Those new loops fell out of a portal, right on my doorstep. Seriously.

2.01

Yugo blinked Awake, and quickly examined his surrounding. He was apparently in The Crusty Gobball's kitchen, back in his home loop… for now.

The Anchor slowly tasted the blanquette cooking in a pot he'd taken the habit of Awakening to, and allowed himself a small smile.

"Perfect."

If the three Emelkian children watching – whose names he'd long since given up on learning – sincerely believed him to be talking about the meal, the Eliatrope's word had another meaning entirely. He had, in fact, stealthily checked his abilities.

Subspace pocket containing his loopers' guide – well, Lydia's, really – and meditation exercices received from Paarthurnax? Accessible.

Dovah Sos? Currently serene.

Magicka? Slowly but steadily coursing through his veins like hundreds of bolts of lightning.

Extremely pleased, the Anchor turned toward the kids and his smile became a predatory grin, one he'd learned from his 100% certified crazy of a daedric somewhat-friend and surprisingly excellent magical tutor.

"Arena? Fine by me, but it's three on one, and I'm making the scenario."

The youngsters, rather disturbed by the Eliatrope's expression, agreed anyway.

"Great, then the three of you will be heroes of old, all blessed by the gods in their own way."

Yugo turned to the oldest kid, and began to give him his new identity.

"The Nerevarine, oldest of them all. A mortal who became an immortal by overcoming an unholy plague and cleansing his homeland of its presence. He had a noble heart, and favored the bow."

The boy saluted in the way usually employed by Cra guards.

The Anchor nodded, and moved on to the middle kid.

"If the Nerevarine saved an entire country, the Hero of Kvatch saved an entire dimension… twice. He used his wits and magical abilities to stop an invasion of demonic forces, led by two rampaging gods, one of which he fought himself in hand to hand combat. In doing so, he became a divine himself."

"So I'm a… Sacrier?" hesitated the kid.

"No, you're a Masqueraider, but one thinking about as much as a Iop on the battlefield."

"Iops don't think on the battlefield… or anywhere." provided the 'Nerevarine'.

"Precisely." smirked the Eliatrope.

"But you just said that he was smart."

"Oh, he was… but not while fighting. Whenever he faced an enemy, he became a real fury and unleash pretty insane moves. Some even said that he was like an entirely other person… an insane one." finished the Eliatrope with a smile.

The appointed 'Hero of Kvatch' grumbled. He didn't want to play a maniac… but if it was just a one time thing, then maybe he could make an exception.

Besides, he was a god. How cool was that?

"Well, you're all good to go now, and –"

"Hey, you forgot about me." complained the third child, puffing his cheeks in annoyance.

"I'm sorry little one, I didn't see you there." replied Yugo mirthfully.

The kid harrumphed.

"But that was your strong point, right? Being invisible, hitting when his enemies least expected it, such were the skills of the Dragonborn. While he had the soul of an immortal dragon, it's with his mortal body that he prevented the enslavement of mankind… and brought the harbinger of the end of time to its knees. His glorious act didn't save a country, nor a world, it saved the entirety of existence."

The kid was beaming now.

His grin was making it hard for his attempt at moving sneakily like a Sram to be taken seriously.

"But what about you?" suddenly asked the 'Hero of Kvatch'. "Who are you?"

"And why are we after you?" added the 'Nerevarine'.

"Oh, but you're not after me." replied the Eliatrope. "I am after you."

"What?"

"I won't give you my name, but you can call me Huscarl. You three idiots were crashing at my place yesterday, and disappeared in the morning, leaving me with the cleaning up. So I grabbed my trusty old sword, and decided to give chase to you to make you pay for your poor manners."

The kids gulped, seeing the same grin appear once more on their friend's face.

"But… what kind of scenario is that?" innocently asked the 'Dragonborn', utterly perplexed.

The reply confused him even more.

"An historical reconstitution."

2.02

Even on the cruel World of Twelve, few things were deadlier than that particular monster.

With a few thousands pounds under its belt, claws the size of a grown human being, a mouth big enough to swallow an entire aircraft carrier, control over mist, and the ability to spit fire, the beast was basically a war titan… and one of the friendliest dragon this side of the Krosmos.

Grougaloragran dropped to the floor, causing something akin to a mini-quake, and approached his enormous muzzle from the young boy that had just walked up to him.

"Grougaloragran…" whispered the Eliatrope, smiling heartily at the behemoth. The Anchor looked like someone who'd just met a long lost friend, and thanks to the loops, that was somewhat true.

"Hello, Yugo." answered the old dragon, his loud voice echoing around the cave. "Grougaloragran is happy to see you again. You've grown up well."

At those brotherly words of acknowledgment and affection, the Eliatrope's smile seemed to become… warmer. He opened his mouth wide and…

"YOL TOOR SHUUUUUL!"

A deluge of flames escaped the Anchor's parted lips, engulfing a good third of the colossus and raising the room temperature by a pretty good number of degrees.

What was soon to become the Brotherhood of the Tofu, minus one Eliatrope, was now gaping wide at said young Eliatrope… which was absolutely perfect for inhaling the thick smoke raising from the dragon's burning beard.

Briefly seeing his friends' joint expression, Yugo tried to justify his unusual greeting.

"What? That's the dragon way."

But among the increasingly louder coughs they were now making, it went unnoticed… just like his contented grin.

As for Grougaloragran, he simply blinked.

"Dragon customs must have changed since Grougaloragran last visited the outside world. Grougaloragran has much to learn, it seems."

Adamaï looked at his brother in confusion.

"Does this mean that I breathe fire at Yugo now, Grougal?"

2.03 – by dragonraptyr

Yugo stumbled, blinking in the bright sunlight.

"Okay." he said, shaking his head. "Not my usual start. No Blanquette, for starters. Umm... memories! Lydia said something about loop memories!"

Taking a deep breath, the young Eliatrope closed his eyes, rifling through his memories. Finding the differences was easy. For one thing, in this loop he wasn't an Eliatrope. For another, his name wasn't Yugo. For some strange reason, this loop had seen fit to call him "Draconix" instead.

A loud whistling filled the air, shaking Yugo from his musings. Trusting his still foggy loop memories, Yugo rolled out of the way, narrowly dodging the tall cone shaped stone that plowed into the ground beside him.

An angry shout filled the forest silence.

"OOOOOBBBBBEEEEELLLLLIIIIIIXXXX!"

Yugo's ears rang from the force of the shout. Shaking his head to clear it, he stood up, nudging the rock with a toe.

"This is... a menhir?" he asked himself, rolling the strange word around on his tongue.

"Are you all right?"

Yugo turned, seeing two men running towards him, a little white dog hot on their heels.

"I'm fine."

The tall one slumped in relief.

"Oh, good. I thought that I might have hit you with my menhir."

The fellow then bent down, picking it up with one hand.

"I was trying to see if Dogmatix here could fetch it, and forgot that you might be in the area."

"That's okay." Yugo said, nodding... before frowning as he contemplated something. "This might seem like a weird question, but are either of you looping?"

Both men looked at each other, and smiled. They swung around to face him, and gave a sweeping bow. "Asterix-" said the short one, "-and Obelix" they announced.

Asterix looked up at Yugo. "And who might you be, young lad?"

Obelix stood up, shifting the weight of his menhir.

"I don't think your name's really Draconix" he said. "Most loopers don't have names like ours."

Yugo scratched his head shyly. "I'm Yugo, the Anchor for the World of Twelve."

"Nice to meet you, Yugo." Obelix beamed. "I'm the Anchor for our little piece of Yggdrasil. It's nice to meet you."

Yugo grinned. "So, what's your loop like?" he asked. "Is there anything I should be wary of?"

"Not really." Asterix replied, the wings on his helmet twitching. "Most loopers find us very peaceful. After a while, it's easy to head off most of the problems, and they aren't that difficult to start with. Mostly, we just take it easy, here."

"And thrash some romans." Obelix added. "We don't hurt them, mind you. And we don't usually go looking for trouble."

Yugo took a deep breath. A nice peaceful loop. And if his memories were any indication, it was a lot like Emelka.

"I think I'll try your baseline." He decided. "If it gets too much, I'll let you know."

"That's fair." Asterix said. "Well then, let me be the first to welcome you to the little village of indomitable Gauls."

2.04

It was common knowledge in Yggdrasil that the loopers had created a decent number of clubs. There was of course the canine-only poker union, that other one for genderless loopers, the group for reformed villains, and last but not least, the looping dragons and riders association.

What was less known was that Admins tend to do the very same thing.

Music gods were performing together, hunting gods chasing their preys in pack, wine gods getting plastered with the same brews… and every reptilian Admin, snakes like dragons, were reuniting every few eons to do reptile things like being slothful in the sun… or talking about loop activations.

Kur, Sumerian deity and first dragon to have ever Ascended, looked around the meeting room.

Apep and Azhi Dahaka were in a corner, ignoring everybody else and talking in hushed tone about… something he probably didn't want to know. Boitatá was actively restraining Bakunawa who, once again, was trying to gobble Xiuhcoatl up – someone really had to explain to the eclipse god that poor Xiuhcoatl wasn't the sun god, but merely guiding him. – while Vritra and Yam were at each other's throats over an old feud. Quetzalcoatl was wisely staying out of it, exchanging wind and storm tips with Illuyanka. Amaru was being his usual weird self – that guy was too many things at the same time, it couldn't be healthy – and Zirnitra was repeating card tricks.

It was time to get this thing running.

"Welcome, friends, to this new assembly." said the primordial dragon to his fellow slithering and flying colleagues. "Before officially opening it, I really want to thank you for attaining. I know that this meeting was called in haste but you still managed to show up, and that really means something."

All the assembled reptiles nodded.

All but one.

"If I remember correctly, you called us all for a very serious matter. And yet, I'm sure that everyone here noticed that two certain persons are missing… again. What will you do about that, gramps?" abruptly asked Apep, Egyptian serpentine deity of chaos.

Kur sighed at the god's rudeness. He hadn't got any better in the last centuries, it was a good thing that their meetings were so rarely held.

"You're probably talking about Jörmungandr and Tiamat, right? Well, our esteemed Nordic colleague had a family reunion, and I'm sure that you know what happens to whoever tries to go against Loki Laufeyson."

The chaotic being grumbled, but nodded anyway.

"As for our dear Mesopotamian fellow worker, –" continued Kur, "– she has her own loops to look after, which means that this meeting doesn't concern her as it is about a new branch's activation."

Those words drawn sharp breaths from the assembled Admins.

"Does that answer satisfies you, Apep?"

"It does." reluctantly answered the snake.

"Good, then I officially call this meeting into session. As I just said, a new branch is of concern to us."

"What branch exactly?" asked the strange lama/dragon/eagle mix called Amaru.

"And why does it concerns us?" added the feathered Quetzalcoatl.

"Its official designation is the 'World of Twelve' loop. As to why we're getting it, their universe was – in-loop, of course – created by the Great Dragon God and the Eliatrope Goddess."

The Admins had gleaming eyes by now. A new loop was always good for Yggdrasil, as it was the sign that the World Tree was healing… but a new draconic loop was even better, as it meant that one of them would finally get to work.

"So, what is it like?" asked Xiuhcoatl, clearly excited.

"And who's the Anchor?" added Azhi Dahaka.

"Well, the loop is running around a world governed by twelve gods, linked with a local infernal realm, and containing interstellar travels as well as a few time-travel situations – which were, of course, patched properly. The baseline revolves around Yugo, the last Eliatrope and the selected Anchor."

"So… he's not a dragon?" lamented Zirnitra.

"He's not, though he's extremely close to being one. Dragons and Eliatropes were created at their dawn of time, as brother-species, born from the same eggs."

The god of witchcraft shrugged.

"Close enough."

"That's cool and all, gramps, but who's getting it?"

Kur sighed once more.

Apep and his rudeness, hello again.

"I was coming to it, and you would have known, if you hadn't interrupted me." tiredly said the original dragon "Now, I supervised the activation myself. It went smoothly and the loop is stable enough, which means that my direct expertise isn't required anymore. One of you will thus be in charge of it."

The tension in the room was palpable. A cute bunny covered in BBQ sauce could have hopped around the place, and the Admins wouldn't have made the slightest move to gobble him up. They were all hanging upon the Sumerian god's words.

"The dragons living there are powerful yet peaceful creatures, most of them acting as protectors, or guardians." explained Kur, turning to his primary choice. "They also have a few polymorphic abilities."

As one, all the reptiles looked at the one snake who was both a guardian and a shapeshifter. The Old Tupian god had stayed silent for this entire discussion, but the numerous burning eyes occupying his entire body had kept track of everything, and his curious expression was now slowly turning into one of astonishment.

"Congratulation Boitatá." said the primordial dragon with a proud smile. "You're getting your own office."

Boitatá was panicking.

Not the kind of panic that he'd felt when Kur had given him the World of Twelve loop, nor the one from when Apep had given him such a dark glare than any source of light in the room had momentarily been smothered out. Those ones had vanished when the elder dragon had congratulated him for his new Anchor's first fused loop.

No, that kind of panic was a novelty to the serpent god. It was the one accompanying an Admin's assigned loop going awry and doing the least expected thing… like making a weird variant and activating a new looper.

The god was dumbly staring at his screen, trying to process the name on it.

"Well, that's an interesting approach."

That broke the Admin's trance, and he turned… to find Kur right beside him. In fact, if he had had shoulders, the other deity would have been reading above them.

"I personally would have activated his pet tofu as first looper, but that does have potential too. Let's see where it goes now."

NOW, Boitatá was panicking.

Yugo Awoke to find himself in a surprisingly older body. It didn't really bothered him by itself, he was taking that over a female one any day of the week… but it was coming with opening his eyes to the blinding whiteness of a place he had come to hate at least as much as its usual inhabitant, and that disturbed him.

With the loops, he was able to understand infinity… boredom too. And the very concept of the White Dimension was to use those two factors to turn the prisoners into drooling vegetables, terrified balls of nerves, manic lunatics, or any combinations of those wonderful qualities.

If the looper would never forgive Quilby for his past actions, he still felt that the punishment always bestowed upon his enemy was crueler than necessary. Without variants, vacation loops, funny experiments, pranks, or really anything to do at all, he would have gone mad himself in the infinity of … well, infinity.

Talking about the traitor, where was he hiding?

"Quilby!" yelled the Anchor, deciding that he had no time to play hide-and-seek with a mad Eliatrope. "QUILBYYYYY! Get your traitorous ass over here right… now..."

Yugo's voice had broken down, and he almost collapsed to the floor. He'd just received his loop memories, and they weren't pretty.

Quilby wasn't here… but the traitor was.

His unawake self had been jealous of Quilby's maintained memory through the rebirths. Jealous enough that he had decided to go to the one being that could apparently duplicate the ability, Orgonax.

He'd done it… he'd betrayed his people to the Mechasmes.

Quilby had warned him that this was no gift, only a curse. But he hadn't listened, he'd been blinded by envy… and he'd been exiled in the White Dimension for his sins. This Yugo had been the downfall of his world, had caused the death of this version of his brother, while the Quilby of this world had become the Eliatropes' savior.

The Anchor didn't know if he was supposed to laugh at the irony of the situation, or cry in despair at the horror of the new memories he now had.

He remembered blasting them to oblivion with wakfu spears… eviscerating them with his sword… watching the light in their eyes disappears, while laughing like a maniac. Crying was really appealing right now, because while he knew that he'd never done anything of the sort, he now had the proof that he was capable of it… and that terrified him.

His gloomy mood was cut short when the whole dimension shifted. It only lasted for… well, he wasn't sure how long, with the time dilatation on the place, but it was brief enough to catch his attention.

The Anchor focused on his wakfu, tried revealing spells and even Shouted a few times, but whatever that thing had been, it wasn't here with him. That left the protected dimension housing Balthazar and the children – which he wasn't about to check given his status in this variant – and the outside world as only possible sources.

Grabbing one of the Eliacubes he'd stored in his Subspace Pocket, Yugo opened a portal and stepped right through it, leaving the dreadful silent White Dimension.

The Anchor emerged on the World of Twelve… and was immediately swallowed by a pool of water, dropping his Eliacube in the fall.

Standing knee-down in water, his body drenched, he blindly searched the device around him, his vision impaired by the water slowly running over his face. There, he had it and… wait, that wasn't his cube, that was warm to the touch and furry. Disheveling his hair, the Eliatrope got rid of the warm water and managed to open his eyes to see what he was holding.

It was a dog. A small brown dog whose fur looked singed and whose wide eyes were stuck in an expression of surprise. And right beside the dog, was an Eliacube. But it wasn't his Eliacube, this one had to be the local one, as it was releasing wakfu in an anarchic way, sending sparks in the air. Those outbursts were probably the reasons for the White Dimension's shifts. Acting on instinct, the Anchor extended his arm and cut the erratic flow of energy. He then grabbed the cube, and looked around for his own one.

He spotted it by the pool, right at the feet of a blond man in black trousers and a white vest. The strange person appeared to be frozen solid, looking at him like he'd seen a ghost.

"I'm… here? Now? But Qilby said… and you… two Eliacubes…" he mumbled, eyes constantly shifting from the cube on the floor to the one in the Anchor's hand.

And then, the man moved. His body tensed, his entire stance changed, and his right arm was thrown to the side in a fast move, hand open… and it stayed just like that, uselessly empty.

The Eliatrope blinked. That familiar stance… that opened hand, waiting for a handle to grip… and those eyes. He'd never seen those eyes before, but he recognized the fire buried deep in them.

"N...Nox? Is that you?"

The man's eyes grew even bigger, and his jaw dropped.

"How… why… who are you, Eliatrope?"

"Oh boy, it is you." said Yugo, only realizing moments later what it truly meant.

"Goddess, YOU'RE LOOPING!"

The Anchor decided that it was too much to handle. He put the dog down on the ground, added the Eliacube in his hand on top of the other, and threw himself back into the pond. Letting his body float across the surface and under the perplexed look of an utterly lost Xelor, Yugo sighed tiredly.

"Tolakniir hi ahk, Yggdrasil."

Yugo was contemplating returning to the White Dimension.

He didn't know if he had somehow angered his Admin, or if the World Tree itself was messing with him, but his current situation was extremely irritating.

Of every single person he kept encountering during his usual two years long trip, of every friends he had out there, Nox had to be his first looper. And it wasn't just any Nox, no. That Xelor couldn't be one of the friendly versions who had joined the Brotherhood, it had to be the one he'd tortured Qilby with.

But maybe it wouldn't be so bad. That particular Nox had already lost everything, his hopes and very reason to live… and with the loops, he had a chance to get them back.

Now, how was he supposed to explain things to the Xelor without risking to freak him out. The Hero's way was out of the question… it left Lydia's way.

"So, you remember those time loops I blamed Qilby for, and for which he told you that he wasn't responsible? Well, turns out that he truly wasn't."

With a wave of his hand, the Eliatrope created a simplistic sketch in draconic runes.

It looked like a giant tree.

"You see, everything began with Yggdrasil…"

Nox was feeling… well, he truly didn't know what he was feeling.

On one hand, that whole looping-for-eternity thing was strange and, if the now adult Eliatrope was to be trusted, incredibly annoying at time, and boring as hell at others, when it wasn't plainly life-threatening.

On the other hand, it was a chance to make things go down the right path, to avoid unnecessary tragedy, to right ones' wrongs. By the Eliatrope's words, looping was also the promise of countless wonders, in this universe or the next one, nicely wrapped with a potentially unlimited amount of fun.

But those considerations were going right above his head right now.

The Xelor was rather puzzled about his current body, location, the comatose Igole by his side, and the implications of those factors.

He was young, healthy, and in the very cave were his bow-wow had found the Eliacube the first time around. Which meant that this… variant loop, had done exactly what he'd looked for for two hundred years, what one crazy Eliatrope had told him was completely impossible. It had brought him his family back.

Right outside this cave, his wife and three children were waiting for him, probably wondering about what was taking him so long. And that's exactly why he was petrified, stuck in a whirlwind of emotions. He wanted nothing more than to run up to them, embrace them, tell them how he'd missed them, tell them how much he loved them… but he was ashamed of what he'd done, of what he'd become. What if they called him a monster? They would be right, wouldn't they? True, the Eliatrope had stopped him in time, but he'd also explained what he'd originally done during what he'd called his baseline, almost destroying the Sadida's kingdom, and that was nothing but the work of a true monster. What if they rejected him for that? And what if –

"You're worrying too much."

The Xelor was startled at those words… and even more when he saw the compassionate, even understanding look on the Eliatrope's face.

"I know exactly what you're thinking, Nox, and I can tell you that you're going at it in the wrong direction." said his Anchor. "You don't have to fear their reactions, because they don't have to know anything about what you've been through. From their points of view, nothing happened, and nothing prevents you from acting as this time's Nox would. Be the father, the husband that they expect, and everything will be fine."

"I can't lie to them." he replied, voice low and hoarse. He'd already done so much evil deeds, he couldn't possibly lie to them on top of it.

"Then don't, tell them everything."

"They won't understand… I'm a monster."

The Xelor shook his head, he felt terrible admitting this.

"You're right, they won't understand, not truly… but they certainly won't see you as a monster. You were brainwashed, Nox, you lost everything dear to you and Quilby danced on your sanity's grave. You know, I've seen much in the loops, including true monsters. Goddess, I'm one of them, this time around. And I may not know your family, but I'm fairly sure that they'll see exactly what Grougal once saw, what I see right now. Just a confused, lost and loving man in desperate need of a family hug."

The Eliatrope's voice was so warm, so soothing, that the Xelor felt his tensed muscles relax instantly. And his words felt… right, somehow.

Could he just walk out of the cave, and welcome his redemption? Was it truly as simple as this? His raging mind yelled that, yes, it was.

"Will you help me with the explanations, Eliatrope?"

"If you want me to, sure. Helping my loopers is my job as Anchor, after all. And please Nox, call me Yugo." said the senior looper with a beaming smile.

"As you wish, Yugo." replied the Xelor. "Now come, I want you to meet my dear Galanthe and our three wonderful children."

Nox caught himself smiling softly. It felt… good.

Meeting Nox's little family was a wonderful experience for Yugo. It also tremendously helped the Xelor's damaged psyche, if his tear-strained, and yet visibly happy face was any indication. A little flame had appeared in his eyes, and it wasn't anything like the vengeful and driven fire that usually lighten up them, it was a spark of… something else. Something beautiful.

Once the painful explanations and tearful reunion with her apparently long lost husband had been out of the way, The Xelor's wife had proven to be a delightful person, warming up instantly to the Anchor. The eldest boy, Quartz, had for his part decided that his father was his new hero, and the other time-traveler his new best friend. Young Pulsarhad just acted with all the shyness that his 4 years old self could muster, and hugged Nox through the entire discussion, sending a few glances toward the Eliatrope every now and then. As for Aiguille… the little girl, who had stayed silent all along, had just walked up to Yugo and asked him to look after her father.

The Anchor fought back a cuteness overload, and knelt before the girl.

"Don't worry, I will."

The gigawatt smile she send him back broke down any defenses he still had, and the Eliatrope felt himself compelled to add "Would you like to fly on a dragon? They're not really fond of this me, but I'm not him right now, so I'm pretty sure that I can talk them down and –"

He got tackled by the three kids at once and, when he managed to look up, it was to meet three sets of shining eyes and face-splitting grins. An amused Nox was calmly watching, a slightly worried Galanthe in his arms.

Yugo laughed goodheartedly and ruffled the children's hairs.

It didn't matter if he now had to deal with the horrifying memories of his current self. That single moment, and the joy in the kids' eyes, were by themselves more than worth it.

Back in Adminspace, the first dragon ever whistled in appreciation.

"What an unexpected outcome, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself. Excellent choice, Boitatá." said Kur with a nod, before exiting the office. "Keep up the good work." he then yelled from the hallway.

The Tupian serpent god could only stare dumbly at the loop's results, not sparring a single glance toward the door, nor hearing any of his superior's words.

What… had just happened?

2.05

Yugo blinked Awake, and knew instantly that he wasn't anywhere near the World of Twelve.

There was no blanquette, he was laying in what appeared to be a poorly designed futuristic bed, and a round electricity-powered lamp was dangling from the ceiling.

The thing around his bed, that looked rather superbly like a ball of glass, retracted back into the furniture, and he began to hear a catchy little tune hanging in the air. It was coming from a small radio, which finished to convinced him that he was in a rather advanced technological world.

Taking a look around the room he was currently in, he found it to be rather spare. There was a bed, a toilet, the small table on top of which was throning the radio, and no visible exit.

"Hello and, again, welcome to the Aperture Science computer-aided enrichment center." suddenly said a robotic voice coming from seemingly everywhere.

It then launched itself into a long monologue, which the Anchor felt obligated to listen to. He didn't know where he was at the moment, and had received no in-loop memories whatsoever, so whatever information this robot could give him would be good to take. The recording continued for a moment, even glitching into Spanish and back, before ending with "Stand back, the portal will open in three. Two. One."

With a low humming, an oval portal surrounded by an orange glow appeared on one of the wall.

Yugo approached the rip in space carefully, and examined it closely. That portal looked nothing like his own, and he could even see himself through it.

The Anchor waved at the blue opening to his right, and made a rude gesture. Yep, it was working perfectly… now he absolutely had to find how those portals worked. There was just so much potential behind a viewing screen like this, and with a little work, he may be able to reproduce them, even enhance his own portals.

Grinning like a child, the Anchor jumped through the opening. It was time to find what tests thatAperture Science had in store for him.

The Eliatrope was baffled at the mere existence of this 'Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device'.

While the thing was severely restricted by the impossibility to create an opening into thin air, or on certain surfaces, it still remained a marvel of technology, and he would get to discover a few things by studying it.

Though it didn't mean that he would lower himself to actively using it for the tests. Why would he, when his own portals were so much better?

Quickly storing the thing in his subspace pocket, the Eliatrope began to cheat outrageously and zapped his way to the next elevator. He regretted doing so when the robotic voice rose again.

"Judging from your last moves, we understand that you are a being classified as, a Looper. Aperture Science is pleased to inform you that the following tests will be upgraded accordingly. Welcome again, to the Portal Branch. We hope you will enjoy your stay."

The Eliatrope felt like cursing.

He probably should have used the gun.

2..06 – by dragonraptyr

Yugo blinked.

"That is not a blanquette."

It really wasn't. And the inn looked somewhat... different from normal. If one can consider about eight other chefs all wearing clean lookalikes of Alibert's clothes, shiny and well laid out metal stoves and ovens and pots and pans, as well as plenty of space for preparing food different.

Gingerly, Yugo poked the pan on the stove, careful not to get burned. Tofu wings in hot sauce lay there on the heat, sizzling innocently, steam wafting up at him, some cruel mockery of his friendship with Az.

"I am never, ever, ever telling Az about this loop." Yugo determined, looking at the rest of the dishes. Most of them seemed out of loop, along with being greasy, cheap, and unhealthy. Hamburgers, fries, bacon, pizza, and all other manners of junk food filled the kitchen.

Cautiously, Yugo poked his loop memories.

"Since when is Alibert's restaurant a franchise?"

2.07

Lucy Heartfilia, Anchor of the Fairy Tail branch, was following Natsu and Happy – unAwake versions – on a tall and snowy mountain. They were looking for Macao, who had come to fight a colony of Vulcans and was missing ever since. It would turn out that he had been possessed by one of them, but she'd decided to keep that a surprise for now. She wasn't that much into maintaining the baseline, but that was her very first mission at the guild after all, if an unofficial one, and it was a good bonding experience for her and Natsu.

Speaking about baseline, she was supposed to complain about the cold. It didn't bother her anymore, after that one loop in Arendelle, but she was about to explain that to her traveling companions.

So she did a usual, and asked Natsu if she could borrow his blanket. After his firm and expected refusal, she went for her celestial keys and grabbed one of them, a rather simple silver key with the crest of the Clock stamped on its bow.

She twisted it in midair, and recited the appropriate summoning sentence.

"Open Gate of the Clock! Nox!"

Wait, what?

The magic gathered and called forth the desired summon from the Spirit World. Except that it wasn't exactly the one she'd expected. In place of the brown and distinguished grandfather clock, stood a tall man in a strange armor. His arms were covered in bandages, and his face was hidden behind a full helmet.

The spirit – and obviously looper – took a look around him, before fixing his glowing lenses on his Master.

"Hello, Master. How may I help you?" he asked, sending a ping at the same time.

"Can you do anything about that ice storm?" she asked back, responding with a ping of her own.

"Right away."

The visitor mimicked the symbol of infinity with his fingers, the very same symbol the members of Loopers' Laughs had taken as their emblem, and time stopped around them.

"Thank you." said Lucy with a nod. "I'll explain the branch when we'll be off of this mountain, okay?" she added in a whisper, while watching her two friends playing with the immobilized flakes of snow hanging in the air.

"You are most welcome." said Nox, himself smiling at the sweet spectacle. "And that will be much appreciated, thank you."

2.08

Anthony Stark, billionaire, genius inventor, superhero and playboy extraordinaire, was about to face a global death threat… again.

The looper known around the Multiverse as the Ironman was currently in one of his rather usual variant, the one saved in the HUB as the Avengers movie, and time was of the essence. Mere moments ago, a very brainwashed Professor Erik Selvig had used a cube of untold cosmic powers to tear a hole in the very fabric of space, opening a gaping passageway to another planet through which an invading force of Chitauri would soon appear, hell bent of conquering Earth and kill its inhabitant.

Now, after so many loops, stopping this was rather easy. He just had to reach the cube, use one of the numerous suits or abilities at his disposal to drain it of its energy, and the portal would collapse.

Dropping of the rooftop of his own tower – Loki was that much of a drama queen – the looper gently sedated the good doctor as to not have him interfere, and approached the horrible metallic conception from which the cube was emanating the portal. There, and after switching his damaged suit for a pocketed version, he threw his armored hand right through the force-field and was about to siphon the exceeding energy when…

"Hey, nice portal."

Right next to him stood a little boy, looking not older than twelve. He was dressed in blue pants and a sleeveless yellow tunic, but the most peculiar detail had to be the enormous hat on his head… that and the fact that he was on the top of a building, looking at a portal vomiting bloodthirsty aliens and was yet acting as calmly as if he had been taking a stroll in a peaceful forest.

"And trust me, I know what I'm talking about."

"So, you're the other looper, I suppose?" asked Tony, receiving a nod from the visitor. "I must admit to being surprise. When you didn't show up after your ping, I'd believed that you would treat the loop as a vacation."

"Well, that was the plan alright. Then I saw this beauty, and I just couldn't resist."

Beauty? The portal? Who was this guy?

"The portal gun was impressive enough, but to do something so large with technology alone is truly an amazing feat. Do you know who created this?"

"That would be Professor Selvig, over there, thought the cube is helping. Why?"

"Do you think he would mind if I pocketed the thing? I would really like to study it."

The kid was looking at him with sparkles in his eyes, and Tony was unable to resist.

"Okay, you may pocket it –"

"Thank you!"

"– once you've helped us with the invasion."

"Invasion? What invasion?" asked the kid, an eyebrow raised.

The local looper simply designated the portal, from which the Chitauri were already pouring.

"Oh, that one. Well, alright, I suppose I can help."

"Good, now give me five minutes to close the portal and then we'll –"

"I can do it faster, if you want."

Tony looked at the other looper, and saw that the guy was completely honest.

It made him curious, and he gave his approval.

"Sure, go ahead." he replied, stepping away.

But if he had expected the kid to reach for the cube, he was disappointed. Instead, the looper turned toward the enormous portal itself, and sat cross-legged and eyes closed. A blue cube disturbingly resembling the Tesseract appeared before him, and he threw his left arm in the air, causing the edge of the rift to glow in a clear blue light. The portal began to shrink down.

"Those invaders, they're bad guys, right? Do you mind if I blast the other side?" suddenly asked the looper, still focused on his task.

"They are, and if you can do that, then do it, I don't mind at all."

The visitor smirked and lifted his other arm. A second portal opened right before the first one, and they merged in a flash. Tony was forced to blink, and when his sight came back, it was to a perfectly clear sky. The Chitauri were even dropping like flies, now that the neural link to their home planet had been shattered by a ray of Wakfu.

Tony's previous disappointment was long gone.

"That was… impressive, kiddo."

"You don't see me calling you sir, so drop the 'kiddo', would you. My name's Yugo, Anchor of the World of Twelve loop."

"Fair enough. Anyway, I'm Anthony Stark, but you can call me Tony. Welcome to the Marvel loops, Yugo."

2.09

Nox was quite confident about the incoming fight. After all, he was only about to face the most deadly beast roaming the world, without the power tool he'd used the first time around, and would have to stop it without actually killing it.

"I will get your wakfu, old man, and then I'll pursue the young Eliatrope and his friends." he taunted his opponent, the dragon Grougaloragran, currently in his human form.

Truth was that he wouldn't do anything of the sort, and the reasons were twofold.

Firstly, he was reformed now, and had absolutely no need to collect wakfu. He knew that his original dream couldn't succeed in-loop, and occasional variants provided him with family time anyway.

And secondly, his Anchor could put him down with his hands tied behind his back. He'd done so, in fact, when he'd trained him in earlier loops. Yugo had used and abused his out-of-loop abilities to beat his rear in the ground, mocking him repeatedly with commentaries like "Hey, I almost had to try with this one." and "I may bet on you if you were to face the Xelor god… in a few thousand loops."

But while that had been humiliating, he was prepared now, much more than his opponent who was oblivious to this fact. The dragon was rather motivated by the casually dropped threat now hanging above his proteges' heads. His calm behavior had disappeared, and he'd adopted an aggressive fighting stance.

"You will be stopped, Xelor." scowled the old fighter, smoke slowly escaping from his mouth and nose.

"We shall see." replied Nox, dropping into his own fighting stance, which rewarded him with a raised eyebrow from his adversary.

"You wish to fight unarmed?" questioned the man. "Grougaloragran thought that Xelor used clock hands?"

The looper simply grinned at the dragon.

"Oh, but we are."

In a flash of blue energy, dozens of clock hands appeared around him, floating gently in midair.

"Now, show me your true power, dragon." said Nox as he began a fast-paced form, arms moving in a complicated pattern and accompanied by the hands, moved around by telekinesis. If from the outside, it seemed to form a sort of protective mechanism, anyone caught in it would have understand that it was above all a deadly choreography.

Grougaloragran was trying to analyze the move, when he heard the Xelor whisper a word. If he'd feared earlier than this fight would be though, the mirth in his opponent's voice confirmed it altogether.

"Pulsar!"

The world lost his colors, and all hell broke loose.

2.01 – Lydia can be scary when she wants to.

2.02 – Traditional dragon salute. Oh, and thanks to dragonraptyr for his help on that one.

2.03 – Apparently, dragonraptyr thought about this fused-loop after comparing Yugo's Eliatrope wings, and the wings on Asterix's helmet.

2.04 – Boitatá is confused, but it doesn't really matter, as long as Kur is happy. Also, hello Nox, welcome to the loops.

2.05 – That fused-loop was an inevitable one. Seriously, you HAD to see it coming.

2.06 – Picture a 60's greasy spoon diner, with every unhealthy-yet-tasty food from the loops, and you've got a good idea of the variant. By the way, the franchise was Ruel's idea, in-loop.

2.07 – I wonder how the Spirit King reacted to someone other than him with the ability to stop time.

2.08 – Those cubes really look alike, and they'll see each other again in the future.

2.09 – Fighting Grougal without the Heliacube is something of a step for Nox. Next time, he may restrict himself further, of fight Rushu instead. Who knows?