LOOPS 2

1.7 continued.

Kid Devil Bat Uprising

Part 2

Sena gazed in wonder at where he was now. It was a temple floating in the sky, many glorious statues depicting the same woman. The woman had what could be described as a divine garb and long small humanoids with winged helmets floated about, doing whatever they were doing.

Thankfully Sena was able to find a mirror. The mirror showed him that he mostly looked the same. He was a little shocked to find that he was wearing a toga and had wings.

"Over Here Sena!" A door, large an ornate opened slowly. Sena gulped and walked towards it, afraid of what was behind it.

What was behind it was a large room. The edges of the room was surrounded by a yellowish water that was fed more water from two waterfalls on each side of the room. In the center of the room was a large ornate mirror, and standing besides that was a young woman. Her hair was green and went all the way down her back, ending just above her ankles. A gold laurel crown was on her head.

Her dress was white, with several gold jewelry roped across her dress like a belt, and an ornate gold necklace. In her left arm was a shield and in her right a ornate staff topped with a blue orb.

Behind her was a very light blue circle with three feather designs on each of the circles sides.

It didn't take long for Sena to realize that the statues were depicting her.

"Palutena, right?" Sena asked. Palutena smiled as she replied. "The one and only. You hungry?"

"Uh, yea."

"I thought so. So While you were fighting the Underworld, I whipped up some cheeseburgers." She turned around to a table that Sna had just noticed, revealing half a dozen hamburgers. "I hope you're not lactose intolerant. The cheese is the best part."

Quickly Sena approached the table and sat down. He took a burger in hand and took a bite. As far as burgers so, this wasn't bad. "These are good."

"I'm glad you like it. I have a lot of time to experiment." Palutena laughed as Sena wolfed the burger down like it was water. "But on to that explanation I owe you. Like I said, time has been repeating over and over again, hasn't it?"

"Yea. You know why it's happening to me?"

"Yes, and it's not just to you." Palutena tapped the ground with her staff, and a screen appeared, depicting a tree. "So let's get to business, or as we experienced people like to call it, the "Welcome to the Multiverse Speach"."

"Uh, how did you do that?"

"With my Power of Exposition."

"Really?"

"I'm a goddess. I have a lot of Powers. In any case, let's get back on the rails." The goddess of light pointed her staff to the tree. "This is Yggdrasil, the world tree. And in that tree like any other tree are branches. But these are special branches. Each branch of Yggdrasil is an entire world, with it's own people, things, and physics.

"Many ages ago, however, something happened to Yggdrasil. No one is quite sure what happened, not even the Admin Gods who watch over the tree, but something caused Yggdrasil to break. And the only way to keep the damage to a minimum was to put all of time into a time loop. That way, Yggdrasil wouldn't be damaged any further while repairs are taking place."

"Okay, I think I get it. Is Yggdrasil some kind of a computer?" Sena asked through a bite of burger.

"That's a good way of putting it."

"Great. I'm not that good with computers." Sena replied. "But why am I the only one who knows time is looping. And why do you as well?"

"Don't worry about the computer aspects. It's just an analogy." Palutena then tapped the ground with her staff again, the images changing to several symbols that looked like people. "But as for why you know time is looping and everyone else does not, well there are five kinds of people: Anchors, Loopers, Normals, Loop Aware, and MLEs.

"The Normals have no idea what is going on. To them, everything is normal, and when time resets, they go on as if it never reset."

Then one of the people on Palutena's Power of Exposition turned yellow. "Each branch of Yggdrasil has an Anchor. This one person is always aware of the Time Loops, and keeps the loops they are in up and running. And it's their job to not go crazy while this is happening." At that Sena started to look down. "Was it something I said?

"It just seems kinda lonely to loop without my friends..."

"And that's how we get to our third type, Loopers. Loopers start as Normals, but eventually, they become Loopers." A handful of people on the Power of Exposition turned green to prove her point. "Like Anchors, Loopers are anyone who experiences the Time Loops. However, a Looper might not be Awake for any given Loop."

"Awake?"

"With a capital A. Awake means you are aware of the Loops. Like I said, both Anchors and Loopers are awake, but an Anchor is always awake for every loop. A looper might not be awake for a loop. So you might run into a loop where just a few Loopers are awake, and you might run into a Loop where only the Anchor is awake. It just depends."

"And the fourth type?"

"Loop Aware." One blue figure turned to purple. "There are two types of Loop Aware, but they generally function the same: They are aware that Time is Looping, but they themselves do not loop. Either they have some way of knowing Time is Looping such as Precognition, or just figured it out. Dreamers, which are the other type, are rather rare, and don't know time is looping. But they are able to recall bits and pieces of previous loops they are in. Like Loop Awares they don't loop. Which leads us to our last type..."

A blue figure turned red and grew horns. "Malicious Looping Entity. These are Loopers whom for various reasons cause more problems for the Admin Gods to fix. Thankfully there are only four we know off but they are dangerous and not to be trusted. They are Waltz, Dio Brando, Kyubey, and the Tick." Images of the four appeared to show Sena what they looked like.

Sena raised an eyebrow. "The Tick?"

"He thinks he's helping. He's not."

"So are you..."

"I'm just a Looper. While I am a God, I'm not on the same level as the Admins Gods who run the multiverse." Palutena took a moment to laugh before continuing. "The anchor of our branch is Pit, the captain of my guard." Palutena smiled as the Power of Exposition changed images again, picturing the planet Earth. "Which leads to my next subject: The Loops themselves. There are Baseline, Variant, and Fused. Baseline is where nothing changes from how you experienced the first time. Think of it as your Loops Canon timeline.

"Variants are where something changes in the loop." The Image of Earth then morphed into a triangle of Earth, with caused Sena to chuckle. "Variants can be pretty much anything, such as you changing gender or a zombie apocalypse happening. If it's different from baseline, its a variant.

"And finally Fused Loops." The triangle earth turned back into a circle, only for it to be partially overlapped by a red colored earth. "Fused Loops are where aspects of one loop enters another loop. Think of them as crossovers between two different stories."

"I'm in a Fused Loop am I?" Sena asked, already knowing the answer.

"Indeed you are. We call this loop the Kid Icarus Loop. It was Pit's idea. " Palutena smiled. "The most common kind of Fused Loop is where people from one loop enter the other and replace people there. In your case, you replaced Pit."

"So that's why Mamori is evil? She's taking the place of someone who is evil!"

"For the most part yes."

"I'm not going to hurt my friend." Sena narrowed his eyes and Palutena raised a hand.

"Sena, Mamori will be fine. After the loop ends, Mamori will go back to being your not evil friend. She'll be fine."

"If you say so..." Sena then thought for a moment. "Wait...You said I was replacing This Pit guy right? Where is he?"

"Most likely where you come from."

"Please tell me that we have a plan here?" Dark Pit sighed. He looped in as Pit's twin brother in this Loop rather than his reflection this time. At the time, he was reading a manga labeled Eyeshield 21.

"Yea, Hiruma is a lot more frightening in person." Pit sighed. He was reading another volume of Eyeshield 21, the duo sitting on the edge of a small hill near a river in Japan.

"Speak for yourself. This Hiruma guys sounds like a blast." Medusa, taking the form of a normal human, walked up to the duo and sat down.

"In any case, I really don't want to do that Death March." Pit sighed. "I know for sure that I'll be finished if we do that."

"You could use a little extra meat on those chicken wings you call arms." Dark Pit taunted. He poked said arms which annoyed the angel.

"Look who's talking Pittoo."

"Don't call me that."

Medusa flipped a page in her volume of Eyeshield 21, thinking. "Question. Do you two still have those weapons that Palutena gets for you?"

"I have a good number. We could probably recreate the rest." Pit replied.

"You have a plan?"

With a grin, Medusa pulled out the Mirror of Truth from her subspace pocket. "You two want to create a Light Vs Dark league?"

"DO WE!?"

2.1

It was a quiet evening at the Kobayakawa house. Sena was simply looking at as many videos of professional NFL players alongside Monta, whom he had invited over for the evening.

Though it seemed to be that Monta was eyeing Sena strangely when they were not gazing at the screen of an impressively large sized TV.

"I didn't know your family was loaded Sena." Monta replied through a handful of banana. Sena gave a nervous smile. "Oh we're not that rich, really."

"At least, not without a little tip on the lottery from the future." Sena though to himself. Earlier in the loop Sena had convinced his parents to get a ticket on the lottery. One ticket later, they were 750,000 yen richer.

"In any case, this is good for maxi research." Monta unpeeled another banana. "You think we can do this more often?"

At that Sena laughed. "You just wanna watch the TV more, don't you."

Then the lights turned off, the TV shutting down abruptly as the room was plunged into darkness with only the light of the moonlight to illuminate it.

"Uh Sena?"

"I know." Sena replied. He did a quick scan of the room, the door cracked open showing only deep darkness in that crack. So far things were normal.

Sena turned to Monta, motioning him to stay put, to which Monta nodded. With silent motion Sena left the room.

Then the music started.

"A...music box?" Monta whispered.

"Stay here Monta. I'll check it out" Sena whispered back. He slowly opened the door with a creak, and exited into the darkness.

Downstairs was just as dark as upstairs, with only the faint fiery light of a Burning Palm to light the immediate area. So far there was nothing usual.

The music started again, and Sena swore he saw white flashing in the dark. He aimed his Palm at the eyes, which vanished as the music did.

Sena began to sigh.

Then a blur of brown appeared before his eyes as a distorted scream filled his ears.

Sena had just enough time to scream.

2.2

The first thing Sena did was scream.

Loudly.

In the middle of class.

Sena hated waking up like that. He quickly excused himself to be alone.

Sena heaved loudly, thankful the bathroom was empty so he could de-stress in peace.

Great...what do I do in an obvious horror loop, and I break at least a dozen rules. I will never ever go alone again in such a loop.

Oh the things Sena had planned for that animatronic bear.

2.3

"Great, now I'm Japanese."

Sena tried to smile towards the visiting looper, but it wasn't working. "I'm sure it's not that bad, right? i mean, you're on the American football team."

"But it's a Japanese American football team!" The replacement of Kurita, complained. "It's like trying to compare a Japanese car to a solid built American car: the original is better no matter how many times the American car breaks down!"

"I hope the loop ends soon. This Stan Smith is getting on my nerves."

2.4

Sena Awoke in his room his time, yawning. It was an odd sensation, to Wake up while waking up. He stretched as he got up, heading for the bathroom.

With a sleepy gaze he looked into the mirror, and as he started to undress he saw a young feminine face with somewhat messy bedhead hair that went down just above her shoulders.

Then the Loop Memories hit.

Sumiko Kobayakawa groaned as she gazed as herself, her body devoid of a shirt, revealing two small but perky breasts in a bra.

"Great...I'm a girl now." Sena moaned in his thoughts. "First I turn into an angel who can't actually fly, then I get killed, and now I'm a girl.

"It's official. The Loops are weird."

A stray hand went up and played with her hair as 'Sumiko' though things through. "I'm not even sure I know how to be a girl..." Her motion was immediately disproved as her hands deftly unhooked the bra, freeing her breasts from it's prison. "Oh right...Loop Memories. This is going to take some time to get used to."

Sumiko gazed up at the board, unsurprised that her number (21) was visible. Mamori cheered for her friend, and then went off to do something as per the script.

And so Sumiko waited for the inevitable charge of a certain demonic quarterback and Kurita, to throw her int he air, and to attempt to coerce her to join the tea.

And right on time, Hiruma and Kurita did emerge from the shadows, and raced towards her...

...and then ran past her.

Confused, Sumiko turned around and saw Hiruma and Kurita throw another person into the air.

Sumiko felt slightly offended at that.

Two days later, it was morning.

Kurita lunged towards the blocking tool, the battle cry loud and powerful as Hiruma walked down the stairs with a gun in hand. The demon of Deimon looked at Kurita's handiwork.

Which often was broken equipment.

"You idiot! You busted it!"

"Sorry..."

Just was quickly as the anger came, it subsided. "Damn. Well we'll have to trick the principal into buying us another one again."

"Good morning!" The duo turned to face the stairs again to see a first year girl with brown spiky hair cheerful walk down the stairs. Oddly she was wearing a Devil Bats jersey, the number twenty one. "You're part of the football team right?"

"Yea..." a weary Hiruma replied. "And you are...?"

"Great!" The girl reached her hand out for Hiruma to shake. "I'm Sumiko Kobayakawa! Pleased to meet you!"

The exuberant Kurita forced himself between Hiruma and Sumiko, eager to shake her hand. "I'm Ryokan Kurita!" bellowed the gentle giant. "And this is Hiruma! He's the quarterback!"

"A pleasure to meet you both!" The girl shook Kurita's hand, then slipped past his massive girth and held her hand for Hiruma to shake. He simply looked at it with a mix of his usual calculating look and confusion.

"I bet Hiruma isn't used to people coming to him." Sumiko thought. "I will never forget this moment."

"So, are there any open spots on the team? I would like to try out for the team." Sumiko reply was enough to melt any frozen heart, Kurita getting excited immediately.

Unfortunately Hiruma's heart was made of coal rather than ice. "I don't think so."

"But Hiruma, she wants to be on the team!"

"Look ya damn fatty, we don't need her!"

Kurita then grabbed Sumiko and held her in front of Hiruma like she was a puppy. "Come on Hiruma, we have another teammate! And she came to us!"

Hiruma sighed as Kurita put her down. "Fine. She can be the damn manager."

"Oh no no no. I wanted to join the team as a player, not a manager." Sumiko informed them. "But Mamori Anezaki would make a great manager. I can talk to her if you want. She's a friend of mine."

"Look, that's nice but you're managing." Hiruma sighed. It was too early in the morning for this shit. "I'm not letting a girl on the football team and let her play football."

"Well what about Karin Koizumi, from Teikoku?" Sighed the girl. "She's a girl and she's the quarterback."

"It's not the same. This is American Football." Hiruma put extra oomph into the word 'American". "The sport is rough, people trying to knock the other side down, to hurt the other side. It's not just a sport. It's a battle. You risk your physical health when you step on that field."

"Aw, he really does care." Sumiko thought to herself.

"Besides, If I let a girl play then people would be getting blackmail material against me. Not gonna happen."

"...Or not." Sumiko sighed. "Look, will you just give me a chance? I could do the forty, show you what I could do?"

"Yea, I'm pretty tired." Kurita then creaked his neck. "I think I'm gonna do the forty. It's been a while."

"I'm not gonna change my mind. But sure, whatever." Hiruma sighed. "Ladies first."

"Thank you." Sumiko took her place on the line, and then she ran.

1.7 continued

Kid Devil Bat Uprising

Part 3

Sena landed at the castle of the Dark Lord Gaol. Gripping his First Blade tightly he rushed in at lightspeed, only to run into a door.

"Probably should have mentioned the first locked door."

"That would have been nice Palutena." Sena whacked the switch with his weapon opening the door and went in.

With a slash of his sword the Gawnemede went down and burst into hearts, floating into him on their own. "Uh Palutena, what's with all the hearts?"

"Well, Sena, when you defeat enemies here, they drop hearts. And when you return to me, I can use my Power of Forging to create new weapons for you."

"Really? Sounds like something from a video game. Kuroki would have a field day here."

"Yes young grasshopper. Through ancient rituals forgotten by man, I use the blood of the guilty and sinners to forge the most powerful weapons known to Godkind so that you may spread my justice!"

"What! How could you do that!?"

Palutena burst into laughter. "I'm just kidding Sena! Seriously, the blood of the guilty and sinners? That's almost as dumb as reading hearts through laurel crowns."

"So what are the hearts for?"

"It's Skyworld's form of money. If you look closely they're just metal tokens. Usually Pit spends the hearts at the company store I have here in Skyworld and I use the profits to get new weapons from the God of the Forge Dyntos."

"...You mess with Pit a lot don't you?"

"Its one of the perks of being a goddess." Palutena remarked, the playful smugness of her voice evident. "In all seriousness, turn left after the door. There's a few treasure chests there, followed by a Zodiac Chamber just up ahead behind a tapestry. I think you need a fancy new Aquarius Blade for your collection."

Sena ran into the next hallway, the now proud owner of a brand new Rose Staff and Artillery Claws (Sena vowed to never ever show Hiruma them) and skid to a stop. The sight he beheld was almost an oxymoron.

Swinging a massive sword almost as large as it's owner was Reiji Maruko, better known as Marco. He was wearing a rather classy tank top and pants befitting a warrior. He screamed as he took down a Skuttler, and hoisted the sword on his shoulder. He immediately looked worried as he put two and two together. "Uh, I'm not really one of those devout types..."

"Behind you!" Sena shouted. Aiming quickly he fired a shot and barely missed Marco, striking the Monoeye that tried to kill Marco and killing the Underworlder instead.

"I take it you know him?"

"Yea, that's Marco. He was a quarterback my team battled back home. Does he..."

"Considering what you told me, probably the only person Awake in your Loop is yourself."

"If the angel is taking to himself then the world must be going crazy." Marco sighed. His worried look was immediately replaced with a numerous one as he swung his sword at a Monoeye, ending it.

"Uh, yea, I was on the phone?" Sena replied. He fired shots form his sword assisting the swordsman. "I take it you're here to take Dark Lord Gaol down as well Marco?"

"In a manner of speaking. But that's twice you called me by my nickname. I'm not that famous now am I?"

"Nothing gets past him doesn't it?"

"It's useful, but annoying for everyone else." Sena replied.

"Hey, Angel! Doors open!

"Margnus is right. You need to keep moving."

"Margnus?"

"The guy he's replacing is Magnus, a mercenary as well as the strongest human alive."

"I was hoping it was a quirk of this world." Sena sighed inwardly. "I would expect Gao to swing a sword that size, not Marco."

"Well, if it isn't Palutena's little messenger boy. And Magnus, always a pleasure."

'The Dark Lord certainly looks the part.' Sena thought to himself.

"I prefer Marco." Marco stated calmed. He pointed his sword at the dark lord before charging. In turn the Dark Lord fired a beam of dark magic at the human, who dodged effortlessly.

Sena took action, staying at a distance and firing charged shots at the Dark Lord. But the dark lord effortlessly dodged each hit, and focused his attention on "Marco.

"Sena, Gaol's got Marco on the ropes!"

"But I keep missing!"

"Sena hurry! I can't help you as much as I want from here! You need to think of something!"

"She right Sena, think!" Sena thought. "I'm not strong like Kurita of Gao. I only have my speed and a sword that shoots laser beams! Gaol keeps dodging my..." His though stopped as he looked at the First Blade he gripped.

His sword that could shoot laser beams.

His sword.

Sena could practically hear the light bulb go ding.

He ran.

Gaol threw Marco to the ground, charging a magical attack in hand. "Well, Magnus, I'd say I feel sorry for this, but business is just business after all. You understand, right?"

Marco did not reply.

"Oh well. Here ends the great Ma..."

Gaol screamed in pain as a figure blurred towards him, slashing at his back. Before he could react, the figured made a cut and ran back, slashing again, and again, and again.

Marco could not believe his eyes. The angel was fast, possibly as fast as lightspeed. And those cuts...

He was turning, making the hardest of turns without so much as slowing down.

With a final strike, a sickening crack echoed and Gaol fell to the ground, the armor falling to pieces revealing the wearer...

...who happened to be a girl.

"Isn't that Marco's girlfriend?" Sena thought to himself.

"Maria!"

"Yea...this is getting stranger and stranger." Sena sighed as he thought that.

2.4 continued

"Sorry about all the high pitched squealing and cheering on our side." Hatsujo, the captain of the Koigahama Cupids said. "These girls, they just insist on coming out to support us." Hatsujo then got a better look at the rag tag collective of the Deimon Devil Bats.

His eyes then fell on the lone female of the team. "Hey! You only have one girl to cheer you on! We have at least ten girls, no twenty girls to cheer us on!"

"Oh, that's cute!" The girl smiled at the opposing captain. "You think I'm just a cheerleader."

This stunned the Cupid. He took a closer look at the girl, who was wearing a football jersey, complete with padding and a helmet held under her arm. She took the opportunity to offer her hand.

"Uh...hi." The handshake was returned. "I'm Hatsujo."

"A Pleasure!"

At that Hatsujo smiled. He always did enjoy pleasing the ladies. "You just wanted to play, and brag to your friends about playing a tough game like this huh? Don't worry we'll go easy on you."

"I'm insulted!" The girl replied. "You think that just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can play a rough game like American Football! You sir have insulted me! Insulted!"

Hatsujo backed away from the irate girl, the other Cupids converging towards their captain. "Well, sir. You have angered me. Angered me! You think that just because I am a girl means I should be coddled! No sir!

"To you, you see a small girl trying to impress the big strong men behind me. But to me, all I see are eleven scarecrows that need to be taken out of the field."

Then the girl put her helmet on, strapped it tightly, and glared at Hatsujo through her green eyeshield. "I am Sumiko Kobayakawa of the Deimon Devil Bats. But you can call me Eyeshield 21, the girl with the golden legs. And against me, you have already lost."

"But you're a girl! You can't play football with us guys!"

"Then prove it."

The game began. The Cupids kicked the ball, sailing towards the girl who called herself Eyeshield 21.

Nine seconds later, Deimon made it's first touchdown.

"Okay, okay...you're right." Hatsujo wheezed. "Girls can play football with guys! We give up!"

Hatsujo was on the ground, wheezing from running to hard to catch up to Sumiko, the score 108 to 0 favor Deimon. Sumiko smiled.

Being a girl did have it's advantages.

Being in a time loop also had it's advantages, as it gave her plenty of time to work on the speech she gave the Cupid captain.

Of course, it was meant for when she was a he. A few tweaks on the fly were needed.

2.5

"Excuse me, Mr. Sakuraba?"

Sakuraba looked up and saw Sena standing there, the two just outside of Ojo's grand halls for regular schooling was over for the day. "Uh hi. Aren't you from Deimon?"

"Can I have an autograph?" Sena ignored the question leaving Sakuraba confused. He held out a piece of paper in a simple wooden frame, the kind people would sign autographs on.

Sakuraba looked at Sena with a careful eye. "Usually its girls who ask for an autograph."

"It's for my sister Sumiko. She's feeling a little Loopy so I thought getting her an autograph would help her feel better." Sena smiled.

"Okay." Sakuraba hesitantly replied, grabbing a pen Sena seemed to have pulled from thin air and signed the paper. With a rushed thank you, Sena ran off a lightspeed, leaving a worried Sakuraba in his wake.

He heard Hiruma was a sneaky one and would expect him to send a teammate to do something for him, leaving the target confused.

The real question was what the purpose of this was.

2.4 continued.

It was the evening several night after the Deimon and Ojo game. Taro Raimon sat in his room, a glove worth more than gold in his hands and a manga gripped in his feet. The television was on, and the program was showcasing the star of the year Sakuraba.

"Rugby...I mean football?" Raimon spoke to himself out loud. "Sorry lady but I must stay completely focused on baseball."

The lady in question was that incredibly cute Sumiko Kobayakawa. She had come to him during school today, trying to convince him to join the football team in case the baseball team didn't work.

Each time he rebuffed her. Catching was his life, his goal to be the greatest catcher of all time. To be like his hero Honjo.

"Sakuraba is a wide receiver." The TV spoke to him. "This is a catching position. I'd have to say that the essence of football is catching!"

"WHAT!?" Raimon grabbed the TV, the words seemingly untrue to him in some manner.

Then his eyes widened.

He rushed out of his room, the TV still on, oblivious to the exit of it's owner.

"Taro Raimon get back here!"

Ms. Raimon got no answer as the door slammed shut quickly, leaving a confused Ms. Raimon behind.

Meanwhile, at the Kobayakawa residence, and only Sumiko was home (she had manage to convince her parents to go out on the town tonight, thanks to a generous donation from the lottery.)

Sumiko sighed, simply staying in her home for the evening. She left the team building earlier than baseline, wanting to simply go home and relax, and ponder the mystery of a specific instance of the Loop.

Another of the consistencies of her loop was the matter of Deimon's second game in the Spring Tournament.

Mainly how they always lost.

"It's disappointing how we always seem to lose against Ojo." She thought to herself. "But then again...the spring tournament is more of a filler for the real tournament. I wonder what would happen if we actually won that match? Well, considering we would need the entire team to even stand a chance, but we meet them after we lose to Ojo. "

She smiled. In the Spring battle against Ojo, Sumiko was only real threat against Ojo. But considering how only three of the 11 Devil Bats (at the time) actually cared for the game, it often ended in a loss as Tamaki would often be able to outsmart her speed.

"I'm getting too used to female identification"

A sudden crash downstairs jolted her out of her thoughts. "Ha?"

"I'M GOING SENA! MAXI RESCUE!"

"HA?"

"MAXI RESCUE!"

Before Sumiko could do anything, the door burst open, with Monta rolling out of it (impressive given how little room he had to start the roll) and tackling Sumiko to the ground. "HAAAAA!?"

"Don't worry Sena! I'll protect you!"

"Monta?" Sumiko stopped struggling at that, having just noticed who her attacker was. She then took another double take. "Wait...Sena?"

Monta finally got a good look at whom he tackled. The cute girl from the football team. "Wait...you're not Sena."

"Uh..."

"Monta then immediately started to struggle with Sumiko again, this time his cries sound more like a monkey's the more he fought. "WHERE'S SENA YOU WHOO-EEEE!"

"It can't be..."

Sumiko's eyes widened she started to plead. "Monta, wait it's me!"

"Nice try! You're not Sena, Sena's a guy! Now where is he? What did you do to him!?"

"I didn't do anything to him! Because I am him!"

"What, do you think I'm an Idiot?"

"No, that's what I think about Taki!"

"EVERYONE THINKS THAT ABOUT TAKI!"

"This is getting me nowhere..."

An idea came to her quickly. "Monta, It's me! I swear! I know things only Sena would know!"

"Okay then prove it! What did we do in America together in our summer vacation?"

"The Death March!"

"What''s my number and why did I pick it?"

"Number 80! It's your hero's number, Honjo!"

"What's my special move?"

"The Neo Devil Backfire!"

That seemed to do the trick. Monta calmed down, letting his friend down to recompose herself. "Sena? Is that you?"

"Yea, it's me." She weakly laughed.

"Sena?"

"Yea Monta?"

"Why are you a girl?"

"...I really don't know."

The two sat at the table, Sena preparing something for the two to eat. "This is really weird...seeing you as a girl. I mean, you were already short..."

"Trust me, this is tame compared to what I've been through already. " Sumiko sighed. "And if you want you can call me by my female name, Sumiko."

"Na, that's just weird." Monta replied. "So..what's going on?"

"Well...the short version is that there is a giant computer tree called Yggdrasil that runs...everything." Sumiko explained. "But a really long time ago...the tree kinda broke, and the people in charge of making sure things go smoothly put all of...well everything into time loops."

"And that's why you're a girl?"

"Kinda. See, I'm what's called an Anchor. Every time time loops I'm aware of it. And other people who can loop, which is just you right now, may not be aware of it and act as if everything is normal. It got really lonely until you Woke up." She smiled, causing Monta to blush.

"Yea, no problem. Seems like a rough deal though." Monta replied. "So...why are you a girl?"

"Monta, really?"

"Yea really."

"Well.." Sumiko sighed. "Sometimes each Loop things change. This loop I'm a girl. And in a previous loop you had blue as your natural hair color."

"Really? That is weird." Monta took a drink before Sumiko replied.

"That does remind me. How long have you noticed time repeating?"

Monta though hard on that. "Well, it was when you invited me to your house to do some research on that Big TV of yours. Then the lights turn off and I hear you scream. Then the next thing I know I'm watching the TV in my room."

Monta then raised an eyebrow as Sumiko groaned loudly. "Oh...That loop." Then at lightspeed she waked to the fridge and grabbed a beer, chugging it quickly. "Uh..."

"I don't like remembering that loop." Sumiko replied. "...don't worry. I'll be fine."

"Okay..." Monta was hesitant to reply. "I'm just glad to see you're alright, even if you are a girl. I though for a second there you died." With a laugh he took another drink, thankful his friend was alive and not dead.

Sumiko's expression turned sour. "Monta...I don't like remembering that loop because I really did die."

Monta spit his drink out into Sumiko's face. "WHAT!?"

Sumiko glared at Monta as she wiped the liquid off of her face. "Monta, I'm the Anchor. That means if I die, the loop restarts." She sighed. "Trust me, it was weird. I was ambushed by Freddy, and I Awake Screaming. Everyone in class was pretty freaked out."

"But you died!"

"I've gotten over it. Really." Sumiko replied. "That was ten loops ago Monta. I'm fine, really." Monta looked at his friend strangely as she said that. "My mentor in Looping Palutena told me that to Loopers, the loops seem to happen one after the other, but the Anchors get to experience the loops between those loops."

"I think I get it." Monta sighed. "Who's Freddy?"

A photo appeared out of nowhere, showing a ragged animatronic brown bear wearing top hat and carrying a microphone. "Really Sena?"

"Don't underestimate these things. They're scarier in person." Sumiko then cracked a smile. "Among other Loopers I heard he and the other four are not well liked."

Sumiko then caught a glace at her friend's dour expression. "Sorry. I couldn't help you. I could have saved you..."

"Monta..."

"You...you really did die did you? That thing really did kill you." Tears welled in his eyes. "It's hard to believe. You really died. And you act like it was nothing..."

"Monta. It was not nothing." Sumiko glared. She startled to slightly shiver, the horrid memory returning. "I spent the entire loop after I died in therapy. I couldn't sleep. His head just kept appearing in my head when I closed my eyes. I kept hearing things. It's me. It's me. It's me...I honestly thought he was everywhere." She shuttered. "I don't want to think about it."

An idea then popped into her head. "You know, I could probably get us tickets around the world. You wanna go see the sights in Los Angeles in a few days?"

"You're trying to change the subject."

"Monta, you're right I am. Because you are my friend and I don't want to see my friend try to blame himself for something that was not his fault in any way." Sumiko's eye's glared at Monta, calming him. "So either you can cry about how I died or we can go see Los Angeles together. What do you say?"

Sumiko held her hand out for her friend to grasp. He did so with a grin on his face.

For the first time in a long time, Sena didn't feel alone.

2.6

"Now this is weird." Sena told himself.

Most variation Loops were small changed but this...this was a pretty big Variation.

Sena was standing on a cliff wearing a cape. Below him was Mamori in a traditional witch's garb with a broom as her weapon. Along side the speedy running back was Kurita, Komosubi, and Monta each garbed in light armor (light being a relative term for Kurita).

And far below them on a cliff where the Ha Ha Brothers manning a powerful artillery cannon.

Evil laughter echoed as a phantom image of Hiruma, garbed as if he as a Vampire appeared behind a tall imposing tower made of black stone with a rather large Devil Bat circling it.

As was now habit, he checked his loop memories. Apparently this loop he and the other Devil Bats (minus Taki) were a mercenary band that had been hired to kill the mighty and ancient vampire Hiruma, whom resided in his Tower of Hell.

"Honestly I don't know how to feel about this." Sena thought. "Even if my friend are different sometimes each loop, I don't like hurting them if I can help it."

"But then again...it is Hiruma. Maybe some payback is in order. I think."

2.7

"I find this unfunny." Monta moaned.

"Trust me, you'll get used to it." Pikachu replied. The electric mouse sat on the ground next to the Chimchar that was Monta.

"No, it's just that people often compare me to a monkey back at Deimon!" Monta omplained. "Now I am a monkey!"

"It's not that bad, trust me." Pikachu tried to cheer the Looper up to no avail. "Yea Pauls a jerk but Paul gets rid of you soon enough so you can join Ash. Then I can teach you a few Pokemon tricks."

"Like what?"

A bolt of lightning shot out of Pikachu. Monta's eyes widened as Pikachu smiled. "I can do that now?

"Well, not Thunder. But you are a fire monkey." Pikachu answered. "Fire and Fighting are good for your species."

"This is gonna give me maxi strength for my future football games! Sign me up."

Pikachu gave a weary smile.

1.7a: The much needed exposition. It's a dirty job but someone has got to do it.

2.1: IT'S ME

2.2: +1 Awkard awakening

2.3: Good Morning USA?

2.4a: Sisters are doing it for themselves!

1.7b: Lightspeed slashing? Fear it!

2.4b: Well the Cupids are kinda the punching bag of Eyeshield 21. It's a dirty job but someone has got to do it.

2.5: Being a celeb tends to attract people...

2.4c: HERE I COME TO SAVE THE DAY! ~ THAT MEANS THAT MIGHT MONKEY'S ON THE WAY!

2.6: Brought to you by Chapter 32.

2.7: Poor Monta. The Monkey jokes just never seem to end.