2.1
Mario was never sure what to think when the Loop started with him rescuing Pauline from Donkey Kong I, later to be known as Cranky. On the one hand, its early start in Brooklyn gave him access to a few things he couldn't usually get in the Mushroom Kingdom. On the other hand, letting Pauline go was always a bit of a painful thing.
As he started climbing the 75 meters up to where he knew Donkey Kong and Pauline were, he thought so hard about what to do, that he missed the growing shadow that enveloped him. He didn't register anything wrong until...
"Surprise, Pasta Face!" a familiar voice roared. And then suddenly, Bowser landed right in front of him, spewing fire from his snout.
"Mamma mia!" Mario let out in surprise, tumbling backwards to avoid getting set on fire.
"Gwha ha ha ha! You're getting sloppy, Mario! Or maybe I'm just getting more awesome! Man, these time loops are great!" Bowser declared, inflating his ego.
"Huh?! Bowser, you're-a Looping?!" Mario said in shock. From what he remembered from what they told him, villains never Looped! ...Then again, he'd never really thought of Bowser as an outright villain, ever. Maybe that was the tipping point?
"Oh, you are too, Mario?" Bowser blinked in surprise. Then he shrugged. "Eh, guess it's only fair. Pummeling you when you have no idea what's going on wouldn't be satisfying!" he grinned, about to toss a couple of hammers at his arch-rival.
Mario waved his hands in front of him. "Waitwaitwaitwaitwait! Time-a out!" He made the T-sign.
Bowser stumbled from where he was going to throw his hammers. "What?!" he asked, annoyed.
"Don't you-a want to know why time's-a Looping?" Mario pointed out.
Bowser contemplated that for a second, before grunting and putting his hammer down. "Yeah, sure. Lay it on me."
"Oh, I see," Bowser realized, contemplating the information Mario had told him. It was certainly a lot to swallow. But there was only one other thing on his mind.
"Hey, Peach is Looping too, right?" he questioned.
"Of-a course!" Mario declared.
"That's all I need to know. Time in!" Bowser declared, tossing his hammers at Mario while he was still unaware.
"Aiyiyi!" Mario declared, barely getting out of the way.
2.2 (Lord Circe)
DK galloped along the jungle trail, dodging past branches, and occasionally leaping up to stomp on some Kritters' heads. There were quite a few things that he didn't like about this Loop, the loss of his hands being one of the biggest, but some of the perks helped make up for it a bit.
"HEEHAW!" DK let out a braying laugh as he spun, after spotting one of the guns on the Gangplank Galleon swiveling to fire at him through the trees. The cannon fired, and DK kicked. Lucky for him, the power of his fists was transferred to his hooves, and the cannonball made a satisfying crunch as it blasted backwards and made a hole through the side of the Galleon, which rapidly began listing in the water.
Off on a nearby ledge, a windup clockwork ape gave a jerky, exaggerated yawn. "Whoo, back in my day, we didn't mess around with no fancy footwork. It was all fists and barrels."
DK just snorted and trotted off. Whether or not he was an ape, he was still going to save his bananas.
2.3
Samus Aran still didn't know what to think of the fact that her life seemed to be repeating over and over again. At the very least, she knew it couldn't be a hallucination, because her Power Suit seemed to keep any upgrades that she had collected, although she tended to not apply them and use the in-repeat ones instead.
On the one hand, she hated the fact that she had to deal with Ridley, the Space Pirates, Mother Brain, Phazon, Dark Samus, the X Parasites, and the like all over again every single time. On the other...she had time. Time to figure out how to save the people and things that mattered.
The Baby Metroid, the Chozo, Zebes, K-2L and her parents, ...Ian and Adam. All of them could be saved. So she had decided, she'd figure out just what was going on, find its weak point, and use it to her advantage, just like she always does.
And that meant experimentation.
She already knew that she could combine her different Beams with her Missile Launcher for the Charge Combos. And that she could combine her Missiles and Bombs to recharge her Energy Tanks.
She also knew that she could combine her Ice and Spazer Beams with Power Bombs to make a shield. But what about her other Beams?
...Unfortunately, her experiments tended to be less than fruitful, and a bit explosive. Not to mention the time she had set herself on fire with the Plasma Bomb… Anyway, her other standard beams' effectiveness with a Bomb Combo was not that great. Surprisingly, though, the Light, Dark, and Annihilator Beams synced up fairly decently.
Samus blasted open a door in the latest Space Pirate hideout, drawing the attention of every Pirate in the room. "Show time," she whispered to herself, switching the Dark Beam on. She immediately charged a shot up, then immediately switched into Morph Ball mode and laid down a Power Bomb. Dark energy coursed around the Bomb as it exploded, letting loose a dark energy field. The field let off tendrils of dark energy that rooted the Pirates in place as they were damaged by it, letting Samus finish annihilating them with, well, the Annihilator Beam.
When the fire of her arm cannon ceased and the Pirates were all dead, Samus observed the damage dealt. While the floor had been ripped apart slightly, the walls, which were made of Denzium, weren't.
"Hm. That's strange. Power Bombs usually destroy Denzium," she noted. Seems as though while they were good for combat, the Power Bomb combos weren't exactly good for anything else. Considering that the beams she had obtained on Aether actually had ammo...
Looks like it was back to the drawing board.
2.4
Luigi cowered under his bed. He knew that he'd gotten over his fear of ghosts a long time ago, but this was too much!
"Luigi? Come on, you-a can't stay under there for-a-ever!" Mario pointed out.
"Watch me..." Luigi muttered.
Mario sighed. "At least-a promise me you'll-a come out the-a next time Bowser attacks? I-a can't really do anything like-a this," he admitted.
"...O-Okay, Mario. Luigi promises," Luigi swore to his dead brother.
2.5 (Awesomedude17)
Donkey Kong had an unamused look as a man in a pink gi tried to hurt him.
"Hah, you felt that one, didn't you?" Dan Hibiki taunted.
DK flared his nostrils, and made a downward punch, embedding the Street Fighter into the ground.
Dan blinked as Donkey Kong walked away.
"What just happened? Why can't I feel my feet? Oh wait, now I can. Ahhhhhhhhhh~..."
2.6 (Bardic Knowledge)
It was an early Awakening for Lina, sitting on the beach, eating seafood she bought with the money she stole from those terrible bandits (honestly, the broken leg trick?). Now, if everything went as usual, then the three stupid bandits should be bringing Naga along sometime soon. Then they could get to Mipross so she could put time back on the right track (as well as pocket some more gold as a down payment on getting rid of Joyrock).
"Hey, you!"
Oh look, there the idiots were already. She continued eating while they ranted at her, having only paid attention to them once and that was once too often.
"Alright, go get her, mister!"
Lina blinked. Mister?
"Wahoo!" shouted a voice, accompanied by a sound she could only describe as "sproing!" She turned around and spotted a man in red and blue, wearing a cap with the letter "M" on the front. He adjusted his hat and said, "It's-a Mario time!" then paused, a look of confusion entering his eyes.
Lina nodded as she realized that he was a new Looper. He must still be getting the hang of in-Loop memories, she thought.
"Hey, you must be the new guy. Hermione mentioned you a while back. Name's Lina, Lina Inverse." As expected, the instant she said her name, the bandits froze and started muttering to each other. As usual after introducing herself, Lina proceeded to ignore them, beckoning Mario over. "Welcome to Red World. Here, have some clams. This place is really good."
"Grazie," said Mario, sitting at the booth beside her. "My name is-a Mario."
A few minutes later, Lina turned to her new companion. "So, Mario, you got the tickets?"
"Tickets? What tickets are you talking about-a?"
"Well, Naga, my usual companion right now, has some tickets for a boat to Mipross Island. We kinda need to go there so I can make sure my future boyfriend exists so I can meet him."
Mario just blinked a bit before rummaging under his overalls. "Oh, yeah!" He cheered as he pulled out a pair of tickets.
"Excellent! Looks like we're going to Mipross." Lina stood up and lead Mario a few feet away from the stall. "Let's go! Rey Wing!"
"Waaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha!" screamed Mario as they flew through the air.
2.7 (ThanosCradik)
Pit knew something was wrong the instant he hit the ground. One second he was soaring, having just vanquished the god of the Underworld, and the next he was flat on his face.
Picking himself up, he saw that he was back in the Underworld, near the cell he was locked in… before…
"Oh man, this better not mean what I think it means."
He checked himself, finding that he was much younger than before. And all he had was his clothes and his bow.
"Aw crud, I'm back in my first game. Is this Hades's final revenge or something?"
Three monsters had snuck up behind him while he started to monologue, only to be struck with magic arrows in quick succession.
"Well, I still have my skills at least. That's something. And I'm already talking to myself, great."
Looking up, he steeled himself. "Well, better hurry. Even if I AM in the past, Lady Palutena still needs me."
Making his way out of the dungeons, he called out, "Look out, Medusa! I'm coming for you!"
After finding the Three Sacred Treasures, Pit rushed down the corridor, releasing a hailstorm of holy arrows.
"This is great! I haven't even died once this time!" Even if he was finished a total of 253 times before time restarted.
Turning a corner, he almost missed a reaper aiming for his head while he was distracted.
"AAAAAAHHHH!" He was lucky enough to slip and dodge the monster's scythe before firing arrows into it.
Laying on the ground for a bit, Pit fought to get his body to relax. "You'd think I would have learned to not jinx myself by now."
After saving Palutena, Pit immediately told her what was going on. He was lucky enough that she decided to humor him.
"Time-traveling. You know, the only person I know who can manipulate time is Chronos, but he doesn't like messing with it at all. It could lead to strange paradoxes, after all."
"So then there's nothing we can do to, I don't know, send me back or something?"
"I'm afraid not, Pit. And If what you told me is true, it may be for the best." He had told her about Medusa's resurrection in the future, and of Hades's plot to gain more souls.
"Right, if I wasn't here, then the Underworld forces could take over. I didn't think of that."
"Don't worry, just think about all the training you can get done in twenty-five years."
"Hey, that's right. Don't worry, Lady Palutena! I won't let you down!" Pit rushed out of her temple to start training immediately. "Those monsters won't know what hit them!"
Palutena laughed at Pit's eagerness, and decided to call a few of the gods together to keep an eye on Hades. And to see if Viridi could move the Chaos Kin's prison somewhere else. Like under the ocean or something.
A few years had past already, and Pit felt that he needed to try a new training regimen. So he figured that whatever made the strongest human what he was in the future, it could work for him.
"I *huff* have found *huff* a new meaning *huff huff* of the word torture."
"Come on, Angel Face. You wanted me to help you out, right? So get up, we still have another 300 reps to finish."
Pit could only whine softly from his spot on the ground.
He continued the regimen for years, getting ready for the return of Medusa, but…
"Why am I still so scrawny?!"
"Well, you're not a being of true flesh and blood being an angel, so no real muscle changes to your body would be visible."
"Aw man, I wanted to be buff for a change."
Twenty-five years had passed, and Medusa had returned. Pit had followed her forces to the town's colosseum, where the Underworld hellhound Twinbellows waited for him.
"Come here, boy! I'm gonna teach you some new tricks like 'play dead'!"
"Well, that's certainly one way to beat him." Palutena had figured that Pit's training would be good for him, but she hadn't expected him to accidently suplex the massive dog.
"I'm just glad the people forgave me for wrecking the colosseum."
Pit had made sure to prevent Gaol from being caught by the Underworld forces, so he didn't need to fight her this time. Hewdraw was an easy fight, and there was no more to fear from the Reaper Fortress. (not when you use the Daybreak on it)
Deep in Pandora's Labyrinth, Pit found himself standing before his doppelganger once more. The Goddess of Calamity floated up to the copy.
"I must really thank you, you know. Now we have our own little powerhouse to com-" Whatever else she had to say was lost as Dark Pit backhanded her into the wall.
"Alright, Pit-stain, what did you do?"
Pit was experiencing a lot of emotions now, ranging from joy that a close ally was here now, to relief that he wasn't the only one in the past now.
What he did express was, "What do you mean 'what did you do'? What makes you think I had anything to do with us being in the past?!"
"Weird stuff like this seems to follow you around. Remember the Chaos Kin and the Aurum?"
"Hey, the Aurum thing wasn't my fault! And we already took care of the Chaos Kin already!"
Said Chaos Kin was currently locked within the deepest trench in the ocean guarded by twisted horrors.
Pandora had managed to pry herself from the wall, and had flown right to the arguing angels. "How dare you strike me, you miserable little-"
"SHUT UP!" And then Pandora was defeated by two knockout punches.
Standing there in silence, Dark Pit broke it as he asked, "So, you guys mind if I take her power again? I really would prefer to fly under my own power."
"Yeah, go ahead. We'll need it after we beat Medusa. Is that alright, Lady Palutena?"
"Er… yes, he may go and use her power as his own." Palutena was ready to believe Pit when he old her of Medusa's return, and she was glad that she had listened. Seeing him interact with what was supposed to be an evil copy of himself like a brother only cemented the fact that Pit had indeed gone back in time.
Between the two angels, the Underworld forces never stood a chance.
After Medusa was defeated once more, the gods made their move. When Hades came forward to gloat about how he was behind it all, the other gods caught him and dragged him out of the Underworld where his power was greatest. He was then sealed away to prevent him from influencing the world, but the ensuing chaos allowed remnants of the Underworld forces to be unleashed, attacking at random. Pit and Dark Pit were at the head of the forces combatting the monsters.
"Whelp, the game's been absolutely derailed by now. At least we don't have to listen to Hades anymore."
"You do realize that we're still stuck with Thanatos, right?"
And in the distance, they could hear the mad death god yodeling.
"Eh, I can take it."
"Good for you, Pit-stain. Anyway, did you do anything about the Aurum or the Forces of Nature?"
"Well, we haven't seen any sign of the Aurum, though that may end up becoming Hades's final gambit or something. And Lady Palutena was able to convince Viridi to just teach the humans about 'proper care for the earth'."
"Any plans after we clean up here?"
"Well, I was thinking about helping Viridi out so that she doesn't wage a war against the humans. Other than that, nothing… wanna do some Light vs Dark after this?"
"Sure."
Even without any commanders, the Underworld forces still managed to bring destruction to the land, and the war against them drew on. The battles still drew the attention of the invaders known as the Aurum to the world, but they came with a surprise.
"Alright, somebody tell me why these things are glowing PURPLE?!" Dark Pit, equipped with the Three Sacred Treasures, had already stopped the Aurum vanguard from tearing up the land, but the main forces were still a force to be reckoned.
Arlon the Serene, one of Viridi's commanders, was the one who answered. "It was discovered that Hades made a copy of himself and that was what the gods sealed away. It would seem that he has found the Aurum and is using them to gather more souls for him to 'play with'. Also, incoming!" And with that, a massive laser raked across some Aurum ships and destroyed them.
Pit called out to his copy, "Ha! Told you!"
"Is now REALLY the time for this?!"
Soon the main ship containing the Aurum Brain was in sight, but a combined army of Aurum and Underworld forces made it near impossible. The Forces of Light and Nature had fought for an hour already, but were no more closer than before.
The Goddess of Nature was nearly ready to pull out her hair. "Urrgh, it's like trying to get rid of roaches! Can anyone think of any way to get rid of these things?"
"I got one!" Everyone's attention was now focused on Pit, who was wielding the Great Sacred Treasure, a weapon the God of Smithing Dyntos made to replace the Three Sacred Treasures. And equipped on its arm was the Daybreak.
Palutena asked Dyntos, "Eh... doesn't that seem like overkill to you?"
"HA! At this point if overkill isn't enough, then we can just kiss our keisters good bye."
Dark Pit had flown behind Pit the second he saw what was about to happen. "Did you even think this through?"
"Didn't have time!" And with that he launched a massive laser that punched a hole through the enemy forces and through the ship, creating a clear path down to the Aurum Brain.
As the Great Sacred Treasure flew through the scattered monsters, Viridi's forces contributed by by keeping them away from Pit, while Dark Pit brought up the rear to provide covering fire.
Soon they had made it to the center, where the Brain was situated. And where what was left of Hades rested.
"WelL wELl WeLL, iF it isN't prEttY PaLUtenA's erRAnd Boy anD His CLonE."
Dark Pit was the first of the two to speak up. "Damn. I guess your plan didn't quite work out, then."
"Now i KnOW thAt It lOOks liKe I Bit oFF mOre ThAn i cOUld chEw, But I am stILL CapabLE OF mANIpulatiNg SoulS EvEn lIke This, SO I Count it AS a 01101110 01100101 01110100 01110111 01101001 01101110.]
Pit closed his eyes as he prepared himself. "Hades, as sick and twisted as you are, not even you deserve to be like this. In the name of Lady Palutena, I will put you down and end your suffering." Charging the Daybreak, Pit opened his eyes and turned to Dark Pit. "Think you can cover me?"
"You got it!" Dark Pit flew off, taking down any Aurum drones and Underworld monster that got too close.
[01101110 01101111, 00100000 01110011 01110100 01101111 01110000!]
Once the Daybreak was fully charged, Dark Pit allowed himself to be pulled back by Viridi as Pit aimed right at the Brain.
"GOODBYE!"
[01101110 01101111 01101111 01101111 01101111!]
The entire inside of the Aurum Base was atomized by the explosion, Pit having been rescued by Palutena before the Brain blew up. The Aurum stopped operating at all, floating dead in space, while the few monsters left had scattered. Hades had lost long before he ever came back, and now he would never return to the world.
Three years later, and Pit was hurrying towards Palutena's temple after he got a summons. In those three years, Dark Pit wound up being recognized as the new God of Calamity, much to Pit's amusement, Magnus became Champion of the World, and he was still in his desired place as Captain of the Forces of Light. As he was on his way, he leapt from a ledge and began using a Glide power to reach the temple-
-only to fall flat on his face again, once more in the Underworld dungeons. As he became aware of this, he realized that he had gone back into the past again.
"What, really!? Did I break the game or something? Why did I go back in time again!?"
Picking himself back up, he noticed that his super strength was gone, and that he wasn't holding a bow this time but an Atlas Club.
"...This could work."
Turns out, smacking monsters with a giant fist was pretty therapeutic.
2.8
Samus cursed as she dodged the SA-X's Ice Beam. She'd gotten careless this repeat, and had been infected by the X-Parasites again. The Metroid Vaccine worked like it always did, but the SA-X was relentless! It had been tailing her directly from the elevator as soon as it had breached the container her Power Suit had been in. Not even Adam could come up with an explanation for why it was so damn ferocious!
"Gah!" she yelled, as her arm was frozen to the side of the corridor. She could hear the SA-X menacingly creeping towards her. Her heart rate became elevated and her breathing increased as fear started creeping into her mind.
Just what was it about the SA-X that terrified her so? She was hardly terrified of anything these days!
...Maybe it had to do with the fact that the SA-X was her. Samus Aran-X. A mindless, soulless copy of herself, with her full power, unleashed upon the galaxy to do things for the whim of the X. This...creature didn't feel. It didn't have a heart. It was nothing. The fear started being burned away by anger. How dare they?
She grit her teeth as her stolen Power Suit lumbered towards her. "Just get it over with, you mindless monstrosity!" she spat at it from behind the Fusion Suit's helmet. There was no chance of victory here. No chance it would slip up. It was just a cold, mindless machine.
Suddenly, the SA-X paused, staring at her with its white and soulless eyes coming out of her own face. Then, much to Samus's shock, it spoke.
"Samus Aran," it said in a cold and monotone version of her own voice. "Your experiences have been incorporated into the X Collective. And I do mean all of them," it stated, much to Samus's rising horror.
'No! It couldn't mean-!'
"This cyclical reiteration of time is interesting, but hardly worthy of much note. All it means is that no matter what you do, you will never defeat us. You will never defeat the Space Pirates. You will never defeat Ridley. You are doomed to always lose everything that matters to you," it stated in that damn monotone.
"No! That's not true!" Samus defiantly yelled. "It just can't-!"
"Your knowledge will be a great boon to the X," the SA-X interrupted, raising its stolen arm cannon to face Samus. "The Federation will fall, and all will belong to the X. Despite your efforts, all but one Metroid is extinct. And not even you can survive a full power blast from the Plasma Beam," it pointed out, charging the Beam up.
Samus was silent. Not an altogether uncommon occurrence, but...what the SA-X had said. She wanted to discount it as the prattlings of some soulless monstrosity that could never claim to understand people. But the SA-X was a copy of her. What if-?
"Farewell, Samus Aran. I will be sure to be an adequate substitute for you. Now die!" the SA-X declared, firing the Plasma Beam at her at point-blank. Samus shut her eyes, waiting for the blast to come and-
-found herself coming out of cryosleep as her original gunship neared Zebes. On her computer were orders to exterminate the Space Pirate presence there and defeat Mother Brain. Samus gritted her teeth and clenched the fist of her original Power Suit. She slammed her console.
If nothing truly mattered, then why?
Why did she feel like she had failed?
2.9 (ThanosCradik)
Pit began to notice a trend sometime around the seventeenth reset. Whenever he was beaten by a monster, instead of being finished and getting revived by Palutena he would usually start back in the Underworld at the start of his first game.
THIS time however he was Pit, the God of Light and Lord of Skyworld. Dark Pit was the God of Darkness, much to the mirror clone's chagrin. It was an odd change of pace, but at least Dark Pit wouldn't stick him in the Underworld. Hopefully.
Another thing that really stood out this time was-
"Father, can Medusa and I go on a ride in the Exo-tanks?"
-was that Palutena and Medusa were his daughters. Which weirded him out at first but he quickly grew to enjoy it, seeing that as an Angel he would never have any kids of his own. Maybe. He could do without having to deal with teenage drama, though.
Turning to his right, he regarded the green haired girl and the black haired girl standing side by side, waiting for an answer.
"Do you remember what happened the last time I let you two ride it?"
Little Medusa spoke up, "Eh, it was Hades's fault for popping up in the middle of the track."
"Fair enough. Just be careful, alright?"
"Alright! Thank you, Father!"
"Thanks, Pops."
Chuckling, he watched as the two girls ran towards the Exo-tank track, wondering what the two were like before they grew up. What had really made them become enemies?
"FATHER, MEDUSA HIT ME WITH A BLUE SHELL!"
That could have done it.
2.10 (ThanosCradik)
This reset started out nearly the same. One difference was that all the reapers were absent from the Underworld. The other was that Tanatos (who later changes his name to Thanatos) wasn't anywhere near Medusa in their first fight against her.
Not that he was complaining about either change, but it did make him rather nervous. Did the Death God suddenly become competent and start planning a coup or something?
It wasn't until a few years later when something BIG happened.
"Why am I the one investigating this?"
Palutena and some other gods had found that just recently, the Death God had claimed the Underworld as his domain and proceeded to slay Hades. Some of them honestly felt that this was a good thing, but were worried that the Death God would soon plan to expand out and try to take over the Overworld and Skyworld. And they decided to send Pit down to investigate.
Joy.
When he reached the realm of the dead, he instantly noticed a difference. Instead of looking like a hellish world, it looked like the City of Souls underwent some major renovation. The land was covered by crystalline spires housing the souls of the departed.
It was then that he noticed a figure standing amongst the spires, looking right at him. Letting the Power of Flight leave his wings, Pit touched down on the ground in front of the figure. It was a tall young man with a serious expression on his face and orange hair. Dressed in a set of strange black robes, he looked like he would fit right in the Underworld.
"Um, hey! Y-you wouldn't happen to know where the Death God is, would you?"
The orange haired man then pointed at himself. "That would be me."
"Huh? No you're not. I'm looking for Thanatos; big-fat-green-clown-god-thing that drives everyone crazy. Ring any bells?"
"Yes. I'm replacing him this Loop."
"What's a Loop? And what do you mean replace?"
Raising an eyebrow, the black-robed man asked, "Has time been rewinding repeatedly for you?"
"Wait, you know about that? Can you tell me anything about what's going on?"
Nodding, the man said, "Alright, better make yourself comfortable. My name is Ichigo Kurosaki, a substitute shinigami or a death god, and I am what we call a Looper."
"This is a lot to take in. Is there anything we can do to help solve this?"
"Sorry. The most that Loopers like us can do is endure."
Going over what he had just learned about Yggdrasil, Pit thought back to what Ichigo had done.
Ichigo had Woken up some time ago, and after seeing the state that the Underworld was in, decided to whip all the reapers into shape. Seeing Hades's blatant disregard for souls had pissed off the shinigami enough that he ended the Lord of the Underworld and refurbished the land of the dead to make sure that the balance of life wouldn't go screwy like it would be forced to do in baseline.
"So Pit, what are you going to do now. This is you chance to do whatever you want, you know."
"But I'm already doing what I want to do."
"Really?"
"Yeah, what I want to do is to serve Lady Palutena and protect the people of the Overworld!"
Ichigo gazed down at the angel before a small grin broke out on his face.
"Protecting people, that's something I can get behind. Hey, if you need any help this Loop then don't hesitate to ask me. Alright?"
Getting excited about having a new ally, Pit let out a cheer, "Alright! Man, with you around, not even the Aurum will be a problem!"
"Don't know what those are, but sure."
As Pit was getting ready to leave, a black glow surrounded his wings, making him turn back to Ichigo.
"I figured you need some help getting out, right? Being a god this Loop does have some perks."
"Thanks, Ichigo!"
As Pit soared through the Underworld sky on his way back, Palutena contacted him.
"So the Death God was a nice person after all."
"Yeah, but he looks really grumpy."
Chuckling, Palutena was quiet for a bit before resuming.
"Pit?"
"Yes, Lady Palutena?"
"Thank you for staying by my side, even after all these 'Loops'."
"No problem!"
Pit was still waiting for the day that Lady Palutena started Looping. But for now, serving her as her Captain was enough.
"Gag."
"Shut up, Viridi!"
2.11 (crossoverpairinglover)
Poking his head out into the Galactic Sea that lay out before him, Pit was confused.
"Space Pirates? Where are you, my oh so loveable but rather annoying and painful space pirates?"
He had been here for so long, he had had to disengage the Power of Flight and take shelter on a canoe he had picked up a while back.
And to think Pittoo said that keeping a canoe in your subspace pocket was a bad idea! It was the perfect thing to do when you were stranded out in the middle of the Galactic Sea while Lady Palutena had to let the Power of Flight cool off (and probably double check she had sent him to the right place in the first place)!
As it turned out, she had, but the Three Sacred Treasures and the Space Pirates were nowhere to be seen.
Perhaps Samus had run into them and dealt with them. She did have problems with Space Pirates...
The Galactic Sea began to bubble in front of him, taking him off the thoughts about Samus and her Pirate Problem.
"Please don't be the Kraken, please don't be the Kraken," Pit begged to himself, not wanting to fight that thing on his canoe.
The disturbance began to give way to a solid shape.
The good news was it was not the Galactic Fiend Kraken.
Bad news...
"Oh my gods, it's the Aurum!" Pit shouted in horror, stumbling back in his canoe as a giant, metallic sphere rose up from the Galactic Sea. "No no no no no no no!"
Meanwhile, inside the 'Aurum' ship...
A rather confused Grand Moff Tarkin scratched his head in confusion. "This does not appear to be Yavin 4."
"I told you we should have taken the left turn at Alderaan," Darth Vader snarked.
2.12 (Lord Circe)
Luigi took his hat off as he slowly stepped into Mario's room. "Mario? Are you awake?"
A low groan answered him from the bed. Luigi slowly made his way over, wincing as he took in Mario's battered form. His right arm and leg were both in casts, and his face was a mass of bruises.
"What-a happened to you? I couldn't get the-a Toads to tell me when they brought you in."
Mario groaned again. "You know... how I like collecting Power Stars when I find them?"
Luigi nodded. "Do they fight-a back this Loop?"
Mario slowly shook his head. "No... it's just... I spotted one, floating near a cliffside... So I jumped up to catch it... but it wasn't a Power Star."
Luigi scratched his head. "It was a fake?"
Mario let out a long breath. "No... it was a Luma... and Rosalina took offense at me punching it in the face."
2.13 (Kalimaru)
Samus Aran Awoke to find herself inside her ship, nestled in her luxuriously oversized pilot's chair as she watched various bipedal creatures walking around and fulfilling tasks.
On second inspection, all of the workers appeared to be Space Pirates wearing human clothes.
Looking about, Samus realized that she was not in her personal space vessel, but was instead in the Captain's chair of a Pirate Ship. Her own ship was visible on one of her many holo-screens, currently getting a buff job done on it by a number of Pirates wearing janitorial clothes. The other holo-screens showed her such useful things like where they were (parked on SR388), How many Pirates were under her command (256), and what the weather was outside (Mildly cloudy with a small chance of acid rain).
Going through her in-loop memories, bought Samus to realize that Space Pirates and Humans had switched species this time around. This wouldn't have been an issue, except that they'd also switched what was culturally appropriate. Thus, all of the Pirates wore clothes to keep their carapaces unscuffed and most of the humans ran naked. Samus herself had defected when she'd realized that clothing helped keep her from getting burned by acid.
As a wash of naked images ran through her brain of less than flattering members of the human race, Samus indulged her authority and took a long pull from a can of something deeply alcoholic that she found sitting to her immediate right. Getting to the bottom of the can, she stood and turned to her second in command.
"Mr. B, raise me General Ridley on the comms. I plan to discuss with him."
"Of course, Captain Aran. Will this be about the Metroid tissue samples we retrieved, or about the Woolen Infestation we found?"
'Right, Sheep and Metroids switched places too.' "Both, Mr. B."
"I'll gather our intel for a document transfer. Patching you through now."
2.14 (ThanosCradik)
Bowser sat on his throne, thinking about what to do when he suddenly realized that he was already in the Mushroom Kingdom. That wouldn't be so strange, if it weren't for the fact that his body was now very much different.
"Why am I a human?"
And then the memories hit him. Apparently he was 'Prince Bowser' of the Koopa Kingdom, and he was routinely kidnapped by 'Queen Toadstool', ruler of the Toads.
Before he he could voice his opinion about the new Loop, the throne room wall exploded as a huge Toad wearing a pink dress smashed her way through. "Good morning, Bowser."
"...So that's how it feels."
Getting a light laugh from 'Queen Toadstool', she asked, "Would you like to go on with the gag, or just take a break this Loop?"
"Uh… yeah. A break sounds nice right now. Thanks, Peach." Bowser wasn't very keen on being kidnapped by his usual target.
"Stop right-a there!"
A familiar boot found its way to Bowser's face, knocking him over. Mario landed and realized what he just did and became embarrassed.
"Oops, sorry Bowser. Force of-a habit."
"Ow. Are all Loops going to be like this?"
Toadstool giggled and replied, "It could have been worse, you know. We could have been the opposite genders."
Mario shivered, remembering one of his earlier Loops.
Bowser just lay there on the ground, not wanting to get up. "Can the Loop be over now?"
2.15 (Lord Circe)
Epona smacked her head into her desk. Behind her, Susanoo looked over from where he was casually juggling swords, letting the blades fall and stab into the desk and floor around him.
"mrghn stpd tfrc lnsd dupi"
Susanoo leaned forward. "What was that? Your desk is in the way."
Epona whirled around, her hair askew. "It's the stupid Triforce! Every projection says that if I try to loop one of the bearers, the other two will get dragged in and the loop will crash prematurely. The only Anchor candidate who won't get caught up in all of that is this weird, fairy man who dresses in green."
Susanoo blinked, then looked at her. "You know, fairy isn't really a nice thing to call someone. If he is attracted..."
Epona cut him off. "He is a middle-aged man, who dresses in tight green clothes, and wants to be a fairy. An actual, insect wings, glitter dust, fairy."
Susanoo paused. "Huh, that is weird." Epona's eye twitched and Susanoo looked at her more closely. "You know, you shouldn't frown so much. It might give you wrinkles."
"AUUGGHH!"
In between dodging staplers, swords, and whatever other items Epona could grab to throw at him, Susanoo thoughtfully examined the code on Epona's screen. "Ya know, maybe you could make that Triforce thing the Anchor. It's in most of the universes code, and then those other Anchor candidates will start Looping super quick."
Epona paused in the midst of hefting one of the filing cabinets along the wall, before looking at her screen again. Slowly, she slumped over, her head banging down again. Susanoo watched her for a moment, then nodded. "I'll take that as a yes." Humming happily, he left to go grab a sandwich.
2.1 - "Somebody page the King of Awesome?" Bowser was Looping for a while, but this is when he first revealed it, hijacking Donkey Kong (the game, not the character).
2.2 - Well, he's definitely a Donkey, but not much of a Kong, if I do say so myself.
2.3 - An early Loop for Samus. Combining the Dark, Light, and Annihilator Beams with the Power Bombs was an unused feature in Prime 2. Samus even has notes on them still on the disc.
2.4 - Four is Death.
2.5 - DK VS Dan Hibiki from Street Fighter. Well, that was short-lived...
2.6 - Mario visits another of the O7's Loops, this time being Slayers.
2.7 - Pit (and Dark Pit)'s First Loop. The Nintendo Cluster is one of the first places known to exhibit the Hub Bug, where certain individuals are semi-aware of what form their Hub backups (i.e. their source material) is. Thus justifying the Fourth Wall Breaking. Deadpool is still the only one who can break the Loops' own Fourth Wall, although I hear rumors that Cranky might know something about that too...
2.8 - Um...yeah. If Samus is Awake when she's infected by the X-Parasites, then that means that the SA-X is Loop Aware.
2.9 - I would not be surprised if Palutena and Medusa's feud started like that. They are (supposed to be) Greeks, after all.
2.10 - Pit gets the Multiverse Speech, courtesy of Kurosaki Ichigo.
2.11 - No, Pit, that's the Death Star, not the Aurum. ...They don't look that similar, do they?
2.12 - Rosalina did apologize for punching him when Mario explained, but she didn't regret doing it in the first place. Don't get between her and her Lumas, folks!
2.13 - ...Someone please give Brain Bleach.
2.14 - Role Reversals take many forms. Some of them aren't pleasant...
2.15 - And thus you know how Zelda activated; by the random words of someone who is essentially Admin-level Kamina.