back home in Hawaii, except there's no pineapple factory outside of town."

"Yeah. Wait, what?" Keita looked at Grif.

"Sale!" Yang and Ruby squealed as they ran into the clothing store.

"... We lost them already," Grif noted, "... Well, we might as well go in. Donut's been wanting a new sweater since his last one was eaten by a goat that mistook it for grass."

"Seriously?" Keita gawked.

"It's a brother's job to carry the bags," Grif shrugged, "Lucky for us? Pockets."

"Right," Keita nodded.

"Plus, if you see something, we can just sneak it into our Pockets for later," Grif chuckled.

"What?!" Keita gawked.

"I'm just kidding, kiddo," Grif messed with Keita's hair as they entered... and witnessed Yang and Ruby in a brawl with a group of other girls over a sweater, "... Wanna go somewhere else, Keita?"

"Oh yeah," Keita replied.

"... We're coming back later to hang out here," Yang informed as she looked at the beach and the open restaurant beside it.

"Only if you agree to not flirt with boys."

"..."

"..."

"..." Grif and Yang began to laugh up a storm before calming down a few moments later.

"Seriously, though, get Ruby to rub your back with sunscreen or I will not give you your present next time we're all Looping together," Grif warned.

"Ooh~! What'd ya get me?"

"Not telling. Just so you know, took me a long time to build it too," Grif replied.

"Okay, okay," Yang snorted.

"What are they talking about?" Keita whispered.

"Well, Grif does his best to keep a pair of calendars. He checks one off each day everytime everyone from his Loop is Awake with him and one off on the other for when we're Awake with him. We all do the same to keep a special calendar for birthdays and holidays," Ruby noted before giggling, "I've never had some holidays before we started Looping and I really love Christmas because Grif makes the greatest chocolate chunk cookies with bits of strawberry in it!"

"... I knew I forgot to give him something that first Loop," Grif muttered as he quickly handed Keita a calendar, "Here you go. All up to date aside from the date of your birthday."

"Thanks, Grif," Keita nodded.

"You have quite the interesting older brother now," Whisper noted before a heavy downpour happened.

"What the...?! There weren't even any clouds in the sky!" Ruby yelped as she and Keita used their Semblance and zipped under the roof of the restaurant nearby.

"This doesn't seem natural," Grif admitted before noticing Yang's hair - while normally in its normal looks even in the rain - was now straight and matted down, "What the heck?"

Yang sighed. Keita, Ruby, and Grif looked through their Yokai Watches to see a girl who looked like she's been in the rain too much beside Yang.

"An Ame-Onna," Whisper noted.

"... I'll go find the sun head," Keita sighed as he walked off, pulling an umbrella out of his Pocket.

"Ugh! That was weird!" Yang shuddered as she finished drying her hair while walking out of the women's restroom in a fresh pair of her normal clothes, "Is that how it feels when you get Inspirited by those guys, Keita?"

"Yeah," Keita shrugged, "But it's not all that bad. They're all good friends."

"I really like this park," Ruby noted, giggling at seeing the swan boats on the lake, "It's places like these that make me think that everything will be all right for everyone in the Loops." she sighed, "Unlike Baseline back home..."

"Huh? What do you mean, Ruby?" Keita asked, looking at the other two to see Yang rubbing her arm and Grif's shaking.

"Keita, let's just say that their baseline is messed up near the end of its run," Grif informed, "So let's all agree to drop it and not bring it up or that my sister is dating another girl right now."

"Huh?"

"Grif!"

"What? You know that while I support your relationship with another girl, I'm still miffed that I can't put the fear of Bears into her because she puts the fear of Cats into me."

"Fear of Bears?"

"Keita, wa..." Grif began.

BEARS!

"What was that?" Keita asked, looking around.

"You type that you love the Bears gag from the Completionist one time, one fucking time, and it screws you over...!" Grif muttered under his breath.

"His admin thought it'd be funny that since Grif has such a bear-theme to him to have that happen whenever someone ends their sentences with that word in either singular or plural," Ruby explained.

"So we can't say bears?"

BEARS!

"So long as you don't end your sentence in it, we're good," Ruby replied as Yang snickered at the slumped Grif.

"You got that upgraded Meta Armor?!" Ruby gawked at Keita.

"Y - Yeah... Don't you...?" Keita began.

"No," Ruby pouted.

"For some reason, she always ends up not getting to go to Chorus when she loops in," Yang explained, "Last time, Ruby tried to sneak in and ended up on the wrong ship, getting sent off to Hoth."

"Yaaaang~!" Ruby whined.

"..." Yang made a few claps with her hands, returned by Grif, before both nodded and banged fists.

"Ruby, you forgot what today was, right?" Grif asked.

"Huh?" Ruby took out her calendar and looked it over before gasping, "You mean...?"

"Yang, Weiss, and Blake helped me out with detailing it for you," Grif informed as he pulled out a large package.

"Happy birthday, sis!" Yang beamed.

"Eeeeeeee!" Ruby cheered as she grabbed the box and tore it to shreds, revealing the Meta's armor detailed in a wolf-theme, "You are the bestest big brother and sister ever!"

"Wait. It's Ruby's birthday?" Keita asked.

"Her birthday in Looping," Grif corrected.

"Oh... But..."

"You showing us around was more than enough for the first present, Keita," Ruby assured as she tried on the armor and looking at herself in the living room's full-sized mirror, her cloak fluttering with each movement, "I love it! Hey, what about the AI issue?"

"We had to ask Applebloom from Equestria to handle that issue," Yang replied.

"Awesome!" Ruby bounced a bit.

"..." a hand was put on Keita's shoulder as he watched the two talking together.

"Don't worry, Keita," Grif assured, "We're all family now. No one's going to be forgotten or left behind here."

"Thanks, Grif," Keita nodded.

Whisper smiled a bit as he watched the four, 'It seems that this Looping has done a good job for you, Keita-kun.'

2.4

Yu Narukami walked calmly down the Samegawa flood plains of Inaba while contemplating what course of action he should take this loop.

Jibanyan yawned as the silver haired teen walked passed him… only to turn around and stare at the strange two tailed cat laying on the grass. Jibanyan gave another yawn and opened one of his eyes - and closed it again after a quick glance at the person whom was looking at him…

"Wait, you can see me!?" Jibanyan suddenly sprung up in realization.

"Yes, I suppose that's not common for you?"

"No," Jibanyan shook his head, he glanced around the area he was in. "… Where am I anyway?"

"Inaba - are you a demon?"

"Demon? No, my name's Jibanyan - I'm a yo-kai!" Jibanyan exclaimed while jumping up briefly. "So, this might be a weird question but, are you a looper?"

.

"Team, this is Jibanyan," Yu introduced the cat yo-kai to the awake investigation team as they all sat at the Junes food court.

"Hi!" Jibanyan waved.

"… A cat?" Yosuke questioned blankly.

"He's a looper," Yu stated calmly before he proceeded to introduce Jibanyan to each of the members of his team.

"This is so weird, I've nyever woken up in a different city before," Jibanyan said as he looked around.

"So I take it this is your first fused loop?" Naoto questioned as she eyed Jibanyan's two tails.

"I guess so," Jibanyan shrugged before pulling a chocobo bar out of his sub-space pocket to eat.

"Why is a cat eating a chocolate bar? Is that even ok?" Yosuke asked as he watched the scene, Yukiko let out a small chuckle.

"A cat eating chocolate," she giggled. Yosuke looked at her in confusion.

"In what way is that funny?"

.

"Say Jibanyan, wanna help me 'score' with some of the ladies," Teddie asked the yo-kai as they hung out in Yosuke's house. "I heard the ladies love cute cats - not as much as bears of course - but I bet we could double our 'scoring' power if we worked together."

"Hmm… sounds like a plan, why nyot?" Jibanyan smirked as he gripped Teddie's paw. "We'll 'score' all the hot girls!"

"Would you two stop saying 'score!' And why does the cat have to stay at my house!?" Yosuke shouted from down the hall.

.

"What did you learn?" Yu questioned as he sat by Jibanyan and Teddie, both nursing bruises on their heads.

"Chie. Kicks. Hard!" Jibanyan groaned while rubbing his head.

"I did tell you that," Teddie sighed while patting the cat's shoulder.

.

"… Hey, Jibanyan?" Kanji looked at the small cat yo-kai whom was eating a chocolate bar.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Can I… pet you?"

"What? Oh, ok - fine." Jibanyan sighed before Kanji began to stroke his head a bit.

"So soft…"

"Ok! Getting weird!"

.

"I am you, what do you have to say to that you lazy, good for nothing, lame cat!?" The shadow Jibanyan growled as he glared his counterpart down, Jibanyan had insisted on going into the TV world with them to help with the Izanami, though they had all expected this.

"Lame!? Let me tell you something you impawster - I remember what happened clearly and Amy never called me lame!" Jibanyan growled back at the shadow - The investigation team stood away from the scene - knowing this was for the yo-kai to face on his own.

"You're useless to Nate though - When have you truly ever been able to help him with a problem!? You're nothing but a lazy, worse than dead, cat!" Jibanyan stared at the shadow for a few seconds before shrugging.

"Yeah, maybe," Both the investigation team and the shadow were surprised by the nonchalant way he responded to his personal demons. "I guess I am pretty lazy sometimes… Nyate usually calls me when I'm in the middle of something anyway." Jibanyan stared at the shadow dead in the eyes. "But… That's who I am! We all have flaws, and we can work to better ourselves - especially with the loops, so how about you stop taunting me and help meowt?"

Jibanyan's shadow stared wide eyed, before it glowed and changed form - in the place of the shadow came a tiger-sized, dark red, upright standing cat - Fire blazed on its back and trailed down its spine until it hit the tips of its twin tails.

"Cool, so this is one of those personya things?" Jibanyan questioned the investigation team after the persona disappeared into a card.

"Wow! I guess you were already comfortable with yourself!" Teddie praised. Jibanyan paused for a moment and thought back to something that happened to him in baseline.

"Huh… I guess I already faced my demons…"

2.5

"I would introduce myself, but I do believe you already know who I am," Robonyan stated as he stood before Nate, Jibanyan, and Whisper.

"Wait, what?" Nate blinked.

"You have already lived this moment before, and experienced variations to it as well," Robonyan nodded his head.

"You remember other loops!?" Jibanyan cried in shock.

"Correct - I am you."

"Oh yeah," Jibanyan scratched his head. Before his eyes widened. "So you're looping!?"

"Negative."

"Wait, no?" Nate questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"But you just said you remember different loops," Whisper pointed out.

"Yes - but through the eyes of Jibanyan, not the Robonyans of those loops. I remember this past experience as Jibanyan, and all that came before it, because I am Jibanyan," Robonyan explained in his typical robotic voice.

"So… you're nyot looping… but you have my memories of the loops?" Jibanyan questioned with a tilt of the head. Robonyan nodded with a click.

"Correct."

"Oh… so we're not doing the competition again?"

"Negative," Robonyan stated before he began teleporting back to the future in his usual fashion. "I'll be back."

2.6

If there was one odd quark about Nate/Keita's life - it perhaps would be that no matter where, or when he fished, it seemed that he was incapable of ever reeling anything in other then the mermaid-like yo-kai: Ningyo. The only time he had been able to fish without catching Ningyo had been during one of those variants where fishing and bug catching were weird, spinning wheel mini-games - and he did not consider that real fishing.

This odd relationship was generally considered unpleasant for all parties involved - Nate/Keita because he could never enjoy a normal fishing trip - and Ningyo for the random disturbances that happened whenever Nate/Keita tried.

.

"Whisper, Jibanyan. I have a goal this loop!" The two aforementioned yo-kai looked over to see their Anchor in full fishing gear with several different fishing rods strapped to his back. "I'm going fishing - and I will catch a fish instead of Ningyo at some point!"

"Keita, you've nyever been able to catch anything but her - just don't try. She's just going to get mad," Jibanyan stated with a yawn as he ate a chocobo bar.

"Jibanyan's right Kaita-kun. Why don't we take a vacation loop or something instead? Whis."

"Nope!" Keita denied both of the yo-kai before he turned to leave. "It's summer vacation this loop - Mom and Dad are both away on business trips, now's the perfect time! I'm not giving up until I have caught a fish! Bye guys! The next time you see me I'll have a fish - a regular fish!" After Keita left the two yo-kai glanced at each other.

"… Well… wonder how long until he gives up," Jibanyan sighed.

"I give him two hours. Whis."

"I say one."

"I'll take you up on that wager."

.

"Ok, I am not giving up until I've caught a fish - a regular not - yo-kai fish!" Keita did a few stretches as he looked at the lake - here he was, up on Mt. Wildwood and ready to begin his fishing venture. "I will not catch Ningyo… I will not catch Ningyo… I will not catch Ningyo," Keita chanted to himself with his eyes close as he held up a fishing rod. "I will not catch Ningyo…" he tossed the line into the water and sat down, prepared to wait for a bite.

When Keita felt a tug on his rod he pulled with all his might to pull up the fish.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Keita stared at the mermaid-like yo-kai that stared at him from the end of his fishing line… and sighed. "Sir, Could you not fish here right now? I was in the middle of doing yoga and I'd rather not be disturbed," Keita nodded before getting up.

"I'll go further up-stream."

"Ok, thanks."

.

"This time for sure," Keita said as he watched his fishing line carefully. "I will not catch Ningyo… I will not catch Ningyo," a tug on the line - Keita tugged back and reeled in-

"Again!?" Keita's eye twitched as he stared at the irritated Ningyo that stared back at him.

"Sir, I thought I said I was in the middle of something," she crossed her arms as she glared at him.

"You were down there!" Keita shouted pointing back where he had first fished her out - before any arguing could occur Keita threw the yo-kai back and she submerged under the water. "Ok I can see where this is going - I will not let this go the same as in baseline!" the anchor shouted as he paced a bit in thought. "I know. Hey! Ningyo!" Keita called out into the water.

*Splash!*

"How did you know my name!?" The aquatic yo-kai questioned with wide-eyes after resurfacing.

"Because you are a Ningyo! But never mind that!" She crossed her arms at that exclamation. "I'm going to fish at the ocean! Stay here!"

"I was planning to, but thanks! I guess," Ningyo muttered that last part as she watched Keita leave in a hurry.

.

"Ok! This is going to work, I told her where I was going, she said she would stay at the lake. I will not catch Ningyo," Keita muttered to himself as he stood on the sand of the beach, looking out into the ocean. "Here I go." He threw his line into the ocean and awaited his catch - his first real catch.

*Tugtug*

*Pull!*

*Splash!*

"Hey!"

"Ningyo!?" Keita cried out as the yo-kai hanging from his fishing hook glared at him. "I told you to stay at the lake!"

"I was in the lake! You pulled me all the way over here with your evil fishing rod!" Ningyo shouted back accusingly. Keita groaned before he threw her back into the ocean.

"I need to try something else…"

.

"Hey, stop doing that!" Ningyo cried out after Keita fished her up for the third time - however she was surprised when he sat her beside him as he continued to stare at the river. "Huh?"

"Stay put, right there. I will catch a fish. And we will go our separate ways," Keita said with an air of determination surrounding him.

"Um… ok," Ningyo muttered in an almost mystified way. Keita nodded before he tossed his fishing line into the river.

…

*Tug*

"Now!"

*Splash!*

"Hey, let me off of this thing!" Ningyo cried as she hung from the fishing line. Keita's jaw dropped, he looked at the spot next to him where he had set the aquatic yo-kai-only to find nothing there other than a small, indent in the dirt.

"But - but, how!?" Keita cried out as he looked between the struggling yo-kai and the spot next to him.

.

"This is more ridicules then fishing in a bucket, or a puddle," Keita growled as he dipped his fishing line into the water bowl of a dog sleeping in its doghouse. "But I don't care! I won't catch that Ningyo!" This yell woke up the dog, and made some people stare. Luckily the dog wasn't aggressive and went back to sleep.

…

*Tug*

*Splash!*

"How is this even possible!?" Keita clutched his head as he stared at the mermaid-like yo-kai laying on the ground in front of him.

"How did I come out of a dog dish!?"Ningyo shouted - apparently just as baffled by Keita at this outcome.

.

The sound of the door being slammed open caught the attention of Jibanyan and Whisper, whom looked up from watching TV as a disgruntled looking Keita walked into the house.

"Keita-kun! Welcome back, did you catch any fish?" Whisper questioned, but Keita ignored him as he walked through the living room and into the kitchen. They watched as he filled a small glass with water and set it on the ground… before dipping his fishing line in it.

"… Um, Keita, are you ok?" Jibanyan questioned with a sweatdrop at the peculiar scene. Keita remained silence as he watched the glass of water intensely.

*Tug* Keita pulled the line out of the glass.

*Splash*

"Ow!" Ningyo cried as she sat on the kitchen floor. "Why did you do that!?" She growled as she glared at Keita. Keita raised his hands in the air and yelled.

"That's it! I'm done! Move over guys!" Keita went over to the couch and roughly sat between Whisper and Jibanyan. Ningyo stared at the scene for a few seconds before she shrugged and joined them.

"How long did he last?" Jibanyan questioned Whisper quietly.

"About…" Whisper looked at the clock before whispering in Jibanyan's ear. "Three hours."

"… Well, it was longer than we thought he'd last."

"Let's call this wager a tie. Whis."

"Agreed."

2.7 KaiserRichard

Nate was reading on of his many mangas, in a mostly normal baseline. Quote, MOSTLY normal. He partly wondered if all of his extra luck in this loop came from him befriending Pandanoko when he was supposed to get Noko's medal. In any case he heard a knock on the door of his closet. "Hmm? Is Hidabat giving me the 3rd watch earlier in this loop?" He thought as he opened the door to his closet.

Inside, Hidabat seemed to be a bit more scared than usual. "Nate?" she asked in her meek voice "Is it normal for me to remember things that haven't happened yet?"

Shocked, Nate called out for Whisper "WHISPER! Hibabat woke up!" He turned back to the bat, "Don't worry Hibabat, Me and Whisper will explain everything..."

2.8

"So wait, this loop we're in like, a middle-age kingdom and I'm a prince?" Keita questioned as he followed Whisper through the castle - garbed in some sort of royal robe with a star emblem on the chest.

"It seems that way to me. Whis," Whisper nodded as he led them. "I'm apparently the royal advisor and your guardian - I always knew I would make a great advisor."

"I don't suppose you use your yo-kai pad for that," Keita muttered while glaring at the proud yo-kai. "So wait, everyone can see yo-kai this loop?"

"Yes, that appears to be the case this time. Whis."

"Huh… well, what are we supposed to do?"

"Hey Keita," Keita looked over at where the shy voice had come from and spotted Hikikomori peeking out from one of the many doors that lined the halls.

"Hikikomori? Hello- Are you awake and loopy?" Keita asked quietly - the small bat-like yo-kai nodded.

"This is a pretty strange variant…" She commented with a glance at the castle. "Would you believe I'm your combat instructor this loop?"

"Combat instructor!?" Both Keita and Whisper were very surprised to hear this – Hikikomori - or Hidabat as she was sometimes called - was generally not much of a fighter as far as they could remember. But a quick look at their loop memories confirmed that the shut-in was indeed Keita's combat instructor this loop - and apparently was very skilled with a sword.

.

"Hikikomori, I already know how to fight," Keita insisted as he stood before his supposed teacher from across the room as she stood there, polishing a basic longsword.

"Yes, I know. But still, I'd like to test out what I can do in this loop - my abilities here are much higher than in our baseline."

"What do you mean?" Keita questioned, he searched his memories for what exactly was different about Hikikomori this loop when he came to a little piece of information. "Wait… combat mode?"

A flash of darkness filled the room and Keita's eyes widened as he watched Hikikomori transform - she took on a vaguely humanoid shape with long, spindly limbs. Her nose and eyes were the same but she now possessed a mouth with two, large protruding fangs. Her wing's pattern remained the same but they had become much larger and were no longer wrapped around her body.

"Combat mode," She answered with a brief nod. The changed yo-kai held up her sword and smiled, showing off her fangs. "So, how about a bit of sparring?"

.

"I got to admit Hikikomori, that combat mode is pretty tough - but I'm still much older then you loop-wise," Keita wiped the sweat from his brow as he stood by Hikikomori whom had reverted back to her original form. He held Crescent Rose in hand.

"I may have gotten a bit overconfident… I've never felt that way before," Hikikomori admitted as she pulled herself back to her feet with a huff.

"Yeah, it was like your personality completely changed," Keita scratched his head. "It might have been a side-effect of that combat mode… or just a trait of your unawake self this loop…"

"I don't know, but I think I'll stay in here for the rest of the loop… there aren't any computers so I think I'll practice my sword fighting," The bat yo-kai said as she glanced around at the training equipment.

"Ok then…" Keita nodded with a small smile, combat mode or not, closet or training room, it seemed Hikikomori was still a shut-in.

.

"So apparently, yo-kai in this loop have something called a 'combat mode' though not all of them, mostly members of the army," Keita muttered to himself as he checked his in-loop memories again.

"There's a lot of stuff to remember about this loop. Whis," Whisper muttered as he followed behind his master - and prince for this loop.

"Do you have a combat mode Whisper?" Keita questioned, turning back to his butler–turned - advisor. Whisper puffed up in confidence.

"Of course I do, I wouldn't be very good at protecting you if I didn't!"

"I don't know… for some reason the in-loop memories of your combat mode are kind of fuzzy," Keita said with a scratch of the head. Whisper just grinned.

"Well then, I'll just show you!" and with that a white glow filled the hall, Keita covered his eyes until the light faded, at which time he looked to see.

"What the!? Why is it that weird body!?" Keita cried out, seeing the strange, skinny body that Whisper usually had at the end of their loop due to 'something bad happening.' "I bet I blocked those memories out subconsciously."

"Honestly Keita-kun it's not that bad, plus I feel much stronger!" Whisper exclaimed, while flexing in front of the now horrified Keita.

"AH!"

"… Really, I think that was a bit of an over-reaction. Whis," Whisper sighed as he watched Keita run down the hall. A human guard passed by and stopped for a moment to stare at Whisper. "What are you looking at?"

.

"Keita-kun, you'll be meeting with your fiancé in a little bit, so make sure to be on your best behavior," Keita's mother - right now the queen of the kingdom of Yo-kai(Keita was not impressed with the name) said from her position on a throne, with his father on the throne next to her. Both had crowns on their heads and royal-looking robes.

"Ok mom, I will," Keita nodded before he turned to explore some more with the now back to normal(thankfully) Whisper. "Wait… did mom just say fiancé?"

"Yes Keita-kun, you have a fiancé," Whisper answered nonchalantly, as if it was no big deal.

"How can I have a fiancé!? I'm twelve!"

"Keita, you're the prince of a kingdom with a lot of enemies… apparently. Anyway in this kind of setting it makes sense to have a suitor prepared for you as soon as possible," Whisper explained calmly.

"Uh, this is going to be awkward, it's not even Fumi-chan," Keita sighed with his head hanging low.

.

"Hello Keita-kun," The princess greeted her fiancé with a polite bow that Keita returned.

"Good to see you… Misora-san," Keita said after quickly fishing through his loop memories for this girl's name. The bespectacled(how was it that they were in a middle-age type setting, but glasses still existed?) girl smiled amusedly.

"Keita-kun, we are to be married, there is no need to be so formal. Please refer to me as 'Inaho-chan.'"

"Um…" Keita looked unsure, he glanced at the purple haired princess' side and spotted what he recognized to be a USApyon, only the spacesuit was replaced with a small suit of knight armor.

"Just do as she says, it will be less trouble for everyone," The knight USApyon said with an exasperated sigh.

"Right… sorry, Inaho-chan," Keita sighed at how awkward this was - he didn't even have too many in-loop memories of this girl, he wasn't even sure his unawake self for the loop would have known what to say to her.

"Don't worry about it, we're both in the same boat after all," Inaho said in a good natured way as she took a seat next to him. "Luckily we still have four more years to enjoy ourselves before they force us into those chairs."

"Inaho!" USApyon quickly began scolding the visiting princess for her brashness, though Keita stared as the two of them began arguing about manners - or whatever.

"…Geez," Keita muttered to himself. Whisper had apparently gone off to do his job as an advisor, so USApyon was technically in charge of both him and Inaho right now… meaning he could not leave the room.

"Psst," Keita looked over at Inaho while USApyon continued to rant with his back turned to them.

"What?" Keita questioned quietly, Inaho glanced over at the armored yo-kai before giving him a sly smirk.

"Wanna ditch the rabbit and go into town?"

"… Yes."

.

Keita and Inaho both laughed as they ran through the town disguised by some old robes Inaho apparently kept for this kind of occasion. Ditching USApyon hadn't been hard, they just snuck out of the room while he wasn't looking, and by the time they heard his scream of realization they were already far enough away to make a run for it.

"Ah, good to be able to get out and enjoy the fresh air, wouldn't you say?" Inaho said as she did a few twirls while looking around town.

"I guess it's good to be out of the castle for a bit," Keita said, doing a couple of stretches - from his in-loop memories he knew that he hadn't really been out of the castle very often before, so he didn't have many memories of this town - honestly he found the layout to be pretty similar to uptown back home - though the castle was in the position the school would've been in.

"Right, you know how it is. I need to sneak out every now and then - though a lot of the time my brother catches me and tells mom and dad or USApyon, and then they stop me - so I'm going to enjoy this!" Keita nodded to his in-loop fiancé briefly before he decided to take in the sights a bit more while she walked off to look at the fountain.

It was quite a strange sight to behold compared to baseline, yo-kai walked the streets just as any other person - they were greeted by the humans as if they were one of their own, and they greeted the humans back in kind, it was rather serene.

*CRASH!*

"Zura! I'm so sorry!" Keita looked over and spotted… Komasan? He appeared to have been pulling a wheelbarrow full of vegetables but he had accidentally bumped into-

"Sorry!? You some kind of wise guy!" The reptilian yo-kai growled as he held Komasan by the scruff of his neck.

"Gurerurin," Keita muttered as he watched the display.

"Please sir, I need to get home to my brother! I'm really sorry, zura," Komasan moved around a bit in Gurerurin's grip but he just scowled at the lion-dog.

"Oh, so you're in a pretty big hurry, huh? Well how about I give you a knuckle sandwich for the road!"

"Hey!" Gurerurin looked over at whom had interrupted him and saw the disguised Keita glaring in his direction. "Put him down."

"… Or what?" The reptilian yo-kai taunted as he waved Komasan around a bit.

"Oh, I'm getting woozy," Komasan muttered dizzily as he was waved around like a stuffed toy. Keita clenched his teeth as he reached into his sup-space pocket for his Crescent Rose, but before he could.

"Take this!" Gurerurin dodged the sword slash quickly, dropping Komasan in the process - both Gurerurin and Keita looked in both surprise and confusion at who held the sword; Inaho. "Being a bully is not ok! You can't push others around just because you're bigger than them!" Gurerurin growled as he glared at the newcomer - but she held a sword while he was armed with nothing but his fists.

"I don't know who youz guys think you are, but you better watch your backs," the hooligan stated before running off into an alleyway. Inaho helped Komasan back to his feet.

"Oh, thanks for your help. Zura," Komasan bowed in thanks to both of the disguised royals.

"It wasn't a problem, people shouldn't treat each other that way," Inaho said firmly. Komasan nodded before he gathered up his supplies and continued on his trek home. "Humph, jerks like that shouldn't just be allowed to do whatever they want."

"I'll have to agree, lucky for him that you stepped in, cause he might not have survived what I would've done to him," Keita chuckled - he wasn't serious of course, he could definitely beat the yo-kai within an inch of his life and beyond if he wanted to - there was no doubt about that. But he would never do such a thing so lightly, besides, he knew deep down Gurerurin wasn't really that bad.

"Sure, and I bet you've got all sorts of weapons hidden on your person," Inaho smiled despite not being convinced as she returned her sword to its hidden sheath on her back.

"Why not? You had a sword."

"Well I'm very good at concealing weaponry," Inaho said smugly.

"Oh yeah? How's this for concealed?" Keita questioned before he pulled Crescent Rose from his sub-space pocket and unfurled it into scythe mode. Inaho just stared blankly.

"… Where did that come from!?"

"Not telling."

"What? Come on!"

"Nope."

"Aww…" Inaho drooped a bit, feeling she had been out-done. Keita sighed before looking back in the direction of the castle.

"We should get back before they start freaking out."

.

Gurerurin gasped for breath as he ran into a building down a dark alleyway, there were other Gurerurins around the area polishing weapons and hitting punching bags. Gurerurin stepped before a larger yo-kai and bowed.

"Lord Gokudo. I have some interesting news."

"What do you have for me number 16? It better be good," The leader yo-kai questioned gruffly.

"I spotted the prince and his fiancé wandering about - They wore commoner clothes but the dumb kids didn't even bother to conceal their faces," the Gurerurin dubbed 'number 16' chuckled.

"Are you absolutely sure it was them?"

"Yes - the little brat of a princess threatened me with a sword - they're likely going to be heading back to the castle soon, but if we move quick maybe…" number 16 looked at Gokudo expectedly with a smirk on his face, a smirk that Gokudo returned.

"We can get a hold of those brats and use them to take control of both of their kingdoms. Ha! Excellent work number 16! Boys, it looks like we've got work to do!"

.

Keita and Inaho were both headed back to the castle, sounds were heard from nearby alleys and Keita noticed the sun was starting to set.

"Hey Inaho, do you think maybe we took a bit too long out here?" Keita asked, he looked around the area-something felt off.

"Nah, I've been gone from my castle way longer then this before. We'll just tell them we got lost in the hallways or something."

"If you say so - but I feel like we're being watched-" Keita was cut off when a Gurerurin jumped out from the shadows and tried to grab him. Keita jumped back and unfurled Crescent Rose and held it threateningly while Inaho held her sword.

"Thought I didn't recognize you, huh?" The Gurerurin questioned with a smirk while two others came to his side. "Prince, Princess. The two of you are coming with us!" Keita and Inaho glanced at each other and smirked before they charged at the yo-kai with their weapons.

Next loop

"Man, that was an exciting loop," Keita laughed as he walked to school with Whisper beside him.

"Maybe for you - I was stuck in the castle while you were on your 'epic quest.'" The ghost scoffed as they walked through the gate. "Well at least I got that combat mode out of it."

"Don't you dare!" Keita growled - not wanting to see that weird body of Whisper's again. He noticed someone walking towards the building and smiled. "Um, hey!"

Inaho looked over at the boy calling her in confusion as he approached.

"Um, I don't think we've spoken - but my name's Keita. And I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me and my friends?" Inaho gave him an odd look for a second, but smiled after a moment.

"Oh, sure thing! By the way, my name's Inaho."

2.9

"Well, this should prove to be a very interesting loop," The white haired boy spoke in Whisper's voice as he looked at the yo-kai he had just freed from the Crank-a-Kai.

Nate looked at his ghostly body for a minute before shrugging.

"I have wondered what it was like to be a yo-kai. I guess now I'll find out."

2.10

"Hey guys!" Keita's human friends looked over to see him waving his arms wildly. "Come with me if you want to be part of something amazing!"

"What's Keita talking about?" Kuma questioned blankly.

"I don't know… he's been kind of absent lately," Fumi muttered worriedly.

"Yeah… maybe if we follow him we'll find out what's been occupying his time," Kaanchi suggested - the other two nodded before they started following Keita.

.

"Keita-kun, where exactly are we going?" Fumi asked as they all walked up the trail to mount Wildwood. Keita chuckled before turning to his friends.

"You'll see soon… oh, you'll need these," Keita quickly handed the three a Yo-kai Watch each, they looked at them in confusion.

"Hey Keita, what's with these weird watches?" Kuma questioned as he looked it over.

"These designs… wait, these are like that watch you started wearing lately," Kaanchi concluded after a second of thought - Keita held up his wrist proudly confirming this.

"Come to think of it… doesn't Inaho wear the same one," Fumi questioned after a moment.

"Hey that's true - what's going on Keita? Do you and Inaho-chan have a secret club or something you plan to have us join?" Kuma asked.

"Something like that…" Keita chuckled in a knowing way. "Don't worry, all will be clear when we get there," Keita stated before they continued up - when they got to the shrine they were met with another.

"Hello everyone! I see everything went according to plan, Keita-kun," Inaho greeted them with the same knowing smile as Keita.

"Seriously, what's going on here - you two are being kind of creepy," Fumi muttered as she looked between them.

"Very creepy…" Kaanchi nodded in agreement, before Kuma did as well. Keita and Inaho traded smiles for a moment before looking back at their friends.

"Why don't you guys shine those watch lights around us?" Keita suggested.

"Watch lights?" Kuma questioned while Fumi turned on her watch and Kaanchi examined his. Fumi suddenly let out a scream that caught the other two's attention.

"G-guy's! G-ghost!"

They quickly shined their lights where she was pointing and were shocked at what did indeed appear to be a small, white ghost of sorts.

"Hello, I am Whisper - it's a pleasure to meet you," Whisper bowed with a wide smile on his face.

"Hiya, I'm Jibanyan!" They were surprised by the appearance of another strange creature that stood by; a two tailed cat creature, and there was also a… rabbit in a spacesuit?

"Introduce yourself USApyon," Inaho prompted.

"Right, Hello, I'm USApyon," he bowed.

"We are yo-kai!" The three creatures said together. Fumi, Kuma and Kaanchi just stared wide-eyed for a few moments while Keita and Inaho snickered a bit at their expressions.

"Yo-kai Keita-kun?" Fumi looked at Keita blankly before his others friends also looked over.

"Correct, yo-kai are normally invisible to you humans but those Yo-kai Watches allow you to see and interact with us, like those two have been doing for a while," Whisper explained, Jibanyan had curled up and was taking a nap already.

"What!? Keita what's going on here!?" Kuma shouted while Fumi and Kaanchi both tried to process it.

"It's as he said, me and Inaho have been interacting with yo-kai with the Yo-kai Watches for a while," Keita stated before turning to Inaho.

"We've had a detective organization to help deal with yo-kai crimes going on in town, and we could use some more members," Inaho said while Keita nodded.

"And that's why we decided to let you guys in on the secret."

"…So you want us to join a detective agencies to help with crimes among invisible creatures… that you're telling us have existed right under our noses this whole time and you two have known about for a while?" Fumi questioned - Kuma and Kaanchi were just staring Jibanyan and USApyon - the rabbit berating the cat for falling asleep right now.

"Yes, that is what is going on," Keita smiled.

"… Is there any other mind blowing secrets you'd like to reveal?"

"Hmm… I can fly," Keita hovered a few feet off the ground to prove his words - his friends didn't last too long after that.

*THUD!*

2.11

Nate carefully polished Crescent Rose while sitting by the Crank-a-Kai near the mount Wildwood shrine - this loop was following sort of a mixture of baseline and a game variant and he had just the other night used his trusty weapon to defeat Sproink single-handedly.

After he had finished he looked at the weapon closely and frowned.

"Nate, what's going on?" Nate looked over at his yo-kai butler and friend as he floated over.

"Oh, hey Whisper - what's up?" he stood up and folded Crescent Rose into its compact form.

"Well, you've been pretty focused on your weapon this loop, you seemed very proud when you managed to defeat that boss yo-kai on your own - but now you seem trouble, what's on your mind?"

Nate nodded at Whisper's words as something had been troubling him, in regards to his weapon that is.

"Well… I've been thinking, I haven't had a loop back to Remnant for a while… I'm running low on dust," he looked back at Crescent Rose again. "Crescent Rose is my main offensive weapon… even if I can shoot ki blasts and summon yo-kai, it's what I rely on to fight - I'm just not that strong yet. But at this rate it won't be usable until I manage to loop back to Remnant, or have the luck to have a loop where dust exists."

"I suppose I can see the problem there, even though you never had a weapon in baseline, you've grown fond of being able to defend yourself."

"Not just that," Nate stood up and crossed his arms after returning Crescent Rose to his pocket. "Crescent Rose is Ruby's weapon. I may have gained the memories of building it when I replaced her, but it was still her who had created it. Mine is just a copy, not something uniquely mine."

"A copy it may be, but you've still used it well," Whisper spoke in encouragement. Nate smiled at him.

"Not as well as if it were truly mine. I've learned a lot in the loops, including quite a bit of mechanics. I think it's time to try and make my Crescent Rose something truly my own."

.

"What do you think? Can it be done?" Nate questioned as Hidabat looked over the plans that he had written down for modifying Crescent Rose. The two of them were in Nate's closet with nothing but Hidabat's computer for illumination.

The bat yo-kai nodded a bit at the plans before looking Nate's way and giving a thumbs up.

"I don't see anything wrong with the main idea, I can order the parts you want. Though it may take a day or two for them to come."

"Great! This is going to be awesome!"

.

"What's going on? Is Nyate done changing his scythe-gun-thing yet?" Jibanyan questioned while sitting on his human friends bed, Whisper hovering by. Nate was currently within his closet working on his Crescent Rose - Hidabat not really minding his presence, considering it was his closet in the first place - and she had helped him obtain some parts that he wanted to use for it.

That was the extent that Whisper and Jibanyan knew - what exactly the modifications were and what kind of parts Hidabat had helped Nate obtain were unknown to the two.

"His parent's will be home soon, he better take a break," Whisper sighed.

"Yeah, don't want them finding out about this," The cat yo-kai nodded. Suddenly the door to the closet opened and they looked to see a proud Nate stepping out holding what looked like a white Crescent Rose in gun mode.

"Hello guys, I'd like to show you my new weapon - Spectral Fang!" the weapon flipped into scythe mode - revealing the blade to have a purple tint to it. Hidabat clapped quietly from in the closet while Whisper and Jibanyan stared blankly.

"… That's it? You painted it white and gave it a nyew nyame?" Jibanyan questioned with a raised brow.

"Nate… that doesn't really seem like making it your own."

"Hold up," Nate shook his head before holding the weapon up firmly. "It's not just a paint job guys, look here," he pointed to the head of the scyth, where what appeared to be the face of a Yo-kai Watch was set.

"… I don't get it, you can summon yo-kai with it?" Jibanyan questioned - Nate smirked.

"Not quite. You see I remembered that Inaho and USApyon had worked on a rocket in baseline, a rocket that was powered by yo-kai medals. It got me thinking, it seems despite being used to summon yo-kai, the medals also contain a bit of the yo-kai's power on their own. So with Hidabat's help-"

"Hi," The bat yo-kai waved timidly.

"I procured my own one of those rocket kits from which I salvaged the proper components, a couple other modifications to the color with a Cybertronian electric paint job, and here we have my Spectral Fang," The two yo-kai looked pretty clueless so Nate responded by pulling out one of Jibanyan's medals. "How about I give a demonstration?"

"… This is nyot going to affect meow? Is it?"

"Don't worry Jibanyan, it's just your medal - it won't affect you," Nate assured before he inserted the medal into the slot. A flash seemed to occur before the color pink spread across the scythe - changing its color to an exact match of the signature of the Charming(sometimes Pretty) Tribe - the purple tinted blade had become a darker shade of pink to the body.

"That's certainly something you don't see every day," Whisper commented looking a bit impressed.

"With your medal inserted the bullets Spectral Fang will fire will be fire balls, I can also slightly access the power of your paws of fury in the scythe mode allowing for many fast strikes that I wouldn't normally be able to do," Nate took the medal out of the weapon and it reverted to its white color. "It gets all of its power from yo-kai medals, so no more worrying about running out of dust."

"You seem really proud of yourself Nate," Whisper smiled slightly.

"Well I am - I can't wait to show Ruby!" Nate said eagerly. Whisper and Jibanyan chuckled.

2.12

"Come on Keita, we're going to be late for school!" Kuma called to Keita's house as he, Kaanchi and Fumi stood outside.

"Coming!" Keita called back as he came out of the house. "Ok, let's go!"

"Good, we don't want detention," Kaanchi nodded as they began to walk down the sidewalk.

"Wait," Fumi stopped them and looked at Keita. "Keita-kun, you don't have your book bag." Keita blinked as they looked at him before he smiled.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll take care of that," he said before turning back to his house. "Book bag! Come!" His friends stared at Keita like he had lost his mind, before the door to his house was pushed open and his book bag came rolling out. The three kids stared wide-eyed as the bag rolled over to them and hopped into Keita's arms. "Good bag. Ok let's go."

Keita's friends stared as their friend walked down the sidewalk whistling a tune as if everything was normal.

Jibanyan chuckled from his position behind the three.

"Keita was right - That was funny."

2.13

One thing that Nate/Keita had learned through his time in the loops was: No matter how many times things seemed to repeat, no matter how many times you witness the same events, you must always expect the unexpected. Because the loops can always surprise you.

.

"What!?" Nate looked around in confusion at the large wasteland. There seemed to be many cracks spreading throughout the ground like veins and… were those robot dinosaurs!?

Nate could see a pack of silver, mechanical t-rex looking things, though they also had raptor toe claws - they had red eyes and some seemed to be charging his way!

"Back off!" Nate prepared to pull Spectral Fang out if he needed to defend himself - when he noticed that he himself was one of the robotic dinosaurs. "Huh?" The mechanical predators ran right passed Nate, he watched as they charged off into the distance towards what looked like a herd of silver long-necked dinosaurs in the distance.

"… What?"

.

Keita found himself standing in what might pass for some sort of strange amusement park. There was a pool of water in the center, many strange buildings, pillars and other structures with shiny bouncing balls on them that seemed to defy gravity. And other strange, sometimes floating, or rotating objects.

Keita's thoughts were interrupted by a strange, little… thing, hovering down next to him. It looked like it was made up of four black disks with some sticks holding it together in the shape of propeller. He watched as it landed and shifted its features around to somewhat resemble a bicycle.

"Um… hello there little fella. Can you speak?" The small thing looked(?) at Keita briefly before it started wheeling forward. Keita decided to tail it since he had no idea what else to do here.

The strange little thing/creature led Keita through the park and passed the many interesting structures until they came to some sort of passage, it rolled down it before shifting its form into a simple line and it flew straight towards a strange wall at the end of the passage. But it hit it and fell back.

Keita watched with interest the little thing seemed to examine the wall that it tried to pass. The wall seemed to be made up of many transparent cubes that were rotating. And Keita watched in a slight bit of awe as the disk-stick being worked out the pattern and slipped through the wall.

And then something strange happened, it was kind of blurry to see from behind the wall but it looked like… the little thing ran into some floating shapes and then it… grew? And there were rainbow colors.

And then everything went dark.

"What!?"

.

Nate was a man made of metal… or something like that. He had no eyes but he could still see… somehow. He watched a person made of… springs or something walk down a set of stairs, and looked up and saw another metal person walking up a set of stairs that came out of the wall! And walking on that wall.

He saw another faceless person made of gold walk up a set of stairs, then turn and walk up a wall and onto another set of stairs.

"… What!?"

.

Keita was some sort of faceless person again, though he didn't seem to be made of metal this time.

He moved his feet forward turning a wheel between them and pushing him forward. The faceless people in front of him did the same, as did the ones behind him. It was just moving forward with the occasional turn, there was nothing else to their lives.

They continued over this endless wall, none could stop because if one did, the endless line of other faceless people that trailed behind them would surely fall.

"… Seriously, what's going on with these loops?"

.

Nate found himself wandering through a strange room, which seemed to be filled with nothing but many blue and gold cubes of various sizes.

Eventually he found something different, sitting atop one of the cubes was a little dome, the glass was tinted blue and gold in places and it was held together by a gold frame. Nate could see tiny pterodactyls flying around inside.

"… Huh?"

2.14

"So we find ourselves in this time again," Keita whispered as he, Jibanyan and Whisper stood with Fuyunyan nearby, but just out of earshot.

"Seems so, wiss," Whisper nodded his body.

"What do you say we do things little different this time?"

.

"Your pathetic human friend can't save you now!" Ubaune laughed as Jibanyan's cage was lowered into the molten liquid.

"Wanna bet on that?" Ubaune and her minions looked over and were shocked to see Keita… flying towards them! He held out Spectral Fang and inserted Robonyan's medal into it - the mechanical scythe turned orange before he slashed it and the blade rocketed off and sliced through the time machine before flying back like a boomerang and reattaching itself to the main weapon.

"What!?" Ubaune shouted in shock and anger as her time machine fell apart right before her eyes with Kin, Gin, and Do panicking a bit, unable to do anything.

"I'll take care of them Whisper, you get Jibanyan out of the cage!" Keita said confidently as he took the Robonyan medal out of his weapon and replaced it with Merameraion's - Spectral Fang changed red and Keita gave a fired up shout before he jumped into battle.

"Can do Keita-kun. After all, what is a cage other than a kind of box?" Whisper smiled as he floated over to the trapped, feline yo-kai.

"I'm nyot sure if that's right," Jibanyan muttered, but soon the cage began glowing and floated up with Whisper holding his hands out that were also glowing. "Ok, you've made your point!" Jibanyan broke free of the cage after Whisper had set it on the ground.

"No! You're just a human! How could you defeat my servants!?" Ubaune was too distracted by Keita defeating her subordinates to notice Jibanyan sneak up behind her until he snickered.

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet," the cat-like yo-kai said as a glowing card appeared before him that he crushed in his paw. "Personya! Burning Nekomata!" Ubaune was knocked away by Jibanyan's Persona rather easily.

All the while Keizo and Fuyunyan watched, completely dumbfounded.

Two loops later

"And then the loop crashed," Keita finished explaining to Hikikomori.

"So what did you learn from that experience?" The small, bat-like yo-kai questioned.

"Well, considering what happened - I guess not to do anything that will make my grandfather decide not to make the Yo-kai Watch. I think after he saw what we did he decided to start making yo-kai weapons or something…"

"Anything else?"

"Yeah: Eiken sucks!"

2.15

Ruby awoke to find herself in a rather empty house, she blinked as she looked around. This was definitely her house but things were a bit messier, and kind of lonelier… and was she sleeping on the couch.

A young sounding yawn interrupted her thoughts and she looked to see a five year old Nate cuddling her while he slept, it took her a moment to realize that she herself was not her usual age, but rather seventeen. She looked over her in - loop memories to get an understanding of exactly what was going on.

"Yes… My little brother Nate and I are on our own," Ruby sighed as the sad memories of this variant came to her.

Humanity wasn't at war with the grimm - they were at war with the oni. Her parents left to do battle with them about three years ago, and they never came back - she had been responsible for Nate ever since. She absentmindedly stroked the child's hair as she tried to think about what to do with this loop.

Other than the oni replacing the grimm, and her different family the world seemed pretty baseline. But she had not ended up going to Beacon because she needed to look after Nate, he was far too young to be left on his own.

"Ruby?" She blinked at the little voice before she looked to see her little brother looking at her sleepily. "Is it… time to get up?" Ruby frowned a bit at the innocent look in his eyes - Nate wasn't awake, that was unfortunate. If nothing else this loop could have been an opportunity to further bond with her 'younger brother.' This also meant he would be unable to take care of himself for the time being, she set off a ping and got three back - ok, so she wasn't the only one awake. She would need to work on figuring out who else was awake later. "Ruby?" Nate's voice caused her to look at him again to see him staring at her with his big, brown eyes. "Is it food time yet?" Ruby couldn't help but give a gentle smile before patting him on the head.

'So cute,' Ruby thought to herself before nodding. "Yes Nate. Go wash your hands and I'll make you some eggs and bacon," the young child followed her orders and got up from the couch and scurried to the bathroom. Ruby pulled herself up from the couch and turned towards the kitchen. "Well, better get to work."

.

It had been several months since the loop began - Ruby had learned that it was about ten years before the day she would be accepted into Beacon. Odd timing - though she supposed that would place Nate at her age at the time, but it wasn't as simple as him replacing her again. Yang didn't seem to exist this loop-or if she did she wasn't in their family - not to mention the age gap between her and Nate was much larger then between her and Yang, so she wasn't simply replacing her sister.

Still, as it was most things outside of her family seemed mostly baseline - aside from the fact that oni were a bit more intelligent than the average grimm and actually did possess souls - meaning they could use aura and could have semblances. Still while she wanted to go out and figure out exactly how much is different, maybe locate exactly whom was awake - she at least knew it wasn't Zwei, at least if his behavior was any indication. At least for the time being she was going to focus on raising the still unawake Nate.

"Big sis! Look at me! I'm up high!" Nate's high pitched voice shouted to her and she looked around from her seat on their front porch before spotting him hanging from a tree branch. She sighed and shook head, but still smiled as she walked over to the energetic five year old.

"Yes, I see you Nate. Now come down," Ruby ordered in a good natured tone.

"OK!" Nate exclaimed before he let go of the branch and dropped down with a *thud!* Ruby shook her head as Nate lay on the ground unharmed and giggling, his aura having easily protected him from the fall. Ruby picked him up as he laughed. "Again!"

"No Nate, we need to get back inside - it will be dark soon, and you've got to get ready for bed," Ruby said firmly, Nate whined a bit at the prospect of bed, but Ruby just smirked. "Or, you can stay up all night and be sleep through uncle Qrow's visit," that got the young child's attention.

"No! I go to bed! I go to bed!" Ruby laughed a bit at Nate's complete attitude change toward bedtime at the mention of their uncle - she couldn't really blame him, she would probably be the same in his shoes.

"Ok then, so let's go in and have you wash up before dinner and…" Ruby trailed off when she noticed the bushes nearby rustling, she carefully put Nate down and eyed the bush. "Nate, get behind me," the child obeyed and grabbed onto her leg as she glared at the bush - whatever was in there was much more powerful than a squirrel or something - perhaps another looper? But still she needed to be prepared in case it was something that would hurt Nate or -

Her thoughts were cut off when on orange and white blur jumped out from the bushes and Nate's eyes lit up.

"Kitty!" Ruby stared blankly as Nate ran over to pet the little, orange and white cat that had emerged from the bushes - the feline purred at his pets before glancing at Ruby and meowing - The cat looked between her and Nate and meowed several times, Ruby noticed a ping each time it meowed.

Nate giggled as he pet the cat some more, the cat seeming a little disappointed by his lack of reaction to the pings.

"OK Nate, back inside. You can play with the kitty another time," Ruby shooed her younger brother into the house, and he reluctantly obeyed her, waving a bit to the cat before he did. Once he was inside she looked over at the cat.

"… Jibanyan?" the cat sighed after she spoke his name and smiled at her.

"So it's you who's awake? I was hoping it would be Nyate," the currently alive cat said with a small smile.

"Yeah, he's not awake right now… were you one of the pings I got a few months ago?" Ruby questioned and Jibanyan nodded.

"I woke up as a stray on the streets… nyot really the most pleasant position to be in… but considering I'm usually already dead whenever I wake up I guess it isn't be that bad. Still, Amy doesn't seem to exist this loop… or if she does we've nyever encountered each other," Jibanyan explained. Ruby nodded back and smiled a bit.

"Well I'm glad to run into somebody else who's awake, even if you're not one of my teammates. You can stay with us if you'd like," Ruby offered kindly. Jibanyan scratched his ear.

"That'd sure beat sleeping in the cold… but don't you have a dog?"

"Don't worry about Zwei, he wouldn't hurt a fly."

"But would he hurt a cat?" Jibanyan couldn't help but question - Ruby just laughed.

.

"Fetch Zwei!" A seven year old Nate tossed a stick for the corgi to fetch, which he did quickly and brought it back to the young boy while panting happily. "Good doggy!" the now nineteen year old Ruby watched her little brother playing from the porch, with Jibanyan sleeping nearby.

"So, you still haven't figured out who else is awake?" Jibanyan asked Ruby, making sure that Nate didn't hear him speak. Ruby sighed and crossed her arms.

"No, and Nate's still too young for us to go looking, and I've been unable to gather any information while shopping," she watched as Nate tossed the stick again for their dog to retrieve and couldn't help but chuckle a bit, before a serious look settled on her face. "From what I can tell, the oni may be more dangerous than the average grimm - but they don't quite go up to the level of the more powerful ones, still since they have access to aura it's a lot more difficult to put them down permanently."

"Can we please nyot talk about that?" the cat sighed as he rolled onto his back.

"What do you want to talk about then?" Ruby questioned with a raised brow.

"…How about when you're going to go out and get me some chocolate bars?" Jibanyan asked with a smirk on his face.

"I already told you a thousand times - you're a living cat right now. You can't have chocolate," Ruby shook her head as she spoke. Jibanyan groaned.

"Man... Two whole years without chocolate! And who knows how much longer to go. Why can't this loop just end?" Jibanyan muttered mostly to himself, Ruby rolled her eyes at his complaining.

"Look, for right now at least, this loop has been pretty peaceful. I suggest you just sit back and enjoy it, not eating chocolate isn't the end of the world - and I got you plenty of fish, so just relax," Ruby said in a calming tone. Jibanyan sighed again and nodded.

"Yeah… maybe you're right."

"Fetch Zwei!" Nate's shout barely came as a warning before Jibanyan found a stick hitting him in the end, and a corgi rushing towards him. "Sorry kitty!" Jibanyan meowed in protest when Zwei decided to jump on him and start licking him. Ruby chuckled at the sight and shook her head.

.

"So, you're going to Beacon?" a twenty seven year old Ruby questioned her fifteen year old younger brother as he stood by packing.

"Yeah… I'm honestly surprised that Ozpin's letting me in early," He held up Crescent Rose-2 as he called his copy of her well - known weapon. Honestly she was surprised to find that she possessed the same weapon as she normally did in this loop, and also a bit surprised that when it came time for Nate to make his weapon that he went and made a copy of Crescent Rose - still, they both also had the speed semblance, and even in a family it was odd for two people to have the same semblance. Not counting Weiss' family.

"Well, I know you'll be one of the best hunters there," Ruby patted his shoulder affectionately. "I'm very proud of you bro, show those oni no mercy," Nate nodded back to her with a small smile.

"Don't worry sis - I will, for mom and dad!"

"Good - though don't forget to make friends," Ruby chuckled and Nate nodded back, though he looked a little nervous.

"I'll try, but…" Nate trailed off as he looked down, Ruby patted his shoulder again and he looked up at her.

"Don't worry, they'll love you - I'm sure," they stayed like that for a second before he smiled brightly at her and nodded. "Now don't forget to say goodbye to Zwei and Jibanyan before you leave."

"Don't worry, I won't!"

.

"… So what's the plan?" Jibanyan asked Ruby after Nate had left on his flight to Beacon.

"I need to figure out whom else is awake - if Cinder isn't one of them I'm going to halt her plans before Nate and his team gets involved," Ruby held her Crescent Rose readily as the small cat looked up at her.

"You seem pretty serious," he noted and she nodded to him.

"I don't know exactly how much this will differ from my baseline from this point going forward, but I'm not going to let Nate go through anything like the end of our last expansion, whether he's awake or not!" Jibanyan watched her as she walked towards the door.

"And what about meow?" He questioned blankly, she turned back to the cat and smiled.

"You're in charge of Zwei."

"Seriously?" Jibanyan looked rather underwhelmed by his given task.

"I'm sure you can handle! I'll stop by every now and then to drop off food and such. Be good!" and with that Ruby sped off. Jibanyan stared at the door for a moment - and then froze when he heard panting behind him. He turned to see a little corgi panting and looking at him.

"Um… nice doggy?" Jibanyan said nervously. Zwei tilted his head… before he pounced on Jibanyan and started licking him. "Well this is going to be a barrel of fun," Jibanyan muttered sarcastically as the dog continued to lick him.

.

"Big sis!" Nate cheered as Ruby showed up at the Beacon gates with a smile on her face. It was the time for the Vytal festival - and the perfect excuse for her to come to Beacon and finally find if any of her teammates were awake…if any of them were in the age group they normally were - and if Yang even existed… It was also good to make sure her little brother was ok.

"Hey Nate. How's Beacon been," Ruby questioned as she approached the younger Rose, whom was positively beaming.

"Great! You'll never guess but I'm the leader of our team!"

"Really, the leader?" Ruby feigned surprise at this revelation, though she was proud nevertheless.

"Yeah! And our team has your name! We're team RWBY!" he nodded his head happily and she nodded back.

"My name huh?" Ruby smiled while she thought about the implications. 'Ok, R for Rose, Nate and mine's last name. So it's probably still Weiss, Blake and Yang - that's good, even if they're not awake that means I know Nate is in good hands.'

"Yeah, oh and I can't wait for you to meet my team!"

.

Ruby's meeting with this loops variation on team RWBY wasn't too surprising, despite the strangeness that Yang wasn't related to her or Nate - yet still seemed exactly the same, nothing else seemed unusual… though Weiss was sending her weird glances, she would have to speak to her alone to confirm her suspicions.

"Well I'll be around, though Nate, am I able to trust you with all these girls sleeping in the same room as you?" Ruby couldn't help but tease - Yang laughed at the accusation, Blake didn't seem to care, and Weiss was still more focused on Ruby. Nate looked embarrassed.

"I like her!" the unawake Yang laughed as she pat Nate on the back. He sighed and looked at his older sister.

"Come on sis, don't say things like that. We're all just friends," Nate insisted and Ruby chuckled while petting his head.

"Yeah I know, I just got to look out for my baby bro."

"I'm not a baby…" Nate mumbled while looking away, but Ruby just smiled and pat him on the head.

"I'll see you around Nate. I love you."

"…I love you too," Nate hugged his sister before she exited the room. As soon as she was in the hall she pulled out her scroll to send a message.

.

"Thanks for meeting me here," Ruby smiled at the younger, white haired girl sitting across from her in the coffee shop. Weiss sipped from a coffee cup before she sat it in front of her and gave her usually 15 year old friend a strange look.

"It was weird awakening so early," Weiss muttered.

"So you were one of the pings I got back ten years ago," Ruby smiled and Weiss nodded. "So you woke up as a seven year old?"

"Yeah… so what's with your age?" Weiss questioned while looking at Ruby in a scrutinizing fashion.

"Don't know. Just the way this loop was going, so how's fighting onis and working beside my little brother been?"

"He's not very different from you - if a little less hyper," Weiss sighed.

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" Ruby chuckled as she took a bite out of one of the cookies that she had on a plate in front of her.

"Does it matter?" Weiss questioned dully. "Anyway, the oni are harder to fight then a group of beowolves or ursas for sure. Though haven't seen much tougher than a deathstalker sized red one. None of them can fly at least from what we've seen, and even though they have aura we can beat most of the smaller ones."

"Good, I mean it couldn't have been that bad if you're the only awake member of the team, though do you know the identity of anyone else that's awake? Last I checked there were still only two other pings then mine and Jibanyan's."

"No, I haven't found any - wait, Jibanyan?" Weiss questioned blankly at the name. Ruby laughed a bit.

"Oh yeah, you haven't really met him yet… well he's normally a yo-kai, but right now he's a regular cat, though not being able to eat chocolate is driving him crazy."

"… He does realize he can just change back into his… 'yo-kai' form if he wants to eat chocolate. Doesn't he?" Weiss questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't think he does."

"… So when were you planning on telling him?" Weiss' question went ignored as Ruby moved on to a new topic.

"So anyway, I'm pretty sure Cinders not awake, so it shouldn't be too hard for me to halt her plans - interested in helping?" Ruby asked with a smirk on her face.

"Of course. What's the plan?"

.

Nate awoke as he stared at the large screen in the Vytal tournament's arena, and the image that was on it…

"Let me go! This is an outrage! Whoever you are! Wherever you are! I'll destroy - " Cinder's mad ranting was cut off as she was hit in the face with a pie. The machine that launched it prepared to launch another one while Mercury and Emerald, whom were just as tied up as Cinder also got pied. The crowd just stared at what was being projected on the screen - a few laughing, but most just looking dumbfounded.

"Hey, Nate," Weiss snapped her fingers in front of her partners eyes and he looked at her strangely. "You finally awake?" Nate stared at her for a second.

"… Yeah, but I'm feeling a little loopy…" Nate glanced from Weiss, whom he just realized was awake, and the screen showing the… comically captured villains. "… Did you have anything to do with this?"

"Eh, it was mostly your sister," Weiss shrugged.

"Ruby? She's awake," Nate looked a little excited even before Weiss nodded in confirmation. He quickly left the stadium, while Weiss went back to watching Cinder and her minion's public humiliation with a smirk on her face.

.

"Ruby!" Nate called as he caught up to his sister whom was hanging out nearby the stadium.

"Nate, how are you?" Ruby gave him a gentle smile as he approached and he smiled back at her.

"I'm wide and awake!"

"Good, took you long enough," Ruby laughed a bit and Nate chuckled slightly embarrassed. He calmed after a moment before hugging her.

"Thanks for taking care of me for so long sis."

"No problem bro, that's what family is for," Ruby returned the hug. They separated after a moment and Nate gave Ruby an odd look.

"So… what's with that pie shooting thing on the big screen?" Nate questioned and Ruby just laughed again.

"Oh that. What can I say, a classic is a classic," Nate looked clueless at that explanation but shrugged, before he remembered something.

"Oh right! I wanted to show you," He pulled his modified version of Crescent Rose out of his sub-space pocket and show it to her proudly. "It's called Spectral Fang! It runs on Yo-kai medals and their energy, and it changes abilities based on the medal used, what do you think?"

Ruby looked the modified weapon over for a second, before smiling proudly at Nate.

"Wow, that's some good modifications you've done Nate. Even if the basic idea is still the same, you've really made this version of Crescent Rose your own," Ruby said with a big smile on her face. Nate beamed at his sister's compliments, though he was surprised when Ruby reached into her sub-space pocket and pulled out another Crescent Rose and handed it to him. "Still, it's always good to keep a copy of the original."

Nate took the copy of Crescent Rose and nodded, before putting both it and Spectral Fang into his sub-space pocket. Next he took Crescent Rose-2 from his back and handed it to Ruby.

"Crescent Rose-2 doesn't really have anything different about it from the original…but still, consider it a memento-even if I haven't been awake for most of this loop, I really enjoyed these memories," Nate explained before Ruby took the replica and nodded.

"Well, loops not over yet. There's still some time we can spend together, though it's disappointing that Yang's not awake… and it would be cool if Griff were here too," Ruby said as she tussled Nate's hair a bit.

"Yeah. Well, we'll just have to tell them all about it next time… maybe Yang will wake up before the loop ends!"

"Yeah - well either way, I'll get to spend some quality time with my baby brother," Ruby smirked as she messed with Nate's hair some more. Nate pulled back and frowned.

"Baby? Ruby, I'm like… several hundreds of years old at this point."

"Yeah, well I'm more then several billions of years old," Ruby laughed at the dumbfounded look on Nate's face before she wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "Come on, we'll have some fun."

"Ok, just don't call me your 'baby brother' again," Nate grumbled and Ruby smirked.

"No promises," before they left Ruby looked at the sky for a moment. "But still… I never did find out who that fourth looper was..."

.

"Dog… ugh," Jibanyan sighed as Zwei ran around him. "When is Ruby coming back again? We're running out of food!" Jibanyan looked at the cabinets and fridge…admittedly he had eaten more then he probably should of… but Ruby should still have brought more food!

Zwei barked before he seemed to… pull a scroll out from nowhere? He did some typing as Jibanyan watched, and barked happily after he had sent it. Jibanyan just stared.

"… Did you just order a pizza?"

*Bark!*

2.16 GammaTron(part 2: continuation of 1.15)

Amano Residence - 12:02PM

'What the heck?' Phoenix pondered as he looked at the comfortable two-storied home, 'This isn't a mansion or anything like I was expecting considering that Keita has a butler of all things, not... well...'

"RAAAAAAA! GET GOING WITH FINDING ANYTHING YOU CAN, DAMMIT!"

'Yikes! What was that?!' Phoenix thought, sweating heavily, before blinking twice at a strange sight in front of the house, "Detective Gumshoe?"

"RAAAAAAAA!-!-!" Gumshoe roared as he turned to see Phoenix, "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!"

'Earplugs, for one thing,' Phoenix sweated a bit, "I-I'm Keita Amano's lawyer for this case and..."

"FINE! I KNOW YOU GOT THE BEST WAYS TO FIND STUFF TO HELP SAVE INNOCENTS! NOW GO IN THERE AND GO FIND THAT STUFF TO HELP THE KID, DAMMIT! RAAAAAAAAA!" Gumshoe roared while Phoenix swore that he was seeing flames in Gumshoe's eyes.

'Some one's spiked his coffee...' Phoenix noted as he entered the building, 'Everything looks normal so far.' he then entered the living room and cringed, seeing the blood splatters, the two body outlines, and evidence marks, 'Yep. Completely normal.'

He proceeded to go to work on looking around. He started at the body outlines.

'Poor kid...' Phoenix thought, looking at the outlines, 'In just one night, he loses so much... his parents... his normal life... everything he used to know will change because of this.' he moved on and looked at one of the stains, 'This must have been such a lovely painting before the blood... It even got on the plant below it, too.' he looked down at the plant before spotting something barely sticking out of under the table the plant was at, 'What's this?'

Phoenix knelt down while taking out a handkerchief. Putting it over his hand, he picked up the object and stood up. Looking it over, it was a medal of some sorts. The back had an engraving resembling two hearts trying to make one big one while the front depicting an image of a red cat-like creature with two tails ending in blue fireballs and a sash around its waist, giving a cute pose.

'Some sort of medal...' Phoenix thought.

Unusual Medal added to Court Record

Phoenix went upstairs, 'Maybe there might be something I can check in the bedrooms.' he looked into the first bedroom on the second floor, 'Must be the bedroom for the parents. Looks like they were killed before bedtime.' he then went to the only other room on the second floor, 'This must be Keita's room, then.' he opened the door and his eyes widened, 'Wh-What?' looking at the floor, he saw the outline of a small body on the floor with various evidence markers scattered about the messy room, 'A... Another murder? Did... Did he have a sister, too?'

"A terrible sight," Phoenix turned to see Whis Bei looked at the outline, "And just when we got the last medal to be able to summon her."

"What are you talking about?" Phoenix asked, 'How did he get here?'

"Did my master give you that watch?" Whis Bei asked.

"Huh?" Phoenix looked at the watch, "Yeah. He did."

"Seems that he trusts you," Whis Bei nodded, "Very well then."

"Huh?" Phoenix pondered before moving back from the explosion of smoke that covered Whis Bei before fading away, revealing a small white ghost-like creature with a black mark between his eyes to connect them, purple lips, and a spiral on its head.

"Hi~! I am Whisper!" Whisper bowed before saluting, "At your ser-whis!"

"Wh-What are you?!" Phoenix gawked.

"I am a Yokai," Whisper informed as he floated over the body outline on the floor, "And this was, sadly, the Legendary Yokai Netaballerina. She was a Legendary Yokai that would give all kinds of spoilers."

"Yokai? You mean like the legend of the Tengu and the Nine-Tailed Fox?" Phoenix asked.

"Hm? Oh, Tengu and Kyuubi did fight there, but that was a hundred years before anyone showed up there, whis," Whisper replied before zooming into Phoenix's face, "Wright-san! While I told you of the Patricide, Keita-kun is also being tried for killing a Legendary Yokai."

'... Okay... This might not be as easy as I thought it would have been...' Phoenix thought, '... This is like all my other cases, dammit.' "Wait. Why show yourself to me now?"

"Because Keita-kun gave you the Yokai Watch," Whisper informed.

"Yokai Watch?" Phoenix looked at the watch.

"Yes. That watch allows you to see the World of Yokai," Whisper explained, "Though, it is strange that you can see me normally. I mean, Keita-kun can see me because of the excess spiritual energy that entered his body when he released me from the Crank-A-Kai." he looked Phoenix over, "Hm? What's that glow in your pocket?"

"My pocket?" Phoenix repeated before pulling out his Magatama, which was glowing with the Yokai Watch, "Oh!"

"Where did you get something like that? I can practically feel the spiritual energy coming off of it in waves," Whisper observed.

"From the Fey Family."

"F-Fey?!" Whisper freaked, "They were the ones who sealed me away 150 years ago because they thought all Yokai were evil! That cruel woman Ami Fey!"

'Okay. Don't let him meet Maya or Pearls,' Phoenix thought.

Yokai Watch updated in Court Record

Magatama updated in Court Record

"Can you tell me about what happened here?"

"Well, last night, Keita-kun just made friends with the last Yokai he needed to summon a Legendary Yokai," Whisper informed, "We were in the middle of summoning her when the song distorted and a pulse sent me into the closet, knocking me out. Unfortunately, by the time I awoke, Keita was arrested for Patricide and Yokai were closing off the bedroom with... with Netaballerina on the floor, a knife with a sutra on it in her back."

"A sutra?" Phoenix repeated.

"Yokai can't be killed like you humans can. We require something more, such as sutras on the murder weapons," Whisper explained.

"So Keita has to deal with two trials?" Phoenix asked in disbelief.

"No," Whisper replied, "The judge for his human trial is also a Yokai in disguise. Therefore, no humans will be allowed to attend and, since you know of us now, you as his lawyer will be able to still be one to him for this trial."

"What are you talking about?! Wait, you mean Yokai can do what you just did?!" Phoenix asked.

"Yes. We can disguise ourselves as humans," Whisper informed.

'As if things made less sense earlier...' Phoenix sweatdropped.

"Shall we examine the scene now?" Whisper asked.

"H-Huh? Oh, yeah," Phoenix nodded as he looked around, starting with the body, "Do you have any files about her murder?"

"No. The detective in charge of this investigation does, though," Whisper replied.

"You mean Gumshoe?"

"Of course," Whisper replied, "All people in the detective force are made aware of Yokai and are partnered with one that can help them in Yokai-related cases."

'I'm guessing that's why Gumshoe's acting like that,' Phoenix thought before looking at an open book near the body, "And this?"

"The Yokai Dai-Jinten," Whisper informed, "All of Keita-kun's Yokai Medals are stored in here and we use the back pages to summon Legendary Yokai to befriend them."

Yokai Dai-Jinten added to Court Record

"I see... Wait. Medals?" Phoenix repeated before holding up the strange medal, "Like this?"

"Oh! That's Jibanyan's Yokai Medal! That infuriating cat!" Whisper huffed, "Though..." he sighed sadly, "He's not going to like the news when he learns about this."

Yokai Medal updated in Court Record.

"Jibanyan?" Phoenix repeated.

"One of Keita-kun's first Yokai friends," Whisper explained, "He often hangs around the crosswalk where he died, fighting trucks."

'Fighting trucks?' Phoenix sweatdropped, "Wait, what?"

"He was killed when a truck hit him. His previous owner called him an idiot from what he can remember and, since he became a Yokai, he's attacked all trucks who come to his intersection," Whisper explained, "He's the reason for all those sudden stop incidents there."

'Good thing the court is only a few blocks from my office this Loop,' Phoenix sweatdropped before looking around, "Whisper, what's this stuff all over the floor?"

"Hmm... It kind of looks like ashes from something small burning up," Whisper noted, "And from the looks of it, there were a lot of little things that burned away."

"I see..." Phoenix frowned.

Ashes added to Court Record

"So you ended up being knocked into the closet?" Phoenix questioned as he walked to it.

"Indeed. Whatever came out with her, it let out a shockwave that sent me in here," Whisper replied, "Hikkikomouri can attest to that."

"Who?" Phoenix pondered as he opened the closet, revealing a small bat-like creature with wings made of a blue star-patterned fabric on a laptop, "What the…?"

"Meep!" the bat squeaked.

"Settle down now, Hikkikomouri," Whisper advised as he floated over, "This is Phoenix Wright. He's defending Keita-kun tomorrow."

"H-He is?" Hikkikomouri asked.

"Yes, I am," Phoenix replied, showing his badge.

"Oh, thank goodness," Hikkikomouri sighed in relief, "The chat rooms are all abuzz about this trial since this is the first time a Legendary Yokai was killed in centuries!"

"Did you see what happened?"

"No," Hikkikomouri replied, "The closet has a full lockdown mode that triggers whenever an S-Rank Yokai appears."

"Lockdown mode?" Phoenix repeated, 'What kind of closet has that kind of thing?'

"It's this," Hikkikomouri replied as she pushed a button on the wall beside her and the doors slammed shut and a steel wall covered it.

"WHOA!" Phoenix yelped before the wall went back into hiding and Hikkikomouri poked her head out again, "Im... Impressive."

"I had some sutra put on it to make sure no Yokai can get through... or get out."

"She takes staying in the closet quite seriously," Whisper added.

"I... I see…" Phoenix sweated a bit, 'There's being protective... then there's being overprotective…' "Wait. Why did you make it to trigger with just that rank of Yokai?"

"Because the majority of the times that a Yokai has messed up the closet has been S-Rank," Hikkikomouri replied bluntly, "And the last one messed with my laptop."

"Don't touch her laptop…" Whisper shivered, a haunted look forming in his eyes.

'... I kinda wanna know what happened now,' Phoenix thought.

Keita's Closet added to Court Record

"MERA!"

Phoenix yelped as he turned and looked down, seeing a small, child-sized orange lion standing on its hind legs and in a black gi... with a mane made of fire.

"That's the inspector for the Yokai half of this investigation; Meramelion," Whisper informed, "When he inspirits someone, they become overly enthusiastic about doing something, often giving it their all."

'I guess this is the reason why Gumshoe was roaring everything…'

"MERA! MERA-ME-MERA-RA?!"

"Uh... what now?"

"He's demanding why you're here," Whisper informed before turning to the Yokai, "He's Keita-kun's attorney for the trials."

"MERA?!"

"Yes," Whisper nodded.

"MERA MERA-ME!" Meramelion snapped as he pointed at Phoenix... specifically, his hair.

'That was some sort of jab at my hair, wasn't it?' Phoenix sweatdropped, 'Well, at least it wasn't about my skills as an attorney.' "I'm Phoenix Wright. Do you think you can answer some questions for me?"

"MERA!" Meramelion roared with a pose and large amount of quick nods.

'I'll... take that as a 'yes,'' Phoenix sweated a bit, "Well... What happened here?"

"He says that they just got the autopsy report for Netabellerina," Whisper explained as the lion Yokai slammed the report into Phoenix's chest.

"OW!" Phoenix yelped as he caught it, 'That was as bad as getting hit with Franziska's whip!'

Netaballerina Autopsy Report added to Court Record

Phoenix looked it over, "So she died of spiritual essence loss through a knife wound to her back. Wait... spirits can die?"

"As I said earlier, we can die if we're fatally injured with something with a sutra added to it," Whisper frowned.

"Oh... right," Phoenix nodded before frowning, "So what's the difference between a normal Yokai and a Legend Yokai?"

"Legend Yokai are the strongest Yokai of their zoku," Whisper informed, peeking at a tablet in his hands every few seconds, "They are all S-Rank Yokai and can inspirit thousands at a single time without even breaking a sweat. But there can only be one of every Legend Yokai, meaning that now that Netaballerina is gone, another one will come into being and take her place."

"You've mentioned 'Rank' before. What do you mean by that?"

"All Yokai have a Rank. It represents how powerful they are in terms of both physical abilities and inspiriting abilities," Whisper informed, "The lowest are the E Rank while the strongest are the S-Rank."

'Okay, that makes sense. ... wait,' Phoenix's eyes widened, "There are more than just one of you guys?"

"There are a few subtle differences that we can tell everyone apart," Whisper shrugged.

"Do you have the autopsy on Keita's parents?" Phoenix asked Meramelion.

"Mera," Meramelion nodded sadly as he handed them to Phoenix.

Parents Autopsy Report added to Court Record

'The father was stabbed through the neck from behind while the mother was first stabbed in the stomach and then had her neck cut open,' Phoenix thought, 'They died within a few minutes of each other.' He looked at Netaballerina's report, 'And both of them died ten minutes after she died. I'll need to look over the living room again...'

Living Room - Amano Residence - 12:28PM

"There you are!" Phoenix flinched at the shout as Gumshoe ran up and picked up Meramelion, "Where'd you go, partner?"

"MERA!"

"Oh, you ran into Wright here upstairs," Gumshoe nodded, "Hey, pal."

"Hey, detective Gumshoe," Phoenix greeted, "Glad to see you're not shouting about everything now."

"Yeah. When we learned just who was arrested and for what, he ended up Inspiriting me," Gumshoe sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as Meramelion coped him.

"Wait. You two know Keita?"

"Not me personally, but Meramelion here does," Gumshoe explained, "He met him on his day off and they ended up becoming friends."

"MERA!" Meramelion nodded rapidly before sighing.

"He's really bummed about what happened to the kid," Gumshoe added.

"So how long have you known about Yokai?" Phoenix asked.

"Ever since my first day on the force when I got my Yokai Badge that lets me see them," Gumshoe informed, showing his badge with a clear marble in the center.

'?!' Phoenix's eyes widened, 'That badge... it has a magatama emblem on it!' He felt the Magatama in his pocket, 'So... does this mean there's a connection between being able to see Yokai and the Magatama?'

"The Magatama is a symbol for many Yokai," Whisper informed, "Before the Yokai Watch, people would put on Magatama charged by spiritualists to let them see Yokai."

'So that's why I can see Yokai without looking through this…' Phoenix thought as he looked at the Yokai Watch.

"MERA?! ME-MERA-RA-ME-MERA?!"

"Wait, that's the kid's Yokai Watch?!" Gumshoe gawked, "Pal, why do you have that?!"

"Keita gave it to me to help with investigating," Phoenix informed quickly, "He... He's really hurt by what happened."

Gumshoe and Meramelion slumped at that, "Yeah/Mera…"

"So what's it like working on these cases, Gumshoe?"

"It's been interesting," Gumshoe noted, "Everyone involved with Yokai have to spend an hour a day studying different Yokai in our Yokai Guides, but Mera and I tend to just hang out and do stuff during that hour!"

'Yet again, you surprise me, Gumshoe... and at the same time, don't surprise me at all,' Phoenix sweatdropped, "Mind if I look at the murder scene?"

"Go ahead," Gumshoe nodded.

"Thanks," Phoenix replied as he started looking around, starting with the first body outline, 'This must be where his dad was killed. There's blood at the top here and it just goes down along the outline tape.'

"Oh, that poor man…" Whisper sighed.

"Was he a good father?"

"Indeed he was. He worked hard and always made sure that he had time for his wife and Keita-kun," Whisper shook his head, "He had just finished a big project the other day and was given the week off. They were going to go to see a waterfall tomorrow, whis."

Phoenix nodded as he moved back to the other body outline, "It... It looks like she was in disbelief and shock at what happened."

"Most likely, whis," Whisper nodded, "She was a fair mother, but when you got her angry, you'd easily mistake her as one of the Oni in Oni Time."

"Oni Time?"

"When kids misbehave, their visited in their dreams by the Oni, chasing them throughout it until they either escape or get caught and beaten up."

'Note to self: make sure Trucy behaves this Loop,' Phoenix sweated a bit.

"How can you tell she was surprised and in disbelief?" Gumshoe asked.

"It's the way her body outline is," Phoenix informed, "Do you have a picture of the bodies?"

"Yeah," Gumshoe nodded, handing Phoenix a picture of the crimescene.

"See how her body's shaped?" Phoenix pointed, "It's clear that she had been standing as if she were in shock at something."

"I think I found something, whis," Whisper noted nearby as he picked up something with tweezers, "It's a hair."

"A hair?!" Gumshoe looked at it with Meramelion, "Where'd ya find this, bub?"

"At the foot, whis," Whisper pointed at the wife's outline.

"Mera!" The lion Yokai put the hair into an evidence bag.

"Good idea. It might be a lead," Gumshoe nodded, "Though... there's going to be an issue."

"What's wrong?"

"If it's the hair of a Yokai, it'll take twenty four hours total before we can figure out what Yokai it is," Gumshoe informed.

"Twenty four hours?!" Phoenix gawked, 'This is the tick locks all over again…' "Can you get this to testing as soon as you can, you two?"

"WE CAN!" Gumshoe roared as he ran out, Meramelion on his shoulder with the hair for testing.

'And he's been Inspirited again…' Phoenix facepalmed.

"I think this is all we can do at the moment," Whisper noted.

"Hold on. Was there anyone else in here last night?" Phoenix asked.

"No. Jibanyan had been invited to a cat Yokai mixer yesterday. They don't watch anything but NyaKB48 at those things, all recorded, so they're probably still doing that," Whisper shrugged.

Phoenix nodded, 'This is going to be tricky then... Hopefully, they can get that testing done so we can know if there was another Yokai or human there or not.'

To be continued.

2.17 GammaTron

Keita Awoke as he was heading downstairs. He frowned as his Loop Memories told him that his favorite detective series, Professor Renkon, was never made.

"Keita! Come on!"

"Coming, Kaa-chan!" Keita replied as he entered the living room and halted.

Sitting in one of the chairs was a strange man with a top hat, a brown coat over a dark orange shirt, brown pants, and a pair of dark green shoes.

"Keita, this is my cousin, Laytona Hershel," Keita's father introduced, "Layton, this is my son Amano Keita."

"A pleasure to meet you," the man greeted politely, tipping his hat.

"Do you remember what we were talking about last week?" his mother asked.

Keita frowned as he thought about it, "Ano... Oh. Yeah. You said Tou-san was asking someone about a summer thing."

"Close enough," his mother shook her head.

"Keita, my cousin is here to take you around London for the summer."

"R-Really?!" Keita gasped.

"Indeed," Layton replied.

"So tell me, Keita. Have you been Looping for long now?"

"H-Huh?" Keita looked up at the man as they exited the London airport, "Y... You're Looping, too?"

"Indeed. I am Professor Hershel Layton," the gentleman introduced, tipping his hat, "I am the Anchor of my Loop."

"Likewise. I'm Keita Amano. But I'm also Nate Adams."

"Ah yes. Your game's English release changed your name, much like my friend Phoenix," Layton noted, "Level-5 'created' your series as did they my own."

"Whoa..." Keita awed, "That's pretty cool."

"Yes. It is rather 'cool,'" Layton nodded before frowning, "And I have seen the very few episodes that involve seeing Professor Renkon. It is rather... unsettling in how gentlemen are seen as."

"H-Huh?"

"Would you like to better understand what a true English gentleman thinks, Keita?"

"... Sure!" Keita beamed, 'Though I don't think that you can compare to Professor Renkon.'

"It's the driver!" Fumi declared a Loop later, watching Professor Renkon with Kuma, Kanchi, and Keita.

"Yeah! It'l be like Professor Renkon guessed!" Kuma agreed.

"He's so cool!" Kanchi beamed.

"Heh," the three looked at Keita, who was wearing a top hat, "It's not the driver at all, you guys."

"What do you mean?" Kuma asked as the show went to commercial.

"Think. The tires were all slashed, but the driver was nowhere close to the vehicle at any time," Keita informed, "Plus, there were the gasoline cans. Originally, they were on the bottom which was easier for the driver, who isn't even a third of the shelves' height, to grab to refill the car. But each time after that..."

"They were on the top shelf!" Kanchi realized.

"Indeed. And the only one tall enough to reach them was the electrician," Keita informed, "So he is the guilty party."

"I don't know..." Kuma frowned.

"We'll find out now," Keita smirked as the show continued.

Minutes later, Kuma, Fumi, and Kanchi were in awe as the electrician admitted his guilt while the driver was shouting at Renkon for the wrongful accusation.

"You were right!" Fumi beamed.

"How'd you figure all that out?" Kachi asked.

Keita smiled a little, playing with his top hat, "It was kinda like a puzzle. A while back, a guy really got me into puzzles and even see the puzzles in normal life just waiting to be solved." 'And gave me a copy of each of his and Phoenix Wright's games to play and figure out. But still... Professor Renkon doesn't stand a chance against Professor Layton.'

2.18

"Class, I'd like you all to meet a new student," The teacher stated, catching Nate's attention.

"New student?" he, along with the other students looked towards the door… and nobody came through.

"… Um, Hida. You may come in now," The teacher tried to sound reassuring, Nate processed the name for a moment.

'Wait, Hida? Could it be?' he mentally questioned before a shy looking girl stepped through the door. Despite her being human Nate recognized the color of her short hair as matching Hidabat's fur color, her eyes were also the same color and the pattern on her blue jacket was very recognizable as well.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Hida Komori," the teacher introduced as Hida shrank away from the class a bit.

"Hello Hida," Most of the class chorused.

"So, Hida. Would you like to say anything about yourself before taking a seat?" The teacher questioned with a friendly smile. The young girl fidgeted nervously.

"Um… H-hello, my name is… Hida…I um… Like surfing the web and um staying in my house," Hida started mumbling after a moment and the teacher, and Nate, looked at her sympathetically.

"It's ok Hida, go on and take a seat," he offered. Hida scanned the class for a second before her eyes focused on Nate–a ping sent just then pretty much confirmed that each other was Awake.

"Um… can I sit by him?" Hida questioned, pointing towards Nate a little nervously.

"Huh? But there's no seats open next to Nathen. I'm sorry, but you'll need to take a different seat."

"… Ok," Hida nodded before she began her search for a seat. She passed Nate who nodded at her with an assuring smile.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine," he stated. Hida gave a small smile back and nodded before she continued to look for a seat. His two nearby seated friends looked at him oddly.

"Huh? Nate, do you know her?" Bear questioned. Nate looked at him and Ed for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, you could say we go way back."

"Well, how come we've never met her?" Ed asked with a raised brow. Nate chuckled a little as he watched Hida–or Hidabat take a seat in the back of the class.

"Well, she likes to keep to herself."

.

During lunch Nate chose to sit with Hida in a rather secluded corner of the cafeteria, his friends found this slightly odd but he waved it off telling them Hida was shy and he wanted to make sure she was comfortable.

"So, how's the Loop going for you so far?" Nate questioned after a moment of sitting in silence. Hida mumbled something before looking at him.

"It's… odd. I've never been human before, and having parents and now going to school… it's all a little overwhelming."

"More overwhelming then finding out your entire universe is just a small piece on a branch of a tree–super computer that is broken causing time to continuously repeat?" Whisper questioned as he floated over.

"Well… when you phrase it like that, I suppose it does make getting worked up over this seem kind of silly," Hida mumbled, looking somewhat embarrassed.

"Well I didn't mean it like that," Whisper sighed as Nate pat his currently human friend on the shoulder.

"There's nothing wrong with being nervous about new situations, I've been Looping the longest out of us and I still get surprised by the Loops."

"And don't forget, you may be the oldest of us, but compared to your 'siblings' you're practically a newborn," Whisper chuckled while Nate gave him a slightly annoyed look. Hida looked a little amused by their interaction and nodded.

"I suppose we're all still pretty new to this, there are so many possibilities we have yet to encounter," The normally yo-kai girl looked at the rest of the students sitting at the different tables, pretty much all oblivious to the time Loops that only a few in their world were privy to, her being one of them. "We've yet to scratch the surface of what many other Loopers have likely experienced, maybe… That can be something to look forward to?"

"… At least life will never get boring," Nate concluded with a small smile and Whisper nodded back.

2.19 GammaTron

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Grif and Keita held back their laughter.

"Grif, Keita..." Ruby began.

"Don't you dare, you two. Don't you dare...!" Yang growled.

"B-But you girls are... are..." Keita snorted back another laugh.

"You're so tiny this Loop!" Grif guffawed as he collapsed in laughter, Keita soon following.

"I blame Rooster Teeth and Yggdrasil," Cinder's eye twitched.

"St-Stop it!" Ruby blushed at her laughing 'brothers.'

"Oh my god! You sound so adorable!" Grif began to kick the air in his laughter.

"Best. Loop. Ever," Keita gasped out.

"Of all time!" Grif added.

All three chibi girls began to try to beat them up, but their Pockets and Looping powers were inaccessible and each time they tried to hurt them, it'd just come out as squeaks and the two felt like fluffy pillows were hitting them and began to take photos of their 'sisters' for blackmail later.

"At least we're in Keita's home Loop," Cinder mumbled.

2.20

Katie blinked as she looked at the calendar… She rubbed her eyes and blinked again.

"That's strange," she looked the date over again and frowned. "Mom… Why does the calendar have the wrong date!?"

"What are you talking about sweetie? The dates correct," her mother's voice answered and Katie frowned in confusion.

"That can't be right, this is the day I go bug catching with Nate, Bear and Eddie… No wait, Keita, Kuma and Kaanchi… No, what!? How come I don't know my own friend's names!?" Katie suddenly exclaimed clutching her head.

"Katie? Are you alright?" her mother called in concern and the freaked out girl took a moment to calm herself.

"Y-yes, I'm alright, there was… a spider!" she called back, but then she realized something. "Wait… Katie? Isn't my name Fumi? No wait, it's Katie, but I also remember it being Fumi!" Katie looked really freaked out as she sat on her bed. "Arg! What's going on?"

After a few more minutes of thought, Katie/Fumi concluded to just go about her day as if everything was normal, she was weirded out by things seeming the same as in the past but she decided not to mention this to her friends–she did not want them thinking she was crazy!

.

"So, how's everything been so far, Nate?" Whisper questioned his master/friend as he walked towards school, they had decided to make this Loop a baseline run for the most part(though maybe avoiding a few of the more… embarrassing incidents).

"No problems or big, unexpected variations… But..."

"… What?" Whisper questioned Nate's sudden silence.

"I can't help but notice that Katie's seemed a little… different, hesitant even. And more nervous," Nate said in thought. "Do you think she could be...?" Nate trailed off before shaking his head. "Never mind, let's just continue," he sighed before continuing to school. Whisper frowned in concern but followed after him.