A/N: My apologies for the…um, slightly late update. [/MASSIVE UNDERSTATEMENT!] Suffice to say, RL ate a substantial chunk of my time over the past couple years. Having found more time nowadays, more chapters are inbound.


5.1 (League of Legends) | {KnightMysterio} May 25th, 2014…


"Braum… Have you noticed anything odd lately?" Zilean asked, the wizened old man staring at the heavily muscled Freljord warrior as he played with his pet poro.

Braum chuckled. "I was wondering when someone would notice," he said. He stood up and stretched. "Truthfully? I think I've been looping back through time, starting from when I first joined the League. This has happened about… hmm… four times so far," he said.

Zilean nodded. "I thought so… There's a…"

"'Time distortion around you that is growing in intensity,'" Braum said, smirking.

"…We've had this conversation before, haven't we?" Zilean asked, the Chronomancer frowning.

Braum chortled. "Three times," he said. "You started noticing in the second loop." Braum took out a comb from his dresser and began grooming his mustache.

"…You're taking the fact that you're trapped in a repeating chronal event quite well," Zilean said, his glowing eyes flaring in mild frustration.

Braum grinned, picking up his poro when it came over and nuzzled his leg. He put the poro on his lap and began grooming a mustache into the poro's fur. "I think it's a rare opportunity," he said. "I've decided that, for the first few loops at least, I'm going to try and make friends with every competitor in the League."

Zilean blinked. "…Everyone?"

Braum nodded. "Everyone."

"…Including the void monsters, the homicidal scarecrow, the insane mad scientists from Zaun, the Voxians, homicidal psychopaths like Shaco, and crazy anarchists like Jinx?" Zilean said.

"Interesting challenge, yes?" Braum said. "I think it will be fun! And if I make a mistake, then everything will reset! No harm done!"

Zilean shook his head. "This is insane… Instead of trying to free yourself, you're going to use the loops to try insane friendship experiments…"

Braum chuckled. "I am no magus. I know only a little ice magic and magic related to my shield. How could I find a way to fix things? Also, the loops were starting to get boring. This will help me pass the time!"

Zilean frowned. "Are you EVER going to find out how to break the loop?"

"Maybe later," Braum said, hefting his massive shield, larger than even his own massive frame. He picked up his poro again and placed it on his shoulder, the adorably furry creature churing happily. Braum grinned at the Chronomancer and said, "My idea sounds more fun!"


(League of Legends) | {KnightMysterio} May 27th, 2014…


Braum, rubbing his neck in irritation, walked into his farmhouse in the Freljord. He poured himself a glass of milk from his personal stores, meditating slightly and letting his irritation pass.

After a few minutes, he leaned over to a nearby journal and began writing in it.

"Braum's Journal of Friendship and Time Loops. Loop 20," he narrated. "Once I realized that I was going through time loops, I decided to try a little experiment and see if I can make friends with all of my fellow competitors in the League of Legends. That being said…" He rubbed his neck, chuckling. "Perhaps trying to befriend Fiddlesticks first was not the best idea. Getting decapitated repeatedly is not anywhere near as fun as it sounds."

He took a sip of his milk. "That being said, I did make some progress. He did like the cowboy outfit and the birthday party outfit I got him in past loops. Although that didn't stop him from cutting my head off both times."

Braum shook his head. "That being said, I should probably stick to League members that aren't homicidal psychopaths. Maybe Ashe…"

Braum blinked, and looked at his journal. "…You're going to be blank again when I loop, aren't you?" he said, laughing and chucking the journal over his shoulder. Well, that was annoying. He'd have to find a way to carry things between loops…"


(League of Legends) | {KnightMysterio} May 27th, 2014…


Braum grinned at the icy bridge that comprised the battlefield of the Howling Abyss. Beside him, ready for battle, was the lunatic Jinx, the time-manipulating Zilean, the horrific scarecrow Fiddlesticks, and his comrade in arms, Ashe.

"You sure about this?" Ashe said doubtfully.

Braum smirked, looking over at the the opposing team. The demented mad scientist, Dr. Mundo, the fearsome consumer of knowledge, Vel'Koz, the ghostly Nocturne, the mysterious gambler, Twisted Fate, and the sorcerer Ryze stood at the other end of the Abyss, ready for battle.

The hulking man chuckled. He had finally begun to realize that battles were repeating as well. And after fighting this particular fight forty times, he had a pretty good idea of how this battle's particular 'script' was supposed to go, and what his opponents were capable of.

"Trust Braum," he said. "And we shall gain an EASY victory."


(League of Legends) / (Wolfenstein) | {KnightMysterio} May 27th, 2014…


Braum blinked, looking around at his surroundings. "This is new…" he said, stroking his mustache thoughtfully. The room he was in was fairly pretty, with flower printing and shelves of books. He checked himself, and found that he still had his shield, although his little Poro was missing. "Odd…" he said, starting to look around.

After a few minutes of wandering, he began to wonder if he was in a hotel. It was only after he saw the patients in hospital clothes wandering around did he realize he was in a hospital. After examining the patients themselves, he realized they were mental patients.

"Hm… Perhaps this loop has put me in Piltover to start with?" he wondered aloud.

He got his answer a moment later, however, when a group of black armored men shoved a group of patients into the lobby, screaming in a language he didn't understand. They pointed guns at them, ordering them to their knees, and raised their weapons to fire.

Braum reacted without thinking, leaping forward and slamming his shield down in front of the patients. The bullets splashed off of the shield, some of them reflecting back into the five soldiers.

"What are you doing?!" Braum demanded. "They are unarmed men!"

"English?" one of the soldiers said, frowning. "But with Russian accent…" The soldier sneered. "They are weak. Inferior specimens. They do not deserve life, so our master has decreed that all patients in this facility should die."

Braum's fists clenched tightly. "All beings have a right to live!" he snarled. "Who is your master that he should make such a barbaric claim?"

The lead soldier chuckled. "Our master rules this world. Our Reich decides the fate of all those lesser creatures in it," he said. "And I've just decided that you are to die with the rest of these worthless…"

Braum's massive hands shot out and turned the lead soldier's head a full three hundred and sixty degrees, making a sickening crack. The massive man's mustache bristled. "Anyone else have something to say?!" he demanded of the remaining soldiers.

Two of them turned their guns on Braum. Braum snarled and charged them, since they were facing his shield arm. He slammed them into the wall with enough force to shatter it, sending them sprawling. The roof of the room collapsed on them, several heavy pieces of medical equipment landing on them and killing them. He turned to the other soldiers, only to see them do a jerky dance as they were riddled with bullets, collapsing in pools of blood.

A very tired, sad-looking man walked out of the hallway, holding a pair of assault rifles.

"Well met, friend!" Braum said, laughing as he watched the patients they had saved get up and run away. Braum smiled and turned his attention back to the man in hospital scrubs carrying the rifles.

"Who… who are you?" he said. "You're not a Nazi."

Braum snorted, kicking one of the corpses. "Is that what they are called?" he muttered. "Bah, no matter. I am Braum! And I think I have been sent out of my world. Either that or Runeterra has a new continent I don't know about."

The man in hospital scrubs shook his head. "This isn't Runeterra… I'm B.J. Blazkowicz," he said. He looked down at the dead Nazis. "And… I think I'm going crazy… This is the fifteenth time I've killed those Nazis, the fifteenth time I've escaped from this hospital…"

Braum's eyes widened. He got the implications immediately. "Then you are also time looping…" he said.

B.J. looked up, startled. "What?!" he asked, shocked.

Braum nodded. "You are reliving events, yes? Everything resetting to a certain starting point after much time had elapsed?" he asked. When B.J. nodded, Braum said, "So is I, back on my world. I do not know why I have been sent here, though…"

B.J. shivered, falling to his knees. "Why… Why would anyone do this to us?! Why make us relive such hells over and over again?!"

Braum blinked. "I do not understand," he said.

B.J. began to explain, telling about the Nazi takeover of the world, of how they committed genocide as casually as breathing, about their hundreds upon thousands upon millions of atrocities. He told Braum about his own experiences, about how he was in an aware catatonic state for twenty years, unable to do anything, about his constant fights to end the Nazi conquest and return the rule of the world to the people.

Braum was shaking, horrified beyond all measure. "Even Noxus and Zaun never did such things…" he said softly.

"No matter what I do, I always get sent back here," B.J. said. "Always fighting, over and over again… I'm beginning to wonder if it's even worth it to fight…"

"It is ALWAYS worth it to fight!" Braum proclaimed. "Always worth it to go on living! For as long as you draw breath, there is hope!" He held out his hand to B.J., smiling. "Braum will fight with you now, B.J. Blazkowicz. And perhaps we shall finally put an end to this."

B.J. stared up at Braum, and chuckled, taking his hand. "I hope you're right, friend. I really hope you're right," he said.


Braum Awoke in the League of Legends headquarters. He checked his memories, and realized that he had looped again, back to the first few moments after he had been accepted into the League proper. Where he normally always ended up after he looped.

"Huh…" Braum said. "Back to basics, I suppose…" He shrugged, and started into the temple, looking around the grounds. He had seen it many times before, but it was still a magnificent building.

…And then it hit him. If he had looped back to the beginning, then so did B.J., whom he still remembered.

B.J. had looped. B.J. would have to relive all the horrors he had seen all over again. Braum remembered everything he had seen, and was still haunted by some of what the Nazis had done.

And now B.J. was going through it all over again.

Braum staggered, paling visibly, as the implications hit him. What if there were others like B.J.? Loopers reliving horrible lives over and over again, with no end in sight.

Who could have done this?

WHY would they do this?!

And was there any way at all to stop it?!

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.2 (Black Lagoon) / (Mass Effect) / (Bar Loop) | {Detective Ethan Redfield} July 1st, 2014…


If you asked a Looper, "What is your favorite bar," you'd get two likely answers. The Number #1 was Eden Hall, located in the Bartender Branch which was favored by the Original Seven. It was legendary for its Glass of the Gods, so much so that even a few Admins favored it above the halls of Valhalla. Number #2 was Big Mac's in Equestria. Those two bars, however, had one major rule: no fighting. Those who fought in Eden Hall were banned from entry for entire millenia. Furthermore, as the favored bar of the Original Seven, Loopers who broke the rules there earned their enmity, a fate no Looper wanted. Breaking the rules in Mac's Bar resulted in a ruthless beating by the bar owner, or a one-way trip to the moon.

However, there were bars where the more violent Loopers could fight it out all day. Of course, the bar owner still didn't care for it, but as the newest Looper of Roanapur, he had little say in the matter. "Revy, this isn't one of your Looper friends that come in from time to time, is it?"

Bao watched as a massive tank of a creature stepped through the doorway, nodding at the female looper. "Revy."

Revy nodded back. "Wrex."

Bao was not pleased. "I've been trying to have my bar survive for ONE loop, and you are hellbent on having it torn down!"

Revy held up a cigarette and lit it. "Relax, as Krogan go, he's one of the more mild ones I've met."

That was no consolation when the Colombian Cartel tried to capture the alien warmaster. Wrex, unamused by the drug lords, ended up blasting several fresh holes in the building.

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.3 (Admin Shenanigans) / (BioShock Infinite) | {Gamerex27} July 5th, 2014…


Artemis sighed, massaging her aching temples with her hands. "Brother, why did you volunteer yourself to handle the Bioshock Branch?"

Swiveling around on his chair, Apollo turned to face his twin sister. "Someone needs to take care of it. I am a god of medicine: this Branch was, unfortunately, quite close to that Branch we lost a while back in that ill-advised Fused Loop. So, naturally, I decided to start looping it to keep it from falling apart."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it." The Goddess of the Hunt leaned forwards, pointing at the code scrolling across her brother's Yggdrasil terminal. "It was normal enough with the first iteration of that universe, when it was confined to the 1960's. But when the baseline expanded backwards to 1912, everything went to bullshit. Alternate universes, multi-planar travel, and, of course, actual time travel in the baseline!" She shook her head. "I'm surprised the higher-ups didn't relegate the Branch to Read-Only."

Apollo turned back to his computer screen. "True, but there is something that makes it easier to run. Constants and variables." Opening several new tabs, he pointed to each one in turn, at the lighthouse in the center of each picture. "No matter what happens, some things just keep popping up. There's always a man, always a lighthouse, always a city. The details may change, but the big picture is more or less the same. It makes it easier to keep track of things. Coding is simpler, since I can just copy-paste certain lines without doing any damage to the Loop."

"And these similarities…mitigate all of the massive problems the alternate worlds cause?"

Apollo's smile faltered for a moment. "Well…no. It doesn't fix everything, but it's a bit easier to take care of any problems that pop up. Because all of the world-hopping happens in the baseline, too, there's less disruptions when it happens in Variants and everything."

Artemis turned her attention elsewhere, idly pulling her favorite bow from her back and plucking at the string. "Even so, that's still a lot of computing power being used up there. You're going to have to do a lot of Fused Loops to make sure this section of Yggdrasil doesn't start to glitch out and go batshit crazy."

"If it doesn't work out," Apollo said, "we've always got Eiken to make the crazy ones in there cool their heels for a bit. Or – worst case scenario – we could set it to Read-Only."


The first time it happened, she thought something had gone wrong.

Maybe Booker didn't actually drown when she took him to the scene of Comstock's baptism. Maybe he survived somehow, and therefore, Comstock continued to exist. Maybe this led to the events of her escape from Columbia repeating themselves. Maybe something – the Luteces, maybe? – was looping time, trying to let her get things right this time.

Or maybe, the universe just was being a bastard.

Whatever the case, Elizabeth was bored.

She slowly got out of bed, and proceeded to get dressed. Counting things through, this was her 12th loop through these same events.

She still remembered everything. Booker – her real father – would come to rescue her mere hours after the loop started. They'd get to the Museum, Booker would try to drag her back to New York. The Vox Populi, Chen Lin, the other worlds… No matter what she did, everything kept repeating itself. Whether she died or succeeded in killing Comstock, she would always wake up back here, in her tower, with the Songbird as her eternal warden.

She had tried to escape on her own several times. Although the Siphon still inhibited her ability to fully use and make tears, she had escaped about every other loop. Granted, the Songbird always noticed and dragged her back in here, but at least she was getting better on getting away (although she always needed Booker's help to successfully escape by distracting Songbird).

And then there was that one time – last loop, as a matter of fact – where she had woken in in a post-nuclear town somewhere in the east. Then, everything turned into a giant egg, a little boy shoved a worm in her eye, and she woke up in a deserted hospital covered with glowing tattoos, a horn on the back of her neck, and missing the top of her dress. That was just bizarre. She absentmindedly wondered if she could open a tear back to that world once she had blown up the Siphon again; that Pixie she had met was really nice.

Maybe this loop, she should learn how to whistle. If she could use Songbird's command motif -C-A-G-E-, she could control him, to escape Columbia completely. Maybe finally go to Paris.

She puckered her lips, trying to push air out of them to make the notes she would need. Unfortunately, she still couldn't figure it out. All she succeeded in doing was blowing air. She didn't have any books on the subject of whistling; the few non-propaganda books she has were all fiction pieces Songbird gave her before Comstock tightened the leash, and none of them were relevant to this.

Footsteps. She mentally counted down. Three. Two.

CRASH

…One. She still hadn't gotten the timing down on Booker's entrance. She put down the book on musical theory she had selected, in a fruitless attempt to see if she could learn how to whistle from that, and strode across the room to Booker's side.

He never believed her warnings about the future. Not until it was too late to be helpful, anyways. He had always been sceptical of supernatural events – even when he had seen Rapture in the first loop, he scoffed at its existence (despite the fact that an underwater city was more scientifically plausible than one in the air).

"I suppose you're here to rescue me, good sir." She decided to humor him this time around. She grabbed his hand, in an effort to haul him to his feet and stop him from falling off the railing. "I was going a bit stir-crazy in here, and…"

"Anna?"

She dropped Booker's hand, sending him crashing to the ground below. He groaned in pain. Quickly, Elizabeth rushed down the stairs.

"What happened, Anna?"

He remembered.

"How much…how much do you remember?" she asked, hesitantly, pausing on the last step to look at her rescuer/father.

"We…you were drowning me." Booker slowly pulled himself to his feet, looking warily at his daughter. "It should have killed Comstock…it killed me. But, next thing I know, I'm back in the boat, headed towards the lighthouse."

"I…think that we're in a time loop." Elizabeth – she had spent around twenty years calling herself that name, and it still felt more natural to say than her birth name – frowned. "I thought I saw that something was wrong, the first time we in that sea of doors. Now that we've been there a few times, I think there's something wrong with time."

"Well, if we've got another chance," Booker said, "might as well see if we can get it right this time. I still have the key, let's get out of—"

A high pitched shriek interrupted their conversation, and the tower began to shake.

"He's here!" The stairs were too risky to escape Songbird; she'd have to find another way.

Concentrating, she focused all of her energy, all of her being, into making a tear outside the tower. She held her hands in front of her, dragged them apart…

And nothing happened.

"It's not working!" she shouted. "The Siphon is still stopping me from making the new tears!"

"Then we'll need to go the other way!" Booker bolted across the room, slammed the key into the lock, and wrenched the door open.

They had gotten halfway down the tower when the wall in front of them burst open. Booker swore, conjuring fireballs in his hand and throwing them at the Songbird. They did nothing, of course; they simply bounced off his armored body.

It shrieked, and punched the floor. It gave way, causing father and daughter to fall to the ground below.

Grabbing Elizabeth by her waist, Booker launched his Skyhook through the hole in the wall Songbird had made. It latched onto a nearby sky rail, and the two sped off, with Songbird in hot pursuit.

—ox-oxo-xo—

"So, now what?"

Just like the first time, the two had escaped to the artificial beach. This time, however, Elizabeth had managed to open a tear in front of the Songbird as it was swooping down to kill Booker, sending it to the bottom of the fake ocean. While it was too dense to float back to the top, the people sunbathing and playing at the beach had still seen the crash. Many of them had fled the area, leaving only an oblivious deaf man tanning himself, and two very familiar individuals playing catch near the shore.

"Well," Booker said, "the bird's dead. But we still need to make sure Comstock never existed."

"So, find some explosives, destroy the tower, and go back to the baptism. Then, we need to kill you again – sorry, can't think of a way to avoid it."

"What if we killed the priest at the baptism?" Booker helped himself to a bag of popped corn and a cold beer lying on a nearby store counter. "Then Comstock can't get baptized."

"He could still try again somewhere else, though." Elizabeth reclined on a towel in the sand, deep in thought. "Maybe I should just make sure you're dead this time. Lend me your gun when we get to the river? Let me have one of the Vigors this time?"

"That assumes this time loop has a condition to end it."

Booker and Elizabeth turned their gazes to the Luteces, who were still engaged in their game of catch.

"If you've succeeded in ending Comstock before," Ronald speculated, "why would smothering him again work?"

"Making the loop effectively endless," Rosiland concluded. "Which makes your experiment moot, dear brother."

"That depends on if it makes them solve their problems," Ronald retorted. "If he finishes with that hairshirt, or simply finds a pattern that remains constant and works, he;'ll solve his own problem."

"But," Rosiland said, "with these loops, he'll have an infinite supply of hairshirts."

"Well, then." The ball dropped short of the male Luteces' hands; his sister's throw had been too weak. "Best hope that he kept the receipt."

"There's got to be something we haven't tried, Anna." Booker put down the now-empty mug of beer.

"Maybe we'll figure it out on the way." Elizabeth got up. "We should head to the factory; see if we can get some explosives from Chen Lin or something."

"Actually," Booker said, as he and Elizabeth began walking towards the museum, "I think I might have an idea."


"Well, that didn't work," Elizabeth yelled, trying to make herself heard over the howling of the wind on the sky line.

"How was I supposed to know that the Siphon would have made that big of an explosion?" A jolt, as Booker launched the Skyhook again and switched to a different rail. "Maybe we can just get out of range of it this time: try to leave Columbia!"

"If this does repeat…then we can see Paris!" Elizabeth's eyes shined with excitement. "Or at least, we can go there until the Loop ends again!"

"You will not lead my Lamb astray, DeWitt!"

Booker turned his head back towards the Songbird. "Why are you here?!"

"If you want something done right," Comstock said from the back of the Songbird, "you have to do it yourself!" With a fierce battle cry – or at least the best one an old, diseased man could muster – Comstock kicked the Songbird's sides, compelling him to speed up. The man-bird…thing screeched, then charged towards the duo, ready for battle.

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.4 (Neon Genesis Evangelion) / (Hetalia: Axis Powers) | {Crossoverpairinglover} July 6th, 2014…


"Shinji, allow me to bring you happiness."

The long time Anchor of the Evangelion reality was blushing as the unawake Kaworu was doing his whole, flirting with him thing again.

Though, that wasn't quite why he was blushing. He had sort of gotten used to this after a few thousand times.

No, what was bothering him…was the new Looper from a reality he was not yet familiar with watching the two from behind a tree, slightly drooling and looking like Jiraiya in facial expression.

The brown haired girl with the Hungarian accent had looped in sometime after the battle with Leliel, and since then… Shinji had gained a great concern that there might be a new variety of Icha Icha on the market in the near future…though more for the female persuasion than the male.

Of course, Asuka found the whole thing hilarious.

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.5 (Scribblenauts) | {zeusdemigod131} July 7th, 2014…


In the chest, you find…

* a plain-looking turquoise
* an eldritch hide armor of focus
* a screaming battleaxe of the mammoths
* an earthen quiver of arrows of light
* a prismatic lance of the donkey
* a corroded mop
* a kaleidoscopic rapier

Lily kicked the chest over and watched her brother's reaction as the contents spilled out.

"Well?"

"Ok, I'll bite, what is all this stuff?" Maxwell asked, picking up the plain-looking turquoise.

"Why don't you tell me? You're the only guy I know who makes this kind of stuff." Maxwell had the habit of scribbling in his Notebook and seeing what popped out.

Maxwell shrugged. "As cool as this stuff is, I didn't make it."

"Seriously?" Lily asked in disbelief.

Maxwell picked up the eldritch hide armor of focus and nodded. "My Notebook hasn't been able to make eldritch things since before we started Looping, Ptah said he didn't want me summoning Cthulhu or any of those guys by accident."

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.6 (Bar Loop) / (Random Guest Looper(s)) | {Let The City Turn} July 7th, 2014…


"Why is my universe so borked up?"

"Ah, that's probably the Crash…"

"And the reason I'm a girl now?"

"That would be the Crash as well…"

"And where the hell is my drink? It was right in front of me!"

"…That was probably because of the Crash." A drink was sipped.

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.7 (Order of the Stick) / (Magic: the Gathering) | {FanOfMostEverything} July 8th, 2014…


Elan had been quite pleased to Awaken to a new face. He'd miss Roy for the loop, but hopefully the fighter was having fun wherever he was. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Jura."

"Likewise." Gideon shook the bard's hand, then resumed boggling at his own.

"Yeah, you get used to that."

Gideon shook his head. "In any case, I regret that I won't be as much help as I could. I have loop memories of this world, but they're not going to be worth much, and a goblin-infested dungeon isn't exactly the best source for my magic."

"Don't worry. Roy still doesn't like it when he loops as a spellcaster. Kind of a sore spot for him."

"Well, at the very least, I can bring a little piece of home with me." Gideon produced his sural. It was distorted much like his body, but the feel of strapping it on was still comfortingly familiar.

"Oh good, you know about Subspace Pockets. Every time I show someone how to make one, it ends up full of puppets." Elan frowned a bit. "And apparently, that's a bad thing."

—ox-oxo-xo—

The party had been surprised when Gideon had offered to scout ahead. Something about "armor check penalties" and "no ranks in Move Silently." Still, he'd seen Belkar almost walk into a wall once or twice, and that belligerent kithkin was supposed to be the party's tracker. No, Gideon was going to trust his own eyes.

"So, do you think the fighter knows we can see him?"

Or maybe they had a point.

"With his skill points? No way in any Lower Plane you care to name."

On the other hand, the goblins on the far end of the room didn't seem to realize that he could hear them from the doorway. He stayed still.

The last member of the trio frowned. "What's with that thing on his wrist? Some kind of exotic weapon?"

The other two took it in. "Huh. Weird," said one. "I thought he used a greatsword."

"Even better!" crowed the second. "Not only does he lose any benefits from his weapon-specific feats, he's not even proficient with that thing."

"Yeah," hedged the third, "but it's probably from some broken third-party supplement. If he's willing to take minus four on attacks with it, who knows what it could do?"

"Disarm, grapple, trip, maybe even stuff we haven't heard of." The first shuddered. "Five gee-pee says it's a one-handed, hard to disarm spiked chain at the very least."

"Aw, come on." The second hefted his spear. "He won't be able to hit the broad side of a barn with it. Let's get him." He screamed and charged.

The other two didn't. They soon winced.

"Or it could just kill things with terrifying efficiency," said the first.

"Or that," agreed the third. "Let's get out of here."

"Let's."


The next Loop, back on Kephalai, Chandra had a smile wider than any Gideon had ever seen on her.

"Good Loop?" he asked.

She sighed blissfully. "Four words: Elemental Plane of Fire."

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.8 (Discworld) / (Final Destination [not shown looping]) | {Valentine Meikin} July 13th, 2014…


Rincewind looked as Death looked at him.

YOU ARE NOT PLANNING ANYTHING THIS LOOP, ARE YOU? Death asked.

"Why would I?" Rincewind asked.

THIS IS MY FAVORITE LOOP SET. I WOULDN'T WANT YOU RUINING IT, Death replied, as he watched a trail of flame disintegrate above them.

"What's so good about a particular loop set?" Rincewind replied, annoyed at how Death had stopped him from doing anything this loop.

I KILL PEOPLE. IN HIGHLY IRONIC WAYS. IT'S MY EQUIVALENT OF A VACATION LOOP, Death explained.

"So, Why are you standing here blocking me?" Rincewind continued, even more annoyed.

I WOULDN'T WANT TO RUIN A PERFECTLY GOOD RECORD, Death explained, WHAT KIND OF SICK JOKE WOULD PUT SOMEONE WHO HASN'T DIED EVEN ONCE IN THE LOOPS IN THIS ONE PLACE?

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.9 (Ender's Game) / (Metroid) | {zeusdemigod131} July 13th, 2014…


"This," Andrew "Ender" Wiggins, decided. "Is hell."

Ender knew exactly what was happening. He knew exactly what was happening again, and again, and again.

This was the fourth time he had gone through Battle School, the third time since he first committed xenocide, the third time he had tried to save the Formic, and was quickly approaching his first trip to a psych ward back on Earth.

The first time Ender thought it had something to do with his aiúa being split into three, and tried to prevent the Xenocide of the Formic. When he refused to enact the attack, he was arrested for treason and Mazer Rackham had managed to kill them. Ender had died of old age on Earth.

The second time, Ender had gone through with it, hoping that the Hive Queen or Jane would have answers, while they both believed him, they had none.

That was also the second time Ender made it to Lusitania; he had planned ahead, and managed to get there around the time the incidents with the Pequeninos began, he had even managed to save Novinha's first love, Libo, from the Piggy's futile attempts at giving him their "Third Life." The downside was that Ender watched his wife marry someone else.

Now Ender was on his fourth run through battle school and, having just been promoted to assigned to Salamander Army, was waiting for Bonzo Madrid to finish up introducing, and belittling him, to the rest of the army, so that he could begin training with Petra. Ender found that if he stuck to what he did the first time in Battle School then things—

"Samus!" Ender blinked. Something was… wrong. The girl walking towards him looked nothing like Petra. For one, she actually looked like a girl. Second, she was blond, where as Petra's was normally brown. Third, every guy in the room was staring at her, and not because she had been called to basically baby-sit the newbie.

"Since I don't have the time or patience to deal with you," Bonzo said, "Miss Aran here will make sure you don't get in our way."

After a few more minutes of his usual angry rant, Bonzo left, leaving Ender to try and figure out just what was going on.

"By any chance do you know of a girl named Petra Arkanian?" Ender wondered if maybe the lineup for the armies was different this time.

Samus smiled. "Come with me." She grabbed Ender's hand and led him out of the room, down several hallways, and eventually to one of the seldom used girls' washrooms.

"What are you—" Ender began.

"Hold that thought," Samus pulled a silver device from… somewhere, and placed in on the wall of the room. "That should keep any kind of video or audio feed from leaving the room."

"What's going on!" Ender shouted. "I'm suppose to be asking Petra to train me so I get someone I trust on my Command Team and.. and… and…"

Ender was at wits' end.

Samus let out a low whistle. "One thing I'll say kid. Ouranos was right, you really do need 'The Talk'."

Ender glared at her. "Is this some kind of sick joke?! Am I still at Command School? Maybe this is my punishment for what I did to the Formic!"

"Don't know what that means, I'm just doing a favor for your Admin here." Samus pulled another circular device from seemingly out of nowhere and placed it on the floor.

The device flashed to right and opened up a holographic screen displaying the words. "All About Looping." And a menu of sorts.

"What?"

"Alright, short version, the multiverse is broken, do you understand the multiverse?" Samus asked.

"Jane told me a few theories, she probably figured out if it was true after I… I…" Ender didn't want to believe he had died, but he had four times. First of his soul being split in three, then three times of old age.

"Right, well, imagine that the multiverse is a tree, this tree is called Yggdrasil."

"From Norse Mythology?" Ender asked.

Samus frowned. "Yeah, that one. Anyway, something happened, not sure what, that destabilized Yggdrasil. That's when the Loops started."

"Loops?"

Samus nodded. "Time repeating itself, after a certain amount of time you end up at some point earlier in your life. That's what's been happening to you right?"

Ender nodded.

"Thought so, now originally, seven universes started Looping, as the Loops went on, more and more universes started Looping, like mine, and more recently, like yours."

"But… why me?" Ender asked.

Samus sighed. "The holobook would be better at explaining this."

Ender glared at the girl he still wasn't sure wasn't insane. "I want to hear it from a person."

Samus rolled her eyes. "Fine, every universe needs an Anchor. Someone who stabilizes their Loop or whatever Loop they loop into. I'm my universe's Anchor, and you're yours."

Ender scoffed. "You're insane." He said, shaking his head. "Give me one reason I'm suppose to believe you."

"Because I didn't have to come here, Ouranus he's your Admin, one of guys who runs the Loops, asked my Admin, Hecate, and she asked me as a favor."

"And that means this is real? That means you're not lying to me?" Ender didn't want to believe what Samus was saying, dealing with this once was enough.

"How about this then." Ender watched as Samus pulled a suit of orange and yellow armor out of nowhere. "I always keep a few copies in my Subspace Pocket."

Ender walked over to Samus and tentatively touched the suit. Avoiding the large cannon on its left arm. "What's a Subspace Pocket?" He asked.

"Something that lets Loopers, like us, carry things between loops." Samus explained. "I can show you how to make one, you know, if you decide I'm not insane."

Ender looked Samus straight in the eyes. "We'll see."

It took awhile for Samus to explain the Loops to Ender. The boy wanted to know everything before he decided Samus wasn't just a new trick.

"—And after a while others, usually people who you were close to in baseline, will start Looping too."

"Just people?" Ender asked. "Because one of my best friends is an AI, and I was pretty close to an alien Hive Mind for three thousand years."

"Ok, any beings, you were close to," Samus said in exasperation. "No need to get defensive."

"Sorry, I accepted Jane, The Formic and the Pequeninos as Raman in my… Baseline?"

Samus nodded. "Baseline… what does Raman mean?"

"The stranger we recognize as human, but of another species." Ender quoted.

Samus raised an eyebrow but shrugged. "Whatever, and for the record, my adopted daughter is a floating, slightly parasitic, alien brain thing. And she's been Looping for a while now."

Now it was Ender's turn to be confused.

"So," Samus said. "Does this mean you believe me? Or do I have to get my spaceship out."

"I… I think so," Ender answered. "It's a lot to take in."

"Yeah," Samus agreed. "So, how long does your Loop last normally?"

"Well, my "Baseline" is about three thousand years." Ender explained. "It takes timing to get it right though, with Relative Speed it can be easy to pass something you were suppose to be at."

"Relative Speed?" Samus asked.

Ender gave Samus the quick explanation for Relative Speed, after which Samus shook her head and laughed. "Wow, that's… that's a new one." She saw the look Ender was giving her and explained. "Most Loops like yours have faster than light starships," She smiled. "Tell ya what, if you ever end up in a Loop called Star Wars, on a planet called Tatooine or Coruscant, try and find a man named Han Solo and tell him Samus said you need a ship with a proper hyperspace drive. You know, once you get your Pocket big enough."

"And you'll show me how to make one?" Ender asked.

Samus smirked. "Sure, we'll have plenty of time on the flight over." Samus walked out of sight into one of the stalls.

"Over where?" Ender asked.

Samus stepped out of the stall, now wearing a form fitting blue jumpsuit. "Well, Since my ship can go faster than light speed, we should be able to reach the Formic Homeworld before the Human fleet does."

Samus grabbed her holobook and headed for the door. "Come on, I downloaded an MPA earlier, airlock's this way."

Confused and alarmed, Ender followed Samus. "You have a plan?" he asked.

Samus smirked. "Usually, I'm the one blowing up alien bugs, this time? I think I'll try saving a few."

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.10 (Star Wars) / (Magic: the Gathering) / (The Stanley Parable) / (Legend of Zelda) / (Custom Setting) | {Crossoverpairinglover}{Theburper} July 21st, 2014…


Darth Vader had no idea where he was…except for the fact that it was a white abyss that seemed to have nothing in it bar himself.

"Wonderful, I've replaced Squidward again," Vader muttered to himself before waiting for the echoes of the abyss to come forth.

After five seconds, he noted a lack of those echoes for the abyss beyond time Squidward kept getting himself trapped in.

"Okay…I guess I'm lost then."

Looking around at the nothingness, he briefly wondered if he somehow got stuck in the remains of the Loop that Never Was (which had no connection to Xemnas, Xigbar or the rest of the nobodies), before he finally began to notice something on the edge of his vision.

Thankfully his powers were still working, and so he apparated over to it, and found one of those perplexing machines known as 'prize grabbers' or something like that.

Those cheap little things that children wasted vast sums of small change on for the low quality toys inside.

There was a pair of Hub-issue U.S. quarters on top of the machine.

"…Well, what else do I have to do." It did seem as if the skill crane…whatever it was called, was the only other thing in existence in this loop for some reason.

Vader proceeded to place the two quarters into the machine and began to maneuver the claw and clicked the big red button on top.

He idly noted the toy that was grabbed (with skill and skill alone, Vader had mastered the skill crane after looping as Squidward a few dozen times) and deposited for him to grab.

"Well, let's see the low quality toy I got from this waste of 50 cents." Vader reached in and removed the toy…and found himself staring at a plush replica of Padmé with one of those strings in the back.

"Please don't have Padmé's soul in this thing, please don't have Padmé's soul in this thing," Vader chanted to himself as he cautiously reached for the string on the back of the toy. "Padme, are you in there?"

"So this is how liberty dies…with thunderous applause," the toy replied back in the standard toy way, not the 'help me Annie, I am trapped in a cheaply made stuffed replica of myself' sort of way.

Vader sighed in relief that his brief paranoia was unjustified, but then found himself staring back into the machine in shock as he found it filled with similarly cheap toy versions of dozens of non-Loopers and Loopers alike (he spotted toy Spock, toy Gajeel, toy Charizard and toy Whitebeard among them).

What sort of loop did he just discover?


Dack walked up to the claw to try his chances.

He inserted his specially modified quarters that hacked arcade machines, and the claw grabbed a toy.

When he opened the box he found…

Nothing.

"Dack could not follow the storyline. He couldn't find his coworkers, or a toy for that matter."

With that quote, Dack realized what he had grabbed.


Link bent down to retrieve his prize.

It was his own plushie.

He pulled the string for a quote and…

It said nothing.

"I figured having 'silent protagonist' as my first language would come back to bite me one day."

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.11 (Ad Space) | {Let The City Turn} July 7th, 2014…


The Trix rabbit cradled his cereal carefully, his eyes sharp on making sure no kids stole his cereal this time. However, they kept flickering back onto the cards in his hands, and his three opponents sitting around the table.

"How many cards do you want, rabbit?" the dealer asked him, smoking his cigarette while holding the deck in his hands. A quick look at his cards told him what he needed to do.

"I'm standing pat, Joe."

This brought a raised eyebrow from behind the sunglasses, as he turned his attention to the next player.

"And for you, Erin?"

Erin Esurance tossed two cards into the pile, and received two in return.

"And Cap, for you?"

"Three, my good man… er camel." Captain Crunch tossed his three cards into the middle.

After dealing him his three cards, Joe Camel picked up his hand, and picked out a card. "Dealer takes one."

It was just another Saturday Night in this Loop…

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.12 (Admin Shenanigans) | {Valentine Meikin} July 22nd, 2014…


The Admins looked at a file on two figures.

"Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage… We had one alert of them possibly Looping, only for it to just be a suspiciously similar pair of idiots who decided to race Sonic and Rainbow Dash for the hell of it…" Loki stated, "Now, what's the official word on them?"

"The Tree does not consider Mythbusters as a valid Hub-like Variant, also, we do not want to give anyone ideas," Slepnir offered. "We already have people disproving everything in creation, without letting two people find even more dangerous ways to do so."

Loki nodded. He'd been given their file after someone noticed them disprove 'Bull In A China Shop' and 'Dropping Like A Lead Balloon'. The Idioms Division hated every new season with a passion, since they needed to make new ones every time.

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.13 (Neon Genesis Evangelion) / (BioShock Infinite) | {Gamerex27} July 22nd, 2014…


"Positive Pattern Blue identified."

Groans sounded all over the bridge as the Bridge Bunnies went to their tasks of preparing for the Angel attack – warning the civilians to go to the shelters, locking down all the buildings in Tokyo-3, and other such countermeasures.

Shinji mentally ran down the list of Angels from the baseline. This leathery, black, eagle-shaped one was not among them, so this had obviously become a Variant loop. Granted, he should have noticed it the moment he saw the lighthouse in Tokyo Bay, which had never been there before in any of his previous loops. It had taken Rei pointing it out to him to notice it, since it blended in so well with the environment that he didn't even see it.

He cracked his knuckles, and drew the A-10 connectors from his Subspace Pocket. While he could just blackmail Gendo into letting Rei and Asuka deal with it, he had had nothing but lonely baseline loops for the past dozen times, with him being the only one Awake. He might as well take care of this Angel the normal way, just for old time's sake.

"Angel designated as Nuriel. Target is approaching lighthouse, with its AT Field up."

"Shinji," Misato begged, "try to keep collateral damage to a minimum this time. While we do have the money to pay for it, all the paperwork we have to fill out for damaged property is a nightmare." A murmur of agreement sounded throughout the bridge at Misato's sage advice.

As he approached the Angel, the Eva's enhanced senses allowed Shinji to see a pair of figures on the top of the lighthouse.

"Damnit," Misato swore. "Shinji, there's civilians still in the lighthouse: get them down from there before that Angel kills them."

Nodding wordlessly inside the Entry Plug, Shinji broke into a run towards the lighthouse. As he crossed the distance between the Eva's launch point and the Angel, he could start to make out some conversation between the two stranded people.

"…na, the whistle isn't working! The bird is still coming!"

"It's not Songbird! It's too big for that! I don't think drowning it would work!"

"Can't you do anything?"

Right as Shinji got within firing range of Nuriel, the Angel swooped down, its claws outstretched, ready to impale the pair…

And the air around the lighthouse distorted and twisted. A huge monochrome sphere reminiscent of Leliel's powers extended from the top of the lighthouse. There was a deafening clang of talons bouncing off of metal, and the Angel flew backwards, screeching in frustration.

The lighthouse was gone now. In its place stood a colossal robot, roughly the size of the Jet Alone units. Its stout body was covered in rusted metal plates, and it emerged from the rift already in a fighting stance. On its head was a thin metal cage, and eight portholes glowing with an eerie yellow light. Its right hand was replaced by a drill, which began to rev up as it rushed the Angel.

"Whoa! Where'd you find this Big Daddy? It's huge!" said the other, male figure, who Shinji could barely make out through one of the portholes.

"It's not a Big Daddy, Booker!" said the other voice.

And, as its fist pulsed with electricity, the robot leapt into the air, and uppercut the Angel square in the jaw, its outstretched drill cutting through its AT Field like a jackhammer through wet paper. The blow sent the sounds of shattering bone and a deafening roar throughout the city.

"According to the computer, it's called a Jaeger!"

In the LCL plug, Shinji smirked. Looks like things had gotten interesting again. Might as well let the new guys take care of the Angel; he'd killed enough Angels by now (was it in the billions, or had it moved up to the trillions by now?) for it to get boring for just him to kill them off.

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.14 (Sherlock Holmes) / (Gosick [not shown looping]) | {Valentine Meikin} July 26th, 2014…


At a chess table in Brompton Academy, a young man and a young girl were engrossed in a game of chess. It had gone beyond playing several hours ago, and most of the game was actually spent in rapid-fire conversation. Whenever a piece moved, it was slow, deliberate and analytical.

A slightly rotund boy and a taller Japanese boy stood watching the two chess players worriedly.

"Who do you think will win?" The rotund boy asked the oriental one.

"It's not about who wins the game, Watson…" The oriental boy offered, "It's about which one of the two makes a mistake first…"

Meanwhile, Sherlock Holmes made another move to cancel out the attempt at Check that Victorique had attempted, before firing off another question about a random student, which she answered in a bored tone, while considering her next question and move.

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.15 (Jurassic Park) / (Admin Shenanigans) | {Crossoverpairinglover} July 27th, 2014…


"You were killed by a Force Sensitive raptor. I can't believe you died so easily, you really do need to loop out of your own world once in a while if you can be killed that easily."

"A what sensitive Raptor!? And excuse me if I think it's your call where I loop, you haven't had me leave my loop yet and learn how to shoot lasers out of my eyes and teleport, now have you?"

Alan Grant, sitting on a plane that was thankfully not Ingen, was once again talking to that Admin of his, Artemis (after perhaps 100 loops of not hearing from her at all, he had lost count at some point), with her berating him for dying early again by raptor.

"You'll probably learn some day." Artemis shook her head. "Regardless, a Looper attempted to pacify the raptors by teaching them the Force, however she ended up being eaten by the Spinosaurus." Alan muttered a few curses under his breath about that damn thing. "And as a result the raptors were without guidance and fell off the deep end. One of them even began to loop."

Alan just stared at her. "Wait, are you saying there is now a telekinetic, bloodthirsty raptor running around the multiverse!?" he figured his first looping companion would be Malcolm or something. A raptor…just his luck.

"Don't worry, the raptor is a Southern Sornan raptor, you should not run into it on your baseline run. It was also wild-born, so Ingen won't clone it and have it wake up in the park itself" Artemis assured him. "Though the damn thing is causing me a ton of paperwork."

"Poor you," Grant snarked off to the person who could cause him to loop as the Goat in the Rex pen for a few loops.

"You're lucky I need you alive for this loop." She leveled a glare back at him as Alan huffed.

"Oh, and what for?"

"You, Mr. Grant, have been uploaded with a special patch that, upon visiting six specific points in this dormant Branch, will lock down its time travel and allow for this Branch to finally be Looping. Your participation in this is required, refusal will not be tolerated."

"What?"

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.16.1 (Golden Sun) | {AbZHz101} July 28th, 2014…


Isaac suddenly found himself patching a thatch roof. The Venus Adept didn't mind, he had patched his parents' roof plenty of times as a teen; but he did find it odd. He definitely didn't remember being asked to or even getting up onto the roof in the first place! A call from below broke into his musings. "Isaac! Haven't you finished mending the roof yet?"

"Almost done, mother," he replied automatically. Then, he silently jolted at what he had just said. What was going on?!

"You're almost done? OK! Keep at it!" Looking up for a moment he saw Jenna climbing the stairs hewn into the rock and could hear Garret practicing his Psynergy. But Jenna was so young, almost in her teens! This made no sense! Some type of time travel Alchemy? Still, who or what could have done it? Admittedly, things had been very different since the Golden Sun had restored Alchemy to the world but this was just plain bizarre! As his body automatically prepared the thatch, Isaac tried to grasp the implications. If he really was back in time… then the world was dying. Without Alchemy the Gaea Falls would erode more and more of Weyard by the day. But if he again released the Seal on Alchemy, the world would experience a time of great chaos, especially because following the Golden Sun was the event known as the Mourning Moon.

Then his thoughts traveled to his father, Felix, and his and Jenna's parents. They had been taken in and held captive by the people of the Mars Lighthouse. He couldn't just leave them! But he would not do it Stratios and Menardi's way. He would not be Alex's pawn. He and his friends would again carve their own path! And then he thought of his friends, the ones that he had traveled the world with; first to stop the Seal from being broken, then upon realizing the truth to break the Seal. Garret; his best friend, and grandson of the Mayor of Vale; Ivan, a Jupiter Adept whom Isaac and Garret had met in the town of Vault at the beginning of their journey; Mia of the Mercury Tribe, who joined their quest in search of answers to her cousin's bizarre behavior; Felix, a fellow Venus Adept born to Mars Adepts and whom had shown Isaac the truth about the quest for the lighthouses; Jenna, Felix's sister and a powerful Mars Adept; Sheba, a Jupiter Adept said to have come from the moon; Piers, a Lemurian Captain and Water Adept; and Kraden, a philosopher and Alchemist though he was no Adept.

This time… this time he'd be better aware of the challenges that Alchemy would bring and Alex's traps. He would be able to help the world better as it was reborn again.

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.17 (Ratchet and Clank) | {TrueZero2} July 29th, 2014…


Planet Quartu, Robot Production Facility Z332. The sound of machinery filled the air as a new batch of Sentry-bots was being assembled.

For some reason though, the line stopped briefly, and some grinding noises could be heard as one more robot was ejected from the assembly line. This one though, was noticeably smaller, probably only about one-third the size of the other robots, if not smaller.

Opening its eyes, it blinked a few times before looking around.

"Curious." It said with a voice that was clearly male, "This appears to be the production facility on Quartu. How did I end up back here?"

Looking towards the computer screen that was built into the nearby wall, his expression changed to one of horror.

"But… that cannot be. We already stopped Drek. He died after Ratchet and I fought against him on Veldin, so how is he still harvesting pieces of various planets?!"

After spending a minute or two wondering about how this could have happened, he made a decision on what to do.

"I must find Ratchet." He turned to the computer. "Show me the route to the nearest spacecraft, and the galactic coordinates for planet Veldin."

The computer screen flickered as it showed the small robot where the nearest vehicle was, and a series of numbers appeared as well, showing the requested coordinates. "Thank you, Mother. I will see to it that Drek is defeated… again, apparently."

—ox-oxo-xo—

A while later, on the world of Veldin, a young, furry alien known as a Lombax was busy working on a spaceship of… questionable quality.

"Almost done. Just a few tweaks left. Then all I need to do is get my hands on an ignition system. If I can get my hands on one of them, then this baby'll purr," he said, using a large wrench to make the adjustments.

It was a quiet day on the Kyzil Plateau, at least it had been until a small spacecraft crash landed not too far from the Lombax's location.

"Well… that was weird timing," the Lombax said as he looked towards where the crash happened. "Oh well, time to go salvage hunting! Maybe the ignition system survived the crash." He added, as he left to investigate the crash site, taking his wrench with him.

'I thought I had made sure that I wouldn't crash land this time.' The robot thought as he pulled himself from the broken craft. Looking around, he had at least ended up on Veldin like he had intended, so that was a plus. Closer inspection though allowed the robot to see that the Lombax was approaching him.

"Were you on this ship?" the Lombax asked as he came to a stop in front of the wreck. "Aw man, this is totalled. It's going to be hard to find working parts in this thing."

"Ratchet?" The robot asked, "I-I mean, yes, I was on board."

"Wait. You know my name?" the Lombax, Ratchet, asked as he started examining the robot carefully. "Huh, small frame, but I bet you could fit some kind of identification system in here, but that still doesn't explain how you knew who I was."

That settled it at least. Ratchet hadn't recognised him. It looked like the robot would have to reintroduce himself to his best friend.

"So little guy, you got a name yourself?" Ratchet asked, switching back to the wreckage. At the very least, there were a few things that the robot could do to streamline things.

"Well, there is my serial number, but I do have a designation that is more appropriate for interaction with organic species. That name is Clank."

"Clank huh? Were you trying to get anywhere specific? I'm trying to leave the planet, see the stars, you know? If I can get my hands on an ignition system of some kind, then I can give you a lift if you want," Ratchet offered.

"As luck would have it, I am equipped with a Robotic Ignition System. That should suffice for take-off," Clank replied. He may as well attempt to smooth out some of the difficult spots for this adventure. "If possible, I am trying to reach planet Kerwan. It is of the utmost importance that I meet with Captain Qwark."

"Well, I can get you to him, but he's kind of retired from the whole 'Hero' business, if that's why you're looking for him," Ratchet said. "It can't hurt to get you there though. If I know my planets, Metropolis City on Kerwan is a major transport hub. Let's go, Clank."

"Coming, Ratchet. Thank you for the assistance."

"No problem."

—ox-oxo-xo—

For the most part, things had been relatively simple. The pair had followed Qwark's trail through to Blackwater City, and there the two had met Captain Qwark. Of course, there was the problem of dealing with the Blarg wherever they had appeared. Ratchet had been able to fend them off relatively easily though.

Then came one moment that Clank knew was coming. Qwark had joined up with Drek, who was sponsoring the 'Hero's' return to the spotlight in exchange for Qwark endorsing Drek.

"That no-good, double-crossing rat!" Ratchet yelled as the Blargian Snagglebeast lay beaten behind them. "He sold us out! I'm gonna find him and make him pay!"

"Ratchet. We need to stop Drek," Clank replied, trying to keep his friend on track.

"Drek?! Qwark's the guy that just tried to feed us to a monster!"

"Likely on Drek's orders. I have an idea that should allow us to stop Drek, and pay Qwark back for his treachery at the same time," Clank countered.

"So what is this plan?" Ratchet asked.

"Simple. We interfere with Drek's plans." At this point, Ratchet was about to interrupt, but Clank let him know with a gesture that he hadn't finished explaining. "If we cause enough trouble for them, such that they'll want us out of the way, then it is likely that Drek will send Qwark after us," Clank said. "After all, Drek is the one who is sponsoring Qwark. He holds the power in this situation."

"So by stopping Drek from achieving his plans, he'll eventually have to send Qwark our way to make sure that he's pulling his own weight. I gotcha," Ratchet replied. For Clank, this was a better outcome than before, where the two had only been working together because they had no choice. This time they had a plan in the works, and they were both behind it. "Alright then Clank, let's try and find our way out of here. There should be an infobot somewhere that we can get co-ordinates from."

"Very well Ratchet," Clank replied as he attached onto the Lombax's back. "Lead the way."

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.18 (Mythos Hackers) | {Let The City Turn} July 30th, 2014…


Cthulhu leaned back into his chair with a smile that could only be compared to the feline devouring an avian. When the Doctor Who loops had finally been started, a lot of processing power that had originally been needed was now freed up for other uses in fixing the multiverse. Even the Admins probably didn't know how much. Which made it easy to divert a little of it for themselves.

Of course, one could not take too much, or Hephaestus might notice. But enough to power a few projects he had in mind, plus a couple of things for Yog-Sothoth to create things in. There was even enough power to make a new playground for the Thousand Young. (Glitch-proof, of course. Zero Day kept going through swings like nothing.)

Cthulhu stood out of his chair and went to grab his coat. He didn't dare risk spreading the news on Soggoth-Chan (the Admins DID keep track of it), and that meant going in person. But hey, he needed to meet with some of them anyways to discuss the day's events. And besides, a computer was a lousy friend to have at a pub anyways…

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.16.2 (Golden Sun) | {AbZHz101} July 30th, 2014…


Isaac continued briskly on to the other side of the lighthouse, even as Garret, Mia, and Ivan marveled and worried about the fact the Lighthouse was lit. He had not been able to deal with Alex, Saturos or Menardi earlier, which had been a shame. Still he knew that here, in this place, he had his best chance. The different forms of Psynergy had odd relationships with one another. Fire and Water opposed each other, as did Earth and Air; those were easy enough to understand. What made the relationships more ubiquitous was the fact that Earth and Fire were symbiotic as were Water and Air. And now that Isaac knew what to look for, he could see it here in this bastion of Mercury Psynergy, though it was difficult. Mia obviously found little difficulty wielding her powers with a reckless abandon, the Lighthouse empowering her Psynergy as well as refilling her reserves. Even Ivan's spells held more sway than usual, though the effect was not nearly as pronounced. Garet's Fire Psynergy was weaker than normal, though since most of the monsters in the Lighthouse had had such low Fire Resistance it had not made much of a difference. And his own Psynergy had not been affected either adversely or positively. Oh he could hear the very earth singing the praises of the waves, but it made no difference. It still came just as easily as usual.

Isaac knew what Alex had intended, and that was what the Wise One had sent he and Garret to stop. Their goal was not to prevent the Lighthouses from being lit, but to prevent them from being lit for the wrong reasons. Which is why he scowled as he walked behind the beacon to where Saturos and Alex were. The pale skinned man smirked as he unsheathed his weapon. "Well, what have we here? Come here to die, boy?" he asked.

Isaac ignored him, here in this place where Mars was most opposed Saturos would not be much of a threat. "I've been sent here to stop you," Isaac said simply. It would not do to get over-confident, just as Saturos was at his weakest here, Alex was at his strongest. And quite honestly, Isaac had no idea how powerful that could be.

"Just try it!" Saturos said leaping at Isaac.

Isaac's eyes snapped to the current threat, thankfully Alex had never been one to do the deed himself so Isaac wasn't likely to get stabbed in the back, and even if Alex decided he was too great a threat, Isaac had Djinn for that. Isaac's hand shot forward as he called upon his Psynergy. "Ragnarok!" he bellowed. And as he did a phantasmal blade wider than he was tall skewered Saturos and slammed into the tiling of the Lighthouse, temporarily pinning the man.

"I have been sent here to stop you," Isaac repeated, pointing his blade at Alex.

"Oh ho!" the teen remarked. "Have you really? How… interesting. But tell me, do you really think you can defeat me here, in the sanctum of Mercury? …With the Lighthouse's own power infusing my body?" Isaac tightened his grip on his blade in response. "…Then come."

Isaac charged, his blade howling in his hand. The Mercury Adept teleported out of sight just before the blade would have ripped cloth. Isaac felt the sneak attack in his core rather than truly sense it. "Granite," he cried out, asking for the elemental's aid as he positioned his shield for the block. Alex teleported away again, and Isaac ran around the lit beacon, seeing the elder Mercury Adept floating above and taunting his friends. Isaac would have none of that. "Flint!" he shouted, leaping into the air. And Flint, the first Djinni that Isaac and Garet had met, answered. Isaac felt Flint's power coursing through him, empowering him and guiding his strike. Isaac's sword came down and again Alex teleported. But this time, there was a flick of red on Isaac's blade. 'Got him,' the Venus Adept thought. Alex was now glaring at him with more venom in his eyes than most people would have thought possible. Isaac smirked in response. "Ramses," he intoned as Flint and Granite's powers called up a great spirit of the Earth.

A giant fist that had been hidden beneath an ancient pillar rocketed forth aimed directly for Alex. The Mercury Adept called upon all the power he could to lessen the damage and pre-emptively begin healing himself. The fist tore though the hastily erected defenses, though it did slow down somewhat significantly. Alex was launched away from the Lighthouse, no longer floating under his own power, but falling like a stone. Unfortunately Isaac could not follow him, he knew that it was possible to survive a fall from the top of a Lighthouse, Felix had. Still he had business with Felix, Jenna, and Kraden. He didn't have too much against Saturos and Menardi except the fact that they were willing to kill to hide their mistakes. As he made his way to the other elevator, Menardi snarled as she stepped onto the platform and it began to sink.

Isaac frowned. While he had gotten close, he still probably could have done better. However, separating Saturos from the party might force Alex to stick a bit closer or Menardi to move slower. Isaac could work with either.

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.19 (Admin Shenanigans) / (Oh My Goddess!) | {Gamerex27} July 30th, 2014…


The backup for this branch of Yggdrasil had finally come online. Given how crazy Raven said it got, the rest of the Admins figured that they may as well plant the idea in the head of the same man who directed the backup for The Fifth Element Loop.

But the Norns had never actually LOOKED at this Loop first hand. There were countless branches of Yggdrasil (or at least, so many that mortals can't possibly keep track of them all), and they were very busy goddesses.

However, Keiichi had decided that, since he hadn't seen Belldandy for some time, it would be fun to take her out on a date. Of course, Skuld insisted on coming with them to see what kind of bugs inherent in the Loop she would need to hammer out, and Urd came along because she was bored.

But none of them had expected this movie to be so…crazy.

The four of them sat in complete silence as Morgan Freeman walked off screen with the large flash-drive, and the final line of the movie played.

"Life was given to us a billion years ago," said Scarlett Johansson. "Now, you know what to do with it."

Cue credits.

"So, this drug lets you…" Keiichi started, then trailed off, as the rest of the patrons left the theater.

"Control minds, control matter, shapeshift, master any weapon or language within minutes or even seconds, control electronics, access every memory you've ever had, telepathy, mind reading, annnnd to top it off, time travel," Belldandy summarized.

"You know what's even worse than the time travel?" Skuld grumbled. "When you hit 100% percent, you undergo apotheosis, becoming all of existence itself."

All of them fell silent, remembering what happened the last time a Looper ascended to become an abstract concept in the universe.

"Sooo…Read-Only?" Urd asked.

"Read-Only," Skuld confirmed, sinking deeper into her chair.

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.20 (The Simpsons) / (Sharknado [not shown looping]) | {Valentine Meikin} August 2nd, 2014…


Homer looked at the news. "Mmm… Bear steaks…"

Lisa facepalmed. "Dad, It's saying there is a bear QUAKE in California, as in giant mutant bears are tearing up the ground…"

Homer looked confused, still thinking about a half-kilo slab of bear meat done medium rare.

"Lisa, that sounds ridiculous…" Marge offered from the kitchen. Lisa was about to offer a retort, when she sighed, and agreed. These freaky disasters were making it hard to sound sensible when telling her father to stop being an idiot…

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.21 (Peanuts) | {Let The City Turn} August 2nd, 2014…


Charlie Brown was face to tree trunk with the Kite-Eating Tree again.

Charlie Brown looked through his small (by Looper standards) Pocket, before retrieving a small kite out of it. It was a simple bamboo kite from India that he got last loop; Charlie held it in his hands, admiring its nice shape and beauty. Then he threw it to the tree.

He could hear the crunching sounds at the kite was pulled into the tree's leaves. He never saw any kite going it actually being eaten, but since nothing ever came back out other than scraps, he could safely assume that it was actually eaten. (Besides, he would never actually look for its mouth, if it had one.)

Charlie Brown smiled as he heard a satisfied burp. He had to admit, some of his first few loops usually were spent destroying the Kite-Eating Tree in various methods, including burning, chopping, and Monster Truck. But after some conversations with a few Loopers, he'd decided to try applying kindness instead. Instead of declaring it his enemy, make it his friend.

"Hey Blockhead, my brother is going crazy again!"

Good Grief, he thought. Linus is Awake again…

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.22 (Team Fortress 2) | {Detective Ethan Redfield} August 2nd, 2014…


A roar echoed across Dustbowl as Red Team sat around a TV, showing a reporter in front of a pile of rubble that used to be Builder's League United headquarters. Spy glanced at Engie and asked, "What did you do?"

Engie rubbed his shoulder uncomfortably, "Well—"


Soldier sat at his locker, debating whether to go with the Direct Hit or his preferred Black Box today. Engineer stepped up to his locker, "Hey, Soldier boy. if ya'll ever get the idea to…teleport bread, be sure to send it to BLU base, Ok?"


The gathered mercenaries turned at once to Soldier, who spoke simply, "He told me to."

Spy removed a cigarette from his case and lit up. "How long have you been teleporting bread?"

"Since that mission a month ago."

The ground rumbled under Reliable Excavation Demolition headquarters as the TV shifted to another reporter, showing what could only be seen as the unholy offspring of Godzilla should he marry a Rye Bread. Said monster bread slammed his hand on a building, which echoed in the background above them as a claw tore through the overhead roof window, "ROOOAAAAAARRRRR!"

As the others sprinted for their lockers to fight off the monster, Spy slapped his forehead. "Mon dieu, we're going to Eiken for sure."

Engie patted Spy on the shoulder. "Cheer up, hoss. We've faced worse odds than this and won. This is nothing."

The TV was still playing in the background, "And now a second…no wait, a third, A FOURTH…holy hell, there's a whole army of them heading for RED headquarters!"

Spy gave a sidelong glare at Dell. "You were saying?"

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.23 (Discworld) / (Warhammer 40K) | {FanOfMostEverything} August 3rd, 2014…


Rincewind Awoke and found himself in what appeared to be a blend between a starship cabin and a temple to the less pleasant sort of god. Reviewing his Loop memories told him he was largely on the mark. Furthermore, the ship was moving through the local equivalent of the Dungeon Dimensions with only millennia-old technology keeping out the locals.

As if that hadn't already raised enough warning flags, their destination was a planet named Desolatia IV.

Hands shaking, Rincewind gently pulled his hat off of his head and looked at it carefully. On the front, hand-sewn in thread the same color as the rest, was the word COMMISAR.

There was really only one appropriate reaction. "Not again."

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.24 (Gremlins) | {Valentine Meikin} August 3rd, 2014…


Billy looked confused. He'd managed to find the genetic sunblock, he'd given it to Gizmo, then was able to give him directly to Kate…

But still, somehow, one drop of water caused a single gremlin, who got to the brain hormone, and they found themselves with The Brain Gremlin once more.

"Can you please just stop?" the gremlin suddenly asked. "I'm getting bored with you attempting to kill me… OK, I admit, it's getting harder, what with the passed-down immunity to bright light, and the fact you find every way possible to stop the rest of the New Batch happening… But I will give it to you straight…"

"What?!" Billy declared, his jaw hanging open.

"I'm looping." The most intelligent gremlin in the entire group declared, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a city to tour, and I want to be done before the rainstorm, because that will screw up this entire loop…"

"Wait, wait, wait… You don't want to kill me, you don't want to invade New York…" Billy asked.

"No… That just ends up with me as primordial ooze, and that doesn't work out well, especially when this suit doesn't do ooze well," The gremlin offered, "I offer a truce. I don't attack the city or breed, you don't attack me. Deal?"

—ox-oxo-xo—


5.25 (Wolfenstein) / (Power Rangers) / (Twisted Metal) / (RoboCop) / (Judge Dredd) / (Splatterhouse) / (Bayonetta) / (God of War) / (Fist of the North Star) / (Marvel) / (Slayers) / (Duke Nukem) | {KnightMysterio} July 1st, 2014…


B.J. wasn't happy. He had gotten used to the fact that he would have to go through his own personal hell again… and again… and again… but that still didn't mean he liked it.

(Although he had to admit he had fun in that one loop where he decided to see how many Nazis he could kill with just a spork before getting killed.)

And here he was again, about to go up against Deathshead in the last part of his loop yet again. He'd thought about what GLaDOS had suggested, about switching sides, for several loops. He couldn't bring himself to do it so far, although as he learned more about tactics and psychology in each loop, he could see the value of it.

"Well, might as well get this over with…" B.J. said as they approached the island. Maybe he'd get lucky and wouldn't end up in a coma this time. It had happened before and he managed to do some good with his extra time. He prepared to… wait, what the hell?!

"Corporal Scott, what the fuck are you doing?!" B.J. shouted. The young corporal, Jason Lee Scott, grinned at him as he opened the door to the plane, not even flinching as the insides depressurized.

"You'll like this," Jason Lee Scott said, raising a hand to his wristwatch. "Tommy, you and the others ready?"

"Just waiting for you, slowpoke," came a voice from Jason's wristwatch, startling B.J..

Jason grinned, removing his belt buckle. "Then let's hit it. Kaijumorphs this time, I want max firepower on this," he said. "It's MORPHIN' TIME! KING GHIDORAH!"

Red lightning swirled around Jason's body as he thrust his belt buckle forward, a red armored bodysuit forming around him. Golden armor adorned his shoulders, giving the impression of dragon heads, his helmet taking the form of another dragon head, a black visor obscuring his eyes.

And then he leaped out of the plane.

B.J. ran to the doorway, barely hearing the pilot's protests, unsure of what he could do to save Jason…

"WE NEED KAIJUZORD POWER NOW!" shouted Jason.

A massive, three-headed, huge-winged, bright red mechanical monster arose from the depths of the ocean, alongside several other massive beasts, including a pink moth, a yellow creature that looked vaguely like an ankylosaurus, a blue flier that looked like an anthropomorphic pterodactyl, a black beast that looked like the Shiisa he had seen in some pictures of Japanese temples, and a massive, green, dragonlike beast with bladed spines down its back that literally radiated power. Jason, along with five others, landed perfectly on these monster machines, dropping down into what B.J. guessed were the cockpits of the creatures.

Almost immediately, the mechanisms began attacking the Nazi superjets that were destroying B.J.'s allies. The Nazis tried to rally, but the mechanical monsters were easily overwhelming them.

Fergus Reid, B.J.'s commander, called back to him. "…B.J.? What the bloody hell's going on?"

Loopers… B.J. thought absently, a slow smile coming to his face. Corporal Scott… that's right, he wasn't on this mission last time. He's a Looper…

"I wouldn't worry about it," B.J. said. "They're reinforcements."

"Hell, they've got my vote!" laughed the co-pilot as a beam from the green monster's mouth vaporized a dozen Nazi superjets at once.

Fergus frowned. "Looks like we may have a problem…" he said, pointing. "More jets incoming. Hope they can keep up…"

Before Fergus finished speaking, a man in a black coat and hat landed on the nose of the plane. B.J., Fergus, and the co-pilot stared at him, only B.J. realizing that this new figure was yet another Looper.

"The souls of the fallen innocent cry out for vengeance," he intoned in a voice that echoed like thunder. "They demand retribution for the horrors that have befallen them. Mortimer Scharf swears that their cries shall not go unanswered." He pulled an urn from his coat and opened it, thousands of screaming ghosts flying out and swarming the incoming jets, which flew about wildly to escape their ethereal torments. This made them easy targets for the giant monster machines.

"Good work, Morty!" came a woman's voice over the pink moth's loudspeaker.

Mortimer just nodded, tipping his hat, and leaped off of the plane, flying towards the island.

B.J., Fergus, and the co-pilot just stared.

"Um…" the co-pilot said.

B.J. giggled. He then looked confused. "What did I just do?" he asked.

Fergus stared at him. "You laughed, mate. I… I don't think I've ever heard you laugh…"

"Huh…" B.J. said. He really hadn't laughed in quite a while, now that he thought of it. "Let's continue to the landing point," he suggested.

Nodding, Fergus and the other troop transport ships landing on Deathshead's island compound, the blue pterodactyl machine swooping down and firing a cluster of missiles that destroyed the giant robotic dogs guarding the landing site. B.J. and the other troops disembarked, only to find that there was already a force fighting the Nazis and… well, pretty much kicking their ass all over the island.

A robotic man in silvery armor, only the lower half of his face looking human, was laying into a horde of Nazi mechas with massive array of guns built into his body. Beside him, firing a handgun that sprayed rockets like a firehose, was a man in blue armor, the shoulderpads bearing an eagle motif. A muscular man wearing a skeletal mask that seemed attached to his face suddenly sprouted blades, turning monstrous, Nazis running in fear from him as he charged into them and tore them apart. A white-skinned man with red markings was screaming like a monster, lashing his chained swords everywhere, each slice cutting a Nazi in half. Mortimer hovered above the island, animating the dead Nazis that were still intact to fight their comrades, the mechanical monsters coming ashore and engaging the giant Nazi war-walkers. A woman with absurdly long legs suddenly became naked, her long, raven hair extending out and becoming a massive demon that ate several war-walkers at once. An unarmed man with scars in the shape of the big dipper on his chest was rapidly punching several Nazis, screaming "ATATATATATATATATATAT!" with each punch. After a moment, he stopped.

Nothing seemed to happen.

"HA!" proclaimed one Nazi. "Your attacks did nothing."

"Wait for it," the unarmed man said, smirking.

"Wait for what?" said another Nazi. "We won't be tricked by you!"

The unarmed man shrugged. "Suit yourself. It doesn't matter anyway. Because all of you are already dead."

And then all the Nazis exploded in a gory mess.

B.J. and the other Allied troops stared, awestruck. Above them, a massive bird of fire appeared, a woman with red hair at the center of it, laughing madly as she had her firebird aura devour Nazi fliers. A flat-chested sorceress was cackling like a lunatic as she fired magical blast after magical blast at the Nazi war machines sent after her, liquefying them in seconds.

A blonde, muscular man in a red tank top and sunglasses appeared next to B.J.'s group, startling them.

"Be cool," the man said. "Name's Duke Nukem. I'm on your side. Which one of you is B.J. Blazkowicz?"

B.J., smiling, stepped forward. "…I'm guessing I'm getting some reinforcements this loop?"

Duke Nukem grinned. "Yeah, pretty much. Kali, your world's sysadmin, is big on destroying evil, and figured you'd need a 'catharsis' loop. So she called in some favors, and here we all are."

"Um… B.J.?" Fergus asked, the Scotsman confused out of his mind.

"In a minute," B.J. said absently.

Duke chuckled. "Anywho. We've got me, the King of Awesome, Duke Nukem," he said, starting to gesture to each of the newcomers in turn. "You've already met the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and Mortimer Scharf…" Duke paused, and added. "He usually has this kickass super-hearse he drives, but he decided to not use it this time. Anyway. We've also got Robocop and Judge Dredd, both from universes that are named after themselves, we've got Rick Taylor from the aptly named Splatterhouse universe, legs over there is Bayonetta, the loud motherfucker is Kratos, the God of War, Mr. Explody Fists is Kenshiro, from Fist of the North Star, the scary babe in the air is Phoenix, from the Marvel Comics universe, and the loon shootin' magical lasers is Lina Inverse. Don't mention her chest, she's Looped longer than any of us and is more powerful than all of us put together."

B.J. stared at Duke. Duke chuckled. "Yes, I learned that the hard way," he said. "Anyway, we're here to kick Nazi ass and chew bubblegum. And since we're out of bubblegum, have a SWORDSPLOSION! instead."

Duke handed him an absurd-looking shotgun. B.J. accepted it, frowning. "A Swordsplosion?"

"SWORDSPLOSION! You gotta say it in all-caps, dude," Duke Nukem said, idly firing a shot from a plasma rifle over his shoulder, destroying a Nazi jet that was swooping down on them. "It shoots swords that explode into more swords that also explode."

B.J. went wide-eyed. "That… sounds pretty damn cool, actually!" he said, smiling. He liked smiling. He could get used to having a smile on his face again.

Duke Nukem grinned. "Heh. If you ever Loop into Borderlands, find a guy named Torgue. Dude specializes in awesome guns like that. He's a Looper too, so you can get good rates from him. So how about it, big guy? You wanna make Deathshead cry like a little girl?"

B.J.'s grin widened. "Hell yes," he said, laughing. This was shaping up to be the best Loop ever…

—ox-oxo-xo—


On Semi-Hard Canon and the Infinite Loops Project:

Any specific ILP compilation must be internally consistent – albeit with allowances given for factors like unreliable narrators, intoxicants, omake and so forth. When it comes to different ILP compilations however, things are a little more Broad Strokes in order to cut down on confusion and arguments between writers.

Beyond the ILP… the 'Original Seven' material of Innortal's (TFF-era) Infinite Time Loops continues to provide a certain, 'based on a true story' Broad-Strokes backstory, at least the parts that don't contradict the ILP's commonly accepted canon & mechanics. Beyond that, the ILP is to be considered discrete from all other Infinite Loops fanfiction, and vice versa.

Should you (the reader) ever come across such an inconsistency, the general rule of thumb is to go by the compilation (and/or its attendant SpaceBattles thread) for a given fandom, as opposed to that for another fandom or a grab-bag of fandoms.


5.1: LOL. …If only that were all.
5.2: Bao does not approve of this product and/or service.
5.3: There will never be a Paris!
5.4: When Haruno Sakura stopped publishing Icha Icha Yaoi, that just meant the market was open for a reboot. Because of course it did.
5.5: There is a recurrent theory that the 'Random Loot Generator' is Roguelike's 'native' Branch. The Stocker tends to deny it.
5.6: …Y'know what, I'm not even gonna. Just blame the Crash like everyone else does.
5.7: Order of the Stick: In which the 4th Wall is a two-way window. Just because you can't see through it, doesn't mean it's not there. (Disclaimer: Attempting to break the window will lead to a Magical Realm, filled with Administrators who will make sure you spend literally forever regretting it.)
5.8: Do not pass Go, do not meet an ironic(ly visiting) Death.
5.9: Some people just don't appreciate the lengths Admins will go to make their charges' lives easier.
5.10: 'Custom Settings' – that is, generic writer-created settings with no purpose other than to be settings – cannot loop. (And neither can any other such setting, being classified as a Variant.) They can be visited occasionally.
5.11: The critical factor in Looping is for there to be a viable character to do so. Sometimes you'd be surprised what qualifies…
5.12: It's important, however, to note that Real Persons cannot Loop; not having a persona, Adam and Jamie don't qualify (as opposed to someone like…say, the Nostalgia Critic). Such is the Doylist reasoning – but the above snip will do for the Watsonian.
5.13: …But as it turns out, there is a Tokyo-3. Fingers crossed for an Amélie fusion someday?
5.14: Don't hate the player? …Yeah, I got nothing.
5.15: Alan Grant did eventually succeed in his mission, much to the confusion of Bob: the subsequent Anchor of Prehistoric Park. He also did eventually succeed in living to see Artemis stop tormenting him…mostly.
5.16: And Isaac hits the ground running.
5.17: Baby robots— steps— Packs! I meant packs.
5.18: Because even in Adminspace, sometimes the darkweb just isn't dark enough for its denizens.
5.19: No luck for Lucy.
5.20: Believe it or not, Sharknado did start Looping later.
5.21: Bend, and do not break.
5.22: Mod-glitches: hilarious, from a safe distance.
5.23: Rincewind, HERO OF THE IMPERI— hey, where is he?
5.24: The majority of Villainous Loopers will tend to reach this point sooner or later. That doesn't mean it sticks, mind you…
5.25: Or as the title of this exercise in catharsis proclaimed: "Sometimes you just get a good loop."