Yo-kai Watch Infinite Loops Chapter 5, a yo-kai watch fanfic

5.1

"Ok, why the heck am I a girl!?" was the first thing Nate/Keita–or Esther as he was apparently called this Loop, cried out after she had recovered from being 'broken hearted' or whatever.

"Esther? Are you ok?" the man she knew as her father this Loop, someone named Rashaad whom was apparently something called a 'Great Sage' questioned with a concerned look on his face, rushing over to her and taking hold of his 'daughter'. And honestly whom could blame him, his daughter recovered from having a piece of her heart torn out and the first thing she does is question why she's a girl. Any parent would be concerned.

"I think we've got a proper mad one, Ollie-boy," The accented voice caused the boy-turned-girl to look down at an odd… yo-kai? No wait, her in-Loop memories told her this was a fairy…

"Don't be mean Mr. Drippy," The brown-haired boy, about her own age standing next to the fairy scolded softly.

"I'm fine, I just have a bit of a headache," Nate/Keita shook her head; it was always troublesome whenever s/he Looped outside of his own branch when his name changed, it meant he had no clear memories on which of his name's he went by which was just a big headache when self-identifying whom he was.

"Are you sure you're alright? Boy what exactly was that spell?" Rashaad questioned while looking at the boy that the fairy had referred to as 'Ollie-boy.'

"It was just to restore her heart, it should have just turned her back to her old self," 'At least that's how it usually is…' Oliver thought that last part as he looked at 'Esther' a bit curiously, she looked mostly like her old self, save for the fact that she had brown hair and eyes this Loop. And by her reaction to being, well a girl. It was a safe bet that this probably wasn't actually Esther, but one of those visiting Loopers.

"I'm absolutely fine, just a little disoriented. Don't worry… father," 'Esther' said as convincingly as she could while pulling away from the man. "It was just… a strange experience, I felt like I was someone else for a while…" that wasn't necessarily a lie. Rashaad looked at her for a few seconds before nodding.

"Esther, please forgive me. You may have been robbed of your courage, but I have only myself to blame for the loss of my own," the man said in an apologetic tone that Nate/Keita could only nod to–she hadn't exactly had the coherence to go over her in-Loop memories yet. Drifting into her own thoughts she didn't notice as her in-Loop father, the boy and the fairy spoke to each other. "We shall do our best to help you in this fight Oliver–won't we daughter?"

"Huh?" 'Esther' shook her head and looked around at the others before nodding. "Um, right. Yes, we'll help you, sorry. Just feeling a little Loopy, I could really use an Anchor," her father and the fairy both looked at her strangely at that statement, however Oliver's eyes widened slightly before nodding. 'Fellow Looper: Located.'

"Um right, well I'm pretty Anchored… and, uh a little Loopy myself," Oliver said looking like he was unsure of what words he should say.

"Well then we're on the same page I suppose," 'Esther' crossed her arms and nodded.

"… What the heck are you two going on about!?" Mr. Drippy questioned with a confounded expression on his face.

"Um, it's nothing Mr. Drippy," Oliver assured the currently unawake fairy, but he did not look convinced. Rashaad looked at them both suspiciously for a moment before he cracked a smile and chuckled a bit.

"Ah, I see. The children are just playing a bit of a word game to raise enthusiasm. It is true that in times of darkness we must keep good humor to stay sane at times."

"Um… sure," 'Esther' nodded, going along with her in-Loop father's assumption.

"I'm a fairy, so I know humor. And I'm not sure what kind of comedy routine that would be," Drippy muttered skeptically.

"Um, so you have a familiar, don't you Esther?" Oliver asked and Nate/Keita gave him an odd look before searching her in-Loop.

"Oh right, come out Whisper!" she exclaimed before releasing the familiar. From the name she remembered it having she could assume that her yo-kai butler had Looped in along with her. The form of the small, purple and white ghostly creature with a couple of blue flames floating around it and little black eyes didn't match the appearance he usually had, though Nate/Keita's current form wasn't the one s/he usually had either.

"Esther's talent lies in the training and handling of familiars. Though I must ask how did you know she would have one Oliver?" Rashaad questioned and Oliver sweated a bit.

"Well, um– "

"I say, what on earth is going on here!? Whiss." The dignified voice caused all attention to leave Oliver and focus on the wisp floating in front of 'Esther.' "Hmm, I thought I was in the crank-a-kai for a second there, but no. It was different," Whisper looked up and noticed the people staring at him. "Um… hello."

"Esther? Your familiar is… speaking?" Rashaad looked unsure of how to respond to this turn of events.

"Um… yes, he is. I… taught him to do it!" 'Esther' made up the best lie she could.

"Taught me?" Whisper questioned, clearly offended.

"It was supposed to be a surprise, but he just had to blurt it out first chance he got. I must speak with my familiar about tact! If you'll excuse us!" she quickly grabbed Whisper and dragged him over to the first secluded corner she could find while Rashaad, Mr. Drippy and Oliver stared in the direction they left in.

"Hey, unhand me! Whis!"

"Whisper, keep it down," Nate/Keita hissed and the wisp's eyes widened slightly.

"Wait a minute… Keita-kun?"

"Or Nate, but yes."

"… You're a girl."

"Yes. And?"

"It's just odd… I don't think you've ever been a girl before," Whisper muttered, before looking around at the town they were in. "On the other hand, I don't think we've ever Looped into this place before. Or at least I haven't."

"Well I haven't either, but anyway I'm a girl named Esther here, my father over there is a Great Sage named Rashaad, and you're supposed to be my familiar," Nate/Keita explained quickly.

"Familiar?" Whisper questioned. "You mean like a black cat?"

"That's the comparison you come to first?" Nate/Keita questioned blankly for a moment before she thought of something. "Hey, why did you immediately call me Keita over Nate?"

"Nate was what you were called last Loop, it usefully switches the next one. Also I have that verbal tick that I only typically have when you're called Keita. Whiss," Whisper explained simply and Nate/Keita stared at him for a few seconds.

"Ok, fine. Makes it easier for me when I have one name to identify with," he admitted before glancing over at Oliver, Rashaad and Drippy. Rashaad seemed to be saying something to Oliver. "I think that kid over there is the Anchor, or at least a Looper. Hopefully we can get some answers from him on what this Loop is like, but we need to get him alone first," after Keita said this before she started walking back over with Whisper following. "Sorry about that, Whisper and I had a few things to talk about."

"The name's Whisper, nice to meet you all. Whiss," The wisp bowed slightly at the others stared at him.

"Whisper, you've seen me before…" Rashaad muttered as he stared at the familiar. "Though you've never spoken before."

"Um… right, sorry Rashaad, sir," Whisper bowed again after looking at his memories.

"Well… as strange as it is that you could teach your familiar to talk without me noticing Esther, we have other issues to deal with, the path to defeating the Dark Djinn is not an easy one. I have already said this to Oliver here and I will say it to you as well. The experience needed lies in the Temple of Trials."

"Temple of Trials?" Keita questioned as she looked between Rashaad and Oliver.

"Yes, you too could learn much from the Supreme Sage my daughter, I have agreed to accompany young Oliver to the temple. Only one with the Supreme Sage's blessing are permitted to open the temple doors. And that is why I will be accompanying you."

"I see… And I'm coming as well, right?" Keita questioned while glancing Oliver's way.

"Of course you will, you would be a great help," Oliver nodded enthusiastically, though Drippy still looked unsure.

"I don't know, still seems like she might have a few screws loose…"

"Mr. Drippy…" Oliver sighed at the blunt statement of his fairy companion.

"Well she does have a few problems, but I guarantee she's reliable. Whiss," Whisper stated.

"You're not helping Whisper…" Keita grunted under her breath.

"I would request you not say such rude things about my daughter," Rashaad glared at Drippy whom backed up a bit.

"Er… sorry."

"Either way, we should head towards the Temple of Trials as quickly as possible," after Rashaad said this he began moving with two children, a wisp and a fairy close behind.

"We'll talk later," Oliver whispered Keita's way and he just nodded as they moved towards the exit of the town.

It was night now as Oliver and Keita sat in front of a fire, the Temple of Trials was near and Rashaad stood watch nearby. Drippy was asleep and Whisper had(reluctantly) returned to Keita's heart earlier.

"So… you're not Esther, are you?" Oliver questioned after he made sure they weren't being listened to.

"No, my name's Keita Amano, or Nate Adams… but I'm going with Keita right now. I'm the Anchor of the Yo-kai Watch Loops," Keita answered simply.

"Yo-kai Watch?"

"Yeah, at least that's what most other Loopers call my branch and what the hub stuff is called, though a yo-kai watch is just a device that lets me summon and see yo-kai… which are creatures, kind of like the familiars…" Keita stopped his explanation and shook his head. "Anyway, I can get all into that later, you're Oliver?"

"Right, and I'm the Anchor for this Loop."

"Any other Loopers?"

"Um, just Mr. Drippy as far as I know, but…" Oliver glanced to the sleeping fairy and sighed. "He's definitely not Awake right now."

"Huh… I've got Whisper with me, that familiar of mine. He's a Looper from my baseline. Sorry about him just starting to talk right in front of Drippy and my… dad. But at least they didn't press the issue," Keita sighed.

"It wasn't a problem, though it is kind of odd that you have a wisp. Esther usually has a drongo," Oliver noted. Keita nodded, her memories telling him what kind of familiar a drongo was.

"Well I'm not Esther. Though it's probably because Whisper's a ghost-like yo-kai," Keita said in thought. "I'm not even a girl… normally… this is so odd."

"So that's why you questioned why you were a girl," Oliver chuckled a bit and Keita grunted.

"Yeah, yeah… so what's your baseline like?" Keita questioned.

"It's a long story, we're about to go to the temple of trials and you'll need some rest. We can go over it later, night Keita," Oliver took a comfortable position and got to sleep. Keita sighed and looked at her harp.

"A harp? Really… just got to wait for a good moment to bring out Spectral Fang," she muttered before getting to sleep.

"The Temple, at last. The Trials await," Rashaad spoke as they approached the doors of the Temple.

"Well then, let's hurry up and open those doors!" Keita exclaimed anxiously and her 'father' gave her a strange look. "Er, I mean. Wow isn't that… impressive…"

"You're not very good at this…" Oliver whispered to the boy-turned-girl.

"Shut up!" she hissed back.

"Patience, my daughter," Rashaad spoke again before looking between her and Oliver. "All sages must pass these Trials. The candidate must possess purity of heart, breadth of knowledge-"

"That's a laugh," Whisper chuckled from within Keita's heart.

"Quiet, at least I know more than you," Keita growled under her breath.

"Why you little-"

"And mastery of both spells and familiars," Rashaad finished without taking notice to his 'daughter's' little conversation. "The Temple both tests and tempers all of these qualities."

"Right, and if we can't get passed these Trials, there's no way we could beat Shadar," Oliver spoke seriously, though Keita could tell he had gone through this sort of conversation many times before.

"Yes, but passing the Trials alone will not be enough for you to face Shadar, you will need a far greater power to defeat the Dark Djinn," Rashaad said seriously, he then turned towards the closed doors of the Temple. "Now then, it is time to release the seal."

"Seal? You mean it's not just locked?" Keita questioned quietly, but Oliver shushed her. They watched as Rashaad raised his staff and a glow pulsed through the door. A few seconds of silence passed before the sage turned back to the two children and one fairy. "… Wasn't it supposed to open, um… dad?"

"No, I've merely undone the seal. The door itself must be opened with your own hands," Rashaad spoke calmly as he glanced over the children. "The Supreme Sage waits beyond the door, be prepared."

"Ok then…" Keita muttered unsurely.

"Well then, let's all get a move on, shall we?" Mr. Drippy said confidently before Oliver and Keita moved to open the door. The big stone door opened easily revealing a hall, with a rather imposing figure standing at the end.

"So, this is the Supreme Sage, is it?" Mr. Drippy questioned, Keita noticed Oliver subtly shake his head. They all then focused on the big guy before he spoke.

"Supreme Sage? I wish," The blue, bearded creature grunted in a voice that surprised Oliver, but Keita found familiar.

"Wait a minute? Church!?" Keita exclaimed without thinking. Rashaad looked at his 'daughter' with a confused look.

"You know 'em?" Mr. Drippy questioned Keita whom suddenly found herself put on the spot.

"Erm…"

"My name's not Church. I'm Umbopa; servant of the Supreme Sage," He spoke in a way that Keita could tell was probably rehearsed, and he sounded pretty angry–though in Keita's experience Church was angry most of the time.

"Church! Church! Did people come!? Are they here for the party!" a somewhat childish voice called from behind 'Umbopa.'

'Caboose!?' this time Keita managed to keep his surprise internal as they watched the servant step aside to reveal a throne, many familiars danced around and what appeared to be a blue skinned child sat on the throne.

"I suppose you can call me Church," 'Umbopa' sighed in defeat before he sent an annoyed look Caboose's way.

"Tucker did it!"

After Rashaad had been assured that everything was well and that he should leave the children to the Trials, he had left and now Oliver, Keita and Mr. Drippy were faced with… 'Umbopa' and 'the Supreme Sage.'

"Oh! It is so good to have new people here! Did you know that all those little creatures that run around don't talk at all? But I have Church to talk to so it's ok, right Church?" The Supreme Sage, whom was actually Caboose cheered as his servant for the Loop grumbled something… unpleasant under his breath.

"So… the Supreme Sage is a little nutty, is he?" Mr. Drippy questioned while looking at the small, blue skinned 'child.'

"Mr. Drippy, I don't think that's wise," Oliver sighed.

"Yeah, he's the 'Supreme Sage' remember? He could probably blow you up with a thought," Keita smirked.

"Yeah right! Even the true Supreme Sage probably couldn't do a thing like that! You're not very convincing as Esther you know," Mr. Drippy laughed at Keita and Oliver's shocked faces.

"Mr. Drippy? You're Awake!?"

"Only for the last ten minutes or so. Though even with that amount of time it's pretty easy to tell who's not who they're supposed to be here," Mr. Drippy nodded while glancing between Keita, Church and Caboose.

"Church… why is the little melon man looking at me like that?... I do not like it," Caboose said after a moment of silence.

"I'm not a 'melon man' you plum idiot! I'm Mr. Drippy! Lord High Lord of the fairies!" The small fairy announced proudly.

"Mr. Drippy, there is no need to be so rude. They're not from here," Oliver pointed out before looking towards Church and Caboose. "Sorry about him, he doesn't usually think about what he says."

"I beg your pardon!?" Mr. Drippy questioned incredulously.

"Oh don't worry, sometimes I don't think about what I say either," Caboose said with a smile. "In fact, I don't even know what I'm going to say next. It could be anything…" silence filled the room for a few moments before Keita cleared her throat.

"Church, Caboose!" she called out and they looked her way.

"How exactly do you know our names, girl?" Church questioned.

"Are you a fairy too!?" Caboose exclaimed. Keita shook her head before reaching into her pocket and pulling out Spectral Fang.

"It's me! Keita! Or Nate if you prefer. But I'm using Keita right now!"

"Oh! You're Grif's little brother," Church concluded. "Or would that be sister?"

"Brother," Keita grumbled holding her mechanical scythe close.

"First time you've changed genders?" she nodded at Church's question. "Feels weird at first, I know. But don't worry, you'll get used to it."

"Why does the Esther replacement have a bloody scythe!?" Mr. Drippy questioned after he noticed the weapon the boy-turned-girl was holding.

"This is my weapon, and it's not bloody! I clean it after every fight!" Keita exclaimed as she held her weapon defensively. After a moment she handed the harp over to Oliver whom awkwardly took hold of it. "You take this, I won't need it."

"… Actually, I think you should hold on to it," Oliver said as he handed it back. "You will probably need it," Keita looked unconvinced but didn't argue as she took it back and decided to store it in her Pocket.

"So, excuse me but I think I know what's going on now," Caboose interjected looking Keita's way. "You're the Yo-kai-better then-Pokémon guy!"

"I have nothing to do with Pokémon," Keita grumbled under her breath.

"What has to do with Pokémon? Is Ash here!?" Caboose questioned while looking around. Keita sweatdropped before Caboose looked her way again. "Wait… you… are a girl!" Caboose exclaimed in realization. "You know, that's weird. I always thought you were a boy… it's the hair. You didn't have a ponytail before, it helps me tell."

"I'm not normally a girl!" Keita shouted in aggravation.

"Um, are you ok?" Oliver questioned in concern.

"She's clearly unstable and has a scythe! Let's run for it Ollie-boy," Mr. Drippy whispered to Oliver whom shook his head. Keita shook her head and seemed to calm down after a moment.

"Whatever, since it's you two we don't actually have to do the Trials I guess," Keita concluded.

"Does that mean you aren't staying for the party?" Caboose questioned cluelessly.

"Caboose, there's no party. And I'm pretty sure you should still do the Trials," Church stated.

"I've already done the Trials though," Oliver pointed out.

"That you have Ollie-boy, but I doubt she has!" Mr. Drippy said while pointing at Keita, whom looked his way causing the fairy to flinch.

"I don't need any trials. I know how to fight," Keita stated while holding Spectral Fang up.

"Fighting isn't the only thing that we're going to have to deal with on this quest! The Trials will make sure you can handle it," Mr. Drippy said with his arms crossed. Keita glared at him before looking at Oliver whom was thinking.

"It probably wouldn't hurt just to get them done. It could help us refresh our skills…" Keita looked at him blankly for a moment before sighing and turning to Church.

"I suppose I'll go through with the Trials," she said and Church nodded.

"Ok then. But give us a minute, I have some ideas to modify the Trials with a bit. You know, so they aren't too easy," Keita could have sword she saw Church smirking and suddenly felt rather nervous about the coming Trials.

"The first Trial: The Test of Wits," Church introduced as Oliver, Keita and Drippy entered the Trial room. "Now, originally this Trial was pretty simple, just a few puzzles that were pretty easy if you ask me."

"No, they were really hard," Caboose's voice interjected.

"Caboose!" Church hissed before he coughed and continued his explanation. "Anyway, I've redesigned it based on something from our own Baseline," Keita and Oliver looked out into the room that the trial would take place in, and saw many, many shimmering doors.

"… Teleporters?" Keita muttered, looking very unhappy about this.

"I already have a teleportation spell," Oliver stated plainly but Keita shook her head.

"No, you don't want to use these teleporters."

"Oh, but you have to!" Church's voice interjected once more. "Only one sequence of teleporters will lead you to the exit, if you choose even one wrong you'll just end up going in circles forever. There is a pattern to it, it is a test of logic and memory!"

"Memory is the key!"

"Caboose! Shut up!"

"Ash did it!"

"Well, you two best get to it then. We can't be here for the whole Loop," Mr. Drippy shooed the two Anchors to start the Trial and Keita sighed.

"Is he always this pushy?" she questioned Oliver whom shrugged.

"Depends on the situation," they looked to the room of teleporters and Keita groaned.

"I am not looking forward to this…"

"I'm sure it won't be so bad, we just need to figure out the correct order. That's what your friend replacing Umbopa said," Oliver said confidently but Keita looked unconvinced.

"Oh, I'm sure it won't be that simple," Keita hissed as they got ready to choose a teleporter.

Two Hours Later…

"WE'RE BACK AT THE START!" Keita cried out after a long series of trial and error going through teleporters. Smoke emitted from both her and Oliver's bodies, and if one were in the same room as them they might pick up a slightly burning scent…

"Ok, we can do this. Let's just think about what paths we took, and the order we took them in," Oliver said, trying to sound enthusiastic, but he was clearly very tired.

"Arg! I'll show you thinking!" Keita growled before she began racing through the teleporters at rapid speed. Oliver watched awkwardly as the other Anchor continuously came out of random teleporter after teleporter. The burning smell seemed to intensify as the green flashes continued.

"Um, Keita-"

*Flash!*

"I don't think– "

*Flash!*

"That this plan– "

*Flash!*

"Is working very well…"

Keita came up next to Oliver, looking exhausted with a very visible trail of smoke coming from her body. She fell to her knees and glared up at the young wizard.

"Ok, I give. What's your idea?" she questioned. Oliver looked thoughtful for a moment as he glanced between the teleporters.

"There must be a pattern, the guy replacing Umbopa said so, it seems like each teleportation is random, but there's some connection," Oliver watched the teleporters for a short moment, he noticed a flash occur and nodded. "I think that flash indicates when the teleporters change!"

"Change?" Keita questioned.

"Yeah, the teleporters take you to another specific teleporter, but that destination changes periodically. That's why it seems like there's no way through, but I think it has a set amount of combinations… we need to figure out when it changes, and where each teleporter leads during each change. If we do that, we can find our way through," Oliver offered his hand to Keita, whom sighed and shook it.

"Ok then, Oliver. I admit I haven't had a good brain teaser in a while, let's get our puzzle-solving hats on!"

"Ok, let's– "Oliver paused when he noticed Keita pull something from her pocket and place it on her head; a hat with a big puzzle piece on it. "You… actually have a puzzle-solving hat?"

"It was a gift," Keita smiled fondly, the local Anchor just stared for a moment before nodding.

"Ok… Well, let's figure this out!"

Though it took a bit of testing, Oliver and Keita were able to confirm that the elevators took them to set destinations, and that it changed every 30 seconds. There were four 'combinations' that went in a set order. With that knowledge they managed to make it to the exit door rather quickly… after spending around an hour to figure it out.

"That actually wasn't so bad," Keita shrugged while looking at the door.

"It's usually a lot easier though, usually I just have to move a few statues around," Oliver shook his head.

"I'm not surprised, Church probably thought it was too easy. Well at least we're done with that and we can move onto the next trial," Keita smiled as they walked through the door, though a realization seemed to hit Oliver just as they did.

"Um, actually. I just remembered, this trial usually has– "the room they entered was similar to the previous one, only there were roughly twice as many teleporter doors, some of which were different colors, as well as hovering metal spheres, with guns… "–More than one… room…"

Keita's eye twitched, before she let out a scream that caused Oliver to cover his ears.

"So, you passed the trial?" Church asked as Keita and Oliver returned to the main chamber, both looking tired and burnt.

"You… are… a jerk," Keita hissed, shaking her fist at the (currently organic) Looping A.I.

"Meh, I've been called much worse than that."

"The final test awaits!" Caboose called from the Supreme Sage's throne.

"Caboose! There are two more Trials!" Church snapped at his friend and the Anchor of his home Loop.

"I have trouble counting sometimes," Caboose defended quickly.

"What do we have to do next," Keita sighed tiredly.

"Well, the next Trial would normally have us walking along two paths while we tried to stay in synch, but knowing how much he altered the previous Trial…" Oliver looked to Church and Caboose suspiciously.

"Hey now, don't be getting cold feet Ollie-boy," Mr. Drippy interjected quickly.

"I'm not, I'm just wondering what will be different about the next Trial," Oliver shrugged.

"I'm sure he has something horrible planned…" Keita muttered bluntly.

"Come on Keita, it wasn't that bad," The Looping A.I said lightly.

"So many teleporters…" Keita muttered, her eye twitching slightly.

"Don't be a baby," Church grumbled, Caboose raised his hand eagerly.

"You going to be okay?" Oliver questioned Esther's replacement in concern, Keita seemed to calm down before nodding.

"Yes… Yes, no problems," she looked to Church and Caboose with determined eyes. "What do you have in store for us?"

"So, you're really ready?" Church crossed his arms as he looked over the two children, they both nodded. "Very well, on to the Test of Friendship!"

"How bad could it be?" Oliver shrugged as they moved to go to the trial's chamber, Keita twitched again.

"I really wish you hadn't said that…"

"The original test would have you two walking along two paths simultaneously, needing to move with similar timing as the paths fell apart behind you," Church explained as he led the two children into the test room. "I chose to simply build upon that concept for my version."

Oliver and Keita's eyes widened at the sight before them; twisting paths, spikes coming in and out of the walls, swinging axes, moving platforms! Elevators, escalators, fire pits! There were too many traps along the long pair of paths to count!

"The pit of mad gophers was my idea!" Caboose exclaimed proudly.

"Pit of…"

"Mad gophers?" Oliver finished Keita's sentence, both looking over the edge and down the drop below the path, revealing that the floor was indeed covered with a swarm of very angry looking gophers…

"Y-you're kidding, right?" Keita questioned, looking at Church like he was mad.

"No, if you want to be sages you'll do it," the Looping A.I stated plainly, as he turned to leave the room he glanced back at the two. "Oh, and no flying! I'll know if you do," after he left, Keita and Oliver looked at each other.

"Well, this is gonna a suck…" Keita muttered.

"Yeah, probably," Oliver nodded.

"Well… I was right," Keita let out a heavy sigh, falling to the floor, her hair looked slightly singed, her cloths ruffled up, and her body bruised.

"I don't ever want to do anything again…" Oliver groaned on the ground, not looking much better than his current companion.

"Oi! Get up Oliver! Yer not done yet!" Mr. Drippy exclaimed, lightly kicking Oliver. The young wizard grunted before pulling himself up. "You've still got one last trial to complete!"

"… Oh yeah," Oliver sighed, rubbing his head.

"What's this one going to be?" Keita asked, dreading what the answer would be.

"Well, in my experience of these kinds of situations, this is where a boss would come into play," Whisper stated, hovering over to Keita's side. The visiting Anchor let out a loud groan.

"Of course that's what we'll have to deal with…"

"Are you done whining? Or should we give you a few more minutes," Church questioned in an annoyed manner, Keita sent a glare his way that didn't faze him.

"Okay, okay. What horrible trial have you put together for us this time?"

"Actually, I haven't changed this trial."

"… You haven't?" Oliver questioned in surprise, feeling a bit relieved that all they would have to deal with would be a simple fight with Bashura. Not that Bashura was a pushover or anything, but at least it was something he knew how to handle.

"Nope, I felt there was no need. Though a change from what you'd expect has occurred," Church explained calmly. Oliver blinked in confusion, Keita crossed her arms and looked at Church skeptically.

"What sort of change are you referring to?" Keita asked.

"Oh, let me Church!" Caboose exclaimed in excitement, his friend shrugged before Caboose made a door appear that they entered.

"Prepare for the Test of Strength," Church stated as they entered the arena.

"Nothing seems different," Oliver pointed out, Church remained unfazed.

"Just give it a minute…" they watched as Caboose stepped forward, smiling.

"Freckles! Come!" he shouted out, Keita and Whisper both looked surprised, though Oliver and Mr. Drippy seemed confused.

"Freckles…?" Oliver looked to Keita for clarification.

"This isn't good," Keita muttered. The two looked as a massive beast dropped down into the arena. Oliver stared at it, it looked like Bashura… but Oliver didn't remember Bashura having metallic armor plating, or mounted machine guns…

"Yes, Captain Caboose?" The creature spoke in a, intimidating, mechanical voice, looking down at the Supreme Sage's replacement. Caboose smiled, pointing towards Oliver and Keita.

"Freckles! Fetch!" the creature called 'Freckles' turned its attention towards the two children, readying its machine guns. Keita sighed before the two got ready for a battle.

"CHURCH! I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS! I SWEAR!" Keita shouted, running from Freckle's gunfire with the use of her semblance, Spectral Fang out. Oliver stood nearby, casting spells to either attack their giant opponent, or deflect its attacks.

"Firing!" Freckles mechanical voice boomed as he kept shooting. Church, Caboose, Mr. Drippy and Whisper watched from the sidelines.

"Isn't this going a little too far?" Mr. Drippy asked in a concerned tone.

"Nah, they'll be fine," Church rebuffed casually.

"Go Freckles! Go!" Caboose cheered his 'pet' on, watching the fight with an excited expression.

"So, what's the plan to deal with this thing?" Oliver asked Keita, whom stopped at his side.

"The plan is basically; don't die!"

"… That's your plan!? That's not a plan!"

"Well then you come up with something!" Keita exclaimed, before rushing off to avoid gunfire. Oliver created a magical barrier to block the bullets from hitting him.

"This isn't looking too good for them, wissu…" Whisper muttered, hovering by Church's side.

"They're doing fine," Church shook his head.

"What fight are you watching!? Wissu!"

"They're still alive, aren't they?"

"We've been at this for like an hour, and made no progress!" Keita exclaimed tiredly. "That thing's armor is too tough for Spectral Fang to penetrate! And we need to focus too much on not getting shot to attack it anyway! What are we supposed to do!?"

"… I think we've won," Oliver pointed out blankly, Keita looked at him with a twitchy eye.

"… What!? We haven't even landed a hit on that thing!? How could we have won!?"

"Well… it's not firing anymore…" Keita's eyes widened at her companion's words, before looking up at the walking tank-beast, and noted that it had indeed stopped firing.

"Error: Insufficient ammunition," Freckles spoke, his guns clicking a few times to show that they were indeed out of bullets. Keita and Oliver just kept staring with disbelieving expressions, a sudden clapping startled them.

"Well, looks like you managed to pass all the Trials," Church said, approaching while slowly clapping his hands.

"… You can't be serious," Keita tilted her head with an indiscernible expression.

"Freckles! Good boy! You did great! That was incredible!" Caboose praised as he patted one of Freckles' legs.

"Wouldn't he have access to unlimited ammo at this point…?" Keita muttered to herself, not really buying the idea that the Looping assault mech could run out of ammo.

"Look, the specifics don't matter. The point is you're done with the Trials and can now become sages," Church said with a nod.

"I don't care what the reason is, I just want to get out of here…" Oliver sighed with a tired expression, sipping from a cup of coffee that Keita assumed he had gotten from his sub-space pocket. "We still have a volcano to stop…"

"Yeah… volcano?" Keita glanced at Oliver with a confused look.

"Whatever, Caboose! Make them sages, or whatever!" Church called out to his friend, whom stopped petting Freckles and ran over.

"Okay! You guys won and now you get the reward!" Caboose quickly slapped something on both of their foreheads. Oliver and Keita flinched at the sudden action, before realizing they had both had something stuck on their head. The two pulled the stickers off their heads, and looked at them.

"What… is this?" Oliver asked, Keita didn't seem very surprised at what they had been given; stickers with an image of someone in blue armor, giving a thumbs up, with the words 'guud job' on it.

"Let me guess, you made these? Keita asked the Supreme Sage's replacement, whom beamed with pride.

"Church helped, but I did most of it!"

"You can show him how to befriend familiars, right?" Church asked Oliver, ignoring Caboose at the moment.

"Um, sure…"

"Now we're befriending familiars? Well at least that doesn't sound that different from my Baseline," Keita muttered while scratching her head.

"We'll talk about that more extensively, after we stop the volcano from erupting," Oliver stated, moving towards the temple's exit, Keita shrugged and followed, along with Mr. Drippy and Whisper.

"So, how exactly is climbing to the top of a volcano going to stop it from erupting?"

"Well, it involves stopping a lava monster, and Shadar, and… Look, I'll just teleport us to the top," Oliver muttered before pulling his wand out, Keita, Mr. Drippy, and Whisper shrugged before the young wizard, with a wave of his wand, did just that.

When the four did appear at the top of the volcano, Oliver and Mr. Drippy were expecting the giant, dinosaur-like lava monster that they would need to face. What they didn't expect, was for it to be yelling at Shadar.

"Get out of here! I'm not letting you trigger some eruption, just because you're pissed at the world or whatever! I just wanted to stay here, in peace, but you had to screw that up!" the lava monster shouted at the dark wizard, in a voice that Keita and Whisper recognized. Shadar noticed the appearance of the Loopers and backed off.

"This is not what I expected…" Shadar muttered, before teleporting away in a dark flash. The lava creature gave a huff of satisfaction.

"Yeah, you better run…"

"Roxy… is that you?" the little girl's voice took the dinosaur-like beast by surprise, she looked over at the approaching children curiously.

"Roxy?" Oliver questioned in confusion.

"Yeah, she's another Looper. Don't worry, we won't need to fight her," Keita assured before she looked back at Roxy, whom was still looking confused.

"I'm sorry… how do you know my name?"

"Oh… right, you wouldn't recognize me," Keita coughed in embarrassment, before taking a more dignified pose, Spectral Fang out and ready for effect. "I'm Keita Amano, AKA Nate Adams!" Roxy stared at the girl before her that claimed to be the Yo-kai Watch Branch's Anchor for a moment, with narrowed eyes. Before a soft smile settled on her rocky-face.

"Oh, Keita! Nice to see you again! You look adorable!"

"Um… thanks," Keita blushed a little, putting Spectral Fang back in her pocket.

"You know, there was recently a variant where the entire park was dedicated to the Carboniferous period! I saved the data from it, so if you show up in a future Loop I could easily convince dad to recreate it and make giant-bug-catching safaris open to the public!"

"That sounds like fun, but right now we're on a mission to stop that dark wizard that was trying to make you cause an eruption," Keita explained.

"His name is Shadar, and he's really not that bad, he's just misguided," Oliver insisted.

"I've heard that kind of excuse before…" Roxy muttered, before nodding at smiling at the children with their mystical companions. "Okay, I'll come along."

"… I'm sorry, what? I think I misheard her, I could've sworn the bloody boss of this area just said she was going to join us," Mr. Drippy said, sticking his finger into one of his non-existent ears.

"That's exactly what she said, wissu," Whisper confirmed, the fairy stared at the whisp for a couple of seconds.

"WHAT!?"

"Well, we would sure appreciate the help…" Oliver smiled, a sweatdrop forming on his head at Mr. Drippy's reaction. "But, aren't you a little big…" after saying this, Oliver immediately covered his mouth, thinking he had said something rude. "Oh, um sorry! I um…" Roxy's reaction was to simply chuckle.

"Don't worry about it boy, I'm not that sensitive. I'm usually a Trex, of course I'm big!" she patted his head, Oliver was amazed that he wasn't burned at all by the creature's flames. "In fact, the female rex is generally considered to be larger than the male, so no issues for me there. It's mostly muscle anyway," the Looping rex flexed a little to make her point, the children chuckled at this. Whisper groaned and Mr. Drippy simply looked away.

"Well, insult or not, he has a point. You'd be very… conspicuous…" Keita pointed out. Roxy nodded, a smirk visible on her muzzle.

"Well, as you know, I'm pretty good at being inconspicuous. After all, it's not really considered normal for a Trex to be walking around freely in my Branch," Roxy stated, before a flash occurred, and before the four other Loopers' knew it, the massive volcanic-monster, had been replaced with a dark skinned young woman, with fiery red hair, and burning orange eyes. She smirked, revealing a few fangs in her mouth.

"… That's not your usual human form," Keita said plainly, Roxy shrugged.

"I felt like letting my current form in this world guide me a little, it's nice to try something new every now and then anyway," she explained, before she walked over to them. "So, shall we get going?" Oliver glanced between each member of the group, before shrugging and pulling his wand out and teleporting them down from the volcano's top.

Unknown to the group, they had been watched by a dark wizard, that had never really left.

"Very strange indeed…" Shadar muttered contemplatively, before teleporting away (for real this time…)

5.2

Katie hummed to herself as she brushed her hair, another Loop, another… whatever the heck their Baseline could be considered…

A tap on the window caught the young girl's attention, she got up to the window and opened it, a yellow, nine-tailed fox stared back at her.

"Um… hello?" Katie questioned in a confused tone, sure, she often went out of her way to befriend Kyubi, sometimes he was even the one to give her a yo-kai watch, but it wasn't often that he would just come to her house in his true form, during a seemingly-normal Baseline Loop…

"… I don't exactly know what's going on…" the fox muttered, seeming just as confused as her. "But I believe this belongs to you," Kyubi handed her his medal. Katie stared at the medal for a moment, before looking to the newly Looping yo-kai, before giving a kind smile.

"... Why don't you come in, we have a lot to talk about."

"… Time Loops, for real?" the nine-tailed fox questioned with a disbelieving look, the girl whom had just explained it all to him nodding with a grin.

"Yup, welcome to the madness Kiwi, I can't say this is expected… but I also can't say I'm not happy to have you with us," Katie smiled to her yo-kai friend, whom smiled back.

"Well… thanks Katie, I… hey! My name is KYUBI, not Kiwi!" Katie just laughed at this reaction, Kyubi crossed his arms and grumbled something under his breath.

5.3 KaiserRichard

Needless to say, Keita was not amused with him being the victim of the Bite of '87. As the Yo-kai, Fuu2, he gave Freddy a death stare when he Awoke a couple years later.

The robot bear pulled out his sign and flipped it to make it say; "It's not MY fault that I don't wake up until AFTER it happens!"

5.4

Keita Awoke in the halls; here he was again, replacing his sister as the 'R' in team RWBY, that at least was the case whenever his last name was 'Rose,' there were variations of course. Though despite it being considered a mistake on the computer, nobody had quite let him forget team 'NWBY…'

"I wish I didn't replace Ruby so much, I'd rather just Loop here so we could spend time together," Keita muttered, glancing to his side to see if his yo-kai butler had anything to say, only to pause when he saw no ghost following him. "… Oh right, not here… I need to stop talking to myself."

He made his way to the mess hall to join his team; none of whom were Awake, though when he got there he noticed something strange; Weiss talking to a fox faunus, and giggling!?

"What's going on?" Keita questioned the unAwake Yang and Blake.

"That guy over there's flirting with Weiss," Yang chuckled, Blake looked disinterested, as her unAwake self usually did at the Loops start.

"Hmm…" Keita glared at the fox faunus critically for a few moments, he looked familiar… "I think I should go check this out, I am her partner after all," Keita barely justified himself as he stepped forward.

"Oh, jealous little bro?" Yang questioned with a smirk. Keita stared at her blankly for a moment.

"… No," he said simply before he walked over to Weiss and her conversation partner.

"See you tonight than?" The fox faunus asked with a smirk.

"Um, sure," Weiss smiled a bit and blushed. Keita stepped in-between them and grabbed a hold of the boy's shirt.

"Excuse me Weiss, I do believe this is a friend of mine, and I need to speak with him," Keita, once again, barely justified his actions before he dragged the fox faunus off.

"Keita!" Weiss growled angrily, while Yang laughed in the background.

"Wow, slow down. You jealous I was moving in on your partner or something?" the fox faunus asked Keita after they had gotten out of earshot of all other students. Keita sighed and glared at him.

"Kyubi, what exactly are you up to?"

"What do you mean? I replaced that guy… John?"

"Jaune, is that why team JNPR wasn't sitting with us? I need to look over my Loop-memories again," Keita sighed. Before going back to glaring at the fox yo-kai turned faunus. "Why were you flirting with Weiss…? And why did it work!?"

"Oh Keita-kun, you should know by now that I have a way with women, and this place is jammed packed with ladies just waiting to give me their hearts!" Kyubi announced proudly. Keita's eye twitched.

"You're still on that? I thought you'd cut that out considering time keeps repeating…"

"No way, time won't be repeating forever. And in the mean time I'll be collecting the hearts of every fair maiden in the multiverse, I'll be well beyond a fox lord!" Keita face-palmed at Kyubi's explanation. "Still, I'll need to make sure not to be late for mine and Weiss' date. I may have gotten her interested, but I still need to get her to fall in love with me."

"You do realize that if she Wakes up, she is going to kill you? Don't you?"

"Kill me? Nah. I could woo any lady even if they were Looping," Kyubi waved off his local Anchor's concerns. "Besides, I can't stop now. I've already got dates lined up with the two females on my team, and a real cutie with bunny ears."

"Seriously!? You are so dead…" Keita said seriously. Kyubi flicked a strand of his hair and regarded Keita without much concern.

"Oh, calm down Mr. Drama. I told you, I know what I'm doing. If you want, I could teach you a thing or two…"

"NO!"

"Fine, more for me," Kyubi shrugged with an arrogant smirk before he started to leave. Keita sighed, before he glared seriously at the leaving fox faunus.

"Kyubi," he glanced back the Anchor's way, curiously. "Don't you dare try to hit on my sisters! That includes Ruby, even though she's not here. You can risk your life hitting on every other girl throughout the entire multiverse, but I draw the line there!"

"Whatever you say, Keita-kun," Kyubi sighed, though he didn't look like he took the boy's threat seriously. Keita glared at him as he watched him leave.

"… Oh, he is so, so dead."

"Hey Keita, you know that Jaune guy?" Yang asked her little brother as they relaxed in their room. It had been a few weeks since Keita had last spoken to the only other Awake Looper currently at Beacon, though he had heard talk of him from Weiss, and occasionally other girls… He was a little weirded out that he was going by 'Jaune' as opposed to Kyubi… or Kiwi, or something.

"Yeah, what about him?"

"Well, you know how he was kind of, sort of, but not 'officially' dating Weiss?"

"Yeah?"

"Well. I think he might also be dating Blake…"

"…"

"DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH!?"

"Ow! Volume!" Kyubi winced as he rubbed his fox ears. As soon as Yang said that she thought Kyubi might have been going out with Blake, he had marched straight over to team JNPR's room and dragged the fox faunus off for interrogation. "And not quite yet. I haven't managed to convince her, she's a tough nut to crack. But I'll get her eventually, no girl can resist me forever."

"You are messing with forces you cannot possibly comprehend you stupid fox!" Keita shouted angrily, he looked like he wanted to choke Kyubi, but he quickly backed off. "Ok, ok. You know what. No!"

"No?"

"No! I'm not warning you anymore! You go dig your own grave that will last a thousand Loops! I'm not helping you anymore!" Keita shouted before he turned to stomp off.

"Helping me? You've been trying to hinder me since you ran into me," Kyubi pointed out confusedly.

"DONE!" Keita shouted again, before leaving.

"… Whatever, he's just jealous," Kyubi huffed.

When Cinder entered Beacon along with Emerald and Mercury, claiming to be an exchange student like she usually did, Keita received a ping, and a look from the… sister that told him she was Awake. Keita wasn't sure if Kyubi had even noticed the ping, as he was immediately at Cinder's side, a confident smile on his face. Keita moved to interfere, but stopped himself and quietly sit down.

"What is he doing so close to her?" Weiss questioned, suspiciously. Keita noted that several other girls seemed this way too, Kyubi had apparently been able to keep his multiple dating partners mostly secret, only really causing a few rumors. Though he was being incredibly stupid to attempt to woo a new girl right in front of a bunch of them… still, Keita considered his approaching an Awake, or unAwake, Cinder in such a way much, much stupider.

"Hey there, hot stuff," Kyubi greeted smoothly, Keita facepalmed in the background. Emerald looked at Kyubi with disgust, while Mercury seemed amused… but Cinder just gave a calm, smile…

"I warned him," Keita muttered, shaking his head as he looked at Kyubi, huddled on the floor, shivering.

"Her eyes! They're the eyes of death!"

"Whatever," Keita sighed. "By the way, all those girls you went out with, they're pretty angry."

"Oh…"

"Also, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren and Winter are all Awake now."

"Oh… Wait, who's Winter?"

"Weiss' older sister."

Kyubi blinked, before he saw many, many angry eyes staring at him. Though the ones that were most fear inducing were the burning red eyes of Yang, whom stood protectively in front of Blake, and the cold, unfeeling glare of what looked like an older version of Weiss. Kyubi shivered, terror visible in his shaking pupils, he looked up to the Anchor for some hope of salvation, but Keita quickly sped away.

"Bye! Have fun!"

5.5 Boohoooo!

Komasan checked over his director list as his brother Komajiro walked up to him.

"Since when did you want to make sitcoms?" Komajiro asked.

"Ever since I hung out with Tenten from the Naruto branch!" Komasan cheered.

Ridley flew in.

"Ridley, where have you been?" Komasan frowned.

"I tried to prank Samus on the way here. It didn't end well." Ridley shrugged.

Jibanyan and Doc Louis were gorging themselves on Choco-bars backstage.

"Dang it you two! You're needed on the catwalk to watch the sandbags!" Whisper exclaimed.

"Relax! What's the worst that canya happen?" Jibanyan eyerolled.

The sound of A leg crunching was heard, followed by a scream of pain from Little Mac.

"MACCY BOY!" Doc Louis exclaimed, running off.

"...Oops." Jibanyan chuckled nervously.

Komasan sighed as Little Mac was wheeled away on a stretcher.

"Who can we find to replace the lead actor on such short notice?" He groaned.

The sounds of screaming were heard, followed by crashing, followed by Captain K'nuckles and Flapjack falling into the studio.

"... How would you two like to be in a TV show?" Komasan smiled.

"Will we get any candy?" K'nuckles asked.

Komasan pulled out three pounds of candy from his subspace pocket.

"WE'RE INNNNNN!" K'nuckles and Flapjack exclaimed.

And so, Ridley adjusted the lights, Jibanyan and Doc Louis checked the sandbags and Komajiro yelled "ACTION!"

Theme song:

Whisper: Hey you two! To learn respect, you're going to the country!

K'nuckles: But dad, that place is weird and dumpy!

Flapjack: I don't wanna go!

Whisper: Too bad yo!

One cut later...

Peridot: There goes our big city family!

Lapis: Our relation makes no sense to me...

Peridot: A weirdo wrote this script!

Flapjack and K'nuckles: HOO BOY DO WE FEEL OFF TO THE RIPPED!

All: The Country Dayssssss!

The crew was trying to film the next episode... emphasis on trying.

"Yeesh, what kind of bumpkin talks like this?" Peridot groaned, reading the script.

Komasan, looking unamused, began to walk up to the gem... but was interrupted by Whisper.

"KOMASAN! K'nuckles and Flapjack are playing keep-away with my Yo-Kai Pad!" The butler wailed.

Komasan, with a sigh, put a stop to that.

Jibanyan and Doc Louis, distracted by Choco Bars again, were oblivious to the fact a sandbag was falling. Said sandbag promptly landed on Komasan.

"Oh my swirls..." The Yo-Kai groaned.

"HA HA!" Ridley laughed, dressed like Nelson Muntz.

Lapis used her water abilities to remove the sandbag, but didn't watch where she was throwing it, causing it to hit the cameras, smashing them.

Komajiro blinked as Komasan groaned.

5.6 GarnettFoxy

Nate smiled as the Crank-A-Kai popped out a capsule "Wonder who I'll get this time, Manjimutt, Roughraff..." He twisted open the capsule coughing as an explosion of dust covered his vision.

"T-Wrecks, ROUUUUUAAAAR!" The small T-rex like Yo Kai blinked and looked around looking embarrassed "Did I really just say that?"

"It's a thing like Pokemon saying their name, Hi Roxy,"

"Hi Nate! Been forever since I last saw you in the hotel." The Looper smiled walking by his side.

"Sorry I keep considering going in but never quite managing it." Nate shrugged.

"I understand, though if it helps Grey helped me install the multiverses biggest bug house which we're filling with insects from every loop."

"... Ok I may have to pay up just to see that."

"You can hunt them as much as you like."

"... Can I pay now or later?"

5.7

"So, you're Kyubi?"

"Yes, and you're Jaune," The nine-tailed fox yo-kai looked over the human briefly as they sat at a table in Big Macintosh's bar.

"You replaced me a few Loops back, huh?"

"Yeah, that Loop was fun… until the end," Kyubi shuddered a little as he recalled what had happened, Jaune nodded calmly as he took a sip of his cider.

"So, I heard you dated a lot of women while you were in my shoes…"

"Yeah, what, you want some tips?" Kyubi asked curiously, his ears perking a bit.

"… No," Jaune shook his head, finishing his drink. He gave Kyubi a pleasant smile… before punching him in the face, hard.

"OUCH! What was that for!?" Kyubi shouted, holding his muzzle in pain. "I thought you weren't the violent type!"

"I'm not. But you tried to romance my wife, and my daughter. Even if they weren't awake, I think I'm being pretty lenient," Jaune stated, helping Kyubi back to his feet.

"Whatever, a punch can't affect a yo-kai of my caliber that much anyway," Kyubi huffed.

"Oh, I had to go easy on you because they want to talk to you too," Jaune gestured over to some other tables, where Ren, Qrow, and Grif were all seated, glaring at him rather heatedly. Kyubi gulped.

"Is it too late to say 'sorry'?"

5.8

Keita cast his fishing line into the river, he had a small smile on his face as he waited patiently for any fish to bite.

"Keita-kun?" Whisper floated over to the Anchor's side with a questioning expression. "What are you doing? I thought you had given up on fishing because of Ningyo? Wissu."

"I had," Keita chuckled, keeping his focus on the water. "But I was watching those episodes of our hub-back-up again, and I noticed something: One of the activities we do with Semimaru after we wake him is fishing, and I catch a normal fish! It's a small detail, I had mostly forgotten about it, but it's there!"

"Really? But…" Whisper looked unsure, looking between his master/friend and the water.

"So, I got to thinking, it must be that there's a cutoff point! After I meet Ningyo, all I can catch while fishing is her, but if I fish before the point I meet her I should be fine!" Keita announced his conclusion proudly.

"… Well I'll be, that makes a lot of sense. Wissu," Whisper admitted, Keita nodded back to him, but a tug on the line brought his attention back to the water.

"Here it is! I'm finally going to catch a fish!" Keita shouted, reeling in the line. Whisper watched in anticipation as Keita pulled the fishing line from the water, revealing… Ningyo, struggling with the hook in her hair.

"GET THIS THING OFF ME!"

"… But… but," Keita glanced between his fishing pole and the struggling yo-kai, dumfounded. "But… I haven't… the cutoff… Semimaru...?"

"I think you jinxed it, wiss," Whisper sighed in disappointment as Keita just stared blankly into space.

"Hey! What's the big idea you jerk!? Get your stupid hook off me! Hey, are you listening to me!? Don't just ignore me!" Keita finally acknowledged the shouting yo-kai by slowly looking towards her. "Finally! Look, I don't know what you think you're doing, but I don't much appreciate being dragged from my home by some magic-fishing pole! So, if it's not too much to ask, could you just– "Keita cut her off by tossing his fishing pole at her. "GAH!?"

"I'm going to see what Fumi-chan's doing," Keita grunted before he stormed off. Whisper looked between Keita whom was walking away and Ningyo, whom was struggling to untangle herself from the fishing line. The yo-kai butler sighed before shrugging.

5.9

"It's not fair!" Inaho sat in her chair at her and USApyon's detective agency, a pout on her face with her arms crossed.

"Huh, what's not fair? Dani," USApyon looked up from polishing his blaster. Haku looked over as well.

"Keita has a yo-kai form, and now Fumi has a yo-kai form!? Where's my yo-kai form!?" Inaho exclaimed in outrage. "It's not fair! Why do they get yo-kai forms and I don't!?" USApyon stared at her with a dull expression, Haku just looked confused.

"… Inaho, you do realize that to have a yo-kai form you'd need to die, either in Baseline or some official-source variant like the game variant, right? Dani," USApyon pointed out. Haku blinked, before deciding to ignore the conversation.

"Not fair! Not fair! Not fair! Not fair!" Inaho wailed as she flailed her arms about and rocked her chair erratically, her eyes firmly shut with tears streaming from them. USApyon sweatdropped.

"I can't even go Vader Mode at this, dani," the otter yo-kai muttered, shaking his head. Inaho continued her tantrum, while Haku suddenly found one of her comics very interesting.

5.10

Adam stood, his swords ready. Blake and Yang both had experienced this enough to know how to avoid him, and beat him effortlessly. But something unexpected had stepped in.

"Stop right there, zura!" the little white and blue lion-dog said, standing threateningly. Adam stopped his charge only to stare at the little creature.

"Komasan, you might not want to stand there," Yang urged the yo-kai, she wasn't sure when he showed up but with how Komasan typically acted she didn't think it was in his best interests to get in Adam's way.

"I am not Komasan right now," Komasan turned to face Yang and Blake, a Ping alerted them that he was indeed Awake. "I am the one with seven stars on his belly! Komashiro! Zura!" The two native Loopers looked unsure of how to respond to this. Adam on the other hand just looked annoyed.

"I don't care who or what you are! I'm not letting some mutant marshmallow get in my way!" the mad faunus charged forward, however Komasan, or Komashiro, stood firmly, and swiftly dodged out of the way of Adam's charge and poked his back, firmly but gently. "Huh!?"

"Pressure Points…" Komasan said in a serious tone. "This one is connected to feelings of wanderlust, and curiosity… you are already, a kitten whom has just opened its eyes, ready to explore the world for the first time," Adam, Yang and Blake all stood silently. Before Adam suddenly gave a gasp as he fell to his knees, and his body seemed to twist and change.

"What the...?" Blake muttered, Yang just stared in shock and awe. In Adam's place was now a tiny, black kitten, it meowed innocently as he it started to wander around the area, curiously looking at everything as if he had never seen it before.

"You are already squished, zura!" Komasan exclaimed, taking a pose.

"… Blake, remind me never to piss Komasan off," Yang said while looking in disbelief.

"Noted, I'm not sure if I should be amazed, or terrified," Blake sighed.

5.11

"I'm the first yo-kai Nate ever made friends with, I would definitely be his starter, you're simply a first capture, at best," Whisper stated smugly as Jibanyan glared at him.

"What!? You a starter? You're a pokédex at best! I'm his most faithful companion and battle partner! Who's the first one he calls when he's in a jam? That's right, meow!"

"Actually, it is I whom he calls upon first! To tell him exactly what kind of meddlesome yo-kai he is dealing with in any given situation so he can make a logical decision on his next course of action!"

"Right, pokédex," Jibanyan concluded bluntly, the two glared at each other for a few moments, before Nate entered his room.

"Ok, what's up now?"

"Oh, Nate," Whisper floated over to his friend/master and bowed. "That little hairy-fireball and I were just discussing on; if we were Pokémon, which of us would be your starter? Obviously, it would be me seeing as I was the first yo-kai companion you ever made," Whisper said smugly.

"You don't even fall into a starter type! You're a drain-attribute! I'm a fire-attribute! Have you seen that nyew fire cat starter pokémon!? That fits me to a T, it even becomes a wrestler worthy of holding the Eye of the Tiger!"

"Oh, you little! Nate! Tell him he's out of his mind and that I'd be your starter!" Whisper looked to the Anchor angrily.

"Nyo! Tell him he's out of his mind Nyate! He doesn't even battle!" Jibanyan cried out as he also looked to Nate. The Watch holder glanced between the two for a moment and put on a thoughtful expression.

"Hmm, if yo-kai were pokémon, I'd have to say my starter would be…" Nate stood silent in thought for a moment… before falling limp.

"Nate!/Nyate!" Whisper and Jibanyan both cried out in surprise, before a blue form came out of Nate's body and took shape into a, now familiar yo-kai.

"Fuu! Fuu! Fuu2!" Nate's yo-kai form announced before smirking at the two now dead-eyed yo-kai. A moment passed before shock was replaced with anger.

"What the heck Nate!? You can't choose yourself as your starter!"

"That's totally nyot fair Nyate! That's cheating!"

"You asked me a question, I gave an answer," Fuu2 stuck out his tongue at the two causing them to yell some more. Hidabat watched from the closet and chuckled a little in amusement at the scene.

5.12

"Hey Inaho! Guess who I replaced last Loop, dani!" USApyon walked into the detective agency eagerly, Inaho looked up from a comic she was reading.

"Who did you replace? Sailor Moon's cat?" Inaho questioned, USApyon gave her a dull look before shaking his head.

"No, that's more suited for Jibanyan anyway, dani…" he quickly regained his composition and pulled a small device from his sub-space pocket. "Check it out! Dani!" he exclaimed, before activating the lightsaber, the blade of which glowed blood red.

"Huh, you're a Jedi?" Inaho asked, not looking very impressed and going back to her comic.

"Sith, actually, dani," USApyon glared at his human friend as she laughed at something she read.

"Whatever, USApyon. I'm really happy for you," she said, absentmindedly.

"That's 'Darth USApyon' from now on," USApyon insisted, a satisfied smirk on his face. Inaho blinked before looking over at him again.

"… Nobody will ever call you that… Maybe 'Darth Namekichi!'"

"…"

"VADER MODE!"

"Ah! Stop! Sorry! No force-choke!" Inaho cried as USApyon chased her around with his new lightsaber.

5.13

"Rudy! Or Akamaru!" The little red cat exclaimed, before he jumped under Nate's bed and then came back out in his traditional nekomata form.

"Jibanyan! Wielder of the Paws of Fury!" he shouted, before his body flashed and he was incased in metal, his form shifting to that of a robotic one.

"Robonyan!" he shouted in his new, deeper voice. "The futuristic, cyborg nekomata that can produce chocolate bars endlessly!" to make his point he spat out a few chocobars. His colors shifted to that of a half white, half blue robotic cat, a little satellite-like object sprouted from his head.

"Robonyan F! The upgrade to the already futuristic Robonyan!" He did a pose while Nate and Katie sat before him, looking bored.

"… I'm sorry, I don't get the point of this," Katie muttered, as politely as she could.

"Yeah, me neither," Nate sighed, a little less politely.

"Don't you get it! These forms are different, but at the end of the day they're still me!" Robonyan F exclaimed proudly. "I have so much future ahead of me in Baseline! Doesn't that inspire you!?"

"But we have no idea what to expect from Baseline, the future Robonyan comes from is different every time," Nate shook his head in thought. "We don't even know if he really is you from the future, or if he's just a robot that thinks he's you, like his game-variant description says," the Anchor shrugged, Robonyan F stared at him blankly before glowing and reverting to Jibanyan.

"… That wasn't really the point I was trying to make Nyate," he said, his ears twitching a bit.

"What was your point?" Katie asked curiously. Jibanyan blinked, glancing between the two humans for a moment, before putting a paw to his chin.

"I'm… not sure anymore… I have a lot of forms?"

"Next turn into Goldenyan," Nate suggested, the nekomata shrugged.

"No Baseline evidence for that nyan even being me, but sure, why nyot?"

5.14

Keita gave a sigh of content as he relaxed on the beach, nobody else was Awake, but he had managed to divert most Baseline yo-kai annoyances so far and was just trying to enjoy a vacation… It was a little lonely, but when you're the Anchor you get used to lonely Loops.

He did remember that it was now around the time that Umibōzu would show up and make him, Eddie and Bear super relaxed… too relaxed. Oh well, he had already resolved not to let himself be possessed, so he would ignore it… though he would try to make sure his friends pants didn't fall.

Keita was brought out of his thoughts by the loud scream of Kanchi.

"There's something big in the water!" the boy yelled as he ran towards shore, Keita blinked… that wasn't right.

"What is that thing!?" Kuma yelled fearfully as he backed away from the water, Fumi and her friends also looked terrified. Keita stood up and looked towards the water, nothing was apparent at first, except for what might have been an oddly shaped patch of water… then something came rolling onto shore.

The massive creature was vaguely humanoid in shape, appeared in to made entirely of water, and moved around on two massive stone rollers that looked ready to crush anything in its way. The beast roared loudly, despite not appearing to have anyway to vocalize, before rolling forwards.

"… Okay, why is the Waterwraith here!?" Keita exclaimed to himself, while the other beach goers panicked. He sighed before reaching for his sub-space pocket. So much for relaxation…

5.15

"What is that device?" The yo-kai Edison questioned Keita after he had been summoned and helped fix the electricity problems. Keita blinked before holding up his wrist with the Yo-Kai Watch U on it.

"Um, the Yo-Kai Watch?"

"A Yo-Kai Watch!" Edison suddenly exclaimed, holding up one of his fingers. "Yes! Yo-Kai Watch, I know that because I invented it! Me! I invented the Yo-Kai Watch!"

"What…?" Keita blinked in confusion. "No, my grandfather– "

"What does it do?" Edison suddenly asked in a calmer tone, poking at the watch. Keita stared at him for moment before deciding to answer.

"… It helps me summon my yo-kai friends using– "

"Summons yo-kai friends using, um, stuff!" Edison interrupted loudly. "I was about to say that, because I invented it!"

"… Whisper, what's with Edison this Loop?" the Anchor whispered to his Looping butler, whom floated over and started looking on his Yo-Kai Pad.

"Let's see… Maybe something here will explain– "

"What's that you're using?" Edison suddenly asked Whisper.

"My Yo-Kai Pad, I use it to– "

"Yo-Kai Pad!" Edison suddenly interrupted again, Whisper's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "I knew that because I invented it! My name is Edison, I rule!"

"… Seriously Whisper, what's up with this?" Keita whispered to the Looping ghost, again.

"… I honestly can't say, but it's annoying, wissu," Whisper groaned.

"I'll say, he's even worse than your Baseline self."

"Yeah… Hey! Wissu!"

5.16

"Caboose! You're dead!" Fuu2 shouted as he chased the other Anchor around Blood Gulch.

"I'm sorry Keita-Nate! You weren't Church!"

"I don't care! You blew my head off!" The enraged yo-kai shouted as he floated after Caboose.

"So, what's going on?" Grif asked as he lumbered over to Tucker, who was watching the scene, when he saw it for himself. "Oh… He looped in as Church, didn't he?"

"Yes, and Caboose had the… usual reaction, though he tried to apologize once he realized it was Keita, but…" Tucker gestured to the scene, Fuu2 shouted random words of rage while Caboose ran from the ghost.

"I warned him this could happen," Grif sighed, shaking his head.

"Anyway, I was hoping you could calm your brother down a bit."

"I'm going to possess you!" Fuu2 shouted threateningly.

"No! I'm sorry! Tucker did it!"

"… Maybe, I'll give him a few more minutes," Grif shrugged.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Tucker asked in concern.

"Caboose needs to learn his lesson… plus, he shot my brother," Griff gained a bit of an evil tone at the end of that sentence. So, the two sat there, Keita had shifted into a larger, skeleton-like form and had taken out Spectral Fang, continuing to chase the panicking Caboose around.

"I'm really sorry Keita-Nate."

"Caboose, it's fine…"

"But I am, really!"

"I already said it's fine," Fuu2 groaned as he hovered by Caboose's side.

"… It's just, you weren't Church– "

"Caboose! I said it's fine!" the blue ghost snapped, the local Anchor backed up a bit and nodded. Fuu2 sighed and shook his head. "I get it, okay. You have trouble processing stuff when Church isn't here… Doesn't mean you can go around shooting people's heads off, but you're my friend and I forgive you."

"… Thanks, Keita-Nate."

"You're welcome, now come on, I need a new body, Grif probably already got Sarge to make one," the Yo-Kai Watch Anchor smiled as he started towards Red Base. "Then I want to find out what the heck is up with the Director this Loop, because I don't seem to be an A.I at all!"

5.17

Keita sighed, casting a fishing line into the water.

"Keita-kun?" Whisper floated over to him, glancing out into the river with concern before looking back at Keita. "What are you up to? Wissu."

"Going to catch Ningyo, argue with her, get her medal again," Keita said blandly.

"… Don't you not like doing that? Wissu," Whisper questioned skeptically, Keita shrugged.

"Nobody else but you and I Awake this Loop, just going Baseline for the most part… I don't really want to get into anything unexpected right now…" Keita said uncaringly. "I just don't know what to do I guess…"

"Well, maybe we should just go on and do something fun, together? You never know when something unexpected will happen in the Loops, wissu!" Whisper offered kindly, Keita nodded, a small smile forming on his face.

"Yeah, just let me…" Keita started, but he noticed he fishing pole being tugged, he quickly grabbed hold and pulled on it, a splash resounded from the water before the sounds of struggling became clear.

"Let me off the line!" Ningyo shouted as she struggled, the fishing hook tangled in her hair. Keita pulled her to shore and got to work untangling it.

"Hold still," he grunted as she squirmed around, Whisper sweatdropped.

"Perhaps this wasn't the best way to find her, wissu…"

"Don't you think I know that, sometimes you just… Go with Baseline," Keita sighed, pulling the fishing hook free of the aquatic yo-kai's hair. "There."

"Darn it Nate! What did I tell you about fishing!?" Ningyo exclaimed angrily. Keita and Whisper's eyes widened slightly.

"… What did you just call him? Wissu…"

"Keita… That's his name, right?" Ningyo looked between Keita and Whisper's confused faces for a moment, before a quizzical look crossed her own face. "Wait, no, it's Nate, right? Wait, what's going on?"

"… Ningyo? What do you remember?" Keita asked seriously, Ningyo twitched as she looked at Keita again.

"My name is… Mermaidyn? No… Ningyo? Um, my head hurts!" she clutched her head as she shook a little.

"Okay, calm down," Keita got her attention again, he leaned down to her eyes level and gave her a serious look. "Okay, Ningyo… or Mermaidyn, I need to explain some stuff to you… Some really heavy stuff…"

"… Well this was certainly unexpected, wissu," Whisper added blankly.

"… Time travel?" Ningyo (they had decided to call her by the name the current Loop designated her as) muttered, staring at Keita in disbelief.

"Yeah, that's basically what it amounts to," Keita shrugged, sitting beside her. Whisper floated nearby, silently observing.

"Why me? How did this happen?"

"Not sure, it usually seems to be associated with proximity to the Anchor, but exact reasons for Looper Activation as hard to pinpoint," Keita scratched his head unsurely.

"Perhaps it was because… Well, you can't seem to fish without reeling her in? Wissu," Whisper offered weakly. The two other Loopers looked at him for a moment.

"Wait a second… Are you telling me, I'm trapped in this weird… Time Loop, because this guy's magic fishing pole won't catch anything but me!?" Ningyo exclaimed, looking like she was going to lose her mind.

"I don't know if that's exactly the reason, and you know my name, so say it," Keita muttered as he got to his feet and glared at the mermaid-like yo-kai.

"Do I? Cause I have one set of memories that says your name is Keita, and another that says it's Nate! Which is it!?"

"Both are correct, but right now it's Keita," the Anchor answered simply, Ningyo didn't seem satisfied with the response.

"Right now, what the heck does that even mean!?"

"You'll figure it out eventually… it's not as hard as it seems," Keita assured the new Looper as she took a few breaths to calm down.

"I just… How did this happen?" she asked while clutching her head, Keita looked towards Whisper whom shrugged, before he groaned.

"That's… a long story, that I don't have most of the details of… or really any of the details… Something broke the multiverse, that's all we know…" the boy admitted, Ningyo sighed in defeat before nodding.

"So, what now?"

"Now? Well not much, but we'll have some news next Loop where the others are Awake," Keita nodded, Ningyo groaned, glancing between his fishing pole and the water.

5.18

"You two are selfish jerks!" Inaho shouted before hiding slamming her head on her desk. Nate and Katie both stared at her in confusion, they had come over to Inaho's house to play some video games with her, and this was not the greeting they were expecting. The two glanced questioningly towards USApyon, whom was polishing his lightsaber on the bed.

"Don't look at me, I can't deal with her when she's like this. Dani," the otter yo-kai stated in a disinterested tone.

"… Inaho, what's up with you?" Nate questioned, the glasses wearing girl got up from her desk and glared at him and Katie.

"What's up? I'll tell you what's up! How come I don't get an awesome dark yo-kai form!?"

"… What?" Katie questioned, she and Nate shared confused looks.

"First I don't get a regular yo-kai form! Now these new dark yo-kai show up, and you two get new bug-like yo-kai forms and I'm still left out!" Inaho cried out, slamming her fists on her desk. Nate and Katie both sweatdropped.

"Those 'dark yo-kai' or whatever, haven't even effected Baseline yet…" Katie muttered in confusion.

"Well, to be fair, neither has Miifuu," Nate pointed out, the girl beside him shrugged before they turned their attention back to Inaho, whom seemed to be throwing a tantrum.

"Not fair! Not fair! Not fair!" she shouted, repeatedly slamming her fists on her desk. "Even your friends Eddie and Bear get new forms! They don't even have yo-kai watches!"

"… Neither do I, in Baseline," Katie said blandly, this didn't seem to make Inaho any happier, or more reasonable.

"Why does she even want a solid yo-kai form? She does realize that equals dying, right?" Nate questioned USApyon.

"Told you already, not dealing with this. Dani," USApyon scoffed, turning away from them.

"Not fair! Not fair! Not fair!" Inaho continued to cry out, Nate and Katie glanced at each other and sighed.

5.19

"Once we're at Chiyo-chan's I'm not going to let you make copies with me, Osaka." Tomo hissed snidely.

"… Make copies?" Ayumu questioned blankly, confused why there were suddenly two Tomos staring at her, she rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing things clearly.

"That's right!"

"That's right!" the two Tomos shouted, one after the other, they both blinked when they heard each other and stiffly turned to look.

"I see, so your real plan is– "Yomi started in a sarcastic tone, but jumped a little in surprise when she saw two Tomos. "What the!?" the two Tomos glared at one another, they mirrored each other's movements for a moment before crossing their arms.

"Who are you supposed to be!?"

"I'm Tomo Takino!"

"You can't be Tomo Takino if I'm Tomo Takino!"

"You can't be Tomo Takino if I'm Tomo Takino!" the two growled at each other as Yomi and Ayumu stared at the scene blankly.

"Huh, who would'a thought Tomo had a twin sister?" Ayumu questioned, glancing at the stone-faced Yomi.

"Alright there's only one way to settle this!"

"Alright there's only one way to settle this!" The two Tomo's exclaimed, before turning to Yomi with fire in their eyes, she took a step back.

"Yomi!"

She took another step back…

"Come on! You know me!"

Another step back…

"Tell this girl here that she has no right ripping off my style!"

And another step back…

"Yomi, tell her!"

"Yomi!"

Yomi kept backing up until she walked out of sight, never turning away from the Tomos as she did, as if they were dangerous animals that would pounce if you faced your back to them. Ayumu and the two Tomos stood in silence for a few moments, before Ayumu looked at her identical companions with a blank smile.

"So… I guess it'll just be us three, huh?" the Tomos glared at the other girl.

"Osaka!"

"Osaka!" the three Tomo's blinked, before looking at each other in shock.

"Three!?"

Meanwhile, at the home of the local Anchor, where the three UnAwake girls were going before the appearance of the mysterious doubles, a visiting Looper was speaking to said Anchor about something rather topical.

"So, these yo-kai are around this Loop?" Chiyo asked as she and her dog; Mr. Tadakichi, sat across from Nate and his yo-kai butler Whisper.

"Yup, Whisper here proves it. And if you killed me I'd become a yo-kai… But don't test that," Nate explained, Chiyo blinked at the odd choice of words.

"Well, I have noticed a few odd things this Loop, but they haven't seemed to be causing any real trouble," she assured with a smile. Nate nodded.

"True, they're pretty lax normally. They just cause the occasional annoying happenstance, but ordinary yo-kai aren't usually a big deal, just thought I'd warn you since there are some rowdy ones."

"Well it's much appreciated, Nate, Whisper. I hope you two enjoy our Loop, regardless of yo-kai."

"We will, it has been rather peaceful," Whisper nodded in approval.

"I don't know about peaceful, but it's been fun enough, we'll be going now. My parents are likely wondering where I went," Nate waved before he left with Whisper trailing behind.

"Good bye, visit again sometime this Loop!" Chiyo waved, Mr. Tadakichi barked in approval.

"We will!" Nate waved back as they left the building. "Don't think anything too bad will happen this Loop," the watch-wearer nodded to Whisper as they walked off the property.

"I don't know, I'm a little suspicious of that group of mimikin I saw earlier," Whisper sighed with his arms crossed.

"Oh, don't worry about it, mimikin aren't the worst of yo-kai. And I'm sure anything that happens will be fine, let's just enjoy our summer," Nate assured with confidence.

"You're probably right," Whisper gave a light smile as they continued…

Back with Ayumu and Tomo though, the problem had escalated. There were now about eight Tomos arguing with each other, Ayumu could only stand back and stare at this strange turn of events.

"I'm Tomo! I'll prove it!"

"I'm Tomo! I'll prove it!" two shouted at each other, several of them were arm wrestling to determine whom was the real one, and a couple were playing rock-paper-scissors.

"I'm Tomo I tell you! No, I'm Tomo! Shut up! I'm Tomo! Yomi where are you!?"

"… Gee, Tomo sure has a lot of sisters," Ayumu concluded with a small smile.

5.20

"Haniwa…"

"Whisper… What is this thing?" Keita questioned, staring at the strange statue that sat in his living room, a voice coming from it that almost sounded like wind.

"Haniwa…"

"Er…" Whisper stared at the thing in confusion, before he started looking through the yo-kai pad. "I… Don't think this is a yo-kai… Whiss."

"Haniwa…"

"Well, yeah. I know it's not a yo-kai, that was obvious. But… What is it?"

"Haniwa…"

"… I think it's a haniwa, whiss," Whisper shrugged, Keita just stared at him blankly.

"… Okay, what is a haniwa?"

"Haniwa…"

"You've never heard of them? Whiss?"

"Have you?"

"…"

"Haniwa…"

"Well, it must be here for some reason, whiss…" Whisper looked to be in thought.

"Or, it could just be Loop randomness," Keita muttered with a bored expression. Jibanyan wandered into the room, eating a chocobar, before spotting Keita and Whisper standing with thoughtful looks on their faces.

"Um… What's with you guys? Nya," Jibanyan questioned, taking a bite of the candy in his paw.

"We're trying to figure out what this haniwa is doing here… And what a haniwa is," the Anchor answered simply, the nekomata blinked in confusion.

"… What haniwa?"

"This, huh!?" Keita and Whisper both looked surprised when they looked at the spot the strange, clay figure had been, only to find nothing there. "… Where did it go!?"

Fumika strolled into her house with a carefree look on her face, Kyubi hovering not far behind in his yo-kai form.

"Mom, I'm home," she called as she entered.

"And I as well!" Kyubi nodded, Fumi looked at him strangely.

"… You don't need to announce yourself."

"What can I say? I'm a gentleman," the nine-tailed fox spirit chuckled, the human Looper shook her head before stepping through the door, but when she reached her living room she spotted something that she was pretty sure didn't belong.

"Kyubi… What is that?"

"… I can't really say, is that some weird decoration your mom thought looked good…?"

"Haniwa…"

5.21

"Hey?" Keita questioned Grif as he stood beside him, they were both on Chorus in the city of Armonia, Felix and Locus were already dealt with (Well, Felix was dealt with, they couldn't find Locus… though they didn't think he'd be a problem) and the teams were waiting for Charon's next move.

"Yeah?" Grif questioned, turning to his younger brother.

"You ever wonder why we're here?"

"… No Keita, just no."

"Hey guys!" Inaho greeted, running over to them. Keita blinked under his helmet, noting that unlike him, Inaho was still eleven, and had no armor.

"Inaho? Where did you come from…?"

"I Woke up a little bit ago! This place is cool! My mom for this Loop has been showing me around!"

"Your mom?" Keita asked, turning to Grif, whom shrugged.

"Hey guys!" The Awake Dr. Grey exclaimed, popping up behind them.

"GAH!?" They both jumped back before Dr. Grey chuckled, going over to the also laughing Inaho.

"Hi mom! I was just greeting my friend here!" Inaho smiled, Keita just seemed to blank out as he processed what was going on, Grif seemed less concerned after the surprise had gone away.

"Are you even old enough to have a kid?" Grif questioned in confusion.

"I guess I am this Loop!" Emily Grey cheered, patting a pleased Inaho on the head.

"Mom's going to show me all the surgical stuff!" Inaho explained eagerly.

"She's very excited to learn! I can't wait myself," Dr. Grey exclaimed before the two left. Keita finally snapped back to reality and tapped his brother on the shoulder.

"What?"

"Those two… should not be together…"

"Oh, come on, what's the worst that could happen?" Grif shook his head, Keita shuddered.

"Why would you say THAT!?"

5.22

When the Awake Chiyo, Tomo and Yomi entered Kimura's class, they were surprised when their usual teacher wasn't there, instead there was an orange haired man whom seemed to be in his twenties, with black eyes and a face that vaguely resembled a cat's…

"Hello class, unfortunately my brother has taken ill. But I, as a substitute teacher volunteered to fill in for him! My name is Akamaru Kimura, but to avoid confusion with my brother you may just refer to me as Mr. Akamura!" the new teacher explained cheerfully.

"Good morning Mr. Akamura!" the class greeted back, and the class went normally from there. When they got to the point where he was asking about their futures, Tomo decided to go with her usual question.

"Mr. Akamura, why did you become a teacher!?"

"Hmm… because I wish to shape young minds, help them reach their full potential and prepare them for the world of course. Truly there is no job more satisfying," The substitute said with a confident nod, the students seemed impressed and Tomo, Yomi and Chiyo exchanged a few relieved looks. Maybe they could find some way so that this guy could fill in for Kimura for the rest of the Loop. "Now then, on to our important lesson…"

Akamura pointed to the chalkboard, which the students now realized had several sketches of… cars and trucks?

"CARS!" he shouted, startling his class before he started ranting. "CARS ARE THE ENEMY! IF YOU WANT TO BE PREPARED FOR THE REAL WORLD YOU MUST BE PREPARED TO FACE THESE METAL MONSTERS! YOU MUST GAIN THE EYE OF THE TIGER AND FACE THEM! FACE THEM LIKE TRUE WARRIORS! SO YOU MAY NEVER BE RUN OVER LIKE A HELPLESS KITTEN! CARS! TRUCKS! YES, ALL MOTOR VEHICLES! I MUST PREPARE YOU FOR OUR FIGHT AGAINST OUR TRUE ENEMY!"

The class stared in silence for a moment, before they abruptly broke into a cheer, praising their teacher's passionate speech. Except for the three Loopers, whom just stared with dumbfounded expressions.

Of course, they never realized that their substitute teacher; Akamura 'Jibanyan' Kimura, was also a Looper…

5.23

"And in more bizarre news, all the world's fishing poles have mysteriously vanished. The cause is being investigated but this abrupt disappearance of such a specific tool has left many people befuddled…" the newscaster went onto explain other things, but the occupants of the living room were more concerned with what they just heard.

"Every fishing pole in the world!?" Whisper questioned with a shocked look.

"Probably a Looper…" Jibanyan yawned as he relaxed on the couch seat next to the Anchor.

"But who would do such a thing? Why do something so… random as stealing all the world's fishing poles?" Whisper asked, now looking less shocked and more confused.

"I have a pretty good idea…" Nate muttered, Jibanyan and Whisper glanced at him, before they realized whom he was most likely referring to.

"Oh right, her…" Whisper sighed.

"So, you stole every fishing pole in the world?" Komajiro asked, standing by the lake, a proud looking Mermaidyn nodded as she floated in the water.

"Yup! Every single one is in a hole at the bottom of the ocean! Now Nate can't fish me out of the water, even by accident," she giggled a little before relaxing a little in the water. Komajiro blinked as he stared at her for a few seconds.

"… You do realize, that Nate probably has fishing poles in his sub-space pocket, right?" the lion-dog pointed out, Mermaidyn's eyes slowly widened.

"Oh…"

5.24

Keita Awoke in his bed with a yawn, he looked around his room, noting not much was a different from his typical Baseline room, but a quick glance into his in-Loop memories did show one big difference from his Baseline life.

A smile formed on the Anchor's face; he had an older sister this Loop, and not just any older sister…

"Ruby's here!" Keita said excitedly as he pulled himself out of bed, Whisper was awoken by his master's quick movement from his position beside the bed, and yawned.

"Keita-kun? What's got you so riled up this morning? Wissu…" the ghostly butler questioned, tired look still present in his eyes, Keita noted that he was somewhat in the middle of Baseline, he already had the yo-kai watch and had befriended several yo-kai, including Jibanyan, and Hikikōmori was in his closet.

His sister was just as clueless about yo-kai as his parents were, according to his memories at least, but hopefully she would be Awake.

"Oh, nothing much Whisper, I'm just excited to spend some time with my sister."

"… Really? Didn't you say the other day that she bugs the heck out of you? Wissu…"

"Things are different today Whisper… it's hard to explain," Keita waved the yo-kai butler off, before going off to see Ruby.

"Hey sis, you Awake?" Keita asked, sending off a Ping as he entered his big sister's bedroom, he noted the moving shape underneath the rose red covers on the bed, before he received a Ping back.

"Yeah, feeling kind of Loopy though," Ruby smiled as she pulled the covers off her head. Keita smiled back at her as he approached.

"I'll be sure to keep you Anchored," The two chuckled, Ruby quickly got up from her bed and gave her brother a big hug that he returned.

"It's great to see you, baby bro," she ruffled his hair, he batted her hand away.

"No, Ruby you know I hate that," Keita gave his sister a fake glare, before letting out a couple of laughs that his sister mimicked, even if Keita really didn't appreciate being called 'baby' he certainly loved spending time with Ruby, Yang, or Grif.

He treasured any time he got with his siblings, fused Loops with them, unfortunately, didn't come around that often. Even less so ones where all of them were together.

"I'm sorry Keita, you're not a baby, you're a very capable young man," Ruby admitted after a moment, patting the younger Anchor on the shoulder with a look of pride on her face, Keita gained his own proud look at this, though it didn't last long… "But you're still adorable!"

"Hey!?" Keita exclaimed in surprise as his hyper sister grabbed hold of him and started spinning him around while giggling. After letting him go, he stumbled a bit before regaining his balance.

"So, anything new?" The seemingly-fifteen-year-old girl asked, taking a seat on the bed and looking her seemingly-eleven-year-old brother over.

"Oh, right! We got some Expansions! And a new Looper!"

"More than one Expansion? And a new Looper? Weren't the last ones that girl and… The rabbit spaceman."

"Inaho and USApyon–and he's actually an otter–But,yeah. Her name is Ningyo… Or, sometimes it's Mermaidyn, and she's well, a mermaid yo-kai," Keita went on to explain how their new Looper was doing, and what the new expansions were like, while Ruby smiled fondly and nodded.

Though she was happy to see her brother and hear about the new things that had happened since they had last spoken, her demeanor was, to an extent, a façade. She knew Keita would find out what happened eventually, and it would be better if he heard it from her now, than some second-hand source later, but she didn't want to think about that right now.

So here she sat, listening to the happy-and/or-silly exploits of the Yo-Kai Watch Loopers, just smiling and nodding along the way.

"So, anything new with you and Remnant?" Keita asked, having finished recounting his stories and wanted to hear if anything had happened at his sister's home branch, Ruby gave a barely noticeable twitch, but it still was enough for Keita to pause in concern.

"Um, let's not get into that right now, I want to enjoy spending some time with you… So, what do you think we could do?" Ruby offered, Keita briefly looked at her suspiciously, but decided to try and come up with some stuff.

Well, I'm thinking maybe we could go to the park? Just hang out, maybe get some food at Mogmog Burger?" he scratched his head as he tried to think of more activities. "We could go see the Space Wars movie? I've seen it like, more than a million times, but it's highly Loop-variable. Oh, if Inaho or USApyon Wake up we could join their detective agency! Or, we could just do that with their UnAwake selves, but Inaho gets mad if we do stuff with her UnAwake self in Loops she doesn't Wake up in…"

"That all sounds fun, Keita, whatever you want to do I'm for it," Ruby insisted in a highly cheerful tone, Keita looked at her suspiciously once more.

"Ruby, what's wrong?"

"What? There's nothing wrong, little bro… I'm just happy to spend some time with you," Ruby insisted, with a smile her brother could immediately tell was fake. "It's too bad Yang and Grif aren't here, but…"

"Ruby, really. I know something's wrong, I can see it in your eyes," Keita pointed out, firmly. Ruby stared at him, unsure of what to say. "You dodged the question pretty quickly when I asked about Remnant, did something happen?"

"…"

"… Sis, come on. We've known each other too long for this kind of thing, I know you're trying to protect me. But I want to help you, tell me what is wrong."

"… Cinder tried to Ascend."

"Okay, see that wasn't so–WHAT!?" the local Anchor did a doubletake, looking at his sister with hopes that he maybe misheard her, but the grave look on her face told him that was not the case. "Oh no…"

"It happened a few Loops ago, none of us saw it coming… W-we should've, she's not well Nate, oh this is bad," Ruby trembled as she hugged herself, her brother approached in carefully and wrapped his arm around her shoulder in a comforting manner.

"Keita-kun, how long are you going to be– "

"GET OUT!" The watch-bearer snapped at the UnAwake yo-kai that just entered the room, the ghost quickly left, without a word. Keita felt a little guilty about how he had spoken to one of his oldest friends, even if he wasn't Awake, but he had other priorities right now. "Ruby, what happened?"

"We didn't realize at first, we just thought it was a bad variant. The grimm, and the attacks, but then… then… She put me to sleep, she tried to use my power to break our world while I had happy dreams. I-We stopped her, but… Oh Keita, things aren't okay! I need to look after her because she needs my help, but there's also all the problems it caused and we got new Loopers, and others are angry at Cinder, and-and– "

"Ruby, calm down, it's okay!" Keita hugged his sister tightly as she vented her emotions to him. His own emotions bubbled furiously below his somewhat calm exterior, everything Ruby was saying was hard to make sense of, he wasn't sure if he should be enraged at, worried for, or terrified of Cinder.

"The world was nearly broken, I felt it happening, I just, I just…" she hung onto him tightly as he continued his embrace.

"If that happened…" Keita shuddered, he knew what happened if a world was replaced from Yggdrasil, it would be much worse than losing his sisters… He wouldn't remember he ever had sisters… "R-Ruby!" the boy tightened his embrace, the feeling of her body against his assuring him of her continued existence.

"It's… it's okay, it's over now…" Ruby did her best to sound confident, but her tone betrayed her true feelings.

"I-I'm sorry, I should've been there to help you, I-I," Keita quivered as he held onto his sister, whom continued to hug him back.

"No, Keita! There was no way you could've! It wasn't a fused Loop, none of us saw this coming! You have nothing to be sorry about!"

"But, you almost… if she had succeeded…"

"No, don't think about that!" she pulled him back and looked him in the eye, Ruby noted that Keita's eyes were silver this Loop, an almost exact reflection of hers. "No matter how long it takes for me to see you again, I will never leave you alone! I will still be here!"

"I love you Ruby," Keita whimpered weakly.

"I love you too, Keita," Ruby answered softly, it was strange, she wasn't sure which of them was comforting the other at this point, perhaps they were both comforting each other? Either way, for the moment the siblings that existed across different realities held their embrace.

Keita checked the timer on the oven and nodded, Ruby was waiting back in her room, after their emotional exchange the local Anchor decided the best way to help his sister feel better would be to make her some of her favorite treats.

"Keita, are you baking?" his mother asked with a look of surprise on her face as she walked into the kitchen.

"They're cookies, for Ruby," Keita answered simply, checking the treats cooking in the oven, making sure they didn't burn.

"Oh, is something wrong with her? I noticed you two didn't come down for breakfast, I wanted to go and get you, but it seemed you two were talking and I didn't want to interrupt… So, did something happen to Ruby?" the woman muttered worriedly.

"No worries mom, she's fine. I just thought it'd be nice to do something for her, she is my big sister after all," Keita smiled fondly as he looked from the oven to his mother.

"Hmm… it's not like you to be so eager to do things for Ruby," Lily muttered with a pondering expression, but this quickly gave way to a happy one "But, it's so cute how much you love your big sister," she ruffled her son's hair a bit before turning to leave. "Just make sure neither of you spoil your dinners, okay?"

"Okay," he waved, once his mom was out of earshot he sighed. "Sorry mom… I hate lying to you, wish I could tell you what was going on, but this isn't something you can help with… Not now," he looked at the oven again and nodded, seemed the cookies were done.

"Here you go," Keita smiled as he presented the plate of baked goods to the other Anchor, she smiled back before taking one.

"Thanks Keita," she bit into the chocolate chip cookie, a look of bliss briefly formed on her face. "Mmm, did your baking get better? I mean, your cookies were good before, but these are incredible!"

"I've been practicing," Keita admitted, taking a bow, an amused look on his face.

"Well I can safely say that they are certainly, above average," Ruby chuckled as Keita gave her a deadpan expression.

"Really?"

"What?"

"Really?"

"Come on, laugh!"

"Leave the jokes to Yang, sis." Keita muttered, taking one of the cookies and eating it himself, while Ruby grabbed three more. "So… Cinder?" Ruby froze for a second, swallowing the bites cookies in her mouth.

"… Yes, she…"

"I don't know what to think about this Ruby, why did Cinder try to do this…" Keita asked, a serious look settling on his face, Ruby sighed as she stared at the cookies she held.

"It wasn't her fault… Well, not entirely. Cinder… Broke."

"Broke? I don't understand, what does that mean?"

"Slenderman did something to her, he put something in her pocket and… hacked her, or something. He did something that drove her mad," Ruby looked disheartened as she spoke.

"Slenderman, why? Just, how could this… Cinder?" Keita looked like he was contemplating something.

"You noticed before, didn't you?"

"Huh? Noticed what?" Keita questioned his sister.

"You noticed something was off about Cinder, you never looked at her the same way you did with the rest of us. You were always so weary of her, like you thought if you looked at her wrong she would kill you… I didn't say anything, I thought you just needed some more time to warm up to her…"

"… I have been intimidated by Cinder since the moment I met her," Keita admitted with a defeated sigh. "But… No, I never suspected anything was wrong with her. I just always had this weird feeling when I was near her, I didn't want to tell you, I thought it was wrong to feel that way about a family member…"

"She's been falling apart for a long time, I think that's what you were sensing…" Keita looked unsure of his sister's theory.

"I… Should talk to her, next chance I get. But are you okay?"

"Yes, I think. Things are just… Well, as I said before, they're crazy, bad things happened, so and so," she leaned back onto the bed.

"But the worst didn't happen, so at least there's that," Keita offered her another cookie, which she took gratefully.

"Yeah, let's just stop talking about this now, please?"

"Okay, there's plenty of fun stuff we can do to take our minds off this… event," Keita glanced towards the window and at the sunny sky.

"I'm sure there is, lead the way O brother of mine," Ruby pulled herself up, before taking the plate of remaining cookies from Keita. "But first, let's finish these delicious cookies you made!"

"Sounds good!" Keita nodded in agreement, before they both dug in.

The two Anchors were seated on a bench at the park, enjoying some burgers from Mogmog Burger, discussing the, more positive, recent happenings in their Loops.

"So, you got new Loopers?" Keita questioned Ruby, before taking about out of his cheese burger

"Yeah, my dad, Blake's mom, Sun, and Raven."

"Raven…" Keita looked slightly troubled at the mention of the last name.

"Don't worry, she's been behaving herself… Mostly," Ruby assured.

"That doesn't make me feel much better… Oh well, if Roman and Neo can behave themselves…" he shook his head at the thought. "Whatever, I trust you and the others to be able to handle it." He nodded to this self-assurance. "But your dad? Taiyang is finally Looping?"

"Yup, I'll be sure to introduce you first chance we get!"

"Cool, I've certainly been his son enough times to know what he's generally like, but it'll be nice to talk to him and have him actually remember," Keita smiled at that thought. "I don't know much about Blake's mom, but Sun Looping sounds like a good thing… So long as he's got the picture on what's going on with Blake and Yang."

"Oh, it was a bit hard to comprehend at first, but he got the idea and is being respectful."

"Good to hear, so you've got a good handle with the new Loopers?"

"Yeah, we have. A few things have been difficult, but I'm sure everything will work out okay, they just need to get adjusted to Looping," the Anchor of Remnant reasoned.

"Yeah, Ningyo's still having trouble adjusting to the Loops, it's a lot for her to take in," Keita nodded in understanding.

"So, you could say she's like a fish out of water?" Ruby questioned, a big grin on her face. Keita stared at her blankly.

"… No Ruby, just no."

"Oh, come on!"

"No, you are no longer allowed to make jokes," Keita said in a firm tone while crossing his arms.

"Jerk," Ruby huffed, though a good-natured smile made its way onto her face. The two soon finished their burgers and continued to sit for a while.

"So, anything else to report?" Keita asked after a few moments of silence.

"Hmm, well… Yang and Blake are getting married," Ruby said after a moment of thought, Keita blinked as he processed what his sister had just told him.

"Wait, WHAT!?" He exclaimed in shock. "When did this happen!? When will it happen!? Why didn't you tell me earlier!?"

"Wow! Calm down, bro!"

"Sorry… Sorry… But still… They're really going to do it?"

"Yup! Hope Yang doesn't get mad at me for telling you, she might've wanted to do it herself," Ruby shrugged.

"Well, tell them congratulations for me… Wow, my sister's getting married," Keita muttered to himself, looking unsure on how to feel about that.

"Hey guys!" a purple haired girl exclaimed, bursting out from behind the bench.

"Inaho!?" Keita jumped off the bench in surprise. Ruby looked confused.

"Inaho?" she questioned, in a more subdued manner than her brother.

"Yup!" Inaho smiled at Keita as she came around to the front of the bench, she looked at Ruby and nodded. "Chi-Watchi!" she struck a pose, showing her yo-kai watch. Ruby sweatdropped.

"Yes… You did that when we met…" Ruby muttered, a confused look on her face.

"Yup! Oh, it's great to see you again Ruby!" Inaho cheered in excitement.

"There goes our peaceful day," Keita groaned in aggravation, Inaho noticed his emotional state and went to his side, nearly instantaneously.

"Hey, Keita, no need to be down! We can make your day even more fun! Right USApyon!?" Keita stared at Inaho as a silence settled in the atmosphere. "… USApyon?"

"He doesn't appear to be here," Ruby pointed out, still looking somewhat confused.

"What the!? USApyon!? Where did you go!?" Inaho shouted in outrage, Keita sighed and shook his head.

"Inaho, when exactly did you and USApyon Wake up?" Inaho blinked at the question.

"Well this morning, duh. Then we had breakfast, then– "

"Not that kind of waking up! When did you Wake up, with a capital 'W'!" Keita snapped in annoyance.

"Oh! A couple hours ago, Why?"

"How come you didn't Ping?"

"… I wanted to surprise you!" she exclaimed, before looking around the park angrily. "And that namekichi was supposed to help! But where did he go!?"

"What's a namekichi?" Ruby asked her brother, he shrugged.

"I don't know, every time we ask she just shows that weird keychain of hers…"

"I'm not a namekichi! Dani!" USApyon exclaimed as he ran over to them.

"USApyon! There you are!" Inaho cheered at her yo-kai friend's appearance. "… Wait, where'd you go!?"

"You ran ahead of me and didn't bother looking if I was keeping up! What is wrong with you!? Dani!" USApyon growled at Inaho, whom looked at him blankly.

"… Huh? Sorry, didn't realize you were so slow."

"Slow!? Dani!"

"Why does he end every sentence with 'dani'?" Ruby asked Keita, curiously.

"Verbal tick, but we should back off," Keita whispered to his sister, grabbing her arm and backing away, USApyon was growling as Inaho grew a little nervous.

"USApyon?"

"Slow? Slow!? I'll show you slow! Dani!" USApyon hissed, before pressing the two buttons on the bottom of his helmet.

"VADER MODE!"

"Sorry! I'm sorry!" Inaho cried as she dodged the slashes from USApyon's red lightsaber.

"Oh yeah, I remember that deal," Ruby said, crossing her arms as she watched. "… Is that okay?"

"Don't worry, he never actually tries to hit her," Keita assured Ruby.

"It sure doesn't feel that way to me!" Inaho shouted, narrowly dodging another slash from the enraged yo-kai's weapon.

"I seem to recall him using a laser gun before, I'm going to assume that lightsaber's not Baseline," Ruby concluded, Keita nodded. Inaho gave a few gasps as USApyon calmed down and put his lightsaber away.

"Don't call me slow, and don't run off without me when you want me to come with you! Dani!"

"He seems quick to anger," the elder Anchor said, eyeing USApyon with a bit of concern.

"Oh, he's always like that," Inaho waved off the concerns, "He's just taken to the lightsaber more, since he decided he was a Sith."

"A Sith?" Ruby questioned, eyeing USApyon again, this time with skepticism.

"Join the dark side, we have cookies! Dani."

"Thanks, but I'm set for cookies." Ruby muttered, looking away from the otter yo-kai.

"Worth a shot, dani," USApyon shrugged.

"Did anybody else spontaneously Wake up?" Keita questioned suspiciously, eight Pings were immediately received by the four present Loopers.

"Hmm, if I'm counting right, and nobody else is visiting, looks like that's everyone," Ruby smiled while she thought about what to do. "Perhaps we could have a little party?"

"Woo! Party!" Inaho cheered, jumping up and down in excitement.

"Okay, could be fun," Keita shrugged. "We'll have to gather everyone up, I'm sure Whisper, Jibanyan, Fumi, Hikikōmori and the Koma brothers will be happy to see you again. I could also introduce you to Ningyo!" he nodded to his sister, before another thought struck him. "Say… How do you feel about Kyubi?"

"Not much, why?" Ruby asked, looking a little clueless. "He's a nine-tailed fox, right?"

"Well yeah, but… Are you angry with him?"

"No, why would I be angry with him?"

"No reason… No reason," Keita assured. "We'll gather everyone up for a nice gathering… Just, don't get angry if Kyubi is a little… Intimidated by you."

"Um, okay?" Ruby looked confused, but shrugged it off. She was happy to get some time to spend with her brother and get her mind off of her current problems, for now she'd just enjoy this Loop, confident that when she got back home she'd be refreshed and with a clear mind.