8.1

For Sly and Murray, it had been a rather different Loop. After all, it was rare that out of the whole Looping Gang, that it was just the two of them representing their Loop.

Admittedly though, this was a new Loop for the both of them. Sly had replaced Ratchet (even taking on a Lombax version of his normal appearance) while Murray had become a robotic version of himself.

"So, you guys here for the Hovercar Demolition Derby?" The Rilgarian Promoter asked, "If you win, you get a Platinum Turbo Unit presented to you by Captain Qwark himself."

"Hovercar Demolition Derby?" Murray asked, his eyepieces lighting up. Unlike Sly, who had Awakened on Veldin where he had met Clank, Murray had Awakened on Kerwan, which meant that he had yet to hear about this.

"Are there any restrictions for entering?" Clank asked the promoter.

"Only that one person can be in the hovercar during the festivities. So, you wanna sign up?" The promoter replied, "Legal requirements and all that. You've got to sign a waiver too, to say that you're doing this of your own volition and that you can't sue the folks running the event in the case of any major injuries."

"Murray, it's all yours buddy." Sly said, standing aside to let the hippo-esque robot take the spotlight.

"Thanks Sly. Time for The Murray to show just why he's the Undefeated Demolition Derby Champ back home!"

Once Murray had been taken to the hovercar that was originally set for Skid, it had given Sly and Clank a chance to chat.

"So, anything we need to be aware of beforehand?" Sly asked.

"Well for one, Captain Qwark is actually working with Chairman Drek." Clank replied, "Falling head first into one of Qwark's traps is not my proudest moment."

"Was it before you caught on to the Loops?" Sly asked, the nod from the diminutive robot that had become his impromptu backpack confirmed it. "Then don't worry about it. We all make stupid mistakes from time to time when we don't know what's coming."

"May I ask what sort of mistakes did you make before you started Looping?" Clank asked.

"Well, believing that the baseline, non-Looping Neyla was an ally, that's one. I can't stress this part enough though. That was before she started Looping too. Now that she's Looping though she's become a real member of the gang, albeit still a bit jumpy around robots and cyborgs." Sly replied, "Last I heard; she's still not on very good terms with Skynet. Bender gets a kick out of it though."

"I see." Clank replied.

"Now that aside, these Gold Bolts we have, they're not essential for anything, are they?"

"Aside from using them to acquire Gold Weapons on Novalis, not to my knowledge." Clank said, noting the sigh of relief from Sly. "Ratchet does take time out to collect them from time to time, but that was during his early Loops. Nowadays he tries to devise new and… um… 'interesting' avenues for his inventions."

"Any standouts?" Sly asked.

"Well a baseline example is the Electro-Shock Undergarments that he created." Clank replied, "He called it 'Stunderwear'. Surprisingly it sold rather well on Umbris. Then there was the time he tried to turn the Rift Inducer into a cleaning tool." He added, shuddering at the memory.

"Well don't worry; I'll try to keep any inventing to a minimum." Sly said, grinning. "By the way, you wouldn't mind if I took some stuff with me when the Loop ends, would you?"

"Gifts for the Loopers in your home branch?" Clank asked.

"That's right." Sly replied, "After all, it seems like this Loop's going to be good for gifts."

At that point, the crowd cheered.

"AND THE WINNER IS MURRAY!"

"Come on Clank, let's go congratulate Murray." Sly said, getting up.

"Right behind you, Sly." Clank replied, following suit.

8.2

"So, any plans for this Loop, Cooper?" Neyla asked as she looked at the group that had gathered in the hideout's training area. Sly and Murray had stood side by side on one side of the room while Neyla, Bentley, Carmelita, Penelope and Dimitri were sat on chairs in front of them. On the other side of the room was a group of training dummies that Sly had prepared beforehand.

"Nope. We're here for something else. Murray and I had a Fused Loop over in the Ratchet and Clank Loop. Didn't we Murray?" Sly said.

"Yeah, and we brought gifts for everyone!" Murray shouted, pulling some stuff out of his Pocket while Sly did the same.

When they were finished, there was a pile of weaponry, gadgets and a bunch of odd computers on the floor behind Sly and Murray. Both of them had a booklet in their hands.

"We also got hold of the relevant weapon vendors for each provider, namely Gadgetron, Megacorp, Dreadzone and Grummelnet. Most of them have a clerk of some description, but Clank said they have an automatic mode as well. " Sly said. "Would you two mind trying to switch the settings later?" He added, looking at Bentley and Penelope.

"Sure Sly." Penelope replied.

"Yeah, shouldn't be too hard." Bentley replied. "I think I've got some Starfleet-style Replicator tech in my Pocket, so we should be able to get them working for free too."

"Come on already! Get to the goods!" Dimitri shouted impatiently.

"Alright then." Sly said, "Starting off, here's what we got for you Bentley."

He reached into the pile and pulled out what looked like a space-age crossbow.

"It's called the Plasma Striker!" Murray said as he searched through his booklet. "Here we go. It looks like a hi-tech crossbow, but not only does it fire plasma blasts, the scope has zoom functions and shows weak points on the target!"

"Not bad, wonder how the Clockwerk parts would hold up to a good plasma blast." Neyla said.

"I'm guessing the dummies over there are for us to try these out?" Bentley asked.

"That's right." Sly said, "Give it a try."

"Alright then." Bentley said, looking through the scope and taking aim. Pulling the trigger, a beam of energy shot out and pierced through the dummy's neck.

What they hadn't expected though was that the blast hadn't been fully blocked by the dummy, and there was now a burn mark on the wall with a small hole in the middle of it.

"…We're going to need to set up a better testing site." Sly said.

(Wildrook)

"Pray that one of us goes to the Marvel-Verse and finds enough Vibranium to do the job." Bentley agreed.

8.3

"You tried to force Jing King into marrying you. Did you ever stop to see what she thought about that?" Sly asked as he faced General Tsao in the Bamboo Thicket near his stronghold.

"She is a woman! She doesn't know up from down!" The General replied, "Besides, uniting our two bloodlines would give me unparalleled political power! I would be a fool not to do this! What do you say about that, 'Wedding Photographer'?"

"Well… I've got nothing, but I'll tell you one thing." Sly said, turning the black-hearted fowl around. "I figure the three of them would have something to say about that."

Stood in front of the two men were Carmelita, Neyla and Penelope, each readying a different weapon. Carmelita was preparing to fire the weapon Sly and Murray had picked up for her in the Ratchet Loop: the Mag-Net Cannon. Neyla meanwhile had ready to use the Undertow Vigor while Penelope was stood with her arms crossed in the cockpit of the Knight Baron.

"General Tsao, you're under arrest for kidnapping and intent to carry out a forced marriage. If you resist arrest, we will be no choice but to use force." Carmelita said to the somewhat nervous looking rooster.

"I'll just leave you four alone." Sly grinned, walking away.

8.4

"So Sly, what're our plans for this Loop?" Neyla asked.

"Not sure. Carmelita's not Awake this Loop, so we're probably going to have to deal with her trying to arrest me." Sly said.

Suddenly Sly's Binoc-U-Com started to beep.

"Everything alright Bentley?"

"S-SLY! NEYLA! There's someone on the roof with you!" Bentley shouted.

"I guess I've been spotted then."

Sly and Neyla turned around…

…and were face to face with a well-endowed cat that happened to be dressed as a cheerleader, pom-poms and all.

"Sly. Neyla. My name is Themis, I'm your Admin."

"Our Admin's a busty cheerleader?" Sly asked, intrigued.

"Down Sly, you're married." Neyla said, "But he's right, you look like you stepped right out of Eiken."

"...It's a long story. Can we discuss this back at the hideout?" Themis replied. "It's rather cold out here and my back is killing me."

Later, at the Hideout…

"Allow me to explain what's been going on and it'll show why I'm like this." Themis said, "You're aware of the Mass Effect Loop, correct?"

"We had Garrus and an Unawake EDI here a few times; Carmelita and Bentley have been there." Sly replied. "Why, what about it?"

"Well their original Admin, Ares, enabled Sovereign for Looping for the no real reason whatsoever." Themis explained.

"SOVEREIGN'S LOOPING?!" Bentley shouted, "Shepard never mentioned that."

"Erm, how bad is that, Bentley?" Murray asked, unsure.

"Imagine if someone worse than Clockwerk was Looping." Bentley said flatly. Everyone in the room felt a chill down their spine.

"He is Looping, but thankfully he's calmed down a fair bit." Themis said, "Although that didn't stop him from almost Ascending at first. The thing is, after that, Ares was removed from Mass Effect and moved onto a start-up attempt. Have any of you heard of I Wanna Be The Guy?"

Everyone looked at each other before shaking their heads.

"Imagine a platformer game that is so difficult, that when the producer found out that someone had beaten it on the highest difficulty, their response was 'You're not serious, are you?'" Themis explained. "From death traps that appear out of nowhere, pixel perfect platforming as the norm, and all manner of other tricks to increase the difficulty. The only differences present between the various difficulty settings are how many checkpoints are available, with the highest difficulty receiving none."

"That sounds downright brutal." Penelope replied, somewhat nervous.

"Well the Anchor, in order to activate the Loop, had to complete a full run of the game on that aptly named 'Impossible' difficulty, with no foreknowledge about what was coming. In essence, a blind run without dying once." Themis said.

"Let me guess, he did it." Sly said.

"Yes. The final attempt could be summed up as around '1 Yggdrasil plus 1 Googolplex'." Themis explained.

As soon as Bentley and Penelope had heard the term 'Googolplex', they immediately froze.

"That's a lot, isn't it?" Murray asked.

"A Googol is 1 followed by 100 zeroes." Bentley replied, still somewhat shocked.

"A Googolplex is 1 followed by a googol zeroes." Penelope added.

"While 1 Yggdrasil is officially noted as being beyond mortal comprehension." Themis finished. "This Loop is infamous among the Admin for the sheer difficulty in getting it going. Even the Original Seven haven't been there yet since there wasn't a usable baseline ready until now, which leads into why I look like this. Many Admin, myself included, had wagers going with each other about when it would actually start Looping.

I had a personal wager with Aphrodite, the Admin for Eiken and professional thorn in Hephaestus' side. If the total attempts reached 2 Yggdrasils, then Aphrodite would have to sub in for an Admin and manage a Loop of my choice for a single run. She would have also had to meet them face to face to explain what was going on using an avatar designed by me. Since she loves the Eiken body shape, I would have stuck her in a child's body since it would have no curves to speak of.

However, if it started Looping prior to that, then I would have to explain it to my Loopers using an avatar that she designed and I would have to wear this ridiculous costume for a while while I'm at my terminal." Themis added, sighing. "As you can see, she won."

Suddenly a camera flash went off.

"Reference Material for Carmelita." Dimitri said, not that anyone believed him.

"So we could wind up Looping into this new branch then?" Sly asked.

"Possibly. Right now it's still in the beginning stages, so they haven't had a Fused Loop yet. Considering the Baseline is now the Impossible difficulty though, if you do end up there then expect the Loop to crash." Themis said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a second Loop to inform. The folks at Cold Mountain Penitentiary are going to be in for quite the shock…"

8.5

"Been a while since we've had a Loop like this, huh?"

"Yeah, it has. In more ways than one. You as the inspector, me as the thief, and a Rule 63 Loop on top of it." Carlos Fox, thief extraordinaire said as he looked at his other half, Inspector Sylvia Cooper. The two had just Awakened as Carlos had stolen the info on the Fiendish Five.

"Well then, shall we begin the chase?" Sylvia asked, readying her trusty Handcuff Gun.

"Alright then, see if you can keep up, Ringtail!" Carlos smirked as he bolted towards her gang's van.

"And so it starts again." Sylvia said, smiling. "Let's see if I can win this one, Fox."

8.6 (Ryuus2)

Hiccup woke up in an odd way. Nothing was on fire, there was no roaring or shouts of rage and pain, and he couldn't smell even a hint of smoke or fish. He was standing perfectly still staring up at a castle. Just that. Nothing else. It was the weirdest awakening he'd had in a century.

"Huh, we don't normally wake up here, a-hyuk," a familiar voice to his side said. He grinned and turned to meet the welcoming smiles of Goofy, Donald Duck, and Mickey Mouse. "Howdy Hiccup. You just Wake up too?" the dog-man asked.

"Yep. It's been a while since we've all gotten together like this," Hiccup said as he stretched to get the feeling back in his left leg; it always tingled when it came back after the loop reset. He looked up at the castle and surroundings he now recognized as Hollow Bastion from the first stretch of the Kingdom Hearts loops, then frowned as something hit him as off. "Hey, Mickey, what are you doing here? You don't normally show up until the end of this part, right?"

King Mickey Mouse, Keyblade Master and Disney Anchor, just grinned mischievously up at his fellow anchor. "It's a variant loop that pops up every now and then. Check your loop memories for the details."

Hiccup shrugged and did so. It was quite a bit to take in. Berk replaced Destiny Island this loop, except Riku was there as a Viking, and when the Heartless came Astrid was taken as a Princess of Heart and Hiccup became the new Keybearer. Then, while he, Donald, and Goofy were in Wonderland saving Alice, Maleficent went after Queen Minnie in Disney Castle, prompting Mickey to return from the World of Darkness early instead of trying to close the door to Kingdom Hearts from that end. Agrabah was kind of the same, if everyone was an anthropomorphic animal. Instead of Jasmine and Aladdin, they'd met Princess Carmelita and Sly the street ringtail. Everything else was mostly baseline for Kingdom Hearts, just with a lot more snark.

"Huh. Okay then. I'm guessing all the Princes and Princesses were replaced by Loopers, then?" Mickey nods confirmation. "I wonder who replaced Aurora, Cinderella, Snow White, and Belle?" he asked his comrades.

"My memories tell me that it's Princesses Asami, Cadence, and Rozalin this time," Mickey said. "I have no idea who replaced Belle, but the Beast's human name was-"

Mickey was interrupted by nearby space ripping and tearing with a bestial roar, followed by the more familiar roar of a monstrous engine. A tank sized metal box covered in guns rolled through the kaleidoscopic tear in space. What Hiccup recognized as a Rhino troop transport rolled right up to them and parked. Out of the back climbed a giant wolf-man in grey Space Marine armour, flanked by two wolves half his height...making them as tall at the shoulder as Hiccup.

"-Prince Leman Russ," Mickey finished with aplomb.

"Well met, your majesty," Leman growled formally, sketching a bow that was equal parts graceful and deferent despite all the hair and encumbrance of his armour. "I trust we are all Awake?"

"Yep," Hiccup said. "All of us so far, anyways. Your group?"

"Myself, Freki, and Geri, of course," he said, gesturing to his lupine brothers. "Bjorn is replacing Cogsworth. He and Lumiere are in the Rhino. We awoke as soon as the Heartless absconded with Nyx. We would have been here sooner, but the traffic was terrible."

"Are you sure it wasn't your driving?" Donald quacked. Everyone snickered as the Primarch growled angrily at the smirking duck.

"For your information, I was not driving. Bjorn wouldn't let me," he grumbled the last part. He waved at the portal he used to get there. "I was talking about them."

Out of the still open warp portal, another group arrived on what most of the Loopers there would call the strangest vehicle they had ever seen. A large blue and green flying carpet...with a steering wheel. Behind the wheel was a pink hippo in a turban with blue pants held up by a red sash. Behind him was a grey raccoon in a blue vest holding a crooked cane, a green turtle wearing a bowtie and a fez, and a tigress in purple pants and crop-top.

The next arrival was a glowing comet. A giant glowing hulk of ice and rock with a tail of fire that was somehow capable of parallel parking between a tank and a carpet. The light quickly dimmed and one wall of the comet fell apart/melted and reformed into a set of stairs. Down the stairs came a very handsome young man in expensively tailored royal blue clothes, with a bearing fit for a prince. The only thing that ruined the very picture of every parent's dream son in law was the very impressive cleavage the "prince" was displaying.

Last to arrive was an ornate crystal carriage driven by two crystal stallions. Out of it stepped yet another young man, in red this time, who was equally as handsome and charming as the last. Except for the chiselled jaw and lack of cleavage, that is. He was also accompanied by two mice, one on each shoulder, wearing matching guard uniforms and light plate armour, with identical swords strapped to their sides. As they stepped towards the group, the carriage and horses slowly lost definition until they faded away completely, their creator no longer applying the focus needed to keep up the elaborate force-fields that comprised them.

Taking in the assembled Loopers around him, Hiccup came to a quick decision. He switched to his favourite Night Fury Keyblade, jumped on the Rhino, and cast a wandless Sonorus on himself. "My friends and fellow Loopers, we have been called together here for a reason. Call it fate, or chance, or Yggdrasil wanting a show, but there is a reason. And that reason...is to prove we are men! And amazons," he added aside when Korra glared and Neyla hissed at him. "But mostly as men! Now what are we waiting for? Let's save our girls! Then rub it in their faces!"

"Yeah!"

8.7 (ToaMataNui5000)

Sly, or more correctly Haruhiko Cooper, woke up humanized in a Japanese style hide-out. A few pings revealed that Dimitri and Murray were also awake. However, they were elsewhere, and apparently an unawake Carmelita was bound to a hospital bed. Their current heist was relating to stealing money from the local yakuza, in order to fund her medical bills.

"Alright Bentley, what do you got for me?" Sly walked in to where his humanized, brainy buddy was looking over building schematics.

"Oh, it'll be simple. Once Murray gets back from scouting, you two will distract the guards. Meanwhile, I'll sneak in, find the vault, and use Trick Room to teleport the money out of the safe and into the van." Bentley Shinonome beamed proudly. "If it ends up going haywire, use your electric PSI to overload the building's power, and we'll use the blackout to escape."

"My what now?" Sly asked in confusion.

Bentley raised his brow, "You've had it ever since our first trip to the future, remember? We were hired by that anonymous phone call to solve some mystery, declined, but went anyway."

'Must be some new powers exclusive to this world. I bet I can just substitute electrical plasmids' "Yeah, now I remember. Sorry, so many heist and lack of sleep from worry got to me."

"Yeah, I know. I wouldn't be able to take it if something like that happened to Penelope." The former turtle patted Sly on the back consolingly. Their moment was interrupted by Murray bursting through the doors.

"Guys! Ya gotta get to the hospital, quickly! You won't believe this!" Murray Asaga said in tired gasps that held an undertone of happiness.

Bentley promptly used Trick Box to warp the thieving trio to the hospital roof. Too impatient to use stairs, Sly flipped gravity, ran down the building-side, and jumped through the window leading to Carmelita's room. There he saw his beloved wife, waking up like it was nothing but a long nap. "Morning Ringtail, I see you're feeling loopy, too?"

Sly pulled her into a tight hug and a passionate kiss. "I know I shouldn't be worried, but I couldn't help it." They finally let go after a few minutes. "How did you get healed up?"

"Murray came over and we made amends for some childhood bullying." The two turned to see Ageha leaning against the wall. "And trust me Sly, it's fine to worry. I got a lover and a manor of orphans that have yet to start looping that I'm scared for, so you'll be fine."

"Thanks pal." Sly and Ageha fist-bumped. "Ba-da-la-da-la-da-la!"

"Eh?"

"You'll understand after eventually meeting Baymax and Hiro," Sly chuckled. "So, what do you normally do here? Bentley mentioned something about time travel and special abilities?"

"We prevent the apocalypse, apparently this time around by the sentient meteor Clockwork Ouroboros." Ageha noticed the couple shiver at the name. "But if you wanna do so, I gotta teach you all PSI. Cause no offense, that cane and shock pistol ain't gonna do much. Then again, I lack any outside abilities to test."

"How 'bout I give you a cane to personalize and a copy of the Thievious Raccoonus in return? To try out in your next loops."

"And if it's anything like learning how throw Hadokens or perform magic, I bet we'll all won't mind the training." Carmelita smiled.

"Deal."

Meanwhile, outside the room, Bentley sighed. "Whelp, back to the drawing board."

8.8 (Kingofsouls)

"Sly...?"

"Yeah Neyla?"

"Can you look over there, and tell me what you see?"

Whipping out his Binoc-U-Com, Sly zeroed in at where Neyla was pointing.

"It looks like...Dimitri recreating Saturday Night Fever..."

"Good, I thought was seeing things."

8.9

"Say your prayers, Sly Cooper. Your life is about to end." Clockwerk droned as he circled Sly above the now active Krack-Karov Volcano.

"I don't think so." Sly replied, readying his cane for a very difficult confrontation. Thankfully the Death Ray hadn't started to sink into the lava this time around, so he at least had a place he could land on. Unfortunately this iteration of Clockwerk hadn't unleashed his robot soldiers on the gang during their approach, instead opting to release them a few minutes ago, which meant that everyone else was preoccupied with a battle of their own. "So tell me, you murdered my parents, stole my birth right, but you left me alive. Your Intel was sound, so you have to have known that I had been born. So why leave me alive?"

"I wanted to show the world that without your precious book, the Cooper Clan was nothing." Clockwerk replied. "Evidently, I was mistaken."

"Got that right." Sly said proudly. "After all, it doesn't take the Thievious Raccoonus to make a Cooper into a Master Thief. After all, a Cooper made the book in the first place. Besides, I have a few tricks up my sleeve that no other Cooper had, and I'm going to make good use of them to put an end to you."

"You can try, Cooper. Now then, let us finish this." Clockwerk declared, lifting into the air before diving at Sly. Quickly using his gravity control to get out of the way, Sly watched as Clockwerk crashed into his Death Ray, swiftly reducing it to scrap.

'…and there goes my most convenient foothold.' Sly thought to himself as he quickly brought himself to a halt in mid-air. 'Good thing I've been keeping this skill sharp. Zero Gravity mode, Stasis Field, Gravity Kick… Looks like I may need them here. Especially considering… 3, 2, 1…'

As if on cue, Clockwerk rose up from the wreckage, no worse for wear.

"I see… I do recall reading that one of your ancestors had the power to briefly defy gravity, it seems that you have perfected the skill."

"That's right." Sly said, "Thanks to this, I don't need to worry about touching the ground right now. Even better, you can't count your flight as an advantage anymore!"

"It doesn't matter. So you can emulate flight. I still have my armour, my weapons, and many more definitive advantages. As I said, you will die here, Cooper." Clockwerk droned, preparing to attack again.

Readying his now Haki-imbued cane, Sly grinned. It was time to start the fight proper.

8.10

For Sly and the gang, it had been a bit of an easier Loop. While the Fiendish Five and the Klaww Gang had still been active, Dr. M wasn't a factor this time around. Thankfully, it meant that the Cooper Vault was completely untouched.

Since this had managed to coincide with all of the native Loopers being Awake this time around, it was time to tour the entire vault.

"Alright, anyone got an idea on how we go through this place? Part of the security is an obstacle course that only a Cooper can deal with." Sly said, "While me and Carmelita can control gravity, it's not that suitable for slow travel."

"Well I've not got anything that can work as a utility." Penelope replied.

"Me neither." Bentley agreed.

"All my stuff is built for speed." Murray said, and can't fly.

"Bros, dudes, Dimitri's got this one. " The Lounge Lizard said, pulling a handful of strange locks out of his Pocket.

"I don't see how they'll help us. Dimitri." Bentley said, looking at his colleague with a confused expression.

"Need to open them first!" Dimitri replied, hitting a small button on the side to open the locks, then throwing them into the small antechamber behind them.

As soon as they were a reasonable distance away, the Locks unfurled into Hoverbikes.

"See what I mean? No worries bro."

"B-But how?!" Penelope asked, surprised. "I mean, the unfolding is one thing, but they were palm-sized before, what kind of tech got them to grow to the size of an actual motorcycle?" All Dimitri could do was shrug. "Eh, they just do. Got to make some greasy sweet cakes that Loop though."

"I can only imagine how weird those cakes looked." Bentley replied.

"Best in Zawame City, dude!" Dimitri said proudly. "Had my own shop and everything. Called it 'Charmant'!"

After hearing about Dimitri's escapades in the Kamen Rider Loop, the gang had taken to riding the bikes (which Dimitri called Dandeliners) and had starting looking through the vault.

"I've got to admit Sly, this is phenomenal." Neyla said, amazed at all of the riches that the Cooper Clan had amassed over the years.

"Yeah Ringtail, considering we don't get to look around given everything that happens normally, this is quite the collection." Carmelita agreed. "Admittedly, it's all stolen goods though."

"Come on Carmelita, you know that this stuff is hundreds, maybe even a couple thousand years old. I think we can look the other way on this one." Neyla replied.

"At least you get to see this each Loop Carmelita. Only you and Sly tend to get this far." Penelope said. "That being said, I can't wait to see the Otto Van Cooper section!"

"Hey guys, look at this portrait!" Murray shouted, as he moved up to a picture of Henriette Cooper. Oddly, the picture was her stood with a bird pirate.

When everyone reached Murray, Sly took a closer look at the title.

"It's not… is it?" He asked, quickly pulling out this Loop's copy of the Thievious Raccoonus. Flipping through the pages, he eventually found the right part of the book. "I can't believe it."

"What is it Sly?" Penelope asked, intrigued.

"Get this. Henriette 'One Eye' Cooper. Worked around the early 17th Century. One of her greatest acquisitions was Sinbad's Legendary Goblet, filled with treasure." Sly explained.

"Must be this cup here." Neyla said, having gotten off of her Dandeliner to walk over to a coin filled cup that was on a pedestal. Oddly enough it was right next to a jar of dirt.

"What set Henriette apart from previous generations was the fact that when she first started her thieving career, she wasn't the leader of her own crew. As you guys know, that's not how things normally happen." Sly continued as everyone nodded in agreement. "Instead, she started as the first mate to one Jack Sparrow, who was regarded as one of the greatest pirates ever to sail the seas."

"Wait a minute, are you telling me-" Carmelita started.

"Yeah, and it gets better." Sly said, starting to smile. "Her captain, Jack Sparrow, was also quite the oddball in his own right. Since pirate legend at the time stated that Davy Jones could only set foot on land for one day every 10 years, Jack tried to protect himself by keeping a jar of dirt on hand, that way he had some land with him at all times. When Henriette left the crew to form a crew of her own, he gave her the jar, which she kept as a reminder of the mad captain that she used to follow."

"Well I've just been doing some digging on this Captain Jack." Penelope said, having pulled out a laptop. "According to the net, his ship was in fact called The Black Pearl, so it can't be a coincidence."

"So he Looped into this world, but he found himself about 400 years before we were born?" Neyla asked. She picked up the jar and turned it over a few times. "Hey Sly, there's a shell in here."

"Really?" Sly asked, "Pass it here for a second."

She handed him the jar and he looked close. "That's a shell alright, but it's no normal shell. It's a Tone Dial."

"Meaning?" Carmelita asked.

"Well for one, it means that Jack's been to the One Piece Loop." Sly explained, "But there could be a message on here as well." Opening the jar and fishing out the Tone Dial (and making sure that it was clean), he pressed the point of the shell and began to play Jack's message.

"I had a jar of dirt, I had a jar of dirt and you've seen what's inside it!" Jack sang happily.

8.11 (Thanatos's Scribe)

Sora grinned as he watched Andy head upstairs with Buzz and Woody in hand, giving the two living toys a wave before they disappeared from sight. It was pretty rare for Sora to have a Loop where he was able to visit the 'Toy World', but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

"Hey, where am I?" He heard a muffled voice cry out. Looking around, Sora saw an unopened purple present sitting inconspicuously under the tree, the present barely in sight. A Ping was his only warning before the present's front burst open, and a purple anthropomorphic hippopotamus landed on his feet.

"Hah!," The hippo exclaimed, his goggles gleaming in the light as he raised his fist up and declared, "No prison can hold The Murray!" However, as Sora heard footsteps approach that could only be Andy's mom, he dashed out and dragged the hippo, who could only be a Looper, out from the open and behind a cabinet just before Andy's mother came out from the kitchen.

"What are you-" The hippo began to say, only to stop as Sora sent out a Ping. The two watched in bated breath as the mother walked past the cabinet, and collectively let out a sigh of relief once she was out of sight.

"That was close," Sora said as he wiped his brow, before turning to the Looper and said, "The name's Sora, and it's nice to meet another Looper I haven't met before!"

"Sora, huh?" 'The Murray' murmured, rubbing his chin in thought, "Now where has the Murray heard that name before?" After a few seconds passed, 'The Murray' snapped his fingers and stated, "Oh, yeah! You must've been the one who helped Sly get his Keycane!"

"You know Sly?" Sora said, then grinned, "That must mean that you're Murray! Sly told me about you when I last saw him."

"Well, the Murray is pleased to meet you," Murray said in reply with a grin just as big, before his face contorted in confusion. "However," Murray wondered, "The Murray is uncertain as to how he ended up in that box..."

"Really?" Sora chirped in surprise, "I was hoping that you had an idea."

"I have no solid idea, though the Murray has one theory..." Murray said, his voice trailing off in thought. However, their wondering was soon answered as the radio began to play a song that immediately had Sora chuckling and Murray groaning at the reference:

~I want a hippopotamus for Christmas,
Only a hippopotamus will doooooo~...

8.12 (SeaofFallingStars)

"I gotta thank you Penelope for doing this. It really means a lot to me!" Murray's giddy voice made the gang look over.

"Not a problem Murray, though I couldn't use the Van. It's just too small for what you wanted. I'm glad Carmelita was willing to provide this in its place though." The Dutch mouse was working on a police bus, modified to be a mobile headquarters.

It paid to have a beau on the Force, after all. Penelope was putting her well-earned skills in transformative machinery to use for Murray's odd request.

"What do you even need this for anyway? Last time I checked only Bentley and I had any uses for giant robots." Her shudder changed meaning as Murray gave her a rib-crushing hug.

"Well, we can't let Sly climb Carmelita every time she gets the Mask of Dark Earth on. I had a plan, now you're putting the last stage into action! Besides, out of all of us, who doesn't want a giant robot?" The hippo of destruction was nearing noise pollution levels of loudness.

After all, it's not every day that you have a friend build you a giant robot that's street-legal.

8.1: I was on a bit of a Ratchet and Clank kick when I wrote this one.

8.2: We know what everyone's received, we'll be seeing them over time.

8.3: Had this bouncing around in my head for a long time.

8.4: I was the one who got the ball rolling on that event. Mwa ha ha ha!

8.5: A Rule 63 Loop that's also a Role Swap. Might need to expand on either side of that one.

8.6: The opening of a mass-Fused Loop version of Kingdom Hearts.

8.7: Psyren sounds like an interesting series, but unfortunately it was cancelled. Gah.

8.8: We really have trouble writing for Dimitri.

8.9: Took me getting a Vita to realise that the Gravity Rush powers are deeper than I first thought.

8.10: Thanks to Evilhumour, who gave the suggestion of finding the Jar of Dirt in the Cooper Vault.

8.11: Didn't realise that song was a thing.

8.12: They've got two giant robots now. Huh.