Attack on Titan, Infinite Loops
Chapter 12
A/N: Does anyone here want to see some new character interactions? Yes? You do? Good! Here's a whole new chapter of the AoT Loops for you!
12.1 Shimmer712
"So, you're possessed by demons?" Armin questioned.
"No, I just hijack their powers," Eren corrected. "And Mikasa summons swords. Magic swords. And a lot of them."
"I also summon armors," the female member of the trio added. "I like the one the lets me fly a little bit even if it is a bit skimpy."
"What about you?" Eren asked. "Me and Mikasa are in the same Guild but you've been with this Lamia Scale people instead of Fairy Tail. What magic did you get?"
"Sky God Slayer Magic," Armin answered. "It basically lets me summon gust of wind and self-heal. I dunno if it will let me regenerate lost limbs like your shifter ability does, though."
"Cool!" Eren chirped. Then paused. "Wait, is Mikasa the only one without a healing factor now?"
"It would seem so," the girl answered.
"Do you guys know who the last ping was?" Armin asked. "There were four, we account for three so who's the last?"
Eren grinned. "Remember how Mom started looping and replaced that water lady from the loop with alchemy and stuff?" Armin remembered. He especially remembered Eren's ecstatic reaction that discovery, since it consisted to Carla not being killed for once.
"So it's your Mom?" Armin asked. "Who is she looping as?"
"A water mage, who is also made of water," Eren said happily. "And she has some serious power at her disposal! She sliced through a boulder!"
"So she can probably kill any titans that try to eat her in the future," Mikasa nodded, a faint smile on her lips. The girl had hated seeing her adopted mother killed so many times and she was pleased that she was looping now.
"Do you think she'll try to drown your Dad again?" Armin asked.
"Given how she reacted afterwards, probably not."
Carla had not been happy to learn of what her husband had done to their son and given that anything she did would be undone when the loop reset… she had expressed that fury. She had been distraught at the fact she had killed Grisha afterwards. But she was still upset over the fact he had turned Eren into a Shifter without even explaining why.
"So where have you been the past seven years?" Armin asked. "Shouldn't you be older now?"
"We were in some sort of time bubble, apparently," Mikasa said. "So basically, we time-travelled to the future and can't go back without creating a paradox. Or something like that."
"But we're going kick ass at the Grand Magic Games," Eren added.
Armin smiled and wondered if his in-loop cousin would let him join Fairy Tail so he could be with his friends, despite the apparent age difference
12.2 Crossoverpairinglove
An army of furry, bird eyed and beaked, pointed ear critters were gathered beyond the wall.
Levi eyed them with some distaste. "Great, more rodents. And I thought the Lemmings were bad."
"No...those aren't Lemmings," Armin stated with some level of horror. "Those are..."
"FURBIES!"
Hanji screamed in delight as she sped right over the wall, literally jumping over it like she was a Kryptonian, landing in the middle of them all.
"Ew...she's touching them," Levi looked ill at the sight he was seeing.
12.3 Shimmer712
"Armin? Why are we in a bunch of tree houses?" Eren asked. Sure enough, the Shinganshina loops were in a treetop town, with wooden platforms and pathways.
"Apparently in this loop, instead of hiding behind walls, humanity decided to move out of the titans reach by building towns up in trees," The blond answered.
"…But I can see Wall Maria," Carla said, Eren and Mikasa nodding in agreement.
"Crops," Hans muttered.
"…Good point," Carla said.
"Can't have farms in trees," Eren agreed. Then paused. "…Can you?"
"…It may occur in a loop…somehow," Mikasa murmured as the loops paused to imagine a farm up in a tree.
"Well, look on the bright side," Carla remarked. "The death toll when the Wall comes down will be much lower, with most people too high for the titans to reach."
"The initial death toll, yeah, but I doubt there's a treetop path that goes all the way to Rose, people will probably be eaten on the way, and let's not forget the loss of the farms and supplies in Maria," Hans reminded her. "And the culling, where a bunch of people are sent to their deaths under the guise of attempting to reclaim Wall Maria."
Carla stared at him. "…Well, that's a downer."
"…Sorry 'bout that."
"I wonder what other variations this loops will have," Armin mused.
Eren shrugged. Mikasa suddenly smirked.
"What is it?" Eren asked her.
"You have pointy ears in your titan form and you live in tree village," she pointed out. "What does that remind you of?"
"…If Jean makes an elf crack, I'm punching him…" Eren muttered.
12.4
Shiganshina was falling, people were dying, and Carla was Awake. Gathering herself, Carla liquified and stepped out of the rubble of her home, and made a beeline for the river that ran through Shiganshina. At the water's edge, she leapt in.
Inside the fast flowing water, Carla expanded her consciousness, enveloping the fluid, folding it into her form. Like a living tidal wave, the form of Carla erupted from the river, cold water burning with her electric determination.
The giantess stepped into the street, the weight cracking pavement. That she had basically weaponized a 'Your Mom' joke was a fact ignored by Carla. The crystal clear water sparkled in the setting sun, casting a wavering shadow. The townsfolk, terrified of this watery Titan, spread away from her, cowering in the shadows, praying to the walls that she didn't notice them.
Carla marched through the streets, a prowling beast, searching for the monsters that had killed her once and would never lay a finger on her children ever again. Scouring the streets, the Homunculus turned Human was armed and ready. At the sight of a Titan, she would retaliate, years, decades, even centuries of power lashing out to stop those that would bring harm to her family.
After an hour of fruitless searching, Carla ran into a Titanized and armored Eren. Apparently, he'd been bored, so he had sealed the gates and was using a four-meter class Titan to play tennis with Mikasa.
Carla was... Displeased.
12.5
"Hey Eren."
Eren, having just gotten home from the office, looked up from his newspaper and spaghetti he was having for dinner. Mikasa was standing in the doorway. "Oh hey Mikasa. How's the new loop treating you?"
"Well I wish you weren't married to Annie," Mikasa said with no small amount of poison in her voice. Eren's indifference didn't faze her though. "How's your life going? Enjoying Sea Haven?"
Eren shrugged. "Seriously, I need to get out of here. That's the weird thing though. Every time I'be tried something, I'm blocked at every turn. It's like they don't want me to leave."
Mikasa nodded sagely. "Oh, they don't. Your life is really a TV show produced by Erwin and broadcast to millions, even billions, around the world. Everyone, especially Annie, are actors, myself included."
Eren opened his mouth, glanced at Mikasa, and closed it. Mikasa pointed at a lightbulb. Eren looked at the bulb and glared at it. With a 'crack', Eren and Mikasa apparated away, literally vanishing into thin air on live Television.
Annie ran into the kitchen at that moment and stared at the empty seats. She turned to the camera, silent and stunned. "...They're gone."
Up in the control room, Erwin, and his late crew of Reiner, Bertolt, and Keith, stared at the screen. Erwin stuttered loudly and shouted. "Cut transmission." He bolted to the control panel and hit the emergency severance button. The show stopped dead.
Annie clicked her lips, and wondered if this meant she would out of the job...
...And to think, in case they couldn't see them...Good Afternoon, Good Evening, and Good Night.
12.6 Crossoverpairinglover
Sasha was focused exclusively on the body of water before her.
It was sort of weird.
"Hey Potato Girl!" Ymir, currently in a one piece black swimsuit, yelled out to the normally hunter type flesh lover. "What's with the fishing gear, hungry?"
"No...I'm fishing for monsters." Sasha told the Titan Shifter curtly. "We have Wels Catfish here, and I'm not sure if that is abnormal or not. I want to be sure they aren't too big. They are maneaters Ymir...Maneaters".
"Well, I'm a woman, so I should be fine," Ymir joked "And really, a Catfish? What could a Catfish possibly do?"
Then the line bobbled.
An epic struggle later, a very frantic Ymir was trying to convince Historia that you should not go into the water.
Meanwhile, Levi was swimming in the water when he felt something large, heavy, and almost sandpapery grab him around the ankle...
12.7
"Hey Marco!" Ymir called out one fine morning in Trost. "How's the loop going?"
Marco looked at his dreaming friend. "Uh... could be better I guess. I can get food, I have a decent place to sleep, and I'm one of the Titan Shifters."
Ymir stopped in her tracks. "Oh..."
It was barely a few weeks after the fall of Wall Maria. Refugees had flooded the territory encompassed by Wall Rose, but the gradual depletion of supplies was at the back of everyone's minds. Riots would break out in the next few months as the food ran out and winter set in. Eventually the government would announce a "plan" to take back Wall Maria, an act that was in reality a cull. Of the two hundred and fifty thousand people marching into the territory, barely one hundred would return.
It was a monstrous act, but for almost a million souls, it was a supposedly necessary one. In time, most of the loopers of the walled world had developed countermeasures to delay or prevent this, which primarily involved introducing new farming techniques, setting up their own distribution networks, riding out the winter with the food stored in their subspace pockets, and hoping for the best. These were plans that Eren, Armin and Mikasa had already put into practice, leaving Marco and Ymir to their own devices.
Ymir had, over the few thousand loops she'd dreamed in, gotten used to bunking with one of the other loopers, usually Jean or Sasha, and occasionally Connie. Since none of them were Awake, Ymir had planned to room with Marco. That plan had been blown out of the water once Marco had said the words "Titan Shifter."
Marco himself usually had a home to go to. He had family, a loving mother and father and occasionally siblings (the composition of his family tree was, like Ymir's past, Eren's last name, or Hange's gender, one of the great variables of the loops). Marco was usually had a safe bet for a good home. But then again, he usually wasn't a spy intent on murdering humanity.
"That's tough buddy," Ymir admitted to Marco as they lounged on a rooftop in Trost. Marco swirled the beer he had kept in his pocket, a light agreement. "I mean, a Titan Shifter? That's one thing. One of the Mountain Shifters is just something else man."
"Yeah, I know." Marco sipped his beer. "Just... really bad luck."
Ymir shrugged, her laying posture only moderately affecting the action. "Just one of those loops. Personally, I suggest you try and get Bert, Reiner, maybe Annie to jump sides. Ya might be able to avoid Trost's siege."
"I can't do that. They're-"
"That's a fucking lie Marco, and you know it." Ymir sat up, glaring at her friend. "You have a blank history, and no obligations. If you have the will to do it, you can do it." Ymir hocked her thumb at herself. "Look at me. This loop, my grandmother reverse engineered Titans from my dad's DNA, and created the Titanization formula from it. The entire world wants me dead because she created the Titans. Do I let that stop me? No, I don't." Ymir pointed at Marco. "And neither should you."
Ymir looked out at Trost, the sprawling wall district bustling with precious, fragile life. "You've got your second chance. Use it."
Marco blankly stared at Ymir. He looked at Trost, seeing countless happy lives. Lives that he, Annie, Reiner and Bertolt would ruin if he stuck to the plan. Marco looked down, unable to see what was right in front of him for guilt. "You must have spent a long time thinking that up."
"...Yeah. Historia worked on it with me," Ymir admitted.
"Cool. Hard to believe that ole Christa was... well, is a princess. Right?"
"Yeah, pretty freaky. Real freaky, in fact." Ymir looked at Marco, who was still staring at his knees.
"You tracked her down right? Because you both had people who thought they would be happier if you were dead? Because everyone hated you, and thought you deserved it?" Marco asked.
"Yeah. We did. But I made a fresh start," Ymir muttered. Suddenly, a torrent of fury broke across her face. "You don't want to break from the plan do you! You'll gonna kill everyone anyway!"
Marco looked at Ymir, his eyes full of painful indecision. Ymir stared back at Marco, her own anger slowly fading. Understanding graced her thoughts. "Alright... why can't you just give up?"
Marco was on the edge of tears. "My parents. They have them. They have my mom and dad, and Bertolt's, and Reiner's, and Annie's dad. If we don't do this... if we don't kill humanity, and find the Beast Titan, and the Coordinate, they'll all die." Marco cradled his head. "Damn... DAMN DAMN DAMN!"
Ymir sat down slowly. "I guess... I agree with you there. This is one damned loop."
Quietly, Ymir and Marco stared out over Trost. The bustling city had no idea that some of it's greatest foes walked amongst them. They merely struggled for their own survival.
Above the noise, Marco asked Ymir a question. "Do you think... that they'll hate me? If I run?"
Ymir nodded slowly. "People hate it when things don't go to plan. Someone drops a vase on your foot, you can get angry at them. Is it wrong to kill these people? Yes. Is it wrong to want to protect your family? No. But do a million lives outweigh a handful? No, they don't."
Ymir gently placed her hand on Marco's shoulder. "So figure it out Marco: what are you going to do? Kill these people, or let them kill your family?"
Marco's eyes bored into Ymir's. "You know that the Titan's are human beings, trapped in nightmares. You want them to live on. You don't want to kill them. But you'll kill them to protect Historia. You'll kill soldiers to save her, Titan's, anyone who threatens her. Even people who think they're doing the right thing. So what right do you have to tell me what's right and wrong?"
Ymir sipped her beer. "Do as I say Marcy boy... not as I do."
And on that note of hypocrisy, Marco phased away, vanishing into the air as the ghost he was. Ymir lightly raised her bottle in toast to him. "To the strong... and what they decree to be right."
12.8
Trost District, as it always was following the attempt to retake Wall Maria, was a terrible place to be. It was rampant with crime, riddled by the abandoned, and infected with fear. The fear that had been long forgotten. A fear of the Titans.
It was a fear that Carla had overcome long ago. A few Null loops where her powers and pocket had been sealed, and thus, she had been eaten by the smiling Titan, had done that for her. As such, Carla Jaeger was a rarity in this world: a person who was truly unafraid. Only a handful of others existed alongside her.
Besides, Carla was dead! What did she have to fear?
With the immortality of the loops though, Carla had learned. She had grown. Her wisdom, once merely confined to a single lifetime, now spanned centuries, seemingly limitless. Carla knew so much now, could see and understand so much more.
Mikasa returned to the inn that they were staying at, until they could find an apartment. "Hi mom," she said, smiling slightly. Carla smiled back. Mikasa's may not have been her daughter by birth, but she had always seen Carla as a mother. Seeing that reflected after all this time was a beautiful thing. "Mom, do you know where Armin is?"
Carla raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong Mikasa? Is something the matter?"
Mikasa shook her head. "I just need some advice for my sword styles. He'll know what'll work with my skill set, probably better than me," she joked lightly.
Carla deflated. "Oh, well. I believe that Armin went out earlier this afternoon. Something about a sale on bread?"
Mikasa paled considerably. "I should go now. I'll be back later mom!" Mikasa was already out the door when she finished her line. Carla leaned out, but too late. Mikasa was off.
Carla felt... ignored.
12.9
'Eren, why did you become a doctor?'
Armin clenched his fist. "I just... It's just been feeling tingly all loop. It's like my arm's asleep, or it's on pins and needles." Armin rubbed his left arm, wincing. "What's wrong doc?"
Eren glanced over Armin's arm, his Byakugan straining the veins of his eyes. "Hmm... well, I'll need to take some blood to see your glucose levels. Persistent paraesthesia is one of the symptoms of diabetes." Eren smiled lightly at Armin. "Not that there's a problem with too much glucose in the blood here."
Armin stared flatly at his doctor. "Sorry Armin. Medical humor... right. Well, from what I can see now with your chakra pathways, I'd hazard to say you're suffering from a compressed ulnar nerve."
Eren made a few hand signs and pressed healing chakra to Armin's arm. "It shouldn't be a major issue for now, but I'll do your blood work to see if it is diabetes."
Armin twisted his arm, and once Eren removed his hands, flexed. "God... that feels good. Think you got it Eren."
Eren grabbed a clipboard and noted when Armin had come in, his symptoms, and what he needed to do for him. "I'll call you back if your blood shows something important. Just come back to me if your arm starts tingling again."
"Sure thing."
Mikasa lay on the recliner, her mouth open as Eren gently picked at her teeth. "Ah dadn't know ya were a dantust."
Eren pulled the brass scraping hook away from Mikasa's teeth. "What was that Mikasa?"
"I didn't know you were a dentist."
Eren shrugged. "It's something I picked up. Diagnostics, medication, pediatrics, radiology, cardiology, gynecology, hematology, and of course, surgery."
"That masters in surgery was quite an achievement," Mikasa admitted.
"Thank you," Eren said. "Now, stay still and stop talking. You need to really get into the habit of flossing your teeth."
"Doctor... give it too me straight. How long do I have?"
"Sir... your diagnosis is grave. You have... Stage nine Animes."
The ultra-deformed anime style Hannes stared in mild disbelief at the fairly realistic Eren. "...what?"
Eren turned away from Hannes and spoke in a grim tone. "Your desu has advanced too far. You have less than a week to live."
Hannes cocked an eyebrow and wondered if Eren was being serious.
Five weeks later, Hannes learned Eren had been deadly serious.
Then he dissolved into pure Anime.
Jean lifted his head up from the pillow and looked at Eren. Eren was performing open heart surgery on him... with a local anesthetic. Eren was currently prodding his heart. "Are you sure you're supposed to be poking it like that?"
Eren pulled down his hygiene mask. "Who's the doctor here?"
Then Jean's heart sprung a leak.
Eren glanced over the paper, 'hmm'ing and 'ah'ing every few seconds. "Yes, well. It seems that your dietary needs are not being fully met. Your cholesterol is fine, but your triglyceride levels are far too high. I suggest a strict vegan diet for the rest of the loop if you want to avoid heart disease."
Sasha wept.
Eren pursed his lips and grumbled as Connie tried to make him take his money. "Connie, for the last time I can't make you permanently bald! I'm a doctor, not a meta-physicist."
"Come on Eren!" Connie nearly shouted. "You have know someone."
Eren's visage darkened. "Connie, the only person whom I know is able to get effects to carry across loops is Sakura Haruno, and she is a lunatic."
"...Isn't she undergoing therapy?" Connie asked.
"I can't make you permanently bald Connie, and that's final."
Levi stared at Hange and Eren in mild confusion. "...Why?"
Hange shrugged hi-her shoulders. Levi would have a hard time getting used to that. "What can I say? I'm just in the wrong sort of body this loop."
"Zoe's hormones were out of whack this iteration," Eren clarified. "They would have been perfect for a female body, but they were causing harm to her male body. I'm going to have her on a hormone regiment for the rest of the loop, but the reassignment surgery was a great success, so at least physically, Hange's got the right equipment now."
Hange flashed the peace sign. "It's a new me."
Levi sipped his blood beer. "That's not what I'm asking shit-glasses. I'm asking why you didn't tell me."
Hange blinked. "I thought it was obvious. Oluo knew, Gunther, Petra, Erwin, Mike, Nanaba... Oh, by the way Eren, Nanaba asked me to refer him to you, alright."
Eren pulled a pin and check sheet out of his coat. "Duly noted."
Eren gently pulled the white linen sheet across Levi's body. Next to the bed, Levi Squad was in tears. "I'm sorry... we lost him. He's dead."
Levi pulled the sheet off of his face. "I'm not dead you dipshit. You know that."
Eren chuckled as Levi squad stared at their resurrected leader, Oluo going as far as to faint. "Man, this never gets old."
"Prick," Levi muttered.
Eren shook his head in silent amazement from his seat at his computer. "I just can't believe what I'm seeing Historia. Your neurology is stunning."
"Does that mean I can get out of this thing?" Historia called from inside The Carla's MRI.
"No."
Eren sat down in front of his patient, his customary clipboard out. Eren lightly smiled at the unfortunate soul. "So, after doing extensive tests, comparing your previous blood work to this current set, examining your hormonal and testosterone levels, and several other tests that are, frankly, beyond you, I have come to a conclusion."
Eren pointed at his clipboard, sardonically cheerful. "You have erectile dysfunction."
Eren's patient stared at him. "...Fuck you."
"That won't be easy."
"Screw off."
"Less so."
"Errrrr..." Eren's patient stood up, marched out of the room, and slammed the door. Eren chuckled lightly.
After a moment, Ymir opened the door and peered in. "Hey, Eren. What's Marco's deal? What did you do to piss off him?"
Eren smiled slightly. "Doctor-patient confidentiality. I'm not answering that."
Carla glanced around Eren's private infirmary on The Carla. "Wow. So... clean."
"A spotless workplace is a healthy workplace," Eren intoned as he inventoried scalpels. "Everything's cleaned daily, to provide a near completely bacteria free environment for operation and intensive disease treatment. I'm usually the only person allowed in here when nothing important is happening." Eren scribbled down a note to make a new scalpel. "The only time anyone should be allowed in here is when they're in serious danger of dying."
Carla nodded at Eren's logic. "Then I guess this is quite the honor."
"You have no idea," Eren said, putting away the scalpel ensemble. "But in a sense, it's fitting. You and dad are the reason I became a doctor."
"We... We are?" Carla's eyebrows raised. "You learned how to do this because of us?"
Eren smiled a little, but the wash of pain that covered his face warped it into a smirk. "Back, in the days before we had a large number of loopers, I figured that... well, the pertinent fact was that I learned all I could about medicine so I could try and..." Eren blushed a little bit. "Well, to save your life."
Carla opened her mouth, before closing it. She looked all around the room, tears slowly coalescing on the edges of her eyes. Before Eren could react, his mother had seized him and dragged him into a close bear hug.
For a moment, Eren and Carla stood there. Carla was smiling softly. "You've grown... so much Eren. I'm sorry I couldn't be there to see it."
Eren returned the hug. "You're here now. That's what matters."
'I became a doctor so people could see their loved ones smile again.'
12.10 Crossoverpairinglover
The Walls Moved.
As it were, Sasha had noticed over the course of many hunting trips beyond the walls, and extensive ecological study when out of loop, that this was true.
Roughly 40% of the time the ecosystem seemed to be generally European. The species Sasha encountered, and often ate, included Wisent, Grey Wolf, Tarpan, Aurouch, Wels Catfish and Red Deer.
Another 40% was generally North American. Sasha's study pallet, and plate, included White-Tailed Deer, Raccoon, Turkey, Mountain Lion, Black Bear, Passenger Pigeon, Wood Bison and Atlantic Salmon.
20% of the time they were in environments that did not seem right baseline wise, the loops where the outside of the walls were Savannah or Rainforest filled with Gazelle, Tapir, or Kangaroo did not match up to what Armin described of the original timeline.
Then of course the question of the potato was raised. Why did she get the chance to eat something that originated from the Andes Mountains?
Also, the tendency of the Northern walls to be colder than the southern one suggested a Northern Hemisphere location, as opposed to the Southern Hemisphere where the potatoes originated from. Assuming, of course, the directions hadn't been messed up and south was not in fact north and north was really south, but that tended to lead to all sorts of painfully unanswerable questions.
The Potato was of great curiosity. Answering that question could unlock the mysteries of their world.
There were always more questions, of course.
Like what had left the large gnashes in Wall Maria.
As if from claws.
Very big claws.
"Oh god, there is a Claw Titan!" Connie yelled in fear.
Mikasa shook her head. "There are no Claw Titans Connie."
"If Titans had claws, they would have scaled the walls and devoured us all," Levi pointed out.
"Well, a cat didn't mark its territory here!" Connie insisted as Sasha, having been silent up to this point, moved to observe the slash marks.
"Hmm..." moving her fingers up and down the claw marks, Sasha was herself curious. "Hmmm...Marco!"
The part ghost, currently listening for any meandering Titans nearby, quickly stiffened "Y...Yes!?"
"You're coming with me!" Sasha declared as she formed a hand seal. From a burst of smoke came a second Sasha, who bolted towards the entrance from whence they came.
"Where?" Marco managed to ask as Sasha gave him a grin that would not have looked out of place on Haruhi.
"We're going on a hunting trip with a side of exploration. We're going to find what made these claw marks, and study it! We leave as soon as my clone gets the necessary supplies."
Marco gulped, not sure if he wanted to go with her, and nervously looked towards Levi.
Levi was of no aide to him though.
"Sasha's log, day 4. I have managed to determine that the environment we are in appears to be that of a South American Forest. The fact I had Chinchilla and Guinea Pig last night suggests we are currently in the western half of the continent, though I question why we have not encountered any deserts or mountain ranges..."
"Why are you narrating?" Marco, who was currently floating up a tree trying to avoid a white faced black bear, demanded.
"I am using a tape recorder for recording what we find. Hey, why are you up that tree in the first place? That's a Spectacled Bear, it is perfectly harmless if you are not a mountain Tapir or a Llama. Are you a Llama?"
To prove her point Sasha was standing not 15 feet from the bear, currently sniffing the trunk of Marco's tree.
Marco grumbled something about looping Llamas, but reluctantly floated down. The Bear darted off before he returned to the ground.
Marco gestured to the bear, but Sasha shook her head.
"If that was a Short-Faced Bear, perhaps it could have left those claw marks," Sasha explained "But this is not the right place for them. No...we need to look for something else. Probably bigger...yep, bigger"
"Wonderful..." Marco muttered to himself. That was all he needed, something bigger than a bear.
There was a river before them.
Day 5, and their progress was halted by a river that could have had Trost plopped right in the middle of it without going over the river edges.
Sasha was eyeing the river with suspicion.
"Let me guess, you're considering if there are giant crayfish who could have slashed the wall?" Marco joked.
"No, the oxygen levels in the air would not support a large enough crustacean," Sasha mentioned off-handily. "However, this would be the place to wait for anything around here to come and drink. We should find the predator by playing the waiting game."
The hunter often had to set up ambushes in locations animals frequent, and watering holes were very good places to wait. Plus there were game trails leading down to the water's edge: she could see plenty of bird, deer, and even bear track without even looking too closely.
"Okay Marco...make sure there aren't any Titans wandering about...I have to set up the High Hide"
"The… what?"
The High Hide turned out to be a metallic tower, as tall as a tree, set off to the side of the game trail and overlooking the river.
High enough to be safe from most Titans that were not shifters, stable enough not to fall, and recently given modifications to repel mosquitoes and other bothersome insects, this modified creation of Jack Thorne's original design (modified to be properly Raptor proof) was rather handy for observing a potentially dangerous area Sasha was not really able to move through
It was a better deal than being treed by a pack of Hyena anyway, or having nowhere to go after pissing off an Emu when one was out of ways to kill one.
By Day 6, one of the walls of the High Hide was now decorated with a wall of photos and hand-written notes about what they had seen, and on occasion what they tasted like.
"Hmm, Taruca Deer, Mountain Lion, Spectacled Bear, Mountain Tapir, Rhea..." Sasha reflected. "Hmmm...I feel we need to do a proper investigation of the water itself while we are here. I'm not sure what river this is supposed to be, and would like a profile of what is living in it".
"You know there are Titans around, right?" Marco reminded her as the lumbering sounds of a Titan in the woods nearby. "We can't exactly go fishing. Plus, there are probably Piranhas in there!"
"No there aren't, they are an Amazon species, and most of them eat plants, not flesh," Sasha pointed out as she pulled out a yellow camera out of her pocket. "No, I'm suggesting you go for a little swim in the river with this aquatic camera and film everything you see while intangible. It should be safe, there are no Piranha, I have seen no evidence of Caiman, and there are no Hippopotami on this continent. You should be perfectly safe as long as there are no Bull Sharks".
Sighing, Marco found himself and the camera rendered intangible. "Well I suppose you are right. This river probably is going to be all Salmon and Catfish anyway".
"There are no Salmon in South America," Sasha stated in a serious tone, as if she was Levi going on about order and cleanliness.
In the first twenty minutes underwater, he had recorded several small fish.
Marco, his face rather bored, scanned the water for life, bored out of his mind...
When something appeared in the distant gloom.
Halting his advance, Marco hovered in the water, his camera slowly getting a clearer image of what was approaching them.
The beast swam along the bottom, sizeable claws at the ends of its hands. The beast's fur, as it was fur, was brown but not otterlike. It was more inbetween otter or beaver, and a great shaggy beast. The creature, the size of a Hippo, had the face of a Sloth.
A very big Sloth.
"Houston, we have a Sloth. A large, aquatic Sloth." Marco never though such words would ever come out of his mouth. "Do Sloths normally get this big?"
"...Not anymore," Sasha's voice was distant.
"Hey, this thing has pretty big claws, think it might have been slashing at the wall?"
"...Not that kind of Sloth...but maybe one of these..." Sasha said in awe. Curious, Marco rose back up from the waters depths.
His face emerged from the silty water moments before the Sloth's own head did as well, to the sight of another Sloth.
A much larger, heavily clawed, clearly not-aquatic Sloth. One that looked like it could spar with a Titan.
A Sloth.
A Giant Ground Sloth.
And beyond it...lay a massive herd of armored mammals that looked like supersized Armadillos, big enough to be ridden and with clubbed tails that resembled cannonballs, meandering to the water's edge for a drink after the Sloth.
"Hey Sasha...is this considered a normal thing in South America?" Marco questioned as he floated back to the bank opposite of the great herd as the Aquatic Sloth submerged once more, turning tangible as his foot hit the mud.
"CAW!"
He then noticed he was sharing the space with what looked to be a Erwin sized bird, with a flesh eating beak and a hungry look in its eyes.
There was only one appropriate thing to say here...
"Not in the face, not in the..."
"CAW!"
12.11 Evilhumour
Sasha nodded her head and closed her eyes, facing at the vast field within her subspace pocket. Slowly, she felt outwards to the earth's shilshadu, encouraging the bloom and growth, reminding it of life and bounty. She moved in fashion to a specialized form of Earth bending, focusing on the aspects of life inside and pulling them out instead of the earth itself. Using the magic she learned from Harry Potter himself and the magic from the ponies, she put all she knew into this one act.
After a long period, she stopped, pulling herself back. Sitting down and sweating from all the effort, she looked up to see if she had done it.
The fields were alive with all manners of vegetables, tall and strong. The orchards were standing strong and tall, fruits of all manner hanging in their prime.
With a smile, she knew that she would not have to hungry again for a long time. With a happy grunt, she pushed herself up and began to harvest the fruits of her labour.
12.12
Carla slowly flipped through the pages of Hannes' photo book. Hannes had, after running into Carla earlier in the loop, provided her with the book to catch her up on some of the earlier events of the loops. He said that it was the least he could do for her.
The book helped her pass the time: Eren had told her that he and Armin would be going out to track down the Beast Titan. Apparently a recent event in their loop had piqued their interest in it. Mikasa had almost immediately joined up with them, a defense attaché. This had left the loopers of the Walled World to their own devices, and Carla, lacking any real social circle, had taken the book out of her pocket and was reading through it.
Quite a few pictures could be found, documenting different parts and pieces of the loops and the history. Eren, caught mid-transformation into a Titan. A wedding for an Unawake Ymir and Historia that had been ceased by their own Awakening. Mikasa and Armin playing chess. Jean, Sasha and Levi in a three-way battle. Hanji and Armin, after an experiment (and covered in soot because of it). Marco, being welcomed to the group.
Carla came to a stop at a picture of Eren, Armin and Mikasa, all cuddled up on a mattress. The picture was accredited to Hannes. Carla groaned and set the book aside, dropping her head into her hands.
Her children had lived long, full lives, lives that weren't even close to over. They'd seen the world, grown in ways she couldn't have possibly imagined. She would have never thought that Mikasa would be so incredibly strong, or that Eren would one day become a doctor. They had grown up and learned to defend themselves.
And Carla... hadn't been there. She hadn't been there to see it, and now they were so far ahead of her, so far into the distance that Carla didn't know if she would ever fully understand her children again.
She had an eternity of chances... And she'd missed her most important chance of all.
12.13 Detective Ethan Redfield
Once upon a time, Sasha had replaced Pinkie Pie. At first, it was really fun, being the premiere party pony for the Equestria. But then, she started to get a familiar sense. Only one, however, the same twitchy left hoof, and it kept happening constantly. Eventually, she figured out what the sense was, and it made her mad.
See, Sugarcube Corner was not Sugarcube corner this loop. No, it was Buttered Potato Corner, serving all manner of potato products to Equestria at large. That wouldn't be so bad, since Sasha enjoyed potatoes. It was even one of her favorite foods. No, the problem originated during her visits to the Abridged Series. The first she visited gave her the nickname Potato Girl when she got caught eating a potato during basic training. It stuck, and Yggdrasil seemed hell bent on forcing the nickname on Sasha every chance it could. And sure enough, the Pinkie Sense she constantly got was when someone called her, "Potato Girl."
Worse, she kept that Pinkie sense and her left hand was shaking right now. She started chuckling as an anti-human squad rifle appeared in her arms. Someone was going to have a very bad day.
12.14 Crossoverpairinglover
Historia blushed as she looked over her 'uniform' this loop.
For some reason her white uniform's pants were instead a questionably lengthened skirt, her undershirt was more a tube top, and her arms were bare.
That, and she seemed more...shapely than normal. Or perhaps it had just been a while since she measured her Bust/Waist/Hip sizes out...
"Hey Historia! Why the hell am I in a freakin' skirt!?"
Ymir was more likely to know them.
"Hanji...any particular reason you are pretending to be male this loop?" Armin observed as the crossdressing female scientist, though this was an open secret in the Scouts, frowned.
"I don't know why this loop decided to make female uniforms so questionable, but I don't want any part of it. I prefer to cover my body more when I am working with questionable substances".
Noticing Mikasa's uneasy fiddling with her 'uniform', Eren reached into his subspace pocket and removed a pair of spare pants (from the 'Eren Hulk' pile), and threw them to her.
She caught them without looking, and smiled thankfully.
"While the 'uniform' rules do say females have to wear skirts, they don't say you can't wear anything under them." Armin explained as Historia took a pair of his pants into a changing room. "The Survey Corps is pretty relaxed about the exacts of the uniforms, so no one should give you trouble. Not without risking Hanji's wrath anyway".
"If I find a single barbecue stain on these..." Levi told Sasha very seriously as he presented a very finely folded pair of pants to her
"Here...now you owe me 10 bucks," Jean presented Ymir a pair of much desired trousers.
"No, you actually owe me 150 bucks, 80 Credits, 34,000,000 Beri and 2 sickles. Now you just owe me 140 bucks, 80 credits, 34,000,000 Beri, and 2 sickles." Ymir smirked.
"Damn woman..."
12.15 Crossoverpairinglover
"They say that some loops, are haunted by ghosts."
At that comment Connie and Sasha's heads turned rapidly towards Marco, who had joined the two in the looply venture to the Jaeger Basement.
Or, as it was called this loop, C-3PO's bar and diner, which in of itself greatly resembled that of a Dex's Diner in the droid's loop of origin.
The often dead cadet looked anywhere but the duo as the golden droid approached their table, a quartet of drinks held masterfully on his tray.
Yes, quartet, for there was a visiting looper from outer space sitting at their table: a reddish skinned alien female with white and grey headtails.
"Ah, here you go Mistress Ahsoka, Master Marco, Mistress Sasha, and Master Connie, four intergalactic milkshakes. I learned only from the best 9-year old masters of the art during one of my fused loops. Have any of you ever visited Danville?"
At the negative shakes from the native loop trio, the droid jaunted off once more, leaving the trio to alternate between sipping, and staring down the alien female.
"Ghosts? That is ridiculous. Loops don't have ghosts!" Connie insisted. "That defies all logic!"
"So does Pinkie Pie, yet no one says she's a myth," Ahsoka pointed out. "To be honest, I've never seen one of them, but I know quite a few who have. Loopers who appear only briefly, then vanish as if they were never there."
While Connie still didn't seem to believe, and Marco felt uneasy about the topic, Sasha seemed more genuinely interested "So, where do we have to loop to see these 'ghosts?'"
Ahsoka took a long sip of her shake before continuing "So far, I have heard of three worlds where they can be found, but don't get your hopes up. They appear very rarely, or so randomly that you'd have to be very lucky to see them. You'd have more luck in one of the more hubesc earths fishing out that giant serpent they have in Scotland".
Connie looked like he was going to be researching rod and lure varieties in the near future.
"Anyway, the first ghost is in my world. She's a blue haired girl, whose been spotted on trains and near musical locations. Skyguy first saw her while riding a train after a party..."
"Wait, did you just say that Fruit-Hoarding Sith was using Public Transportation!?" Connie sounded aghast at the thought of a looper willingly using that horrible thing.
"Skyguy can't just use Public Transportation, he takes the Automated Rail-lines" Ahsoka said in a comedic take on her master and surrogate brother/parent's fondness for the dramatic. "The second appears in the world of Kirby: a giant clown worm like creatures that tries to bite off people's heads".
"A clown worm?" Marco questioned.
"Giant clown worm," Ahsoka emphasized. "The third is from Shepherd's world. She's a blond with..." Ahsoka seemed to be looking for the right word here. "Characteristics your loop generally lacks".
The trio didn't get it.
"A blond of immense talent?"
Still nothing.
"Huge tracts of land?"
"Like Wall Maria?" Connie suggested as Ahsoka felt a headache come on that was not due to her drink.
"Oh, you mean the one with the large mammary glands, right Mistress Ahsoka?"
The quartet at the table all blushed as the droid wandered over, a collection plate in hand for their finished beverages, leaving the conversation as dead as a ghost.
However, there was another to keep the conversation alive.
"Ghosts you say? Well, I happen to know of a fourth ghost!"
The quartet's heads turned rapidly to the entrance, while the golden droid saw who entered the room, and scampered away to hide in the back hoping he'd go away before he blew something up.
The short figure who approached the table radiated arrogance like a king, power like a god, and attitude like no other.
"Allow me to tell you the tale of the fourth ghost, the one who haunts my loop," Vegeta, Prince of Saiyans spoke. "And I have the memory immersion powers necessary so I won't have to answer any of your pointless and annoying questions afterwards!"
The quartet did not get a chance to ask what the guy meant before they suddenly began to see the memories of Vegeta.
"HIDEOUS!"
"IT BURNS!"
"I THOUGHT THE COLOSSAL WAS UGLY!"
"I am glad I can't grow body hair," Ahsoka seemed the least disturbed of the four in question. Perhaps she had seen this horror before.
"I appear to have shared the wrong memory. I don't know why no one ever appreciates my mustache. Very well, here is the memory in question."
One Porn-stache of horror aside, found the five loopers in a grand hall. Its' feasting table laden with the best food imaginable, its' walls decorated with grand images of battle and slaughter. The roof was glass, revealing the stars above.
It could only be a Saiyan Palace, if all the muscular men and woman with tails and spiky hair the likes of which could not exist in most humans were of any indication.
The biggest and scariest looking of them all noted the great spread before them.
"Saiyan Warriors!" he shouted as they all tensed, ready for combat "Let, the Feast of Violence, Begin!"
What followed was the most competitive and violent eating contest that any of the non-Saiyans had ever seen.
As the food flew, along with punches, headbutts, energy blasts and kicks, a now hungry Sasha turned to Vegeta "So, where is the ghost? Or are you just being a sadist by making me watch all that delicious food be eaten?!"
"Be patient earthling" Vegeta waved her off, just as a Saiyan was blasted through her see through form by in memory Vegeta, who had what appeared to be a Potato-Leg in his mouth.
Memory-Geta looked ready to devour the Potato-Leg, but the odd yet delicious looking delicacy got speared and yanked away before he could get it fully in his mouth.
The furious looking Vegeta let off a burst of energy that halted the feast, as all eyes turned to the retreating spear and the girl who was now chomping down on it defiantly.
The girl had red hair, and was dressed in red clothing the 104th cadets would probably correlate to the Wall Cult more than anything else so far seen in their loop, or the Jedi Order in Ahsoka's, but not quite. She wasn't cute like Krista/Historia, nor rough looking like Ymir, but instead she came off as something in between the two.
The spear in her hands looked like it could disassemble itself, a weapon design the trio did not see any use for in Titan killing. Ahsoka on the other hand thought it resembled Reiji's Shikai.
A red reflective surface, sort of like a gem, glittered on her chest.
"You dare steal food from a Saiyan Prince, you trash!" Vegeta snarled as energy began to form in his hands. Taking his lead, the other Saiyans began to do so as well. "You will suffer for robbing a Saiyan! DIE!"
Energy blasts shot right at the girl, but not five seconds later she vanished. Not teleported out, not turned invisible, just disappeared.
One moment there, the next like she was never there at all.
The energy blasts continued on and struck the side of the palace.
As the memory faded, the milkshake drinking quartet looked a little uneasy, while Vegeta seemed a bit bothered by his past looping self's behavior.
"There, my loop too has a ghost. The question is, where is she from? But never mind that now...Bartender! Bring me a Milkshake, one made of the Fourth Flavor!"
12.16
Carla quietly nursed a cup of rum, hunched over the Carla's bar, gloomy and depressed. Next to her, Hange gently elbowed her. "Come on Miss Yeager. You'll feel better of you talk about it."
"You do know she won't," Levi cynically said from Hange's other side.
"It'll help us help you," Hannes said levelly. Hannes was the acting bartender that evening (usually the honor either fell to him or Connie), and thus he was in charge of libations to sooth the soul. "If it is Grisha, I want you to know that Grisha only transferred the Coordinate to Eren because he knew that he couldn't protect Eren. He gave Eren a fighting chance, one that saved his life."
Carla tried to nestle herself deeper into the bar and failed. Instead, she spoke. "You don't know that... You don't know what Grisha was doing, or what he was thinking. And I don't care."
"You... don't?" Hange asked.
Carla grumbled; she hadn't wanted to talk this evening. "Grisha and I... we'd had our secrets. Every couple does. I didn't tell him his cooking was terrible, he didn't tell me that I was looking older. We lied because we loved each other and wanted the other to feel good. Him being a Titan shifter... If he did it so I would be safe, then I don't care."
"But he... he turned Eren into a target. He knew about the Coordinate, about the Walls... I don't know what he knew. But that's not the point. Grisha and I... I don't know who he is anymore. And I'm not sure I can trust him if I don't."
Levi sipped his blood beer. "Grisha did it without regrets. He couldn't have known if it was the right choice. But he did it anyway because he thought it was for the best. He choose, and moved forward with his head held high."
"I know. I accepted that long ago. I'm just tired now," Carla said quietly.
Hannes stared at Carla for a moment. "Is it Eren and Mikasa?"
Carla stopped drinking, and set her run aside. "Do you... think I'm a bad mother?"
Hannes, Levi and Hange all flinched. The scientist amongst them hastily put her hand on Carla's shoulder. "No, no, you're a great mom, one of the best. You love you kids, you keep them save, you teach them, you do everything you need to do for them."
Carla whimpered. "No. I don't."
"You don't? Of course you do! You're-" Levi slapped his hand over Hange's mouth, but it was already too late.
Carla sighed. "That's the point Hange. Everyone says that I'm Carla Yeager. You know that I'm supposed to be this perfect parent you loved her children dearly and was taken away from them before my time. Maybe I was like that before all of this. All I wanted to do was settle down and raise Eren and then Mikasa with Grisha. I wanted them to be safe and I wanted to see them grow up and have children of their own. Now... I missed all of that and everything I thought I could be happy with is gone. My husband's not who I thought he was, my children have grown up, and now I stuck inside of a time loop."
Carla looked away from the others. "Everyone says that I'm a perfect mother, and I'm not even sure if I can be a mother at all anymore. I'm proud that Eren and Mikasa have grown up, but there's nothing for me anymore, and everyone keeps telling me that I'm supposed to be... happy, with being a mother when I can't be a mother anymore."
The group was quiet as the Carla drifted through the skies above the territory of Wall Maria. The hum of the engines seemed to engulf them sealing them from the world beyond. Carla and Levi nursed their drink's, Hannes and Hange thought, and silence reigned. Levi, finally, broke it.
"Carla, I'm going to tell you something I've been told before."
"Oh god... it's not that choice with no regrets speech, is it?" Carla deadpanned.
Levi reached around Hange and tapped Carla on the shoulder. "You may not have figured out who you are, and it may take time to do so. Here, you have all the time in the world, and there is nothing except yourself stopping you from trying. You can do whatever you please, and no one has any right to stop you. So get up, and start trying new things." Levi stared Carla dead in the eyes. "You have nothing to fear, by simply trying."
Levi finished his beer, stood up, and left. "That'll be it for me Hannes."
Hange quickly followed Levi. "I think I'll just leave you two alone now."
Hannes cocked an eyebrow. "Okay..." He noticed that Carla was staring at him. "Don't look at me, I don't have the answers."
Carla took her run and swirled it in it's glass. 'Just change... Can I actually do that? I only ever wanted to be a housewife, but now... Can I really be more than that? Can I change? Do I want to change?'
'Where do I go with my life? How can I use this chance? Do I even have a chance? Grisha... can I love you? Why did you do this? Oh... what am I going to do?'
"Uh, hey, is there anyone in here?"
Carla nearly jumped out of her skin at the voice. "Oh, Connie! I didn't hear you come in."
Connie looked surprised. "Oh, hey Miss- Carla. Hey Carla. Hey, where's Hannes?"
"Oh, he's right..." Carla realized that the far side of the bar was unoccupied. She glanced around in confusion. "He was here a minute ago."
"He kept the bar open this late for you?" Connie said. Carla, having heard the 'late' bit, glanced at the clock.
-1:37 AM.
'I've been here... four hours.' Carla sweat-dropped.
In the background, Connie coughed awkwardly. "So... you want a drink? A new one, that is. That rum must have had ice in it."
Carla sipped her rum (now laced with water and quiet tasteless). "I think I'll be fine Connie. I just needed some time to think." Carla stood up, shook off her skirt and left the room, leaving Connie to his late night booze run.
'What am I to do?' Carla opened the door to her room on the Carla. 'I guess I'll figure that out eventually... or make it up as I go along.'
Carla shut her door, fell into her cot, and slept a fitful sleep.
12.17 Crossoverpairinglover
With a burst of flames, Eren let loose a desperate barrage at the looper who had challenged him to a fight.
This looper had heard about his desire to grow stronger, a desire this looper shared. The looper came from one of the worlds where combat between people was seen as a good way to improve one's strength, the sort of logic that loopers like Goku and Pikachu followed.
It wasn't something that his world generally followed, you didn't really have harsh fights against one another in the Survey Corps to get stronger. It didn't really help you fight Titans, and it was a waste of blades and uniforms.
Eren accepted the looper's challenge, and was losing.
Badly.
With a cackle of blue soul energy, his short and blue haired foe dispersed the flames, smirking as Eren's face became panicked.
"Iron Fist!" The boy shouted as the hand that had been sparking blue began to glow a yellowish orange. The dark dressed, spiky haired foe of his's smirk was now wider. "Iron Fist: Soul Menace!"
The orange fist turned greenish as two looping abilities merged into one, ultimate attack, and the boy vanished from sight.
Eren looked around in a panic, before he felt him reappear...
BAM!
And strike him right in the stomach with that attack.
Eren flew back over a hundred feet, smashing into Wall Maria, which had been the background to their spar, with a sickening crunch.
The wall itself gained a sizeable crumble, as Eren fell in defeat. The blue haired looper smirked.
"You're not half bad kid, but you're not nearly as big a star as I am. You want to become more powerful you told me, you said you wanted to surpass the looping gods? To defeat Goku, Anakin, and Nanoha? Sasuke, Hermione, and Rukia? Even the highest 7 gods of all?" the kid shook a head. "I am not even at my best when Tsubaki isn't with me, and I still bested you. You still have a long way to go, Eren Yaeger."
The boy turned around, non-verbally channeling a stick to him before making it glow.
"The race to become the strongest, you and I both started around the same time. Hell, I may have started after you, but I still beat you today, and I'm not even close to being strong enough to reach my goal. You are even farther from that goal than I am." the boy stated in a rather serious tone.
He then posed in the most overly dramatic, trying too hard to be badass way possible, very much unlike his earlier silliness.
"For you will not defeat the mighty BlackStar the way you are now!" And with that, the stick teleported the boy away, leaving a defeated nebulous anchor steaming, literally, about his loss.
"You get into fights too much, you know that right?"
Anakin Skywalker was one of the two anchors of the original Star Wars branch, having later been expanded to three anchors after the crash brought the early republic in as its own section. Due to the general, though not universal rule of looper power levels, he was thus tied for the position of strongest looper in the Galaxy Far Far Away.
He occasionally sparred with his son, curious to see who the stronger looper was. So far, the matches had all ended in draws.
As it were, he often worked on training himself when Padme wasn't a part of the loop (still sadly not as a looper), or when he wasn't raising unawake versions of Luke or Leia, or ruling the Galactic Empire. Anakin personally blamed a few too many loops in the Shonen realm for this quirk.
It wasn't just himself who he trained though: he often trained with and outright trained others. Including, once upon a time, a certain arrogant little assassin from the world of Witches, Death Scythes and a Death who sounded like the Puppetverse Dumbledore.
The assassin in question, Black Star, just laughed in an, 'I am so awesome' sort of way, as he often did, a wind blowing by on the distant planet Anakin was residing on this loop.
"Well what can I say, I won't get stronger by training alone. Sometimes you have to put what you learn into practice, and some people are just good for beating the shit out of so you can practice".
"Yeah, I saw you beat Eren Yaeger," Anakin noted the pool of clear water, which shimmered a bit as the two turned to it. "Are you sure you aren't still annoyed at him for that Toonami thing?"
Black Star grumbled something about Eren being a horrible rerunner, but smirked as a thought came to him "Well, I guess you missed me showing..."
"Oh, I saw that you also challenged Armin and Mikasa as well" Anakin frowned as the pool showed Black Star first trapping Armin in a giant ball of rubberbands and kicking it down a hill. "...Now I admit to missing that while I was giving Ahsoka some advice on combining powers, but why exactly did you trap Armin in a giant ball of rubberbands? He isn't a Megawatt."
"The guy was clever, so I had to restrain him. Plus, I heard he replaced Usopp once, so I thought it would be funny," Black Star chuckled as Anakin gave him a look.
"No, it really isn't. It is funny to put Dio in a giant ball of Rubber Bands, or Palpatine, or Gendo. It is not funny, however, to be putting my friends into giant rubber band balls and kicking them down hills. I think you need to be punished..."
Black Star shivered a bit at the thought of 'punishment'. Punishment in the school of Anakin generally led to something unpleasant, and/or boring. Like being forced to sit through a Senate hearing on taxation, or having to clean Nal Hutta with a toothbrush.
Of course, one could use a rather large toothbrush...
Punishment aside though.
The pool then shimmered once more, showing Black Star and Mikasa exchanging spin kicks that smashed together with enough force to leave cracks in the earth below.
"Now, pray tell why are you fighting her looking like she just ate Tsubaki's soul a la Kishin?" Anakin inquired as he noted the lack of volume the magical pool gave off.
"I heard she defeated Naruto with some half-ass trick, felt she needed to be taken down a peg" Black Star smirked as the pool vision Mikasa slashed apart his Rider Sword and Star Saber with Van Black.
"Yeah, you're not doing a good job of it" Anakin pointed out as pool Mikasa, holding a struggling pool Black Star with a blue psychic glow. Van Black was to the side, vibrating like crazy as if it had its molecules disoriented.
"Just watch" Black Star insisted, as pool Mikasa began alternating between punching him, and smashing him into a giant earth version of her fist with her Gardevoir powers.
"Yeah, I am watching. She is kicking your ass" Anakin pointed out.
"Not yet! A performance is always best when one waits until the last moment," Black Star insisted, as the psychic field around him shattered just as he was coming into the path of Mikasa's fist.
Her alarm increased further as he placed both his fists against her stomach.
"Soul Menace:" Pool Black Star told her. "Rokuogan!"
A light blue energy surge flew out from Mikasa's back, opposite of where she had been stuck. With a wide open mouth and wide, blank eyes she fell to the ground.
As the pool faded Anakin rose a surprised eyebrow "The ultimate power of the Six Powers fighting style, and Soul Menace? I wasn't sure you could combine those two?"
Using looping tricks in tandem was nothing new: one could easily use the Force to make Hollows fly into the path of your Zanpakto. However, making two powers from a different universe work in tandem with one another was something different all together.
Naruto had pioneered the idea with Rasengan variants, but he had difficulty getting it to go beyond Rasengans with spirit energy or S2 energy initially. However, not long after his first trip to the Land of Fire, Naruto had figured out how to do it without the Rasengan catalyst, creating the first true fusion move.
It was the concept that allowed for his Force Spiral Bomb, and he in turn had taught it to several others in his loop, and a few others who had sought him out for this skill, among them Black Star.
However, even after so many loops, it was still a poorly understood field. Few knew why some powers would just not combine with others. It didn't help Twilight Sparkle and Hermione Granger had no interest in the subject, such research was their specialty.
"What can I say, I'm just that good!" Black Star boasted.
Mikasa looked like she had just ripped a parasitic alien out of her stomach through her throat, again.
Eren looked like he had gotten into a fight with Wall Maria, who won.
Armin was in a giant rubber band ball that had someone rolled its way into the barracks without alarming Shadis, and inside their sleeping quarters.
"So..." Eren, rather frustrated they all lost to the same guy, after hearing all of their recounting of the fights. "Any of you got any ideas of how to combine powers like he does?"
Armin, though still muffled by the surprisingly durable rubber bands, began hypothesizing out loud on how one might go about it.
Mikasa removed Van Black from her subspace pocket, the molecules of the upper reaches of the blade still vibrating in a concerning manner. She gently set the blade aside, before turning to her adoptive siblings. "Have you two ever heard of the crystal gem, Garnet? Because I have an idea..."
12.1: This was actually meant to be published much earlier, but it's inclusion of Carla convinced me to release it much later.
12.2: THEY WILL DESTROY THE WORLD!
12.3: Trees can be quite tall.
12.4: Hey there Carla! How's being the youngest looper treating you?
12.5: …I was watching The Truman Show when I wrote this. That's all I have to say.
12.6: Piranha (Wels Catfish, but that's semantics) vs Loopers. No contest.
12.7: It took two days to find Marco's body. He was also hanging out with the Shifter Trio. And he had Ymir's skin tone. Hmm…
12.8: I take it Carla is not taking this well.
12.9: Eren's medical skills are quite exceptional amongst the cast. I really like this angle.
12.10: Now this is an interesting idea all its' own. Determining the location of the walls… by analyzing the flora and fauna. Well played Sasha. Well played indeed.
12.11: Sasha the farmer.
12.12: Well, Carla is having a really bad time. This is what happens when you write a character, and then have no idea what to do with them.
12.13: Sasha the psycho. Can be one and the same with her farmer persona.
12.14: Well, skimpy dresses and good-looking women. Great with shows where that's a bonus. Here, it's a nuisance.
12.15: Spooky… Beings, not quite looping, and not from this world. Freaky.
12.16: Empty nest syndrome. Carla may have been a good mother (her children think she was one), but now that they don't need her, Carla's trying to figure herself out.
12.17: The end of one arc…
…And the idea for someone new?