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!

5. The Infinite Tunnel Saga

Entrance

"Here we are; the Infinite Tunnel!" Keita announced happily as he, Fumi, Inaho, Whisper, Jibanyan and USApyon stood before it.

"Um, Keita-kun, what exactly are we doing here?" Fumi asked curiously, she had experienced the Infinite Tunnel in the game variants where she was the one whom got the watch, though she didn't really see the point of going into it that much. Honestly, it creeped her out…

"Yeah, it's just a tunnel, I want to do something exciting… Like have a laser fight with the martians!" Inaho exclaimed enthusiastically.

"I keep telling you, there are no martians in our universe! I checked… Dani," USApyon huffed in annoyance.

"Party pooper," Inaho grumbled.

"Excuse me, still talking here," Keita raised his hand, looking a little irritated.

"Carry on," Whisper shrugged.

"Sorry," Fumi bowed, Inaho was grumbling something under her breath.

"Anyway, as we all know, the Infinite Tunnel is a construct of the Game Variant, though we don't yet know if it holds a place in Baseline, it is very interesting, seeing as it changes length and content every time it's entered," the two humans and three yo-kai nodded to this.

"But why did we come here? I'm missing my afternoon cat-nyaaap," Jibanyan yawned, Keita's eyebrow twitched as he looked at him, before continuing.

"I think it would be a fun activity we could all do together, since it's here. We have no idea what we could run into, why not," Keita shrugged with a smile.

"Right, that makes perfect sense for why we should go into a supposedly 'infinite' tunnel. Dani," USApyon muttered sarcastically. Whisper floated over to the Anchor's side.

"But Keita-kun, if that's the case, where are Komasan and Komajiro, I understand why Hikikōmori isn't here, but I'd think those two would be all for this kind of thing. Wissu…"

"I invited them, but they said something about checking out the Bermuda Triangle. So I figured I'd let them do their thing, and we do our thing," Keita shrugged while the others stared at him blankly.

"… Ok, I'm bored of standing around! If we're doing this, let's go!" Inaho exclaimed, before charging ahead into the tunnel.

"Hey! Don't go running off without us! Dani!" USApyon shouted, chasing after her.

"… I was going to have a little more prep time, but no time like the present I guess," Keita shrugged.

"If you say so," Fumi sighed as she followed him into the tunnel. Jibanyan followed shortly after, with Whisper hovering at the tail of the group.

"I have a bad feeling about this. Wissu…"

0 meters

"Darkness! Nothing but darkness!" Jibanyan exclaimed as they walked through the tunnel.

"Come on Jibanyan, there are lights," Keita pointed out with a sigh.

"So, we can't change our minds? Dani," USApyon questioned after a moment.

"No, you can't go back, only forward," Keita stated with a nod, the otter yo-kai shook his head with a slight look of regret.

"Well I just hope we don't run into anything creepy, like…" Fumi trailed off as she glanced around nervously.

"A guy with a dog?" Inaho questioned, pointing to a rather creepy looking guy, standing to one side of the tunnel, with his pet pug dog on a leash…

"Oh great, him," Fumi groaned and Keita facepalmed.

"What's 'him'? Dani," USApyon questioned with his arms crossed.

"Just don't talk to him, keep moving everyone," Keita said calmly as they moved past him.

"… Tell a tangled tale, the Tangler has you in his grasp," The man suddenly stated, in a rather creepy tone of voice.

"… Ignore him, keep moving," Keita insisted as they kept moving.

"In the Tangler's grasp you are. You can't escape the Tangler…"

"Keep moving!" Keita hissed as they all picked up the pace. Leaving the smiling Tangler behind, with his eyes glowing eerily.

100 meters

"Guys, this doesn't look right…"

"What do you mean, Fumi-chan?" Keita asked curiously.

"Well, for one: there's snow on the ground," Fumi pointed out as their feet crunched against the bits of crushed ice.

"Huh, I hadn't noticed. Dani," USApyon muttered.

"Two: the ceiling is way too high," Fumi pointed up and the others looked, indeed the ceiling was much higher than they remembered it being when they entered the tunnel.

"Hmm, I thought it seemed a bit roomier. Wissu," Whisper nodded.

"Speaking of roomier, 3: the tunnel is too wide, and there are dwarf snow bulborbs over there, looking for food," Fumi pointed to the small, two legged creatures, sniffing around in the snow for anything to eat.

"Actually, that species is just called snow bulborbs, though they're a species of dwarf bulborb," Keita pointed out. Fumi gave him a bored look, while Inaho brought out her phone to take some photos of the creatures.

"Wow, real extra-terrestrials! Right under our noses the whole time!" USApyon facepalmed at her comment.

"Keita-kun, don't you think this is weird?" Fumi asked her friend, concern visible on her face.

"Look Fumi-chan, anything can happen, remember?" Keita offered, though Fumi didn't look satisfied. The boy sighed. "Ok, it'll be fine. Remember, if things become too strange we can just leave through an emergency exit door."

"… What emergency exit doors?" USApyon questioned blankly. Keita looked to the walls of the cave, that were further apart than the ones of the tunnel he was used to, but still, he clearly saw there were no exit doors on either side.

"… Well that can't be good," The Anchor muttered unsurely.

200 meters

"Keita-kun, how are we supposed to get out of here!?" Fumi asked loudly as they continued through the tunnel.

"Same way we're usually supposed to, we keep going till we find the exit," Keita shrugged, Fumi groaned at his attitude while Inaho whistled a cheerful tune. Whisper, Jibanyan and USApyon didn't seem interested in their conversation. Though Jibanyan's ears perked up when he heard a sound.

"That sounded like… a ding?" The nekomata muttered.

"No, more like a 'ping'," USApyon shook his head.

"What exactly are you guys talking about?" Keita asked with a raised brow. A few more noises were heard before they looked to see what was causing them; Mario collecting coins, stomping goombas, and smashing bricks, just a few feet to the side of them.

"Oh, hey Mario," Keita waved, causing the red clad plumber to stop and stare at them. Inaho took a picture with her phone.

"Huh? What are you-a kids doing here?"

"We're going through a tunnel," Whisper shrugged.

"AH! A boo!" Mario exclaimed in surprise, Whisper twitched.

"I'm not a boo!"

"Oh, so-a sorry. It's dark," Mario shrugged.

"Why are you in here?" Fumi asked curiously.

"Oh, I'm-a just on my way to Bowser's castle, in fact I see the pipe that will lead me out of this-a cave right over there. Bye, bye!" Mario waved before he entered the pipe.

"Hey! A way out!" Fumi exclaimed happily and tried to follow after the plumber… only to find that she was blocked by an invisible wall. "HUH!?"

"Huh, looks like we can't leave the dimensions the tunnel originally had," Whisper muttered with his arms crossed.

"Oh come on!" Fumi cried out angrily.

"Ok, that's kind of annoying, but no matter. Let's just keep going," Keita insisted with a sigh as they continued on their set path.

300 meters

The tunnel had seemingly returned to its original form as the group continued on their trek, though the emergency exit doors were still missing. The atmosphere also seemed to hold an air of uneasiness.

*plop!*

"… What was that?" Fumi asked, nervously glancing back and into the darkness.

"I think it was just some water dripping," Keita shrugged, though this didn't seem to make Fumi feel any better.

"Oh don't worry about it, we're in a tunnel. What could happen," Inaho chuckled.

"You mean other than any variety of random things, or did you forget about the bulborbs and plumber already? Dani," USApyon glared at Inaho.

"Dwarf bulborbs are actually a type of breadbug, you know," Whisper pointed out confidently.

"Nobody cares," Jibanyan scoffed, Whisper face-faulted.

"Hey! I didn't even look at the Yo-Kai Pad for that! Show some respect! Wissu!"

"Shh!" Fumi snapped, before placing her hand to her ears and looking behind them again. "…"

*plop!*

Each member of the group jumped a little (except for the floating Whisper) and looked where Fumi was staring. They all felt like something was staring back at them.

"Something's… there," Keita admitted, subconsciously reaching for his sub-space pocket, ready to pull out Spectral Fang at a moment's notice.

"I told you," Fumi hissed, standing close to her friends as they all stared into the darkness.

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, wissu. Just some dropping water like Keita-kun said. We have nothing to worry about. Wissu," Whisper waved off the concerns. The others were almost considering agreeing with him when nothing seemed to be happening, when suddenly something could be seen approaching from the darkness.

"Is that… kids?" Inaho asked, making out what looked like two children's faces, staring at them in the darkness.

"Kids… Well I did say there was nothing to worry about, just some adventurous children like you all," Whisper huffed. However Jibanyan's fur stood up while Keita stood in a battle ready pose, Fumi took a step back and USApyon held his blaster ready.

"Something's nyot right," Jibanyan almost hissed, taking a four legged stance as he glared at the 'kids.' Suddenly the two kids faces rose up, higher than should have been possible, more of the form became visible.

A few startled gasps, or sounds of disgust came from the group as they saw that the 'kid's' heads were not attached to human bodies, but long, spindly spider legs! A giant spider lurched forward, a human head where each of its feet should be.

"W-Whisper, what is that thing!? A yo-kai!?" Keita asked, a look of shock on his face, Spectral Fang already pulled from his pocket.

"Um, well," Whisper sweated a little as he moved to pull out his Yo-Kai Pad. The creatures slowly crawled its way towards the group, however before anyone could make any moves against the bizarre spider, Fumi grabbed a hold of all of them and started charging through the tunnel.

"NOPE! NOPE! NOPE! SO MUCH NOPE!"

400 meters wildrook

Fumi then groaned. "I think we lost them," she muttered.

"Fumi," Keita said, "when our life is constantly a horror story, never invoke that."

Inaho just shushed them as they heard some ominous dripping. Like water.

"Nyan..." Jibanyan muttered. "Bad enough I'm born from a cat and go through fire, but we're about to experience some serious trouble."

Whisper blinked. "I don't think that's ordinary water, either," he muttered.

And Whisper, who was a Wiki Hound, was correct. The dripping was followed by something rolling on the ground...as a being that resembled a cross between a giant blob and a steamroller had brought itself into view.

"WATERWAITH!" Whisper yelled.

And if Whisper had managed to recognize the bane of Olimar and Louie instantly, something was wrong.

"RUN LIKE CHILDREN! DANI!" USApyon yelled.

"WE ARE CHILDREN, YOU DOLT!" Inaho retorted, the others running like hell.

500 meters

Fumi let out a few breaths as their running slowed. "Ok, this time I think we-"

"Don't finish that sentence!" Keita snapped, everyone else gave a few sighs of relief.

"Crisis-averted," Inaho groaned. Fumi shook her head.

"Seriously guys, don't be so superstitious."

"Maybe you should be a little more superstitious when dealing with yo-kai. Wissu," Whisper pointed out, Fumi glared at him briefly and let out a huff.

"Whisper's right Fumi-chan," Keita interjected.

"I am?" Whisper blinked in surprise. "I mean… of course I am! Wissu!"

"You need to be careful, our Baseline may seem all nice and friendly, but anything at any moment could go wrong due to supernatural interference," Keita stepped forward, not noticing a hole opening up in the floor just in front of him. "And in this tunnel we have no idea what could happen. We need to watch our every–"

"Keita-kun! Look out!" Fumi called, just a little too late as Keita took one step too many.

"–STEEEEP!" the Anchor cried as he fell down the hole. The three yo-kai and two remaining humans stared in shock, wincing when the sound of Keita's body hitting the button of the hole was heard. A few moments of silence passed, before a small, blue yo-kai floated out of the hole and glared at them.

"Nobody. Say. Anything," Fuu2 hissed before he turned and began floating further down the tunnel, the others silently followed, careful to avoid the mysterious hole.

600 meters

The group continued walking (or floating, in Whisper and Fuu2's cases) in silence, nobody wanting to point out their Anchor's previous misstep, or subsequent change of form. Suddenly some rustling could be heard, before a large amount of shapes could be seen approaching.

"Namekichi! Namekichi! Namekichi!" the large crowd of mushroom-like creatures, which the group recognized from the keychain Inaho often compared USApyon to, repeated as they stumbled passed and into the darkness of the path they had come from, leaving them somewhat bewildered.

"… Inaho, what is a Namekichi anyway?" Fuu2 questioned one of the only humans present, she moved to get something from her pocket. "And don't just bring out that keychain of yours without any other explanation!" the girl halted her action and froze for a minute in thought. Before she just pointed at USApyon.

"Ok, seriously!? I am not a Namekichi! Dani!" USApyon cried out in anger.

700 meters

The walls of the tunnel had turned into a cave once more; cave walls that seemed to seep tree sap, much of which long hardened into amber.

"Wow… Look at this," Inaho looked in awe at a perfectly preserved stegosaurus within a big casing of amber.

"Dinyasaurs?" Jibanyan tapped the amber prison of a raptor.

"This is incredible," Fumi muttered.

"Meh, after seeing living dinosaurs, this is kind of underwhelming," Fuu2 admitted, looking at an encased t-rex. "Still cool though, I guess." They continued to look at the prehistoric creatures that were frozen in time for a bit, almost as if this were a museum. Whisper hovered slightly ahead to see if there was anything else trapped in amber, when he spotted something… out of place.

"Um, guys," Whisper caught all of their attention, they all turned their eyes to a chunk of amber that Whisper was looking at… that looked like something had broken out of.

"… Well this has all been really interesting, but I think we should get a move on. Dani," USApyon said a little nervously.

"Um, yeah. I think I've seen enough dinosaurs today," Inaho chuckled, looking a bit nervous herself. The others nodded as they shuffled forward. A few of the dinosaurs noticeably twitched behind their prisons of amber, the team picked up their pace.

800 meters

The tunnel had changed from a cave seeping sap, to one of bone white stone. The group continued walking, occasionally glancing around nervously.

"Something about these walls seems… off," Fuu2 muttered as he floated in the front of the group.

"You're being paranoid, there doesn't seem anything here too bad," Inaho shrugged. As they walked, Jibanyan stopped and stared at something blankly for a moment.

"Um… guys… look, nya," they looked at what the nekomata was pointing at, and saw it was what appeared to be a humanoid figure, trapped within the bone walls.

"Hmm, what a strange rock formation," Whisper commented cluelessly. The others briefly glared at him.

"Yeah, I think we should pick up the pace a bit," Fumi decided, Keita, Jibanyan and USApyon nodding in agreement.

"Again?" Inaho groaned. The sound of something moving closer to them, slowly caught their attention. The two humans and four yo-kai looked back, only to see a giant, blue slug monster, with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth, slowly slithering towards them, looking like it wanted to eat them.

"Run again! Dani!" USApyon shouted, nobody argued with the otter's exclamation.

As they ran they passed what seemed to be an elevator in the wall, filled with dinosaurs, but nobody stopped to check, not wanting to give the slug monster any chance to catch up to them.

"… What was that?" Sabre questioned from in the elevator.

900 meters

The group slowly stopped running and breathed a little, noticing the tunnel had returned to being a normal tunnel.

"That was… something," Fuu2 muttered with a weak smile.

"I knew this was a horrible idea! We're never getting out of here! Dani!" USApyon shouted in rage and fear as he ran around in circles.

"Oh, calm down USApyon, even if we never find our way out of the tunnel, the Loop will end eventually," Inaho said with a light-hearted shrug. The space suit wearing yo-kai glared at her.

"Arguing will get us nowhere," Fumi suddenly interjected with a serious look on her face.

"She's right, we need to keep calm and keep going, I'm sure the exit isn't too far ahead, wissu," Whisper assured confidently, the ghost butler was met with a few skeptical looks, particularly from Fuu2 and Jibanyan, but he took no notice of them. Before anything else was said the group came across two little twin girls, with pigtails in their hair. They seemed to be staring right into their souls.

"Let's play…"

"Let's play…" The two spoke identically, one after the other.

"Do something fun…"

"Do something fun…"

"… Um, thank you, but no," Fuu2 said, he along with his companions looking a bit creeped out, they carefully walked around the twins as the two silently kept their eyes on them, before quickly heading further into the tunnel once they had gotten around them.

1000 meters

The group continued walking through the dark tunnel, when the sound of a train approaching caused them to halt, surely enough, a steam train came out of the shadows ahead and stopped in front of them…

"How did a train get into this tunnel?" Inaho questioned.

"… Really? You're asking how a train got into this tunnel? After the freaking Waterwraith!? Dani!" USApyon pointed out, irritation in his voice. Before an argument could break out, a man in a conductor uniform, with a friendly smile on his face exited the train and stood in front of them.

"Hello there, were you kids lookin' for the Infinite Railroad by chance?"

"Um…" Fumi looked for something to say, but the conductor spoke again before she could

"'Cause you found it! Our destination's a mystery, but it's a free ride! Wanna come aboard?" The small group found this strange person's cheery demeanor a little earie.

"Um… should we...?" Fumi looked to Fuu2 for guidance, whom was shaking his head.

"No, I've encountered this before in the normal game variant Infinite Tunnels, don't trust him," Fuu2 hissed under his breath.

"He'll likely just send us back to the beginning…" Whisper sighed, the others nodded before looking back at the conductor.

"Um… thank you, but we're okay on our own," Fumi assured as politely as she could. The conductor didn't lose his smile.

"Okay then, maybe next time!" he climbed back aboard the train, some steam emitted from it before it started up again… and moved backwards into the darkness of the tunnel ahead.

"Well, that might've been even creepier than those twins, nya," Jibanyan sighed before they continued forward.

1100 meters

"Hey, you," the group halted in their walking and looked down… and saw a chicken staring at them.

"Did that chicken just talk? Dani…" USApyon questioned blankly.

"Yes, yes it did," Fumi sighed.

"Excuse me, I'm sure you've eaten some of my relatives before," the chicken said calmly.

"Wha...?" Inaho blinked.

"Well this just took a disturbing turn," Fuu2 grumbled.

"And I get it, I'm a chicken after all," The chicken nodded as it glanced between the yo-kai and humans. "But I just have one question… Were they delicious?"

"Um…" Whisper looked confused, as did the others. "Yes, they were…?"

"… Oh well, that's good to hear, I hope somebody eats me with tasty hot sauce someday," The chicken nodded before moving on its way. The group watched the chicken disappear into the darkness of the tunnel that they had previously walked through in silence.

"… I want to get out of here," Fumi hissed under her breath before they all kept moving.

1200 meters

The group came across a little Michibiki (or Leadoni) in their path.

"This way! This way!" The small oni exclaimed, waving its long arm back and forth, before running ahead, into the darkness. The Loopers looked to each other and shrugged before following.

1300 meters

"This way! This way!" The Michibiki called, stopping for a moment to make sure they were keeping up, before continuing to run ahead.

"It's not like there's any other way to go, nya," Jibanyan muttered as they continued to follow.

1400 meters

"This way! This way!" The tiny yo-kai felt the need to check if they were still following before continuing, again.

"I don't think I trust this guy," Fumi sighed.

"I don't either," Fuu2 crossed his arms.

"Oh, come on guys, where's your sense of adventure?" Inaho questioned, following the Michibiki excitedly.

1500 meters

"Wonder what you'll get?" the Michibiki said, before popping into a burst of smoke, which revealed a yellow chest, with an eye on it.

"Oh, cool!" Inaho exclaimed, reaching down to touch the chest, when it suddenly grew a pair of long, humanoid legs, and kicked Inaho in the shin, before running off. "OW!" the purple-haired girl shouted, holding her leg in pain.

"What the!? That doesn't even happen in our game-variant! Dani!" USApyon shouted in confusion. The others sweatdropped.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted that thing…" Fumi muttered.

1600 meters

The group found themselves in some sort of cave, there were also strange, cat-dog-like creatures standing around.

"hOI! i'm tEMMIE!" one of them shouted excitedly.

"What in the world?" Fuu2 questioned, as some of the other creatures gave identical greetings…

Whisper noticed a large, blue mushroom and floated over to it.

"What's this thing? Wissu," Whisper questioned, poking the mushroom's cap, the fungus seemed to spring to lie and started shaking back and forth.

"Mushroom dance. Mushroom dance. Whatever could it mean?" it sang, before the mushroom's cap lifted to reveal to squinted eyes, glaring at Whisper. "It means you've lived a life of sin."

"… Guys, I think we should get moving, wiss…" Whisper said nervously, the others nodded, trying to avoid making eye contact with the 'Temmies'…

1700 meters

"Look! Dinosaur people!" Inaho cheered, pointing towards the dinosaur-like beings that were watching them, some looking like big eyed raptors with feathers on their heads, and others looking similar to odd combinations of ankylosaurs and pachycephalosaurus.

"This is kind of nerve-wrecking," Fumi muttered uncomfortably.

"Everything in this tunnel is kind of nerve-wrecking," Fuu2 muttered blandly.

"Kind of in agreement, nya," Jibanyan nodded.

"It was your idea to come here in the first place, dani," USApyon grunted.

"Um, perhaps we should keep moving, whiss," Whisper interjected before Keita could give a retort, noting some of the dinosaur-creatures were looking aggressive, a few even had spears!

"Oh, this could be an interesting chance to study subterranean dinosaurian species!" Inaho cheered, but the others quickly pulled her along. "Hey!"

1800 meters

"Aw, look how cute," Fumi gushed, looking down at a few gopher-like creatures, that shuffled forward with their wing-like forelimbs.

"I'm cuter, nya," Jibanyan scoffed as Fuu2 hovered by one of them that was chirping.

"Do they have beaks?"

"Obviously, these are birds that have evolved to live underground! Yes!" Inaho exclaimed, looking down at the creatures with a big grin.

"Stop saying stupid things! Dani!" USApyon snapped, dragging Inaho forward and passed the small creatures.

"USApyon! Let go!" she protested. The others shortly continued after them.

1900 meters wildrook

Keita/Fuu2 had noticed something rather off about this place, and most of the other Yokai had managed to feel the same way.

"Something wrong?" Fumi asked them.

"Do you know the feeling of something walking over your grave, whis?" Whisper replied, then realized what happened to Keita. "No offense, Keita-kun."

Fuu2 shook his head. "No, I feel it, too," he said. "It's just less literal."

"Nya..." Jibanyan muttered, shivering. "Feels like Terror time all over again."

"And the Waterwaith," USApyon muttered. "Don't forget that. Dani."

However, Inaho was distracted.

"Keita, Fumi," she muttered, "have any of you ran into a wall that's able to breathe before?"

Both of them had noticed a wall that had pictures of scantily-clad males with horns... which wouldn't look too out of place in their world if it wasn't for the mostly humanoid appearance.

"Depends on what you mean by breathing," Fuu2 muttered. "I've seen a few with wandering eyes, at least."

However, that's when the picture of the man on the far right started shifted... no... waking up.

"KEITA!" Fumi yelled, trying to pull him back. It didn't go unheard as he literally phased through Fumi. "Ugh... forgot about that."

Jibanyan, however, managed to pull Fumi back. "That's no Yo-kai we know, nyan," he muttered.

While they didn't expect, however, was the man to turn back to the remaining "statues."

"WHAMMU!" he yelled, striking a pose as his index fingers made contact with the others. "AWAKEN MY MASTERS! THE TIME HAS COME!"

And that's when the other two gained color to their formerly stone skin, with all three of them posing fabulously.

"All in favor of using your legs," Fuu2 muttered, remembering these three, "floating very quickly, or flying, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

They didn't need to be told twice as the three recently revived Pillar Men just looked at them with confusion. They had no idea their reputation was still active to this present day.

2000 meters

"Okay, I think we're safe again…" Fumi sighed as the group slowed down, before getting a look at their current location. "What the?" she looked confused as they seemed to have walked through a glass wall and into a giant fish tank.

"Huh?" Fuu2 blinked, he didn't need to breathe right now, but he noticed Fumi and Inaho weren't having any issues.

"No! I don't like soggy fur!" Jibanyan ran around briefly, before he noticed his fur wasn't getting wet. "Nya?"

"Odd, we're clearly in water. But we don't seem to be getting wet, whis," Whisper pointed out, waving his arm around to demonstrate his point.

"Hmm… this is certainly a mystery of previously unheard of proportion," Inaho nodded with a serious look on her face.

"Don't start! Dani!" USApyon snapped at the human.

"Hey!" they all blinked, before looking up to see… a giant fish, with a human man's face, swimming above them… "What the heck? Where did you tiny humans and… creatures come from?"

"Hi Seaman," Fuu2 greeted casually. The others in his group, and the creature called 'Seaman' looked confused.

"Keita-kun, you know this… guy?" Fumi asked carefully.

"Keita?" Seaman blinked, looking at the blue ghost floating before him. "… You've lost weight."

"Yeah, everyone said that," Fuu2 waved before they continued, Seaman watching as they left. "Good seeing you, but we need to get out of this tunnel!"

"Okay then," Seaman nodded, before sighing once he was alone again. "Well, back to… swimming in a tank…"

2100 meters

The tunnel had now started to resemble some sort of stone cavern, Inaho looked around in wonder.

"Wow, I bet we're on the verge of an amazing discovery! This sort of setting is always where you find amazing artifacts or creatures!" the glasses-wearing girl cheered excitedly, the others didn't look as interested.

"It's just a cave Inaho, stop being so excited about being trapped in this tunnel! Dani!" USApyon hissed angrily.

"No need to get so hostile Chibi, she's just making the most of it," Fuu2 sighed as he hovered by the otter yo-kai.

"You don't get to call me that! You're the one who got us to come in here in the first place! Dani!" USApyon snapped.

"Hey, don't blame me. How was I supposed to know the tunnel would go crazy or whatever?" the blue spirit questioned with a glare.

"Shh!" Inaho shushed them, before pointing up at a higher ledge in the cavern, where some sort of a pink aardvark-like creature, dressed in some blue cloths, tapped on the top of some kind of mound, the top of it opened up and a green dragon-like creature came out and took a metal pot from the pink creature. "Aliens…"

The two noticed them, the aardvark-like creature made a few whistling noises and tilted its head curiously, the dragon creature made some gargling-sounding noises before it ducked into its home.

"This is strange, whiss," Whisper muttered.

"Considering everything… nyo, nyot really, nya," Jibanyan shook his head. The blue garbed creature made a few more whistling noises before the dragon one came back out of the hole and handed it the pot back, which was now filled with some sort of green liquid. The pink creature nodded before placing the pot on a wagon and pulling it away.

"I don't know what to make of that…" Fumi muttered.

"I told you, it's aliens!" Inaho giggled, Fumi sweadropped at how excited she seemed.

"Let's just continue," Fuu2 sighed. The dragon creature watched impassively as the group of foreigners walked forward, a smaller dragon creature popped out of another mound and made a few curious, gargling sounds. The larger creature looked at the smaller one and shook its head.

2200 meters

The path in the cavern eventually led them into what seemed to be a garden. There were many strange plants around, and another pink aardvark creature tending to them, not unlike the first one, though this one was a little larger and dressed in red.

"Look, they know how to cultivate plants!" Inaho exclaimed, taking a photo with her phone.

"Shut up! Dani!" USApyon shouted, the gardening creature noticed them and looked confused, making a few whistling noises.

"Oh, it's trying to communicate!" Inaho nodded.

"Come on Inaho, we should just leave 'em alone, they're obviously busy," Fuu2 sighed, Fumi nodded in agreement.

"Aw…" the purple-haired girl sighed as the pushed on, the pink creature just watched in confusion.

2300 meters

"What is this?" Fumi questioned, staring at a hole in the wall of the cavern filled with water, but the water wasn't flowing out, it was like some kind of vertical pond.

"Hmm, the aliens seem to have created a way to change gravity," Inaho nodded to herself, USApyon sighed and shook his head.

"I don't know, but I think we should just keep moving," Fuu2 muttered. A little sound alerted the group to movement in the water, they looked and were surprised to see three, little orange, frog-like creatures swimming in the water.

"Ah, more indigenous lifeforms… we need samples!" Inaho started to run towards the amphibians, but she was restrained by USApyon.

"NO!" the otter yo-kai shouted, Inaho complained as she was pulled along with the rest of the group.

2400 meters

They came to another part of the cavern that was more well-lit, the two pink creatures they had seen before were seated at a table with three more similar creatures. The smallest made a few whistling noises when they looked towards them.

"What have we walked into? Nya," Jibayan asked while scratching his head, the group noted that each creature had a mug of the green substance that the blue clad one had gotten from the dragon earlier.

"Hmm, what could this ritual be?" Inaho questioned, adjusting her glasses. USApyon started pulling her again.

"Hey!"

"… Sorry to disturb your meal," Fuu2 said as he and Fumi bowed, Whisper and Jibanyan shrugged before they all moved forward. The family of strange creatures looked at each other in confusion over what had just happened.

2500 meters

"Darn! Why couldn't you guys just let me observe the aliens!?" Inaho complained as they walked through what appeared to be the inside of a volcano.

"Shut up," USApyon growled.

"But– "

"NO!" USApyon snapped at Inaho, whom went quiet after that outburst. The others opted to keep out of the conflict.

"Weird…" Fuu2 noted, seeing several jail cells with… humanoids made from rings? Stripes? The group payed no heed to the blue blur that ran by as they continued.

2600 meters

"Oh, I have a bad feeling about this," Fumi muttered as they traveled through a narrower passageway, the ground seemed a little damp, and large footsteps could be heard above them.

"Trust me Fumika, there's nothing to worry about. My butler's intuition says we're completely safe," Whisper assured confidently.

"Butler's intuition?" Fumi questioned with a skeptical look, she glanced towards Fuu2.

"… Fine, I'll check," the Anchor sighed, Fumi smiled in thanks while Whisper crossed his arms with a huff. Fuu2 peeked out of a hole in the top of the passageway and looked out into what seemed to be a kitchen… for giants. His eyes widened slightly when he saw two, vary large, vary fat chefs with saggy, sack-like skin.

They marched around the kitchen, alternating between chopping into huge chunks of bloody meat and washing dishes, occasionally checking an oven. Fuu2 slowly sunk back into the passageway.

"… Keita-kun?" Fumi questioned in concern.

"What did you see, nya?" Jibanyan asked. Fuu2 just shook his head.

"Nope!" he started floating ahead.

"Keita?" Whisper looked confused.

"Nope!" the blue ghost insisted as he kept moving forward. Inaho peeked out the opening briefly.

"Huh, interesting," she muttered as she walked to catch up to the others whom were trying to catch up to Fuu2. USApyon considered looking up the opening also.

"… Nah, better not tempt fate, dani," he shook his head before following the others.

2700 meters

"… So, anyone know any word games?" Everyone turned to stare at Inaho. "What? Just trying to think of a way to pass the time."

"Well don't, we just need to keep going," Fuu2 said while shaking his spectral body in a negative way. Inaho huffed and crossed her arms.

"No fun guy, you're the no fun-guy…"

"I'm the already dead-guy!" Fuu2 exclaimed in aggravation, Inaho stuck out her tongue at him.

"And who's fault is that?" The purple haired girl and blue ghost glared at each other for a couple more seconds.

"Um, where did this argument come from?" Fumi asked the other yo-kai with a concerned look on her face.

"Getting lost in a seemingly endless tunnel would do it… Dani," USApyon muttered in an unconcerned tone. Jibanyan looked at the ground, and noted that it was covered in a strange, black resin-like substance. He blinked and his ears twitched as he heard some hissing.

"Um, guys? Nya…"

"Stupid dead no fun-guy! Stupid dead no fun-guy!" Inaho mocked, Fuu2 seethed.

"Idiot!"

"Keita-kun, there's no need for that, whiss," Whisper tried to get the Anchor to calm down.

"Guys! Nya," Jibanyan noted the same substance was on the tunnel walls, and something was coming towards them…

"Seriously, we shouldn't be fighting now. Especially not about something so petty," Fumi said, getting between Inaho and Fuu2.

"Fumi's my new best friend!" Inaho announced, grabbing the other girl's arm.

"Huh?" Fumi blinked in confusion.

"Because you're being the no fun-guy right now!"

"When was I ever your best friend?" Fuu2 muttered bluntly.

"Not anymore!"

"Never was…"

"What about me? Dani…" USApyon questioned.

"Guys! NYA!" Jibanyan shouted, everyone finally turned to him to see what he was pointing at. "We've got xenomorphs!" Several of the alien creatures crawled on the walls and growled at them.

"Oh! Come on!" Fuu2 shouted.

"Run once again!" Every one picked up speed as the xenomorphs gave pursuit.

"PK Fire!" Fumi shouted, shooting a blast of flames at the pursuing aliens.

"I lied! You're still my best friend! I'm sorry!" Inaho cried as she latched onto Fuu2.

"Get off me!" the ghost yelled in distress.

"… What about me? Dani…" USApyon questioned again.

"I know how you feel, whiss," Whisper sighed as he floated beside the otter yo-kai.

2800 meters

"Darnit! I'm tired of getting chased by things in this stupid tunnel! Dani!" USApyon exclaimed in frustration.

"Tell me about it…" Fumi sighed, looking fatigued from the previous chase.

"The important thing is; we're still alive!" Inaho exclaimed in a cheerful manner. Fuu2, Jibanyan, Whisper and USApyon all exchanged annoyed looks while Fumi scratched her head with a sweatdrop.

A hiss was heard from behind, causing the group to stiffen a little. They turned and saw another xenomorph stalking towards them, but not just any xenomorph, a queen…

"Really!?" Fumika shouted in aggravation, the alien queen roared in a threatening manner before it started charging. The group prepared to run again…

Only for the xenomorph queen's head to be sliced off in a clean motion, carefully so no acid blood splashed on the group. They looked up to see Fuu2 hovering above, Spectral Fang out in scythe mode.

"… I was sick of running too," the Anchor stated plainly, the others nodded blankly before they continued.

2900 meters

The tunnel had now retaken the appearance of a cave.

"Whenever this tunnel changes shape I get nervous, whiss," Whisper shuddered.

"Ditto," Fumi sighed.

"There's nyo pokémon here, nya," Jibanyan pointed out, the others looked at him blankly. "… What?" As the group continued, they soon found a man in orange armor… sleeping in the cave.

"… Grif?" Fuu2 blinked at the sight of his brother. "What's he doing here?"

"Hahaha," Inaho giggled as she poked the snoring soldier, Fuu2 slapped her hand away.

"Stop!"

"Should we wake him?" Fumi asked in concern.

"Wake him? Yeah, I don't think that's possible," Fuu2 shook as head as he looked at his slumbering sibling. "He'll be fine."

"Master Grif truly is a paragon of lazynyess," Jibanyan praised with a bow.

"Come on," Fuu2 sighed, grabbing hold of Jibanyan's paw as they continued forward.

"Alright! I'm coming, you don't have to grab me! Nya."

"*snore* I… I don't wanna babysit Tucker's kid… he bites *snore*" Grif muttered in his sleep as he turned a little.

3000 meters

"Freeze dirtbags!"

"I SURRENDER! WHIS!" Whisper shouted, throwing his arms into the air.

"… Sarge?" Fumi questioned, the red armored soldier lowered his shotgun as he looked over the children and yo-kai.

"What the, what are you all doing here? I thought you were the blues!"

"Nah, we're just lost in a tunnel," Inaho shrugged with a giggle.

"It's really not funny," USApyon sighed.

"I'm looking for that no-good Grif, I'm sure he's hiding in this cave to avoid work," Sarge explained with a hint of anger in his tone.

"Grif? Hiding from work? How uncharacteristic of him," Fuu2 muttered sarcastically.

"Gah! A blue ghost!" Sarge exclaimed, as if just noticing the Anchor's presence, before firing his shotgun straight through the star-shaped hole in Fuu2's midsection. The other tunnel-travelers stared in shock at what just happened, Fuu2 just looked annoyed.

"… Sarge, shooting me directly in a hole that goes through my body aside, do you even understand the concept of a ghost?"

"Well um…" Sarge stared at them for a few moments, before apparently giving up. "Ah who cares! I have a dirtbag to find!" he exclaimed, and charged forward the way they had come.

"I thought we were dirtbags?" Inaho questioned, almost sounding disappointed, USApyon just grumbled something with a scowl.

3100 meters

The tunnel was still a cave, the group walked without much interest in their surroundings… before a zubat popped out in front of them and screamed at them.

"Move!" Keita pushed the bat pokémon aside without much effort, the others didn't comment on this as they continued, but it wasn't more than three steps later that another zubat appeared, screaming the same as the first.

"Leave us alone! Nya!" Jibanyan pushed the bat aside, without harming it, before they kept moving.

"I swear, you can't go three steps without running into one of those things…" Keita muttered in annoyance.

"Aren't you exaggerating? Whiss," Whisper questioned, only for another zubat to pop up, startling him. "Gah! Never mind… whissu…."

3200 meters

"AKU!" The samurai shouted in anger, slashing at the embodiment of evil with the magical sword.

The two fought viciously, Aku taking various shapes to try and get the better of the samurai, whom took every opportunity he could to hit the creature of darkness with his blade. Finally, after a long, grueling battle, it looked as if the samurai had won.

The warrior held his blade ready for the final strike against Aku.

"You may think you've won, Samurai. But I can assure you that– "the shadowy creature stopped speaking when a child's voice interrupted his thoughts. Both combatants blinked in confusion, before they spotted two children, two ghosts, a two-tailed cat, and some sort of yellow armored… thing, wandering through Aku's lair.

"Okay, I'm telling you none of this looks right! Dani!" USApyon snapped angrily.

"Of course, none of it looks right, it hasn't been right for a while now," Fuu2 sighed with his arms crossed.

"Let's just keep moving, I'm sure we'll find our way out eventually," Fumi assured with a nervous smile. Aku and the samurai kept watching as the strange group passed through, without even giving them a glance. The samurai snapped out of his confusion first, and took the moment to land the final strike on the still confused Aku.

"No wait! I was about to– "Aku came back to reality too late, and was eliminated then and there.

3300 meters

The tunnel had changed again, like a forest encaged by foliage, only slight bits of sunlight peeking in between the leaves.

"Are we out?" Fumi asked hopefully.

"Doubtful, we still can't stray from the tunnel's path, whissu," Whisper sighed, Fumi drooped as they continued.

"We just need to keep going," Fuu2 muttered, hovering above the others' heads. They all passed a large, sleeping furry form without noticing it, except for Inaho, whom stopped and started poking it.

"Um… hello?" the bespectacled girl question, the large lump of gray fur twitched a little, letting out a big breath, turning over, it's whiskers twitching, big round eyes staring at the girl curiously…

"Inaho! Come on! Dani!" USApyon called form further ahead. Inaho blinked before following the others, waving goodbye to the creature as she did.

The totoro let out a yawn after the girl had left, curling up to go back to sleep…

3400 meters

The aesthetic of tunnel had become like that of an abandoned, sci-fi spaceship. Inaho was looking around in excitement as everyone else trudged forward with varying levels of nervousness.

"Are you sure we didn't take a wrong turn or something? Wissu…" Whisper questioned, flinching a little when he heard movement.

"How could we have taken a wrong turn? There are no turns," Fuu2 pointed out, bluntly.

"Oh, right… wiss…" Whisper scratched his head in embarrassment. Fumi shivered a little as she looked around.

"I don't like this… this is like one of those horror movies my parents wouldn't let me watch," she muttered nervously.

"I know! Isn't it awesome!?" Inaho exclaimed with stars in her eyes.

"Everyone just keep calm, we can handle whatever shows up, dani," USApyon insisted, Jibanyan nodded with a 'nya' as he scratched his ear.

"He's right, let's just keep going, it will probably change again soon," Fuu2 nodded, hovering ahead. A screeching sound was heard, causing most of the group to stiffen.

When several floating, green jelly-fish like creatures with fangs started approaching them however, they quickly moved to offensive positions.

"Metroids!? SO COOL!" Inaho squealed, the others looked at her like she was insane as they prepared their weapons, or other methods of combat.

However, before any of them could take action, a few well aimed energy blasts took the alien lifeforms out. The two humans and four yo-kai blinked in surprise, before an armored figure stepped over, holding her arm-cannon out.

"… Samus?" Fumi tilted her head questioningly.

"I know I already said this, but; SO COOL!" Inaho shouted again. Samus stared at them for a few seconds, before leaving through another corridor.

"… And we shall now continue," Fuu2 muttered blankly.

4000 meters Archeo Lumiere

The tunnel returned to being completely normal. The assorted Loopers looked around anxiously, as completely normal parts of the tunnel tended to have potential threats within. Fuu2 and Fumi had their eyes peeled, when USAPyon heard a strange noise coming from behind them.

"Is that... you Keita-kun, dani?" USAPyon asked, his ears twitching.

A moment passed, and Jibanyan's ears twitched too. "It is your voice, nyan. But who has your body, nyan?"

As everyone turned around, the source of the voice became apparent, and yet even more confusing; it was indeed Keita's body, but it was running towards them at speeds far above average.

"Hey! I figured you might want this back!" 'Keita' shouted. As he reached the group he skidded a halt, before saluting cheerfully. "Tamashī Daitobu, at your service," he claimed. "I'd be happy to give your body back, but I kinda need one of my own," he said sheepishly, "my spirit wound up bound in a marble somehow, and I need to be in something to function at all."

"I have somethin'yan!" Jibanyan called out, before going and rummaging in Inaho's backpack. "I got a bunch of these in a Bleach Loop a while ago, for times when I want to be human for a little bit, nyan..." at this, a cunning smirk crossed the nekomata's face, as he sent out a Ping, "but you know all about Gigai, right Kon, yan?"

A look of betrayal crossed Daitobu's, or more accurately, Kon's face, before he just gave a sigh. "At least you're not putting me in a lion right now, what have you got?" Kon asked defeatedly, giving a sigh and returning the Ping.

Akamaru pulled out a small sack at this point, before pouring out its contents, which were rapidly inflating. When it finished , the cat Yo-kai gave a grand flourish. "May I present to you, my custom Gigai, nyan."

The Gigai in question around the same height as the other Looping humans, had bright red hair and hazel eyes. It was wearing a red t-shirt a white hoodie with yellow cuffs, khaki pants, and red hiking boots with yellow socks. Adorning is wrists were a number of bracelets, it wore several pins, two bobby pins in its hair, and a necklace similar to Jibanyan's bell.

"Nyow, how are you getting out of there, nyan?" Jibanyan asked, honestly confused, before a thought occurred to him. "Fumi, could you put your hand over Kon's mouth, nyan?"

"Sure, I guess," she responded, doing as asked.

"Good, nyow..." he began charging up an attack at this, before USAPyon got upset.

"Grrr, this is taking way too long! VADER MODE!" he shouted, switching to the aforementioned mode and hitting Keita's body in the stomach.

"Oh, I have it!" Fumi exclaimed, before putting the marble in the Gigai's mouth.

As the Gigai woke up, Kon started talking again. "Thanks a lot guys, I got mixed in with slingshot ammunition, and some kid decided to shoot me into this tunnel. Anyway, I'm off to live a nice life this loop, see you in school, probably."

"See ya! (Dani/Whis/Nyan)" the various Loopers said to the far older Looper, and they continued on their trek.

4100 meters

The tunnel had now shifted into a cave with many mirror like surfaces and crystals.

"This is kind of nice," Fumi admitted, glancing at one of the mirror-like walls.

"Kind of familiar," Keita muttered, stretching a bit and feeling happy to have his body back.

"I'm thinking these crystals may be an important resource for an alien race, we should be cautious," Inaho said seriously as she looked at one of the crystals.

"Don't be stupid! Dani!" USApyon exclaimed in frustration.

"Huh?" Jibanyan looked over and spotted some familiar faces traveling nearby. "Oh, hiya Pikachu, nya!"

"… Oh, hi Jibanyan!" the electric mouse Pokémon greeted from atop his trainer's shoulder.

"Did Pikachu just talk?" the long haired girl about Ash's age asked blankly.

"Ash? Pikachu?" Keita blinked when he noticed the Pokémon Loopers and their traveling companions, whom he recognized as Serena, Bonnie and Clemont. "What's up?"

"I'm wondering that too, we didn't get a Ping from you guys earlier," Ash pointed out, much to the confusion of his non-Looping companions.

"We started in our own Loop, but this tunnel keeps taking us to random places! Nya!" Jibanyan exclaimed.

"That sounds kind of familiar…" Pikachu muttered. Inaho looked at them skeptically.

"Hmm… Aha! You guys must be the aliens mining for resources!?" Inaho suddenly exclaimed, looking at Pikachu in particular with amazement. Ash and his friends stared at her with dumbfounded expressions.

"What did I say about being stupid! Dani!" USApyon shouted with a look of anger on his face.

"Ash, how do you know these people? And what kind of Pokémon are those? They're talking, how?" Clemont asked, curiously adjusting his glasses.

"Good sir, we are not Pokémon. We are yo-kai," Whisper said, floating over to Clemont whom backed up a little. "I myself am a yo-kai Butler, my name is Whisper, wissu," he gave a bow and Clemont didn't look like he knew how to react.

"… Yo-kai? I've never heard of anything like that before," Clemont looked even more curious now. Whisper smirked and started to explain.

"Well you see my bespectacled friend, yo-kai are spirits that can't be seen with the naked eye, and are responsible for all of life's little annoyances."

"Oh, so you're some kind of ghost type Pokémon?" Clemont questioned and Whisper faltered a little.

"Um… No."

"… Excuse me, but am I the only one whom noticed that Pikachu talked!?" Serena suddenly exclaimed, looking a little freaked out.

"Um… well," Ash tried to think of something, but was interrupted by Inaho, whom smirked and adjusted her glasses.

"Isn't it obvious!?" Everyone turned their attention to the purple haired girl. "The alien has already started a mind-meld. Soon we will all become part of the collective!"

"…"

"What did I say!? What did I say!? Dani!" USApyon shouted in rage, holding his blaster up threateningly, but stopped when Bonnie ran over to Inaho excitedly and stood in his path.

"Wow you're definitely a keeper! Please take care of my brother!" the little blond girl said as she looked up at Inaho. Both Inaho and USApyon stared at her in surprise.

"Um… what?" Inaho blinked in confusion, before a robotic arm shot out of Clemont's backpack and pulled his little sister away from her.

"Bonnie! What did I tell you about that!?" Clemont shouted in embarrassment. Inaho gasped and jumped over to him.

"Ooh! What's that robot arm!? Can I touch it!?" Clemont nervously backed up from Inaho as she tried to get a better look at the mechanical Aipom arm.

"Er, yes it is, and no you can't."

"Aww, please!"

"Stop bothering them! Dani!" USApyon shouted, regaining his bearings and holding his blaster again.

"Fine…" Inaho groaned. Serena still looked freaked out and glanced between all of the new people, before she spotted Fumi standing there, looking unsure of what to do. Fumi noticed Serena looked at her and coughed.

"Um… Hi," Fumi awkwardly waved, Serena waved back before walking over to Fumi and started a casual conversation with her.

"So anyway we usually meet mirror versions of ourselves around this point in Baseline," Ash explained to Keita whom nodded while scratching his head.

"Nothing like that's happened to me as far as I can recall, Baseline-wise at least," Keita said with a thought and Pikachu held up a paw.

"Been through it a lot of times, with quite a few variations, though for this Loop how about we just go with them? See where it goes?" Pikachu offered to Ash whom shrugged with a smile that said he was up for it. Pikachu smirked before looking towards Keita. "Well? Want any company on your tunnel-adventure. Ash and I only woke up a couple days ago but we have been considering going 'off the rails' Baseline-wise for the past few Loops, this seems like as good an opportunity as any!"

"I don't think that would be a problem, but…" Keita looked at Inaho, whom had gone back to pestering Clemont to tell her about his robot arm, despite USApyon's protest. Bonnie had moved her focus to Fumi whom was still talking to Serena, and was looking for an opportunity to jump in. Whisper floated above the group, surveying the scenes with an expression somewhere between intrigued and concerned. "Would your… friends be ok with it?" Ash paused for a moment before looking towards the others.

"Hey guys!" Everyone turned towards the Looping Pokémon trainer at his exclamation "Anybody else want to go through the mysterious tunnel with these guys? It'll be an adventure!" Ash offered with an enthusiastic smile on his face.

"I don't know Ash, do you even know what-" Clemont started but Bonnie quickly jumped up in excitement.

"Yeah! Adventure!" Bonnie cheered, apparently having forgotten about trying to ask Fumi to marry her brother.

"You don't really know what you're getting into, I'm not so sure if I'm comfortable with such a young child tagging along, wissu," Whisper said while looking down at Bonnie, the young girl smiled when she looked up at him.

"Wow! You're so cute! Like a big floating marshmallow!"

"You think I'm cute?" Whisper asked, looking both surprised and pleased. "Well, I suppose I can protect you from any dangers we may run into, wissu."

"I suppose we could…" Clemont sighed in defeat.

"I wouldn't mind I guess, for a little while at least. But I'd still like to know why Pikachu was talking!" Serena exclaimed, looking towards the electric mouse Pokémon.

"All will be revealed if we follow the path of adventure," Pikachu said dramatically. The non-Loopers looked unsure, but nodded.

"… You know, this actually isn't the weirdest thing to happen to us this week," Serena briefly said to Fumi who rose an eyebrow.

"… Really?"

"You sure about this? We have no idea where we'll end up," Keita said to Ash and Pikachu with a cautious expression.

"Hey now, what are the Loops without a little mystery?" Pikachu said confidently.

"Welcome aboard my electric friend! Nya!" Jibanyan exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Good to be aboard my fiery feline friend!" Pikachu gave a victory sign.

"Well this should be interesting, wissu," Whisper muttered with his arms crossed, and the group continued one with their new companions.

4200 meters

Continuing along through the tunnel with their new companions (the Awake Ash and Pikachu, along with the UnAwake Clemont, Bonnie and Serena) the Yo-Kai Watch Loopers noted that the walls had become that of a man-made tunnel once more.

"… Say, Jibanyan," Keita looked down at the nekomata.

"Yeah Keita, nya?" Jibanyan's ears twitched as he looked up at his human friend.

"Why do you have those… 'Gigai'-bodies? Didn't you learn how to shapeshift from Puar, in that Dragon Ball Loop a while ago? Couldn't you become a human whenever you want with that?"

"… Well, yeah. Honestly, it's just easier using a Gigai, sure I could shapeshift into a human if I wanted. But holding it is harder than it should be, takes too much concentration, how am I supposed to relax if I need to concentrate on holding a form? Nya," Jibanyan explained, with a little yawn at the end.

"Well, I guess I can't argue with that," Keita shrugged. "What about Yo-Kai leaves?"

"Come on Keita, you and I both forget those even exist half the time. Plus, they're a fallible illusion at best and can be dispelled by a simple gust of wind," Jibanyan reasoned, waving his paw a little to represent wind.

"Guess I can't argue with that," Keita scratched his head as they continued walking.

"Hey, doesn't it seem too quiet?" Pikachu noted from Ash's shoulder.

"Hmm, I would expect us to have run into something else by now, wissu," Whisper noted as he hovered by Pikachu and Ash.

"That… unnerves me," Fumi muttered. The others looked around to see if they could spot anything, but nothing showed up… there was just complete silence in the dark tunnel.

"… We should get moving," Keita said, looking creeped out. Everybody nodded in agreement before quickly moving forward.

4300 meters

"Guys, this is getting a little strange," Serena noted as after taking a step into a floor that was too soft to be stone.

"Er, are we in an intestinal tract?" Keita questioned, looking at their surroundings, that now seemed to be made of pinkish flesh, the darkness that would normally obscure their vision up a head was replaced with red fog that would dissipate as they approached it.

"I'm uncomfortable…" Fumi muttered in a distressed tone.

"I have to agree, this is a little creepy, wissu" Whisper added, shivering a little.

"And the regular Infinite Tunnel isn't creepy? Nya," Jibanyan questioned with a raised brow. Some sounds were heard up ahead, sort of like bouncing and squeaking voices, the group found a fork in the tunnel. Though they couldn't break from the path and walk into the room the alternate path led to, they still could look and see what was making the noise.

"Um… what exactly are those things?" Clemont questioned, briefly taking off his glasses and cleaning them to make sure his vision was clear.

"They're um… kind of cute?" Bonnie offered, not sounding very sure of herself. In the room where these strange… baby-fetus-things? They were all jumping around making the odd noises and didn't seem to notice them.

"Ah, what strange creatures. This definitely requires an investigation," Inaho spoke in a confident tone as she put her hand to her chin.

"Shut up! Let's move! Dani!" USApyon snapped, dragging Inaho ahead. Keita and Ash both blinked as they looked at the creatures.

"… Those aren't pokémon, right?" Keita inquired to his friend whom shook his head.

"No… and I assume they aren't yo-kai either," Ash concluded, Keita nodded. Both stared at the creatures for a moment longer as their friends went ahead quickly, before they followed.

4400 meters

"This isn't much better," Fumi groaned as they walked through what seemed to be the insides of a creature, though the kind was very hard to place…

"It smells in here," USApyon grunted, Bonnie nodded in agreement.

"Hey, who's that?" Keita questioned, pointing to a blond girl with pigtails, sleeping to the side of their path. She got up and yawned a bit before looking at them.

"… Nya! Hello, did you guys get swallowed by Yellowknife too?" she questioned in a far too cheerful tone for what was implied.

"… Can we just keep going?" Pikachu questioned, everyone kept moving, ignoring the girl as she watched them with an un-changing smile…

4700 meters Archeo Lumiere

The group of Loopers looked to their left as they entered a wider patch of tunnel, and to their left, the same group of Loopers looked to their right. The Group to the right was missing the Pokémon Loopers, but that was it.

"Is that... us?" Fumi R asked.

"This is making my head hurt," Fumi L stated.

"Why am I wearing clogs?" Keita R queried.

"They're surprisingly comfortable, actually. Don't knock 'em 'till you try 'em," Keita L responded.

Ash nodded to the other Keita. "Are those Kingler Carving Clogs?"

Keita L nodded at this, leaving Keita R confused as the two groups continued on.

5600 meters Archeo Lumiere

At this point, the tunnel seemed somewhat normal, aside from a peculiar little shop face embedded in the wall, with a number of paper signs in the windows. The sign above the door showed a large red crab carving a block of wood with the name of the shop superimposed on it.

'KINGLER CARVING'

'Free gift to first time patrons!'

'Carved in 30 minutes or it's free! *'

'* Does not include ships in bottles.'

"This seems pretty relaxing," Keita commented, "anyone up for taking a quick break to go window shopping?"

At this point, a Kingler and a Growlithe exited the shop, a large cart being hauled behind the former. As the duo exited the shop, the canine pokemon stuck a "now at a new location" sign on the door, before turning around, a surprised look on his face.

{Why, this is neither the usual place our shop exits to, nor an elevator, where are we?} the puppy pokémon said in its native tongue, understood by about half of the party.

"Why, you're in the Infinite Tunnel, whis. Wait, an elevator, wissu?" Whisper asked.

{Aye, and wasn't that a strange ride. That elevator opened up to our shop on three separate occasions on its way down, along with my homeland near Floaroma, and a myriad of other strange locations aside.} The pup sighed wistfully. {That boy and his Pikachu were such good sports too.} At this, both Growlithe and Kingler did a double take. {Well bless my stripes, Ashton, is that you?} the confused canine asked.

"Yeah, that's me," Ash replied nervously

At this Jibanyan gasped loudly, approximately .1 Pinkies to be precise. "You remember the elevator glitch-nya!? But you aren't Loopers-nya!"

"Huh, what's he saying?" Inaho asked, and USAPyon nodded alongside her, as did the remaining pokémon guests.

"Oh, hang on, I have something in my Pocket for that!" Fumi called out, before reaching into her backpack and pulling out a fishbowl containing five yellow fish that were reminiscent of leeches. "Got them," she exclaimed, "now hold still you guys."

{Where did she get those, what the heck are they, and how are they going to solve our problem?} Growlithe asked quizzically, while Keita was simply stunned.

"The infamous babel fish, the cause of many Wars across galaxies, commonly accepted to be proof of God's existence, theorized by some to be proof of His non-existence," Ash said, just as Fumi slipped the fish into Inaho and USAPyon's ears, "and known to be universal translators, you should be clearly understood now," he concluded.

{Thank you, I suppose,} he said, as Inaho and USAPyon's eyes seemingly popped out of their skulls in astonishment, the native Kalosians similarly shocked. {In any case, I have no idea what "Looper" even are, just that our shops seem to be magic; ever since Ash and company showed up, our shop door has opened to incredibly bizarre groups, and elevators leading to yet more odd scenes, and I suspect our trip to our new shop face will be no different from our trip up the elevator with you,} the pokemon concluded.

A stunned silence went through the party, before Whisper, of all people, put it together. "So you're saying, that you're inhabitants of this particular glitch, wissu? Ash told us about you, he still wears the clogs you made him on occasion, you know-issu."

"It's true," Pikachu added, "when we're going through a particularly grassy area, or someplace muddy, he'll often slip them on for old times' sake." Ash nodded with happiness at this. "He also has a tendency to forget to take them off again until after we get to someplace paved," he jabbed humorously.

Ash shrugged at this. "It's not my fault they're even more comfortable than my sneakers most of the time."

{Ah, fills me with pride, that does,} Growlithe stated, happy to hear back from one of his customers again. {I assume you're giving yer recommendation to these children, then?} Growlithe asked Ash, to which he received a positive. {Then we'll give all you human kids measurements, even though we're moving right now,} he offered, and Keita and Fumi both accepted, while Inaho was still too stunned to move.

"If you don't mind, I'd rather wait to possibly encounter you again with my friends Awake, before you give them anything. Just so that they can remember the experience." Ash asked.

{That's fine with us,} the puppy pokémon replied.

At this, Kingler pulled out a pair of stools and set them down, having both New Sakura Town inhabitants sit down and remove their shoes to measure their feet.

{Now, we'll take your measurements down, and since we can't make your shoes on the move, we'll-} Growlithe was saying, before Kingler let out a gurgle, grabbing Keita's shoes and tossing them on the cart.

"Wait, what are you doing!?" Keita exclaimed, before Kingler pulled a pair of clogs out of the cart, slipping them onto his feet.

{Well I'll be, lad,} the fire type breathed out. {It's a rare occasion that Kingler is willing to give one of our display stock to someone. For his sake, at least give them a wear while we travel to our new shop, please?}

Keita thought about it a bit, weighing the shoes on his dangling, swinging feet, then hopping off the stool with a klock as wood hit cement. As soon as he stood up straight from this, his eyes widened in amazement.

"W-whoa, these feel more comfortable than my sneakers!" he said.

"I told you," Ash said in a sing song voice.

{Aye,} Growlithe nodded, {Kingler wouldn't have given you shoes if he didn't know for a fact they would fit. In fact, we're going the same direction as you. If your feet ever hurt, or the shoes break at any point before we get there, we'll take them back, and give you a brand new pair for free, sent through another visitor to our shop,} he pitched. {So, what do you say, care to walk a mile in our shoes?}

Keita nodded, and stepped forward, clacking once again. "Of course, I'm always willing try new things!"

"If you don't mind, I think I'll join you in that. A bit of solidarity, as it were," Ash offered, sitting down and removing his sneakers.

Walking over to Inaho, he shook her shoulder and spoke to her, "Come on, we're moving on." When she didn't move, he kicked her in the shin to try and startle her out of this fugue, forgetting what he was wearing.

"Yowch! What the heck is in your shoes?" she exclaimed in pain. When she looked down, she saw the clogs on his feet. "Oh."

Keita smirked at this. "I guess I found another advantage to these shoes. We're going," Keita said, Fumi nodding behind him, the other humans still somewhat confused.

6600 meters Archeo Lumiere

This portion of the tunnel was simply massive, and filled to the brim with stuff from wall to wall.

Other than the Kingler cart hitting a bump, however, nothing of much importance occurred here.

7600 meters Archeo Lumiere

The tunnel returned to its typical look, aside from a simple door featuring the Kingler Carving logo on it.

{Well, this is our stop,} Growlithe stated. {So, I noticed you had no complaints about our work.}

"Yeah, they're really amazing!" Keita exclaimed with a small hop, and a kerklump of the clogs landing, scuffed some, but not cracked or splintered.

"Yeah, yeah, you walked over a mile in those shoes, can you put your sneakers back now, dani?" USAPyon complained, tired of the clacking of his and Ash's shoes.

"Oh, right, can I get those back?" he asked sheepishly, "they're nice, but if I wear them for too long it will probably hurt my knees, one way or the other."

{Ah, right, let me get those,} the canine said, going into the cart. He rummaged around a bit, before he audibly muttered {Ah not again...}

The pokemon turned his head to the party, a bead of sweat visible on his head. {I think that your sneakers may have fallen off some ways back... sorry about this, just like with Ash, you'll have to stick it out until you find more shoes. Our apologies, but this is farewell.}

"I think we should head back to our world too, actually," Pikachu said reluctantly.

"I hope you can find another pair of shoes soon, simply so that you don't drive the rest of your fellow Loopers even more mad," Serena said, shaking her head.

As the carving duo entered their shop, closely followed by all of the Pokémon Loopers, an aura of despair hovered over the rest of the party, at the thought of the loud, solid shoes remaining on Keita's feet for potentially tens of miles more.

8100 meters Archeo Lumiere

The group of Loopers looked to their right as they entered a wider patch of tunnel, and to their right, the same group of Loopers looked to their left.

"Is that... us?" Fumi R asked.

"This is making my head hurt," Fumi L stated.

"Why am I wearing clogs?" Keita R queried.

"They're surprisingly comfortable, actually. Don't knock 'em 'till you try 'em," Keita L responded.

Ash nodded to the other Keita. "Are those Kingler Carving Clogs?"

Keita L nodded at this, leaving Keita R confused as the two groups continued on.

"Hey..." Jibanyan began, "was that us from the past, nya?"

19700 meters Archeo Lumiere

Once more, the walls returned to a normal appearance, making the resonant klock, klock, klock of clogs on cement all the more prominent. This time, however, one wall was lined with shelves, featuring almost solely shoes with toes, along with a sign that said;

'TAKE A PAIR!'

The other wall was bare, but had a few benches, and a number of simulated terrains were present on the floor across the tunnel. There were a few foot shapes by the benches, in red and blue.

"Huh, I've seen these around before," Inaho said, "one of my classmates wears them in variants that reach high school. Hey Keita-kun, maybe they'll have a pair here for you! Let's get your foot measured up. So you can finally stop bothering me with that clacking. it's been eight miles already."

They went to the littler foot thing by the benches, and measured Keita's feet for themselves. Keita was bothered by Inaho's comment, but wanted a change of footwear himself.

"It's a 34," Keita said, "Let me see if they have anything for me."

As he checked in the smaller sized shoes, he saw a pair that immediately stood out, a pair with a grey upper, blue soles, red laces, and red and blue accents.

"Sweet, they have a pair in my colors!" Keita exclaimed, taking them back to a bench, and slipped his feet into them and tied the laces.

"It's a perfect fit again, what's it with this loop and giving me shoes?" Keita asked, wiggling his toes in the pockets. "Not that I'm not grateful, but it's just a bit weird."

"Whatever, Keita-kunyan. At least now you won't be clacking with every step, nyan," Jibanyan said lazily.

33300 meters

As the group continued forward, they noticed three bathroom stalls on one of the walls. Keita glanced back at his friends whom looked confused, before shrugging and going up to the third stall.

*Knock*

"Hanako-san, are you there?"

*Knock*

"Hanako-san, are you there?"

*Knock*

"Hanako-san, are you there?" after a moment of waiting, the door cracked open and a little girl yo-kai whom they recognized looked at Keita with an embarrassed glare.

"Didn't your parents teach you it's rude to disturb a girl when she's using the bathroom?" she huffed, before pulling the door shut. Keita sweatdropped as his friends stared at him.

"… Well, let's continue!" Keita exclaimed, as if nothing happened. The others didn't say anything as they continued past the bathroom stalls and further into the tunnel.

49500 meters

"I'm telling you! This will never end! We'll be stuck in this tunnel for the rest of the Loop! Dani!" USApyon shouted, running around the rest of the group in a panicked fashion.

"Seriously, USApyon, this is not productive in the slightest," Keita sighed.

"The tunnel ends eventually, it's just… a little weird this Loop," Fumi muttered in an attempt to calm the otter yo-kai, though it didn't seem to work.

"No use trying to calm him down, guys. When he's like this he doesn't listen to reason," Inaho sighed with a shrug, a smug smirk on her face. USApyon stopped his panicking and twitched, glaring at Inaho.

"You're not one to talk about listening to reason! Dani!"

"Guys, please don't argue," Fumi sighed with a sweatdrop.

"I swear, you'd think in the Loops you two would've matured a little by now, whiss," Whisper huffed, USApyon and Inaho both twitched before glaring at the ghost butler.

"LIKE YOU'RE ONE TO TALK(DANI)!" the two shouted, sending the yo-kai tumbling into Keita.

"Ow!" Keita shook his head, before picking the dizzy Whisper up. "Whisper?"

"That's why you should keep your myouth closed more often, nya," Jibanyan chided as he padded by.

"You're not the one I want to hear that from, wissu…" Whisper groaned, floating out of Keita's hands and giving him a bow of thanks.

"I'm more concerned about the fact we haven't run into another thing yet," Keita said, glancing around carefully. Fumika nodded nervously, the others didn't seem concerned though…

"… There doesn't seem to be anything, dani," USApyon pointed out. Keita sighed and nodded, still he didn't feel entirely sure something wouldn't jump them at any random moment…

"BABY BRO!" in a blur of red and rose petals, Keita swept up into a hug by Ruby.

"No! Not a baby!" Keita exclaimed while struggling, but Ruby's grip was too strong for him to escape. The UnAwake Weiss stared in confusion at the scene.

"… Huh, didn't see that one coming, dani," USApyon muttered with a surprised look, Weiss glanced at him, gaining a freaked-out expression as she looked at the other yo-kai as well.

"… What the heck is going on here!? Ruby!?" the white-haired girl called out to her leader, whom didn't respond, as she was still preoccupied hugging her little brother.

"… Really, Ruby. Put me down…"

49600 meters

"So, let me get this straight; this is your younger brother, whom you've never mentioned before."

"To be fair, you didn't mention your sister until we met her," Ruby pointed out to her partner, whom huffed and kept glaring at her.

"And he's in this tunnel, with these weird… things."

"They're my friends," Keita interjected firmly. Jibanyan and Whisper nodded proudly, Weiss ignored them.

"Right… and this all makes sense, because…?"

"… Because I'm your leader, and you trust me?" Ruby smiled, Weiss gave up.

"… Sure, whatever."

"If you can't handle this, you won't last long in here. We're bound to run into something else weird, soon," Keita stated calmly. Inaho nodded as they kept walking. Fumi trailed behind the group, and noticed a strange sound coming from a door on the side of the tunnel.

Carefully, the girl cracked the door open and took a peek inside, only to immediately slam it closed.

"Nope…" Fumika stated with a disturbed expression, before going to catch up with the others. She opted not to mention what she had seen to the others, or ever again…

49700 meters

"So, I can't help but notice, this tunnel is kind of like the elevator my friends and I got stuck in a while back," Ruby explained to Keita, the two hanging in the back of the group, far enough away to not be heard. "What with you being trapped in here, and running into random things every so often…"

"Elevator? I think Ash and Pikachu mentioned something about an elevator a while back…" Keita noted as the two kept walking. "But, yes. Random stuff keeps happening… in fact, something is probably about to happen…"

The sounds of all their friends screaming up ahead didn't even faze the two.

"Spot on," Ruby complimented before they both used their speed to rush to the head of the group and see what exactly was happening. The two came to the sight of their friends staring, horrified, at the grotesque, green monster that took up the whole tunnel.

It appeared to be just a head, a single large eye stared at them, a tongue occasionally sticking out from a gigantic maw of jagged fangs.

"That's horrifying…" Weiss muttered with a disgusted look on her face, seeing as she wasn't Awake, this was significantly harder on her than the others.

"How are we supposed to get past this thing? Wissu…" Whisper asked with a scared expression. Keita and Ruby looked to each other, before shrugging. Keita approached the beast and proceeded to scratch its chin.

"Hey, big guy. How about letting us through?" the beast let out an affectionate sounding growl at the request. Keita backed up before it opened its mouth wide, the tongue rolling out like a red carpet. "… Well, in we go," the Yo-kai Watch Anchor said with a shrug, stepping into the creature's mouth. His companions followed with varying degrees of hesitation (none, on Ruby's part).

"No! No! No!" Weiss shook her head, standing firm with her arms crossed. "I am not traveling through some repulsive monster's gullet!"

"Come on!" Ruby sped out before grabbing her partner, and pulling her forward.

"Hey! No, Ruby!"

50000 meters

The group reached a clearing that seemed like an open cavern of some kind. A small, humanoid, shadowy creature that Keita recognized was in combat with a white cloaked individual whom Ruby recognized.

"Grandpa!?"

"Mom!?"

The two combatants briefly looked over and also seemed surprised.

"Ruby!?"

"Keita!?" but they quickly noticed each other again and went back to fighting, the group watched this for a moment with blank expressions.

"Should we… do something?" Fumi questioned.

"Why are they even fighting?" Inaho asked while scratching her head. "Also, Keita's grandpa is a shadow?"

"Yo-kai," Whisper corrected.

"… Shouldn't you two step in and stop them?" Weiss looked over at Ruby and Keita.

"Yeah! Get her grandpa! You can do it!"

"Mom! You got this! Kick his ghostly butt!" Weiss sweatdropped at how invested the two Anchors were in their (deceased) elders' fight.

"I think we're going to be stuck here till their finished. Dani…" USApyon muttered, the others nodded in resignation, while Keita and Ruby continued to cheer on their respective relatives.

50100 meters

"Wow mom! That was awesome!"

"You were incredible grandpa! With your moves and your speed, jumping around like that!" Ruby and Keita both cheered their two new traveling companions. Summer Rose walked by her daughter awkwardly, while Guts K sat on Keita's head.

"Well thank you Ruby, but… how are you a teenager? Last I checked you were a little girl," Summer said, looking a little uncomfortable.

"I would also like to know what's going on! And why you attacked me!" Guts K exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at Ruby's mother.

"I thought you were a grimm, ok? Easy mistake to make," Summer defended herself before turning back to her daughter, Guts K huffed at the answer. "Seriously Ruby, about the age thing?"

"Er, that's kind of complicated," Ruby chuckled a little nervously.

"No, it really isn't," Weiss muttered dully.

"I feel like we've been walking for miles," Inaho complained.

"We had been walking for miles, but we had plenty of time to rest when Keita and Ruby made us watch that fight for twenty minutes. Dani," USApyon stated uncaringly. Inaho fell to the ground and wrapped her arms around his helmet.

"I'm too tired to keep walking! Please carry me!"

"NO! Dani!"

"Please!"

"Get off me! Dani!" Fumi shuffled ahead and away from Inaho and USApyon and stood next to Whisper and Jibanyan.

"What were you doing in the tunnel anyway? Nya," Jibanyan asked the yo-kai sitting on Keita's head curiously.

"I was looking for Fuyunyan, I heard he was somewhere in that cave. Though it definitely wasn't a tunnel when I entered it," Guts K answered simply.

"I heard there was a grimm in this cave and was investigating, I also don't recall it being a tunnel," Summer answered as well. "Even though that's not really the strangest thing, considering my little girl is now a teenager!" she looked towards Ruby for answers again, the Anchor of Remnant just whistled innocently.

"Well, I certainly don't think any grimm are in this tunnel," Whisper spoke confidently, the sound of rustling ahead made them all look forward, before a swarm of beowolves came rushing out of the darkness.

"Really!?" Fumi threw her arms up in exasperation, before she fired PK Freeze at them.

"Whisper, maybe you should just not talk for a while," Keita sighed as he pulled Spectral Fang from his pocket. Ruby nodded, holding Crescent Rose ready.

"Hey! This isn't my fault!"

"I don't know what's going on, but let's go!" Summer Rose said, holding her own weapon ready.

"Guts!" Guts K exclaimed in a battle pose.

"Get off me so I can fight! Dani!" USApyon shouted at Inaho. Weiss eye twitched a bit in annoyance as she pulled out her weapon.

51000 meters

The cave seemed to fork now, one path leading further into the darkness of the cave, the other into a somewhat bright forest.

"Can we please go that way?" Fumi questioned, looking a little tired. Keita tried to walk in the direction of the exit, but hit a force field, causing Guts K to fall off his head and onto the path.

"No… but he can," Keita offered, pointing at his yo-kai grandfather who got back to his feet, Fumi groaned as it seemed they wouldn't be getting out of the tunnel anytime soon.

"I hear fighting," Summer muttered, walking over to the pathway and next to Guts K, the two looked out into the clearing and their eyes widened, Taiyang, Qrow, Raven and Fuyunyan were all out there, fighting both Grimm and Kaima.

"Fuyunyan!" Guts K called out to the hovering cat yo-kai, though it didn't seem he could hear him.

"Tai! Qrow!" Summer called to two of her old teammates, though like Keizo her words didn't reach them. The two looked at each other briefly, then back at their fighting companions, before glancing back at Keita and Ruby.

"… Go," Ruby sighed.

"Yeah, we'll see you guys again, sometime," Keita and Ruby both smiled at their grandfather and mother respectively, the two elders smiled back and nodded before running out of the cavern.

"Can we follow?" Weiss asked tiredly.

"Nope!" Ruby cheered and hugged Keita while giving him a noogie. "Gotta keep this guy in line!"

"Ruby! Stop!" Keita pleaded, though he seemed happy. Fumi and Weiss both sighed. Inaho looked out at the battle outside interestingly, though seemed disappointed she couldn't follow out. USApyon was still ignoring everyone.

"Ok, let's keep going! Nya!" Jibanyan, whom was somewhat ahead of the group, called out. The others nodded before following, Keita and Ruby gave one last wistful look to their battling relatives, before following.

"Wait up! Wissu! I said, wait!" a tired Whisper called as he caught up and continued to follow the group.

51100 meters

"So, nyow what?" Jibanyan questioned, looking around the tunnel.

"When do we get out of here?" Weiss groaned tiredly.

"I've been asking that since we got stuck in here, dani…" USApyon grunted.

"Well, we just need to keep going! That's how this works!" Ruby exclaimed, speeding over to her friend's side. Weiss groaned again.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find a way out soon… sooner than us, anyway," Fumi said, with a bit of a sigh at the end. Suddenly, a trap door opened up beneath Ruby and Weiss.

"… Well, that's convenient," Ruby commented with a shrug, Weiss' eye twitched.

"This is not what I meeeeaaaant!" the white-haired girl cried as the two dropped down. A thud was heard not long after, the six locals looked down the whole, seeing Weiss and Ruby had landed in their own room at Beacon, more or less unharmed.

"Ow…" Weiss rubbed her head.

"Well, we're back," Ruby shrugged.

"Hey, how come they get to live falling down a hole?" Keita complained bluntly.

"Never mind that, we can get out! Dani!" USApyon exclaimed happily, before jumping towards hole… only to hit his helmeted head against an invisible barrier. "OW! DANI!"

"Yeah, that figures," Fumi sighed with a shake of her head.

"Looks like we need to keep going," Inaho chuckled, USApyon silently cried by one of the tunnel's walls.

55000 meters

Salt water unexpectedly splashed over the group, but it cleared up before anyone could drown, leaving two little lion-dogs behind unexpectedly.

"Wow! That was sure strange! Zura!" Komasan cheered.

"Komasan? Komajiro?" Keita questioned.

"I thought you said they were checking out the Bermuda Triangle, or something? Wissu," Whisper pointed out plainly.

"That's what they said…" Keita muttered in confusion.

"Um brother, how did we get here?" Komajiro questioned, looking around the tunnel.

"I thought we ended up in some kind of space-hole! The Bermuda Triangle sure is amazing!" Komasan exclaimed, before he noticed his fellow Loopers that had been traveling the tunnel. "Oh! Hey guys, when did you get here? Zura."

"It's you who got here, dani," USApyon sighed. "Now you're part of this too, I guess…"

"Um, part of what?" Komajiro asked.

"Exploring this tunnel! Obviously!" Inaho shouted enthusiastically before marching forward. "Now let's go you slowpokes!"

"We are not Pokémon, nya," Jibanyan yawned as he followed.

"Come on, we'll explain along the way," Fumi sighed as she gestured for the komainu brothers to follow while Keita and Whisper went ahead.

"… Well this sure got interesting fast," Komasan smiled at his brother, whom gave an unsure look back.

"I'm not sure if 'interesting' is the right word…"

55100 meters

"And then we got on a boat, and then we sailed towards the Bermuda Triangle, and then we saw a pelican, and then we got lost, and then we looked at the map, and then we saw a dolphin! Zura!"

The group marched forward tiredly, as Komasan went on and on about what he and his brother had done before ending up in the tunnel.

"Um, brother. I think you should stop now," Komajiro muttered, unsurely.

"Stop? Zura," Komasan looked at his brother curiously, stopping in his tracks.

"He meant stop talking! Nyot stop walking! Nya!" Jibanyan tiredly exclaimed.

"Oh…" the white and blue lion-dog nodded.

"Is that a pit of lava…? Dani," USApyon questioned, the others noted the large pit of lava they were walking past, also that the tunnel seemed to have become some sort of underground base…

"These is weird, are we in a supervillain lair or something?" Keita questioned, Inaho looked excited at that idea.

"I hope not…" Fumi sighed.

"Get out of my basement you crazy, new-age ghost-kids!" An old man in a lab coat, a bald head, and a thick pair of glasses shouted, holding a shoe up threateningly. "Or I'll be forced to throw this shoe at you!" the group simply stared at the man for a few seconds.

"… Prof. Farnsworth?" Keita asked, a look of recognition on his face.

"How do you know my name!? Who sent you!?" The professor started screaming, throwing the shoe at the group, whom immediately started running.

60000 meters

"Brr… it sure got cold, zura…" Komasan shivered as they marched through the, now icey, tunnel. His brother nodded from his spot beside him.

"Don't you have fire powers?" Keita questioned, being kept warm because of Jibanyan, resting on his head.

"Let's just keep going, I want to the tunnel to turn back to normal as soon as possible!" Fumika exclaimed, looking to be handling the cold no better than Komasan.

"You can use PK Fire…"

"F-fire, doesn't seem like a good idea, Keita-kun… the whole tunnel could flood, wissu…" Whisper pointed out, also shivering from the cold. Keita shook his head and sighed, but didn't argue.

"We shall strike here, the humans will not see it coming," they heard a female voice speak from ahead, the group was surprised when they came across a large group of Yuki-onna, and Fubuki-hime, with a single Hyakki-hime pointing out instructions on a map, that seemed to have been carved into the ice.

"Wow! A secret meeting of icey yo-kai!" Inaho exclaimed in excitement, apparently not very concerned with the cold. All the yo-kai immediately turned their eyes on the group.

"…"

"Um, hi?" Keita offered blankly.

"… Kill them!" Hyakki-hime ordered fiercely, the group quickly started running, avoiding blasts of ice as they did.

60100 meters

"Well, that certainly wasn't what I was expecting to run into, wissu…" Whisper said, after the group lost the attacking ice yo-kai, the tunnel had also changed back to its regular appearance.

"Nothing in this tunnel is what should be expecting, I wasn't really surprised," Keita grunted, putting Jibanyan back on the ground to walk on his own, something the lazy cat yo-kai did with reluctance. As Keita began walking again himself, he felt a small, cold hand tug on his own, he glanced down to find a little(r than normal) Yuki-onna looking up at him, with an innocent yet expecting expression. "What the…?"

"Daddy, I want a piggy-back ride!" the request from the small yo-kai left the Anchor even more confused.

"Huh? Wha–I'm not your daddy!" the tiny cloaked yo-kai kept staring at him, startled at his response… before her eyes started to tear up. "Wait! No, fine!" Keita quickly picked the child yo-kai up and placed her on his back. "Piggy-back ride, okay?"

"Yeah! Piggy-back ride, daddy!" she cheered, suddenly in a good mood again, hugging his back. Keita bit his tongue to stop himself from pointing out that he was not her 'daddy' again.

"Looking good there, 'daddy,'" Inaho chuckled as she pranced by, the male watch-holder sent her a death-glare.

"Keep talking like that, and you'll soon find yourself with that yo-kai form you covet so much…" Inaho waved off the Anchor's threat as she kept on ahead. Keita sighed before following along with the others.

60200 meters

"So, nyow what? Nya," Jibanyan questioned as they kept walking.

"We just keep walking, what else could we do?" Fumi muttered.

"Have an adventure? Zura," Komasan suggested, Komajiro looked unsure if he should say anything.

"I'm more concerned one what's up with…" Keita glanced to the small Yuki-onna clinging to his back, not really sure of what to call her. "This…"

"Daddy…" she cooed, snuggling into the back of his shirt. Keita sweatdropped. The group continued, before they spotted a small form up ahead.

"… Daddy?" another little Yuki-onna tilted her head from a little further up the tunnel, Nate took a step back while his companions looked towards him.

"Oh no…"

"Daddy! Daddy!" she happily cried, running up to the Anchor and hugging his pants' leg affectionately.

"What? No!"

"Daddy!" both Yuki-onna exclaimed innocently.

"No! I'm not your daddy!"

"Are you filming this? Dani," USApyon asked the chuckling Inaho, whom had a video camera out.

"What do you expect me to do, not film it?" the purple-haired girl questioned as if the answer was obvious, before going back to filming. USApyon gave his companion a dull expression, shaking his head.

60300 meters

"Daddy! I want a turn!"

"No! My piggyback!"

"Daddy!"

"Daddy!"

Keita glowered subtly as the two tiny yo-kai argued, one on his back and the other holding his hand.

"I think this is kind of adorable," Fumi smiled, Keita's response to this comment was a glare.

"But, why do they think Keita-kun is their father? Wissu," Whisper questioned with a confused expression.

"I don't know, but I'm loving every minute of it!" Inaho chuckled, still filming Keita's interaction with the little ice yo-kai.

"Inaho, I swear I'm gonna– "before Keita could finish his threat, a small form fell from the ceiling and landed on his head.

"Daddy!" the new Yuki-onna cheered, Keita's eye twitched.

"NO! Where do you all keep coming from!?"

60400 meters

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" The three little Yuki-onna cheerfully chanted as they clung to Keita, said boy trudging along with a defeated expression.

"Wow, three kids? You've been busy, Keita," Inaho laughed, Keita let out a low growl.

"Keep calm, keep calm…" the Anchor muttered to himself, not wanting the little yo-kai clinging to him to start crying, even if they were annoying him…

"This is very strange, zura," Komajiro commented.

"Why? Zura," his brother looked confused.

"They just came out of nowhere and think Keita-kun is their daddy, he's not even a yo-kai right now. It's odd, zura," Komajiro explained as best he could, Komasan shrugged. As the group continued, they saw another form up ahead, similar, but different from the three yo-kai they had already encountered.

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" The three Yuki-onna cried out cheerfully, the Fubuki-hime that hovered over gave a gentle smile.

"Nice to see you my babies! Have you been good girls for daddy?" the S-rank yo-kai asked kindly, the three smaller yo-kai nodded quickly, before letting go of the clueless Keita and going to their mother's side.

"Hold on! What is going on!? Why are you– "Keita started to yell, but was left speechless and red-faced when the Fubuki-hime pecked him on the cheek and gave him a loving look.

"Thanks for looking after them, Honey. I'll take it from here. Say goodbye to daddy, girls."

"Bye, bye, daddy!" the three Yuki-onna waved as they followed the Fubuki-hime away. Keita just stood, frozen in place with an unchanging expression.

"And on top of everything; cheating on Fumi-chan? Scandalous," Inaho adjusted her glasses with an evil smirk, Keita snapped out of stupor and looked like he was about to snap at the girl, but before he could, to his, and everyone else's surprise, Inaho was met with a hard slap on the back, by Fumi. "Ow! Wha!?"

"Let's go," Fumika huffed, before charging to the head of the group, a visible scowl on her face.

100000 meters/exit

"Freedom!" Fumi called out, running out of the tunnel and falling to her knees.

"Come on, it wasn't that bad," Keita said as he walked over to his female friend, she glared at him but said nothing.

"Ah! Good to get out of that stuffy tunnel and breath in fresh air again! Wissu!" Whisper exclaimed, stretching his arms and twirling a bit.

"Aw, is it over already?" Inaho questioned, looking disappointed.

"Do you seriously want it to be longer!? Dani!" USApyon exclaimed in disbelief at his friend's reaction to exiting the tunnel.

"That was exciting! I hope we can do it again sometime! Zura!" Komasan cheered as he and his brother exited the tunnel side-by-side.

"I'm not so sure, zura…" Komajiro muttered, looking less enthusiastic than his brother.

"Let's all just be glad we're free of that tunnel, nya," Jibanyan nodded to himself as he came to Keita's side. The Anchor nodded, giving his feline friend a pat on the head.

"Yes, you all had quite the experience, didn't you?"

"Yeah, a pretty unexpected one too," Keita nodded to the female voice, he and the others all blinked with confused looks, before glancing over at the little girl-like being that had spoken.

"Good to see you out now, at least. I hadn't intended for the tunnel to be that long," she spoke in a calm voice, glancing between the Loopers.

"… Moody Mary?" the Anchor questioned.

"Actually, it's En'en Shojo. I assume you know me as that name in another time and place."

"… What did you mean you didn't mean for the tunnel to be that long?" Inaho asked, suspiciously.

"She's the one that made the tunnel, at least in the common game-variant. And it isn't usually supposed to be that long, and there are supposed to be emergency exits," Fumi explained, with Keita nodding.

"I don't understand how ANY of that happened! Dani!" USApyon groaned as he took a seat on the ground.

"To be honest, neither do I. I normally create the tunnel, but this time it seemed like it had been hijacked by some other force… I assume it is related to the repeating of time and space," En'en Shojo explained with a thoughtful look.

"Wait! You know about the time Loops!? Whissu!?" Whisper questioned in surprise, floating over the ghostly girl.

"This time I do. I don't always, and I didn't before the disruption to my tunnel occurred. But it seems you all have a special immunity to these time-loops that not even I can understand," she explained simply.

"That may be so, but we don't even know how all that junk in the tunnel happened… Ruby did mention it being like something that happened with an elevator before," Keita scratched his head.

"Tunnel, elevator, whatever. I'm just glad we don't have to walk anyamore," Jibanyan yawned as he curled up on the ground.

"Hmm, curiouser and curiouser," En'en Shojo said, poking Jibanyan's ear. The nekomata swatted her hand away with a grunt.

"… Can we just not think about this too hard and move on? I'd rather not spend the rest of the Loop dwelling on that crazy tunnel, dani," USApyon sighed.

"But we're detectives! We should want to figure this out more than anyone!" Inaho insisted, pulling USApyon to his feet, but he quickly disconnected from her arms and fell back to the ground.

"I'm too tired to go vader-mode on you right now, so don't tempt me, dani."

"So fun, zura," Komasan laughed as he thought about the adventures in the tunnel, Komajiro shook his head with a confused expression.

"I'm with USApyon, let's get the heck out of here," Keita nodded.

"Yeah, I just want to go home right now," Fumi muttered tiredly.

"I can assist with that," En'en Shojo offered, before pointing out a mirror-like yo-kai, sleeping in the corner of the area. "That ungaikyō will teleport you back to the tunnel's entrance."

"Well, let's go than. Thank you for your assistance, whissu," Whisper bowed to the pale girl, the others nodding (accept the sleeping Jibanyan).

"Even if something unexpected occurred, I am happy to have visitors. If you find the time, please do visit me again," En'en Shojo spoke with a bow of her own. "Even if not during this cycle, either I or this 'Moody Mary' would surely appreciate any company."

"We'll try if possible, miss," Komasan smiled.

"The tunnel can be fun when it doesn't go crazy, I'll be back at some point," Keita smiled.

"Never… again, dani," USApyon sighed. And with that the Loopers approached the mirror tsukumogami (Jibanyan being carried by Keita), and we're teleported out of the area.