12.1 Boohoooo!

[Yo-Kai Watch/Unikitty!]

Manjimutt groaned as he Awoke in his least favorite place to do so: Prison.

"Doggone, I wonder if Mermaidyn has enough to bail me out... Again..." He muttered, feeling bad for consistently having to make his lover spend money on him like this...

"Who dat?" Puppycorn asked, popping out of nowhere.

Manjimutt screamed and fell over.

"You ok dude?" Puppycorn asks, poking Manjimutt with a stick.

"Ow! Yes! Stop poking me!" The Older Dog Creature complained.

Puppycorn nodded and threw the stick out the window.

"Hiya! I'm Puppycorn! And you are?" Puppycorn asked, excitably running around.

"Manjimutt... For this Loop. It's... complicated." Manjimutt mused.

"Neato! Hey, did you know that causing crazy fires is illegal here?" Puppycorn stated.

"..." Manjimutt could tell this was gonna be a bad time... or at least a frustrating one.

Later, the duo were eating lunch, Manjimutt making sure Puppycorn stayed under control. Suddenly, there was an explosion and fire!

"LET MY BROTHER GO!" Unikitty roared, easily incapacitating all the guards.

"Hi sis! Can my buddy come with?" Puppycorn asked, gesturing to Manjimutt.

"Of course bro!" Unikitty grinned, suddenly cheerful. Manjimutt fearfully got in with Unikitty and Puppycorn and flew away on a jet.

Things were gonna get more bizarre from there...

12.2

Zombie Supermarket St. Peanutsburg

[Yo-kai Watch/Zombie Land Saga]

"Well, this is quite the downgrade from our usual work…" Saki couldn't help but grumble as she placed new items on the shelves where they had been depleted.

"Brains!" A shambling, green-skinned zombie with a reddish flame spouting from its head moaned as he creeped up behind the more-human looking zombie.

"I'm working on it!" Saki snapped, placing a few bags of assorted sweets onto the shelves. "But it's not exactly helpful towards getting you what you want if all you say is 'brains!'"

"Braaaains…" the zombie costumer moaned slower, as if it would help the employee understand him better.

"Do you want to die?" The zombified biker growled in a low town.

"MISS. NIKAIDO, WE DO NOT THREATEN THE COSTUMERS HERE!"

The loud, echoing voice, nearly sent Saki tumbling to the ground. She growled and glared in the direction of the overly muscular, cape-wearing zombie known as 'Supermanager,' removing his hand from the microphone on his chest and giving the visiting Looper a stern look. "Look boss, I'm doing my job restocking and everything, but this joker won't stop with the 'brains!'"

"Brains!" the generic zombie spouted, as if to prove Saki's point.

Supermanager's expression did not change. "YOUR JOB IS ALSO TO ASSIST THE CUSTOMER IN ANY WAY YOU CAN! WE AT PHANTOMART PRIDE OURSELVES AT ABSOLUTE SATISFACTORY SERVICE TO ALL, LIVING OR DEAD!" he pounded a fist on his chest. "I HIRED YOU WITH THE EXPECTATIONS THAT YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO HANDLE THAT, BUT IF YOU CAN'T, I WOULD SUGGEST YOU LOOK FOR ANOTHER JOB, THAT HIRES ZOMBIES!" pounding his chest once more, he turned to leave. "I'm going to check on the other employees, and I expect you to HAVE IMPROVED YOUR SERVICE BY THE TIME I CHECK ON YOU AGAIN!"

Saki sneered as she watched Supermanager stomp off, "I can't believe I'm saying this; but I'd take Shades over that guy as a boss any day…"

"Brains…"

"I'm getting to you, alright!?" the Looping zombie idol-turned-zombie supermarket employee growled. "I hope the others are having a better time with this gig, 'cause I'm seriously considering that rotting gorilla's offer to find work elsewhere…"

"Thank you for shopping at Phantomart, have a nice night!" Sakura smiled from behind the register, handing one of the generic zombies a receipt, before he also took a bag from the smiling Lily standing at her side.

"Brains!" the zombie nodded with satisfaction, before shambling away, allowing another of the generic zombies to move up the line.

"Brains."

"Hello, welcome to Phatomart! What would you like to purchase tonight?" Sakura greeted cheerfully with a wave.

"Brains, brains…" the zombie placed some wrapped fish, a bag of caramel peanuts, and a bottle of 'Y-Cola Max' onto the counter.

Sakura nodded, beginning to scan the items, before passing them to Lily for bagging, before she informed the zombie how much their bill came to, and they paid with no issue. "Thank you for shopping at Phantomart, have a nice night!" she smiled again as she handed the zombie the receipt.

"Brains!" the zombie nodded, taking the bag from Lily before shambling away, only to quickly be replaced with the next zombie in line.

"Brains!"

"Hello, welcome to Phantomart! What would you like to purchase tonight?"

Once the last of the line had left, both Looping zombies gave a small sigh of relief.

"I never knew working in a grocery store could be so demanding," Sakura sighed as she rested her head on the counter for a moment.

"And child-labor laws apparently don't exist for the undead," Lily grunted as she slumped against the side of the counter.

"Would be kind of hard to justify them when we don't age," the red-headed Anchor pointed out, which only got a loud groan from her shorter companion in response.

"ATTENTION!"

The sudden shout had both zombie-girls standing up straight, just as the Supermanager came stomping over. The oversized zombie looked over the two, before nodding in approval.

"Excellent work tonight, Miss. Minamoto, Miss. Hoshikawa!" Supermanager smiled in satisfaction with another nod. "You two have been excellent with the customers, profits are up, and we're getting more customers every night since you two started working the register!"

"Er… just trying to do our best, sir," Sakura smiled sheepishly.

"Well, keep up the good work!" Supermanager gave a thumbs-up, before stomping off, the ground shaking with every step he took.

Both Sakura and Lily sighed again.

"Why are we still working here anyway? It's been the same thing, every night, since we Woke up in this world…" Lily pointed out tiredly.

"Well… it's not every Loop where there's a supermarket specifically for zombies, so maybe we can just see where this Loop goes, at least for a bit longer," Sakura tried her best restore her cheerful smile. "Besides, the works not that hard, and Supermanager's not that bad a boss."

Lily grumbled a bit more, before nodding. "I know he's not, at least not 'bad' as in a bad person, but…" she looked thoughtful, tapping her head a bit. "He kind of reminds me of my pappy… and not just his size. He's so wrapped up in making sure he and everyone else does a good job, he doesn't even realize when he's overworking his employees…"

Sakura blinked, a surprised look coming to her face at the comparison. "Well… maybe we should all try talking to him…? After work hours, of course," she smiled brightly with a nod. "Yes, I'm sure if we all spoke in a calm and concise manner, we could make him see– "the redhead's thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of the front doors opening, and she and Lily both instinctually went back into position. "Welcome to Phantomart, please feel free to– "the zombie's words died down when she got a look at exactly who, or rather, what had entered the store…

"Huh… unexpected," the brown-haired boy muttered with a blank expression as he looked towards Sakura and Lily, his reaction was unexpectedly calm, in comparison to his companions.

"What the hay!? I was expecting strange, but not that fast!" the other boy with the messier, more rust-colored hair exclaimed with wide-eyes. "Nate, you seeing this!? Those are some freaky looking aliens!"

"Again with aliens, nya…" a red cat with two tails, with flames at the end, grunted, before he noticed the two zombie-girls staring at them. "… Nya?"

"Um, these are, um…" a white ghost-looking creature that was floating by the first boy's side, mumbled nervously as he looked at hand-held computer device of some sort.

Sakura and Lily both kept staring, before noting that the intruding humans and… 'yo-kai' if their memories served correctly were busy talking amongst each other, so they took the opportunity to duck down, and head towards the back room.

"Everything seems to be in order here," Supermanager nodded as he walked through the back room, with the Awake Ai and Junko standing by with slightly unsure looks. "Miss. Mizuno, Miss. Konno, keep up the good work!"

"Um… thanks," Junko tried to give a smile along with Ai, despite both of them feeling rather uncomfortable with their recent shift of career for the Loop, going from being idols, to keeping stock of items in a supermarket's back room…

"All of you girls really seem to be working out… except for that Nikaido," the oversized zombie shook his head, giving a slightly disappointed sigh. "I hate to say it; but if she doesn't shape up soon, I may just have to let her go…"

"I understand your concerns, sir," Ai spoke up with a small nod, she knew her friend probably wouldn't care about losing her job at this supermarket, and may even be planning to quit, but she felt she should at least attempt to speak in her defense. "But Saki's not really used to dealing with strangers in such a one-on-one, friendly manner, but I'm sure if you give her some more time, she will turn out to be an excellent employee."

Supermanager hummed with an unsure look, "I suppose I should, but if she keeps scaring away costumers, I'm not going to have many choices." The zombie manager shook his head a bit, before stomping further into the back area of the store, towards the freezer. "I'm going to check on Miss. Yugiri and Miss. Yamada, you two can take a break if you wish, but try to have the stock fully accounted for before sunrise!"

"Right, sir!" both Ai and Junko nodded. Once the Supermanager was completely out of sight, the two zombie Loopers turned to each other.

"So… wanna take that break now, or try to get this all done first?" Junko questioned, glancing at the items in boxes, and on shelves around them; most having already been accounted for.

"I don't know, I guess I could use a moment," Ai sighed, walking around her friend and sitting on a chair that was set-up against a wall, the black-haired zombie girl gave her friend a curious look. "You know, I'm surprised you haven't decided to just leave this job yet… though I suppose the same could be said about any of us…"

"We've only been Awake for a few days, I don't really like working at a supermarket, but…" Junko let out a sigh of her own, glancing in the direction the manager had stomped off in.

"It doesn't seem right to abruptly leave that guy without any employees," Ai concluded with a nod. "Still, there's no reason all of us have to stay here, especially if you're not comfortable with the job."

Junko shook her head, gaining a bit of a grin, "No way, idols or supermarket employees, Franchouchou sticks together!"

Ai seemed pleased with this answer, standing up from her seat and giving her friend a smile. Before the conversation could continue, the door to back room burst open, both present zombie girls turning to see a frantic Sakura and Lily.

"Guys, we have a problem!" Sakura exclaimed with wide eyes.

"There are humans in the building! And a ghost, and a two-tailed cat!" Lily yelled, flailing her arms and jumping around a bit.

"What!? Where!?" Junko questioned as she and Ai both looked shocked and unsure of what to think of this development.

"Humans aren't allowed here once midnight hits and the store becomes a zombie supermarket, and the store should have been closed for them, and those other two would be… 'yo-kai?'" Ai scratched her head, narrowing her eyes a bit. "Where are they now?"

"Still upfront, we need to figure out to how to approach this, and we can't let Supermanager know!" Sakura shouted, knowing how the oversized zombie manager would react to finding humans in the Phantomart at this time. "We need to think of…" the red head paused as she realized something, "Wait… where's Saki…?"

Junko looked a bit frazzled from the new information, but was able to give an answer, "I'm pretty sure she was restocking… the shelves… in the store…" the white-haired zombie's speech slowed as she realized the implications of it…

"Sheesh, all that crap is done at least," the blond zombie grunted as she finished placing the various items into their proper places, the last of which were some ice drinks she had placed into the refrigerator near the back of the grocery area. "Surprised no mare 'brains' zombies bothered me, maybe I scared 'em off," Saki huffed, noting that there didn't seem to be any more of the generic zombies around. "Another thing for that giant pile of rotting meat to yell at me about."

"Excuse me, do you work here?"

Saki let out an annoyed grunt at the young voice she heard from behind her, "Unfortunately, but I'm seriously considering– "the zombie-biker paused, before slowly turning to see a human child's brown eyes looking at her.

"Hi," the boy greeted calmly, letting out a Ping with a bright smile on his face.

Saki just stared with a blank expression…

Sakura blinked as a Ping flashed through her senses, alerting her and her friends to the presence of another Looper.

"None of you guys just Pinged, right?" Lily questioned, looking between the other three zombie-girls.

Another Ping suddenly resounded, most likely in response to the first, after a moment the zombies each Pinged as well, sensing three more Pings along with theirs.

"Eight," Junko counted with a nod. "Assuming all of us just Pinged, we have two locals Awake."

"Alright, but can we deal with the problem of humans being in the store before we try to find them?" Ai questioned with a worried expression, crossing her arms as she glanced towards the door that lead back to the store's main area. "I'm sure Saki hasn't hurt them, but we should get moving!"

With a few nods, the four zombies quickly began making their way out the door.

"I bet at least one of the humans is a Looper," Lily concluded as she walked at the tail end of the group.

None of the others gave any response to this, but internally they all couldn't help but agree that it was probably likely.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Saki snarled as tamely as possible, keeping narrowed eyes on the strangely calm human child, whom was most certainly not supposed to be there. in all likelihood the Ping she just registered did come from this boy. Saki Pinged back in response, which was shortly followed by a series of Pings she was pretty confident were from her friends, and one other…

"Let me just cut to the chase, before one of my non-Looping companions walks over and calls you an alien," the boy stared in a relaxed manner.

"Alien…?" Saki could only give a blank look at that.

"I assume you're Looping; I'm the local Anchor," the local smiled brightly, holding a friendly hand out. "Current name; Nate Adams, hope you have a nice time here in the 'Yo-kai Watch World!'"

Saki looked at the hand, considering if she should shake it or not, or go back to demanding an explanation for why the human was here. Anchor or not, humans still shouldn't be allowed at Phantomart at this hour.

The Looping zombie's consideration of what to do next was, however, interrupted by the sudden exclamation of another human boy who came rushing over.

"Wow, Nate! You already caught one of these green alien girls! Good going, man!" the second boy exclaimed loudly, giving a thumbs up. "Now she can tell us all about what in the hey's going on 'round here!"

Saki's eye started to twitch erratically.

Nate facepalmed, "Really great timing there, Buck…"

Sakura, Ai, Junko and Lily rushed out into the shopping floor of the Phantomart, just in time to be met with Saki's scream, and the sight of her chasing one of the human children Sakura and Lily had spotted earlier, all around the store.

"THE HELL DID YOU CALL ME!? WHO'S SOME 'ALIEN!?' I'LL SHOW JUST HOW MUCH OF A ZOMBIE I AM WHEN I CATCH YOU!"

"Zombies, that's ridiculous!" Buck shouted, running just out of his pursuers reach. "Just admit y'all are aliens already!"

"What in the world is going on…?" Junko muttered blankly.

"I may have spoken too soon when I said Saki wouldn't hurt them," Ai stated in an uncertain tone.

Sakura had already rushed after her enraged friend, to try and stop her from possibly injuring the kid. "Saki! Hold on!"

Lily glanced to Ai and Junko, a slightly nervous look on her discolored face, "Should we… do something?"

"I wouldn't worry about it," Nate spoke up calmly as she stepped over to the three zombie girls, closely followed by Whisper and Jibanyan.

The three visiting Loopers jumped in shock at the boy's sudden appearance.

Nate chuckled, "Buck may seem pretty insufferable before you get to know him, but I don't think your friend will hurt him, she seems nice."

Lily stared at her fellow child for a second, raising a hand to speak, before a loud shouting and the appearance of a giant zombie interrupted any attempt at conversation.

"WHAT'S GOING ON OUT HERE!?" Supermanager roared as he came stomping through the aisles.

Buck, Saki and Sakura all halted in their chase… bumping into each other and falling into a pile along the way.

"Well, that was stupid," Saki grunted in annoyance.

Supermanager narrowed his eyes as he glanced between the fallen Buck, and the nonchalant Nate. "NO HUMANS ALLOWED!"

What followed next was kind of a blur for the group of Looping zombies. Supermanager looked like he was ready to frighten the kids out of the supermarket (the girls knew, from their in-Loop memories, that the store's policy was actually firmly against hurting humans, and that those that intruded should be scared out.)

However, Nate seemed fully prepared to deal with the undead manager. The Anchor quickly ran circles around the oversized zombie, nearly turning into a blur, and before they knew it, Supermanager was on the ground, with a dazed expression.

"Sorry about that, I know you're only doing your job," Nate apologized as he stepped over to the fallen undead. "I was planning with going along with the whole chase and holding back a bit more when we got to the confrontation in the meat locker but seeing as we have some visitors this Loop; being a good host takes priority."

"I have no idea what that means… and I didn't know humans could be that fast, or strong…" Supermanager muttered dizzily as he remained on the floor.

"You and me both, big alien guy, he's been saying stuff like that for a while now," Buck interjected, sending a quizzical look Nate's way.

"Aliens again, why are you insistent we're aliens, and unable to believe we're zombies," Saki growled as she glared at Buck, but was held back from charging him again by Sakura.

"I'm… not entirely sure what's going on; time travel stuff Nate and Jibanyan talked about, which I still find hard to believe, aside…" Whisper muttered as he floated around the area, scratching his head out of confusion.

"I already explained as much to you as I could Whisper; if you still don't get it, the only thing to do is hope you Wake up soon," Nate sighed as he watched his yo-kai butler circle around the store.

Whisper looked offended by his master's words, turning to the Anchor with a fist in the air, "Hey now! I understood it perfectly well; I'm just skeptical if that's what's actually going on here!"

"I don't know about any o'that, but I'm not so sure about time travel," Buck spoke up, moving his arms behind his neck.

Nate and Jibanyan both sighed.

"Excuse me," Junko chose to speak up, walking over to the local Anchor and looking at him with a bit of scrutiny. "But, your Loop aside, is there a particular reason you chose to break into the Zombie Supermarket?"

"There's lots to explain about this Loop, particularly how this Variant goes," Nate started, before noticing the still groaning Supermanager, whom Lily was now poking at. "But first… let's get the big guy to the back room so he can recover…"

"Wait, you were killed by a truck too!?" Sakura looked at Jibanyan with sympathy, after having gotten Supermanager into a comfortable position in one of the break room's chairs, the groups had collected in the storage area of the back room, to exchange information about themselves (and for Nate to also hand out a 'yo-kai watch' to each zombie.)

The cat yo-kai's ears twitched, giving the Zombie Anchor a serious look, "Wait… you too?"

The other zombies in the room exchanged uneasy looks, Nate sighed.

"That darn truck gets me every single time!" Sakura clenched her fist with a growl, "I've tried to avoid it in nearly every way I could think, but it always gets me!"

Jibanyan gave a slight snarl, a flash going through his eyes, "Those abominyable machines… I nyever thought I would meet anyother Looper who would understand my grudge!" With a sudden roar of intensity, Jibanyan called upon a power in Baseline he would not gain access to by a variable number of years, shifting into his Shadowside form.

"What the…?" Sakura took a step back in surprise at how the nekomata went from barely reaching her knees, to towering over her in an instant.

Saki in contrast, stared in amazement of the transformation, "… Awesome."

"I was made a fool of by those evil trucks for eons, but I have found the power to best them," the cat yo-kai spoke in a much deeper voice, clenching a paw/fist in righteous fury, before looking the red-haired zombie straight in the eyes. "I will train you-nya!"

Sakura looked unsure of how to respond to this, though before she could, the local Anchor grabbed the cat by the shoulder and pulled him aside

"Jibanyan, doesn't that go against your whole 'laziness training' thing you have with my brother?" Nate muttered in a dull tone.

"This is different Nyate! I can't just stand idly by when a fellow victim of those malevolent motorized vehicles stands before me!" the nekomata shouted as the flames at the tips of his tails grew in size, a fiery aura surrounding his entire body.

"I have no idea why, but I suddenly feel terrified," Lily hid behind Ai with wide eyes.

Sakura seemed to be contemplating the offer of training to 'beat the evil truck,' though a loud exclamation from the meat locker suddenly changed the focus of the moment.

"That sounded like Whisper," Nate shouted, pulling a mechanical scythe from his pocket and rushing in towards the meat locker before anyone else could react.

"Nate! Can you believe this!?"

The Anchor stared, putting Spectral Fang away, and giving his butler a slightly annoyed look, watching him cheer while a tall, dark-haired zombie, with a slightly off look in her eyes, nibbled at his head-swirl. "Whisper, what's going on…?"

"I'm really confused, still," Buck stated, standing a short bit away.

"It's odd to see someone so excited about Tae biting them…" a tall, brown-haired zombie, with a visible scar on her neck, commented as she stood beside the non-Looping boy.

"What, don't any of you know who this yo-kai is!?" Whisper shouted, looking shocked at the very notion.

"As if you know without your yo-kai pad," Nate scoffed, crossing his arms and leaning against a wall.

Whisper's eyes twitched, glaring fiercely at the Anchor, "No! Even without my yo-kai pad I recognize this yo-kai well; she is a legend among Legendary Yo-kai: Tae Yamada!"

The 'legendary among Legendary Yo-kai' continued to try and chomp on the ghost butler's head-swirl with a blank look in her eyes…

Nate's expression turned quizzical for a moment, before he shook his head, "Whisper, I'm pretty sure there's merit, and importance to this Loop, to what you're saying. But I'll need to look into it later, since now that I know you're okay; I need to head back and make sure Jibanyan doesn't do anything too insane!"

Watching the human boy speed off, Whisper huffed, "Honestly, that kid has no idea how to react to an amazing development!"

Tae kept chomping at the head-swirl.

12.3

Hapyon: Investigations throughout the Multiverse–Episode 2: Secrets of the Ningyo-Komainu!

Through static, the image of a messy bedroom, filled with models, posters and other collectibles, came into view. The form of a purple haired girl became clear as she held the camera towards herself, giving a wide smile.

"Hello everyone! And welcome to the second ever episode of Hapyon: Investigations throughout the Multiverse! As you most probably already know; I am your ever-optimistic host, Hailey Anne Thomas!" she turned the camera to get a good view of her yo-kai companion, who stood by with an exasperated expression. "Along with my mood-killing, but still ever-loyal, companion; Usapyon!"

"Wasn't this called 'InaUSA: Investigations throughout the Multiverse' last 'episode?'" the yo-kai questioned with clear annoyance in his tone.

Hailey happily ignored this comment, turning the camera back towards herself. "Anyway, if this is your first time tuning in to us…" the girl paused with a frown. "Well, first of all; what's wrong with you!? Everyone knows you need to always start out on the first episode! If you don't, you could end up missing out on important lore and character development, and get all confused, with nobody to blame but yourself!" shaking her head quickly to calm down, the human girl smiled at the camera again, "So; if you haven't watched the first episode, you should do so, because I'm not recapping anything!"

"Not like there was anything of significance in the last episode anyhow…" Usapyon grunted from off camera. "And yer the one distributin' the tapes! Just have the first episode be on the same tape as this one when you hand it out if it's so important to ya'!"

"Stop focusing on unimportant details, Usapyon!" Hailey scolded, before quickly smiling again, "The important details; is that we're going to be investigating many mysteries, and I have quite the doozy planned for this episode!"

"I'm sure ya' do…"

Hailey turned the camera to look at Usapyon, whom now had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot, "You really need to get that stick out of your bum, otter-bunny, it's going to get in the way of this important investigation!"

Usapyon growled slightly, before shrugging and giving a huff.

"… You really don't go 'Invader Mode' on me all that much anymore," Hailey almost sounded disappointed.

"I've been learnin' to control my temper in my Sith trainin'," the otter yo-kai snorted.

"Right…" Hailey turned the camera back towards herself, this time giving a sheepish smile, "Oh yeah, to any watching that don't know; Usapyon's a Sith, but don't worry, he's not planning to do anything evil… to my knowledge anyway!"

"Ha, to yer knowledge," the camera turned to look at Usapyon again, he waved his hand. "Nah, don't worry about it; being a Sith isn't really about being 'evil' anyways. Force lightning is pretty cool though!"

"True, true," Hailey turned the camera back to her as she nods. "But all that aside, let us begin what we will be investigating today; The mysterious half-human, half-fish creature; known as the Ningyo, and if its flesh can truly grant someone immortality, as mythology often claims!"

"Wait, we're investigating what!?"

The camera went dark as the feed was cut.

The image of a pond came into view, an annoyed look, brown-haired boy standing in front of it, an abandoned fishing pole at his feet.

"And, rolling!" Hailey's voice announced from off camera. "So, here we are at Catfish Pond, where our resident friend, Anchor, and Yo-kai Master; Nate Adams, will be helping us with tracking down a ningyo!"

The boy scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Hailey, I'm not doing this!"

"Come on Nate, you're the only one that can!" Hailey whined.

"I promised Mermaidyn I wouldn't bother her!" Nate kicked the fishing pole away. "Not by fishing, not by summoning, not by calling! Not this Loop at least! Manjimutt either, for that matter!" he shook his head, crossing his arms and turning away. "They want to enjoy their time together, and I agreed, so I'm not going to go back on my word for… whatever it is this is!"

"Well we don't need it be our Mermaidyn, we just need a ningyo!" Hailey shouted, shaking the camera a bit as she moved closer to the Anchor. "How about you just help us find another!? Surely that's an easy task for the Yo-kai Master!"

"Don't call me that!" Nate pushed the camera away. "And no, I'm not going to try doing that. Natsume Woke up as one of the other Snottle, and I have plans to spend time with her, Katie and Snottle today!"

"I told ya' this was a terrible idea," Usapyon huffed, walking into the frame and nodding to Nate, whom nodded back to him.

"But how are we supposed to find out if ningyo flesh can really grant immortality!?" Hailey cried out in protest.

"… I'm sorry, what?" Nate questioned, a disturbed look coming to his eyes.

"That's what I said!" Usapyon shouted.

A loud splash was suddenly heard behind the group.

"WHAT!?" a disturbed/enraged Mermaidyn shouted as she emerged from the pond in the background, before evolving to Mermadonna in a flash, and a massive tsunami started to form from the water.

"Bye," Nate grunted, teleporting away.

"I said this was a bad idea! I did!" Usapyon shouted, waving his fist at the camera.

"Shut up and move!" Hailey shouted back, before the rush of water enveloped them, causing the camera to cut-out.

*WE ARE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES*

The image fizzled with a bit of static, before it eventually became clear, to reveal Hailey holding the camera to show both her and Usapyon (both dripping wet, and with a large catfish stuck between Usapyon's helmet-ears, wiggling…), they were standing in front of a wooden house with sliding, paper door visible.

"As I was saying…" Hailey gave a nervous chuckle, while Usapyon gave her a pointed look. "On today's episode, we'll be investigating the secrets of the mysterious half-dog, half-lion creatures, known as Komainu!" the girl gave another nervous chuckle, shivering a bit. "Nice, calm, dry, komainu…"

"Right… that was always the plan for this episode…" Usapyon muttered in a dull tone, taking off his helmet and some water and a few small fish out of it, before shaking it to make the large catfish stuck in the ears come loose.

"Right, right; that was the plan!" Hailey hastily agreed, before turning towards the house. "And it just so happens, that we have a couple of local komainu in our town! So, let's give them a little visit, and see if they're in the mood for revealing some of their secrets!" turning the camera away from herself, the door was approached, before Hailey's hand came back into frame, and gentle knocked on the side of the door.

The sliding door opened, to reveal a small, white, komainu, the little yo-kai looked at the duo for a moment, before smiling widely, "Howdy, you two! What brings you here to our little abode?"

"Big brother, who is it!?" another voice called from in the house.

"It's Hailey and Usapyon!" the komainu called back into the house. "They've come to visit us! Looks like they're making some kind of a movie, or something like that!" turning his smile back towards the two, the white komainu motioned for them to enter, "Well, don't just stand there all wet like that–why are ya' wet anyway? Was it raining while I wasn't looking? –come on in!"

Hailey turned the camera back towards her face, giving a triumphant smirk and a fist pump, "We're in!"

The camera cut to a view of a knee-high table, a duo of komainu; the white one, and a tan one, sitting in the view of the camera. Both Hailey and Usapyon offscreen, sitting across from them.

"With my cunning intellect, I convinced the komainu; Komasan to allow us into the den of him, and his brother; Komajiro," Hailey's voice spoke quietly.

"Howdy!" Komajiro waved happily.

"Yeah!" Komasan cheered, raising both front paws.

Hailey chuckled a bit, "And, with yet a bit more convincing, the two have agreed to tell us some of the greatest secrets of the komainu…"

"… Secrets? There are secrets of komainu?" Komasan questioned, turning to his brother.

"Well I'm not too sure, but there are a lot of things about yo-kai humans don't know," Komajiro shrugged. "I mean, a lot of the background stuff is Loop Variable too, but we can still share what we do know!"

Komasan gave an understanding nod, "Oh, yeah, that makes sense!"

"I can already tell this is not going to go anywhere…" Usapyon's barely audible grunt was picked up by the camera.

"Alright! First question!" Hailey shouted, pointing a hand forward which came into the camera's view, before retracting it, "Legend says that komainu always come in pairs, which is clearly the case here; but, many of these legends also mention how komainu come in male-female pairs! So… is one of you, actually female!" the camera zoomed in closer to the two brothers, before pulling back and Hailey speaking again, in a slightly nervous tone, "Er… biologically speaking that is! If one of you isn't biologically male, but would rather consider themselves male, that's perfectly fine! … er, and if you would prefer not to answer such a question if it makes you uncomfortable, that's fine too. I'm just… trying to get the facts… er… yeah, sorry…"

Both Komasan and Komajiro just stared, looking confused and unsure of how to respond.

"Er… I'm not really sure what any of that stuff means," Komasan muttered, scratching his head, before turning to Komajiro with a smile. "But we've always been brothers!"

"At least as far as we can remember in this Loop, and in most other Loops," Komajiro added, nodding to his brother, before gaining an embarrassed look, "Plus… this is kind of one of them 'Loop Variable' things, but for this Loop, that type of pairing that you're describing… that's a 'mated pair…'"

There was silence for a few moments, before Hailey spoke again, "Oh… oh my, I seem to have made a fool of myself here…"

"Not really a hard thing ta' accomplish," Usapyon's voice scoffed.

"Let's just move on to the next question," Hailey's voice was dripping with discontent. "So, we all know that komainu pairs often guard shrines and other sacred places, usually in the form of statues."

"Oh yeah!" Komasan nodded cheerfully. "The komainu up at Mt. Wildwood Shrine are sure dutiful!"

"Yeah, I think I've only seen them wake up in a few Loops," Komajiro stated with an impressed look.

"That's… something I might want to investigate at some point…" Hailey spoke in a quizzical tone, before continuing her question, "Anyway; komainu are said to guard these places from evil, or wicked people, that might enter. But my question is; how can you tell if someone is wicked or not? How do you know you won't make a mistake?"

Both komainu brothers looked thoughtful at this question.

"Well, that's another Loop Variable thing," Komajiro said with a shrug. "So, we can't really give a definitive answer, but as for this Loop…" the electric komainu glanced towards his brother to finish answering.

"We can see the auras around people!" Komasan exclaimed excitedly, pointing to his wide-open eye. "All sorts of stuff we can see, lots of colors… haha… you two have a lot of different colors in your auras!" he looked towards the spot where Usapyon was likely sitting. "Usapyon's got a lot of darkness in his aura, but that's not the same as evil!"

"Of course," Usapyon affirmed in a calm tone.

"We know you're a Sith, so we don't really need to think too hard about that," Komajiro chuckled. "But yeah, for this Loop it's mostly about seeing, and feeling, auras and intentions, it's very important for a guardian komainu to perfect these abilities!"

"Well, that's some interesting stuff, so you guys are kind of like Lucario!" Hailey sounded interested as she continued speaking. "Which brings us to our next, and final question; Komasan, Komajiro, you two are both of the fire and electric elements respectively, correct?"

"Yup!" Komasan nodded, holding out a paw where a small blue flame formed.

"You bet!" Komajiro cheerfully held up his own paw, where a few electric sparks formed.

"That's not news at all," Usapyon sighed.

"Quiet, Usapyon!" Hailey snapped, briefly turning the camera to the otter yo-kai, before focusing on the two komainu again. "Now then, is it true, that while in your evolved forms of Komane and Komiger, if you were to somehow be exposed to a Fire Stone, and Thunder Stone respectively, that you would evolve into your perfect forms of Entei and Raikou!?"

Silence filled the small home, Komasan and Komajiro both looked baffled, the sound of a facepalm emitted from the spot Usapyon was sitting…

Finally, Komajiro decided to speak up, "Um… Hailey, you do know that those are Pokémon… right?"

"I've been an Entei a few times, but I'm usually a Growlithe when I end up in a Pokémon world," Komasan gave a shrug and an unsure chuckle. "So, I'm mostly used to a Fire Stone turnin' me into Arcanine…"

Silence filled the room once more, before the camera feed cut-out.

The image of Hailey's room came into view once more, to reveal Hailey holding the camera to show herself, with an unimpressed Usapyon standing in the background.

"Well, in the end, we really didn't learn too much about the mysteries of komainu, but I can say that today's episode was certainly insightful!"

"Insightful in how easy it is for you to make a fool O' yerself," Usapyon scoffed.

The purple haired girl ignored the unflattering comment, "So, that concludes the second episode of Hapyon: Investigations throughout the Multiverse! We hope you took away something useful from this whole experience, and hope you tune in again when we tackle our next mystery!"

The door to Hailey's room opened, to reveal a young boy with greyish hair, with an expression looking somewhere between confused and annoyed, "Sis, what are you doing? You've been gone all day; mom wants you to take out the garbage!"

Hailey turned the camera to focus on the boy, "Go away Joshua! I'm doing Looper-related things, you wouldn't understand!"

The small boy just gave an annoyed sigh, shaking his head, "Whatever, I'm just telling you…" the younger brother left, closing the door behind him.

Hailey turned the camera back to herself, giving a small cough, before smiling again, "As I was saying; hope you all had an insightful time, join us next time, and keep your hearts and minds open!"

"Hailey Anne Thomas!" the irritated voice of an adult female called out from outside the room.

Hailey smile turned nervous, a bit of sweat forming, "Yeah, okay, bye!" she gave a thumbs up, before the camera feed went dark.

12.4

An Expansion explained, and a brother Awakens

"So, I think I finally experienced one of those 'Expansions' you guys were talking about," a currently 10-year-old Natsume stated calmly, sitting on the floor of the living room with her parents.

"Yeah, I noticed the Loop ran a little longer the last few times," Keita nodded in understanding, giving his daughter a small smile. "I sensed you and your friends heading into the Yo-kai World, I kept out of it since I was sure you could handle it… though I still was sure to keep a tab on you and was ready to rush over if needed."

"I would have too, if I were Awake for those," Fumika commented, shrugging while giving a slightly disappointed sigh. "This is the first I'm hearing of this… though, I wish you'd tell us ahead of time before heading into the Yo-kai World, young lady."

Natsume coughed, looking away with a bit of embarrassment, "Mom, we were kind of in a hurry…"

"It had something to do with little Touma's yo-kai sword being stolen, right?" Keita questioned with a thoughtful look.

Natsume's face scrunched a bit, "Er… I wouldn't exactly put it like that, but basically, yes…"

Fumika's expression turned sympathetic, "Little Touma is so lonely at this point in the timeline, his parents have to work so much, and he doesn't yet realize Natsume wants to be his friend," she looked towards her husband, her expression turning cheerful. "We should invite Touma over for more playdates with Natsume early on, if we can, from now on!"

Keita hummed a bit, putting a hand to his chin, "You know, that's not a bad idea, I'll try to contact his parents about it next chance I get…"

Fumika gave a little clap and a pleased expression, "Excellent, I know little Touma's parents are worried about him being lonely too, so I'm sure they'll like the idea!"

"Ahem!" Natsume let out an annoyed sound, bringing her parents attention back to her, and seeing her frowning face. "While I appreciate you two wanting to help Touma, can I please finish what I was saying?"

"Sorry, please continue," both parents apologized.

"Thank you," Natsume nodded, choosing to ignore her parents' creepy synchronization. "Anyway, Kaira-sama showed up, and explained that the fortune teller was only a pawn, and that the yo-kai who claimed the Fudou Raimeiken was a dangerous member of the Oni Tribe, known as Shutendōji…"

"Wait… 'Shutendōji?'" Keita questioned, exchanging a skeptical look with his wife, both of them recalling a yo-kai who would sometimes show up, most frequently in the Crank-a-Kai of Game Variants, whom was known for drinking lots of sake (or sometimes, 'sports drinks') to produce flaming attacks, and certainly didn't seem like the type of yo-kai to be some evil mastermind…

"So, Kaira-sama directed us to where we could obtain another of the Youseiken," Natsume continued, ignoring her parents' interruption. "He sent us to the Yo-kai World, as you knew, where we had to go through some trials, and…"

"Akinori got that strange new yo-kai watch after passing the test of that yo-kai, Suzaku, but their Youseiken had been missing, and they had been reduced to the form of that big bird, which had the disk that Akinori could use to summon it…"

"Yeah, if you want to skim over the details, that about covers it," Natsume sighed a bit, giving a nod of confirmation… before she blinked, looking over at whom had just spoken, her eyes widening a bit.

"W-what's going on here…?" the currently eight-year-old Keisuke questioned shakily, his pupils small and his expression looking like he was resisting the urge to panic as he looked between his stunned parents and sister. "That was all just a dream, right?" he glanced between his family again, awaiting some kind of response to ease him. "Right!?"

"Keisuke… you remember…?" Natsume muttered, her stunned expression remaining.

Keita was the first to regain his composure, shaking his head and giving his young and terrified son a nod, "Um… Keisuke, just so we can clarify; you remember events pertaining to creatures known as 'yo-kai,' with you being three years older than you seem to be now, right?"

Keisuke's body began shaking as he stared at his father with an unreadable expression, "H-how do you know about my dream… dad, was I… I was talking in my sleep, right? Hahaha…" the young boy tried to laugh off his confusion and terror, but it all came off as very forced.

Keita scratched the back of his head unsurely, "Okay… how to approach this…?"

Fumika was the second member of the group to regain her composure, "Oh great tree, my baby boy is Looping!" the self-proclaimed Oni Queen suddenly let out a squeal as she rushed forward and wrapped her 'baby boy' in a hug.

"Looping, what!?" Keisuke cried out, somehow feeling a mixture of both panic, from all that was going on, and comfort, from his mother's warm embrace, all at once.

Keita let out a sigh but couldn't help but smile a bit at his wife's affectionate demeanor towards their children. 'At least she'll give me some time to figure out how to approach this to Keisuke, thanks Fumi-chan…'

Natsume blinked, and rubbed her eyes, finally regaining her senses after the bombshell that had been dropped from out of nowhere. "So, wait, Keisuke's time traveling now too?" she shook her head again, letting out a sigh, "Well… I suddenly feel a mixture of both happiness, and frustration; since I don't feel like I can properly deal with this right now when I'm trying to figure out what's going on in Baseline!"

"That's part of being a Looper, Natsume," the Anchor muttered with crossed arms. 'But she's right, there is also that Baseline stuff… what's the deal with this supposed 'Shutendōji?''

"Oh, you're so cute at this age! Not that you're not cute at any other age, you're my baby boy no matter what, and now you're Looping!" Fumika gushed as she kept hugging Keisuke.

"Mom… really, what is happening, and what is 'Looping?'" Keisuke murmured stiffly, his eyes blank, his panic having seemingly subsided for the moment as he just sat in his mother's arms.

Fumika blinked, before letting out a nervous chuckle and releasing her son. "Right… we should probably explain all that to you… sorry, I got excited…" she looked towards her husband for assistance.

'Right, Keisuke comes first, figuring out still-Expanding Baseline stuff comes after,' the Anchor thought to himself, before nodding to Fumika and approaching to help explain the Loops to his son, and deal with the inevitable denial and panic…

Natsume looked a little annoyed that the wind had essentially been taken out of her sails, but quickly shook it off, before going to join her parents to help explaining what was happening to her little brother.

12.5

Keisuke's Denial

"Ah, what a wonderful, normal day," Keisuke cheered in a forced-enthusiastic manner, packing school supplies into a backpack before marching out of his room and down the stairs. "Time to head off to elementary school!"

"Um, Keisuke?" Fumika looked out from the kitchen, watching her currently-five-year-old son walking towards the door. "You're not going anywhere by yourself; I'll drive you to kindergarten in a moment."

"Ahahaha!" The small boy gave an exaggerated laugh as he looked over at his mother. "Good one, my normal mom who definitely isn't some ancient, time-traveling oni queen! I can walk to elementary school myself, like I always do!"

"Keisuke…" Fumika let out a sad sigh as her son kept laughing, his eye starting to twitch a little.

"Well, I am off now!" the boy turned back to the door, attempting to open it, but found himself struggling a bit to reach the nob and open it with one hand. "Erm… funny, haha, door seems a little taller than usual…"

Keita walked in from the living room, sharing a concerned look with his wife, a seven-year-old Natsume not far behind.

"Um, Keisuke, you are Awake, right?" Natsume asked worriedly as she approached her younger sibling.

"Of course I'm awake, big sis, what a strange question to ask!" the little boy let out another strained laugh. "I'm just trying to figure out why the doorknob is suddenly so much higher, but I really should get going, I don't want to be late for elementary school!"

"Keisuke, you're currently five, you go to kindergarten…" Natsume muttered with a small sigh.

"Or, you could choose not to go to school at all this Loop, if you still need more time to process stuff," Fumika stated, walking over to her youngest child and placing a hand on his head, giving a motherly smile.

"Loop, I don't know what you're talking out, there's no such thing as time loops, and I'm eleven, not five," Keisuke waved away the concerns, his smile twitching a bit.

"Keisuke," Keita started speaking, also approaching the boy and kneeling down to his level. "I know this is all a lot to take in, I don't expect you to accept everything at face value or even accept it's real," the Anchor glanced between his wife and daughter briefly, before smiling gently at his son. "If this helps you cope, okay, for now, but know that we're all here to help you deal with Looping…"

Keisuke stared blankly at his father for a few moments, before he gave another strained laugh, "Ha, dad I have no idea what you're talking about, whatever 'looping' means, or anything like that!" the boy's pupils shrank a bit as he turned back to the door. "Now, I just need to open this…"

The other three members of the Looping family unit exchanged another series of worried looks, while the youngest continued struggling to open the door, his demeanor growing shakier as he did so.

12.6

Family Friendly Game of Frolf!

[Yo-kai Watch/RWBY/Ribbit King]

"BABY BROTHER!" the short, humanoid with red antennae/ears(?) sprouting out of her head exclaimed gleefully as she leapt out of the ship that just landed, wrapping the blue ghost dog(?), who barely had time to react.

"R-Ruby!?" the voice of a young boy echoed out of the spirit's mouth in surprise, almost falling backwards to the snow-covered ground from the sudden weight.

"Well, I didn't see that coming, of all the places to encounter one of your sisters," the small, flame-like ghost that hovered around the larger one commented with a bit of surprise.

After a moment more of hugging, the more humanoid of the two hopped off the ghost and gave a small, apologetic, chuckle, "Sorry about that Nate, or Keita, I got excited; haven't seen you for a bit!"

"I'm surprised you knew it was me right away," the spirit smiled, hovering up a bit higher and nodding. "As for my name, this Loop I'm actually called 'Sparky,' I'm guessing that's who I'm replacing. You can call me Nate; I was Keita my last Loop."

"Usage of that name is supported by the fact that I; Whisper, am not compelled to use my verbal tick of 'whissu' this Loop!" the smaller ghost exclaimed as he floated between the two Anchors.

Ruby blinked, before smiling and giving a quick nod. "Either way, it's great to see you again baby bro! You too Whisper!"

"I'm not a baby," Nate grunted, rolling his eyes, before smiling back at the girl, "Good to see you too, sis…"

"Yes, we haven't encountered you for a while," Whisper bobbed up and down a bit with a contemplative expression. "Which I suppose isn't that strange, Fused Loops don't happen all that often. But, at the same time, we had been noted as relatively frequent Fused Loops with Remnant, in comparison to other Fused Loops, until that just sort of stopped…"

Ruby coughed, the antennae she possessed this Loop twitching a bit as she rubbed one of her feet into the snow. "Well, about that; seems that Remnant was kind of… down for a bit… I'm not really sure what you'd call it." Noting worried looks coming to other two Loopers' faces, she quickly clarified. "Everything's fine! It was apparently because of some data clog, or something like that, but it's all been dealt with!"

Both Nate and Whisper gave some relieved sighs.

"That's good," Nate rubbed his head sheepishly. "I'm not sure if I could handle much on top of helping Keisuke since he started Looping– "

"KEISUKE IS LOOPING!?"

Realizing what he had done, the Anchor of the Yo-kai Watch Loops facepalmed. "Why did I blurt that out? I knew she would react like this, why did I blurt it out!?"

"Because you wanted to tell, I'm sure that blurting out was at least partially on purpose," Whisper deadpanned, ignoring how his friend/master glared at him.

"Oh! Oh! I need to get so much ready, so many presents! So many fun auntie-nephew activities to plan!" Ruby chattered as she leapt around on the snowy surface of the planet Frosticle.

Nate sighed, floating over to his excited sister and shaking his head. "Ruby, please if you happen to get a Fused Loop with Keisuke, don't overwhelm him!"

At the serious tone in her brother's voice, the Anchor of Remnant paused in her cheering and looked towards him curiously.

"Keisuke is having a hard time adjusting, he still is in denial that he's even in a time loop. We're all trying our best at easing him into it, but he still needs time," the blue ghost explained, his tone and expression conveying both seriousness and concern for his son.

Whisper bobbed his body to what his Anchor said.

Ruby had calmed down as she listened to what was said, before giving a little disappointed sigh, but nodding in understanding. "Alright, if I run into him before he's gotten it all down, I'll be careful. Don't worry bro," she gave a thumbs-up as her expression turned cheerful again. "We'll all help you out as best we can."

"We sure will!"

The sudden voice alerted the two spirits to someone else having entered the conversation; what appeared to be a… picnic basket with eyes, arms, and legs? Walking over from the ship Ruby had come from.

The voice was familiar to the two of them…

"Penny…?" Nate questioned with a blank look.

"That's me!" the robot-girl turned sentient picnic basket exclaimed, patting her body with a big grin. "I hung back because Ruby recognized you, but now I'm here, and are we gonna play Frolf or what?"

"Frolf…?" the three other Loopers questioned with blank looks, several dots seemed to appear in the air above them from nowhere, before disappearing as exclamation marks appeared over each of their heads. "Oh yeah, Frolf!"

"That is why we're here," Ruby chuckled sheepishly, rubbing her head, before pulling out her frog and setting it down; a frog with a dark colored top and a white belly, as well as a couple of dog-like ears sprouting from its head. "You ready Zwei?"

"This 'game' is blatant animal abuse," the 'frog' commented bluntly, though despite his words, didn't seem opposed when Ruby place him on the small catapult and got out her hammer.

"Don't think I'll go easy on you because we haven't seen each other in a while. We're gonna have a lot of bonding and talking later, but right now; you're going down!" Nate smirked, placing his own frog down; a red and white frog with two flaming tails, and pair of cat-ears.

"Nya… I mean; 'gero,'" the second 'frog' croaked with lazy eyes.

"Frolf time! Yeah!" Both Ruby and Nate slammed their hammers on the catapults, sending their frogs flying.

"The course is over there," Whisper pointed out, gesturing his body to an area over a hill a short distance away.

"… I don't think they're coming down," Penny commented, staring up at the sky where the frogs were launched.

Both Nate and Ruby stopped cheering, before staring blankly into the sky, noting that Penny seemed to be right; the frogs were not coming down… "Jibanyan/Zwei…?"

12.7

Greta the Relic thief

[Yo-kai Watch/RWBY]

"Greta, no! Put it down! We've been over this!" Keita shouted, chasing a massive scorpion Grimm which had the Relic of Knowledge in claw, around Argus; able to keep up with her with his speed, but having trouble claiming the Relic and keeping her from shaking him off each time he caught up.

"So… Jaune, remind me again why your friend has a pet Deathstalker," Saphron questioned slowly, holding Adrian close as she watched the display with disbelief.

"It's… a long story," the younger Arc scratched his head. "But he kind of has an affinity for Grimm…"

"Affinity!? I've never seen anything like this in all my time on this world!" Maria interjected in an incredulous tone as she hobbled by. "That kid turned the Apathy into the 'Enamored,' how does one do that!?"

Jaune let out a cough, noticing how his sister shuffled with discomfort. "Um… Greta has actually been a big help to us, for the record, but… it would help a bit more if she wasn't also trying to snag the Relic for herself half the time."

"Got it!" Keita announced happily, holding the Relic of Knowledge proudly, while Greta let out what sounded like a distorted whine made of clicks. "I told you not to do that, naughty little arachnid, now go to the timeout corner!"

Greta let out a few more whines, before her tail drooped and she scuttled off in the direction of the town's exit, and presumably wherever the 'timeout corner' was…

Nate sighed, holding the Relic in one hand as he shook his head, "I hate being tough on her, but she needs to learn…"

"Bye bug!" Adrian waved happily as he watched the Grimm leave.

Saphron shuddered a bit, gently grabbing her son's waving hand and lowering it, causing him to look at her with confusion.

Jaune just let out another nervous chuckle, before he noticed all the terrified stares of the various other civilians that had seen a Deathstalker running around, "Well… I can tell this will end well."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Keita assured cheerfully, walking past Jaune his silver-eyes wide and bright. "Though, I should probably alert the others that Greta's in timeout, so they're not worried!"

Maria let out a sigh as she watched the boy march off, whistling a happy tune. "Training that boy will surely be the death of me…"

"Jaune… we need to have a serious discussion," Saphron spoke up, letting out a breath to calm down, and looking towards her brother.

Jaune looked towards his sister, giving a nervous chuckle, "Er… yeah… would it make you feel any better if I told you that he hasn't brought any other Grimm with him?"

"That actually does make me feel a bit better."

12.8

Filmed before a Dead Studio Audience

"Hello everyone, and welcome back to another exciting episode of 'Yo-kai Tonight!" the young boy wearing a fancy suite announced loudly as he stood on stage, "As you all know; my lovely wife Katie– "

"Hello!" girl the same age as the boy, wearing a fancy, pink dress, smiled as she gave a wave.

"And I; Nate– "the boy continued, sending an affectionate smile the girl's way, before turning back to the audience. "Are your hosts!"

"And we've certainly got a great show for you tonight!" Katie cheered as she walked over to Nate and shared a high-five with him. "Quite a few guests lined up, some of which may be surprising, some good entertainment, and more!"

The audience, which consisted completely of various yo-kai, all cheered at the female host's words.

Nate and Katie both nodded to each other, before they walked behind a desk and took seats, side-by-side. Whisper floated in from offstage and handed the Anchor an envelope, before bowing and floating back offstage.

"Our first guest is a local expert on all things scientific and logical," Nate explained with a wide grin.

"But he doesn't put too much belief into the supernatural, such as yo-kai," Katie chuckled, looking over her husband's shoulder to get a look at the note.

"BOO!" several of the yo-kai watching shouted out in disapproval.

Nate and Katie both just chuckled.

"Let's see if we can't change his mind," the boy smiled, before gesturing his hand to the middle of the stage. "Everyone, please welcome; Edward Archer!"

In a puff of purple smoke, the aforementioned human boy appeared on stage.

"Huh?" Eddie blinked in confusion, before glancing around and his expression grew more so. "EH!? What's going on here!? Where am I!?"

"Don't worry about it!" the male host smiled as he popped up on the other boy's left.

"What the–Nate!?" Eddie gawked in shock at the appearance of his friend.

"Yeah, we just want to get your word on some things, bud!" Katie giggled, popping up on Eddie's right side.

"KATIE!?" the intelligent boy's eyes widened further, unsure of what to make of the girl's sudden appearance, on top of Nate's.

"Eddie, how does it feel to be one of the first human guests on a yo-kai talk show?" Nate asked quickly, holding a microphone up to his classmate.

"A what?" Eddie looked a bit dizzy, glancing between Nate and Katie, before he noticed the audience of strange creatures watching. A blank look came to the boy's face, before a slightly unsure grin crept onto it, "Oh, I get it! This is a dream!" he scratched his head with a chuckle, "I must've been overdoing it with the computer again and fell asleep at my desk; that's a logical explanation…"

Nate and Katie exchanged a look, before shrugging, deciding to go along with their non-Looping friend's interpretation.

"Well, dream or not, this is still a talk show, so we should get to some talking!" Nate exclaimed, doing a fist pump into the air.

"Woo-yeah!" Katie exclaimed, doing a few excited jumps.

"… Wow, dream-Nate and dream-Katie are a lot more excitable than real-Nate and Katie," Eddie muttered with a slightly bewildered look.

"Enough about us, Eddie," Nate smiled, pushing the microphone towards the non-Looping human once more. "Tell us; as a man of science and the logical, you don't believe in things like yo-kai, correct?"

Noticing that some of the creature's in the audience were giving him 'evil eyes,' Eddie chose his next words carefully, "Well, erm, it's not so much that I'd refuse to believe in such things," the young human tried his best to give a smile. "It's just, as you said; I'm a man of science and logic. If there's no evidence, I can't just believe like that. And, seeing them in dreams notwithstanding, I've encountered no such evidence of yo-kai existing."

Some muttering went through the crowd, some of the yo-kai seemingly understanding Eddie's point.

"Excellent point, Eddie," Katie smiled, patting the still-slightly nervous boy on the shoulder. "Nate and I probably wouldn't believe in yo-kai either, if we hadn't encountered them for ourselves! It's hard to believe in something fantastical without any evidence."

"Yeah," Nate nodded. "But considering we're in a dream, where yo-kai clearly do exist, do you have anything to say on that matter?"

Eddie blinked, glancing at the crowd of yo-kai again, "Er… I suppose if yo-kai really existed this clearly, I'd like to look more into it? There's not really any study gone into them, to my knowledge, and if they do exist, it would be a lot of uncovered ground for discoveries," a bit of a smile came to his face at that thought, "I could probably win some kind of award for that…"

"You can do it, man!" a Pandle cheered from the audience. A few other of the audience also clapped and cheered.

"Thanks for giving us some of your time, Eddie," Nate nodded, giving a chuckle. "Wish we had time to go into further discussion on that matter, but we have a whole show to do still!"

"Er, sure," Eddie seemed a bit more at ease with the current situation, but still had an unsure look in his eyes.

"We'll be sure to contact you if we have a more science-focused episode in future," Nate added, before he gained a thoughtful look. "Actually, that gives me an idea… though I'll hold onto it for later!"

Katie chuckled fondly, "That's one of the reasons I married you, Nate, you always are coming up with fun ideas!"

That last comment seemed to overload Eddie's mind, "Married!?" he let out a few heavy breaths, before shaking his head, closing his eyes, and gaining a serene smile, "Okay, I think I'm ready to wake up now…"

Without another word, Edward Archer vanished with the same plume of purple smoke from which he came.

"Edward Archer, everyone!" Katie praised with a bright smile towards the crowd, which garnered… mixed reactions.

"That guy sucked!"

"Shut up, he's just following his dreams!"

"I am not a dream!"

"We love you Katie!"

"Alright, settle down everyone," Nate waved his arms a bit, before he and Katie both turned to a television screen positioned at the back of the stage. "Now, before we move onto our next guest, let's check in with our main duo down on the streets; Hailey and USApyon!"

"Right, those two are sure to be up to something interesting!" Katie agreed.

"Hellooooo everyone~!" a glasses-wearing, purple-haired girl shouted loudly into a microphone, gesturing around to the late night view of downtown Springdale that she stood in, "This is your most favorite, and fantastically amazing, girl on the street; Hailey Anne Thomas, coming to you live from the streets of Springdale!"

"I'm also here, howdy," the otter yo-kai, USApyon, announced with a bit less enthusiasm, turning the camera he held to face himself, before turning its focus back to the put-off Hailey.

"Way to break the flow, bud," Hailey muttered in disappointment, before quickly shaking her head and regaining her enthusiastic vigor. "Anyway, we're out now to see if any other people would dare travel the streets at these hours, and what they think on the possibilities of yo-kai stalking the night!" she gave a thumbs-up and a chuckle, "Listen well to any rumors, my yo-kai viewers, you might pick up some tips!"

"Yes, because that's what we all need, more troublemakers," USApyon muttered from off camera.

"Hey, Champy! No attempts at funny commentary, I'm the one making the jokes! You're the cameraman!" Hailey snapped, waving her arms around in an exaggerated manner.

"I'm not a dang 'Champy,'" USApyon hissed, but restrained his anger as he decided to do as instructed and keep acting as a cameraman.

"Sir! Sir!" Hailey shouted, running up to a random man on the street and holding up her microphone to him.

"What the, kid…?" the man blinked, unsure of what to think of a young child out at the current hour.

"Sir, would you mind telling our viewers what your opinions are on the various spirits and cryptids that inhabit this town!" Hailey questioned eagerly.

"Wait, what…?" the man looked completely baffled.

"This guy's a dud, let's go USApyon!" Hailey dismissed, followed by the unseen yo-kai, and leaving behind a very confused man…

"MA'AM! MA'AM! CAN I HAVE A FEW MOMENTS OF YOUR TIME!?" Hailey shouted as she jumped up, in front of a woman who was exiting the Sports Center.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" the woman screamed in surprise, before pepper spraying Hailey in the eyes and running off.

"Gah!" Hailey fell to the ground, before taking off her glasses and wiping them off, glaring in the direction that the woman had ran. "Who pepper sprays a child!? CRAZY!" putting her glasses back on, the purple-haired girl looked to her yo-kai companion, "Right?"

"No comment," USApyon rolled his eyes.

"So, what do you think about the prospect of any and all your actions and emotions, being potentially manipulated by unseen entities?" Hailey questioned seriously, holding her microphone up to a small dog's snout.

"Arf!" the dog responded, before turning and lifting its leg up.

"Hey! No! NO!" Hailey frantically flailed her arms in protest, turning to her yo-kai friend in a panic. "USApyon, turn off the camera!"

Nate, Katie, and the entire yo-kai audience just stared at the screen as it went blank.

"Er… yeah," Nate looked unsure what to say, before he shared a shrug with Katie.

"Well, that was certainly something, and I think it's about time for a break," Katie turned to the audience and nodded. "But before we do, please enjoy a bit of a music from tonight's entertaining group!"

Nate nodded in agreement, "Everyone, please welcome; Nothin' But Hound Dogs!"

The audience of yo-kai cheered as Komasan, Komajiro and Manjimutt walked onto the stage, various instruments in hand.

"Hello everyone, we're plum happy to be here!" Komajiro cheered, holding up a guitar. The crowd cheered louder.

"TRIANGLE!" Komasan announced eagerly, holding up said instrument, the crowd's cheering grew even louder…

"And I'm singing!" Manjmutt stated proudly, the crowd went silent. "… Whatever, I'm not doing this to impress any of you," the dog-man huffed.

"I'm here for you, Manji!" Mermaidyn called out affectionately from off stage.

Manjimutt smiled at his girlfriend's support, before nodding to his bandmates as they prepared to play.

12.9 Masterweaver

Undeniable

[Yo-Kai Watch/RWBY]

"Well, time to go to school!" Keisuke proclaimed brightly as he stepped down the stairs. "Yep, definitely going to be a normal school day."

Natsume sighed. "Keisuke, you can't keep this up."

"I have NO idea what you're talking about!" Keisuke declared. "I'll just head to school like I always do."

"What, and not even say hello to your auntie Cindy?"

The new voice stopped Keisuke dead in his tracks.

"I mean," it continued sibilantly, "I came all the way from America just to spend time with my dear brother and his family. That is what you remember... isn't it?"

The boy's head turned, slowly, almost unwillingly. His eyes fell on the woman sitting on the couch, drinking something that perhaps he shouldn't drink from a fancy teacup; her tight black business pants were contrasted by the elegant red shirt with gold filigree, and the feathery pin she had clipped over one breast. The luxurious dark locks framed a gorgeous face, but there was something in her golden eyes that spoke of unfathomable danger.

"I... uh..." Keisuke swallowed. "I..."

It was strange. He did remember aunty Cindy coming over before, at least once a year, and bringing with her incredible wealth that she would spend on whatever gifts he wanted. But those came from memories that he couldn't have, because time wasn't repeating, and his past didn't change, and it didn't make sense.

"Who are you?"

"Your dear aunt Cinder," the woman replied. "I gave you your favorite blanket when you were three. Do you still have it?"

"Yes. No. Um-"

"Oh, of course, you don't want to acknowledge that because you're a big boy now." Cinder's smile hadn't changed a bit. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

Fumika rolled her eyes. "Natsume, Keisuke, this is Cinder Fall. She's... a looper from another world, and one of Keita's many adopted siblings."

And suddenly things made sense again. Of course, Cinder wasn't real, she was just part of the crazy dream. Keisuke shook his head. "That's ridiculous, dad's an only child!"

Keita pinched his brow. "Keisuke, I know this is a lot for you to process-"

"Why would I need to process anything?" Keita said. "Cinder is a friend of yours from work... that's all!"

Natsume facepalmed. "Keisuke, this is getting ridiculous. She's drinking blood!"

"That's clearly... uh... some sort of adult fruit juice. That she's drinking from a teacup." Keisuke shook his head, turning away. "Anyway, I'm going to have a perfectly ordinary day at school-"

"Your denial is pathetic."

"Cinder!" Fumika snapped.

"You're not even bothering to explain away the strange behavior of your family," Cinder continued. "In fact, you're denying the current situation, when it would make more sense to deny what you remember as a dream. And that's all before you consider why you're denying this is happening. A wish for normalcy, and why even that? To fade into the crowd and be but one of a number of forgettable faces? No, you want to be normal because you fear being singled out, because you think being noticed attracts the greatest dangers."

"Cinder," Keita said firmly, "that's enough."

"Is it?" Cinder looked over at him, sipping her tea. "You want kindness, you want to gently ease him in, but he's refusing to even stick a tool in the pool. There are sharks in these waters, my dear brother. I was one of them, once. And if he does not learn to swim, he's going to be gobbled up."

Fumika stepped between the woman and her trembling son. "You're scaring him, Cinder."

"Good. Better he be frightened of me and know why then he deny his terror of the world and be caught unawares." Cinder tapped her chin thoughtfully. "In fact... yes, I do believe it's been a while since I've had a working vacation."

"Cinder-"

The woman stood, cutting Keita off. "I think I'll start with... hmm, Korea is fairly close and well known."

"Um..." Natsume swallowed. "What are you talking about?"

Cinder smirked, her teeth and skin glittering as she stepped out of the room. "World domination, of course. I'd like to see Keisuke rationalize that away."

The door swung shut with finality.

"...She's joking right?" Natsume turned to her parents. "She's not actually going to conquer the world?"

Fumika and Keita shared an awkward look.

"That's completely ridiculous," Keisuke said. "She can't take over the world."

"ALL HAIL SUPREME EMPRESS CINDER!"

"This isn't happening," Keisuke murmured. "This can't be happening."

"Shhhh!" Tank whispered quickly. "You don't want to upset the empress!"

"It's only been eight months! There's no way she could have taken over the entire world!"

"Look, man, I get this is weird, but this is the world we live in now," Tank said quickly. "I don't know how it happened either, but do you really want to tick off the woman who rules the planet?"

The woman waving from the ostentatious car met Keisuke's eyes and flashed him a fanged smirk. The hawk on her wrist flew into the air, much to the shock of the crowd, and spiraled twice before dropping something right into his hands and returning to her bare arm.

Keisuke looked at the scroll he now held. Carefully, reluctantly, he unrolled it.

Your birthday is in a month! Expect a super special present. Auntie Cindy ; )

Tank read the letter over his shoulder. "...The empress is your aunt? Why didn't you ever say anything-no, wait, duh, that would make you a target."

"...this is completely insane."

12.10

Nate meets Queen Katierah

[Yo-kai Watch/Godzilla]

When Nate had Awoken this Loop, he was rather disappointed to find that his unAwake-self had no memories of Katie. He didn't like it when his wife wasn't Awake in general, but he liked it much less when she wasn't a part of his life at all, rare that might have been.

Though there were three unaccounted for Pings he had gotten, he couldn't be sure if one of them was Katie and if she was somewhere else in the world, but if one was Katie, he didn't know who the other two could be.

The Anchor would get answers on that a few weeks into the Loop, when a large pink form came zooming into earth's atmosphere, and landed just outside his house…

"Nate, you might want to take a look at this…" Whisper muttered as he stared out the window.

The human boy looked up from the work he was doing on Spectral Fang, quickly pocketing the weapon before walking over to the window. "What is it, Whisper? I was in the middle of– "the Anchor froze up when he saw a giant eye looking in his window, a very familiar eye…

"HI NATE!" three booming voices chorused, all of them Nate distinctly recognized as Katie, despite their volume.

"Queen Katierah…?" Nate questioned with a blank face.

"That's right, honey!" the three giant Katie heads atop the pink-scaled dragon body giggled as they looked down at the much smaller Anchor.

"I have to say… this is unexpected," Nate muttered, looking over the large kaiju body, though not quite as large as he would have expected, since it was only about as big as his house.

"You're telling us," the right head smiled playfully with a bit of a laugh.

"We Woke up like this, in space," the middle head started explaining, before the left head moved in front of her, causing her expression to turn to annoyance.

"So, we decided to head to earth as soon as possible to find you, since we didn't– "the left head was cut off by the center one pushing her aside and taking over again.

"–want to spend too much time out in the lonely vacuum of space, especially not with only me, myself, and I as company!" the center head gave an innocent chuckle.

The center and left heads glared at each other, both growling a bit, before giving a 'hmph' and looking away from one another.

The right head sighed as her long neck drooped a little, "Could you two not fight over the right to speak? We're all the same, we shouldn't be having fights like this… besides, I'm sure Nate's not happy to see he the girl he loves fighting herself."

The left and middle heads blinked, before looking down at their husband and noticing his expression, which was a mix of baffled and concerned. "Oh, sorry Nate!"

"Um, it's fine, we've all been there," Nate coughed a bit, looking up at his three-headed-dragon-wife curiously. "So, this is a Mikasa glitch? I suppose it makes sense, though I'm not sure if King Ghidorah normally has three minds or if all three heads share one."

"Don't look at me, I'm no kaiju expert," the three heads of Queen Katierah spoke at once, before grinning widely, "Anyway, we wanted to ask if you'd like to go for a ride through space with us! Come on, it'll be fun!"

"An adventure through space?" Nate questioned, before a grin came to his face that mirrored the Katies'. "Sure, that sounds like fun! Mom's Awake, so let me just tell her where I'm going, and I should probably tell Whisper, Jibanyan and Hidabat too," Nate waved to the pink-scaled kaiju with a smile as he headed back into his house. "I'll be back in a moment, dear…s!"

"Don't take too long," the right head grinned.

"Or we'll leave without you!" the left head giggled with a wink.

"I'll just fly after you if you do!" Nate chuckled before entering his house to his mother and yo-kai housemates of his plans to travel through space with 'Queen Katierah' for a bit.

19 years later…

"Mom, Dad, would either of you mind explaining this to me-us?" the three heads of the newly Awakened, two-year-old, Natsume questioned, six eyes giving her parents blank expressions; though one look at their mother was enough of an answer for what was going on…

"Would you accept an 'it's complicated' as a response?" her father questioned as he and his human-sized, but still very much three-headed and dragonoid, wife both snuggled around the egg that would presumedly hatch into Keisuke any day now.

The Natsume heads all kept their blank expressions in response.

"The answer, my precious little girl, is; true love conquers all!" the three heads of her mother all chimed, before stretching over to the Anchor and collectively nuzzling his face, giving a few pecks on the cheeks in the process.

Nate laughed, clearly enjoying the attention, "Katie, I love you no matter what form you take!"

The parents snuggled closer together lovingly, helping warm the egg more in the process.

Natsume gave a collective sigh, deciding they probably weren't going to get a better explanation, before glancing down at themselves.

"Well, at least we have arms," the right head of the tiny, dragonoid girl stated, holding up one of the little scaly arms they possessed, as opposed to their mothers' wings.

"So, we can still use the Yo-kai Watch Elder when the time comes," the middle head nodded in approval.

"Still, this is going to be weird," the left head, giving a groan that the other two heads couldn't help but echo.

"Oh, Natsume! He's hatching!"

The unified call of their parents brought the tri-headed toddler immediate attention to the now-shaking egg of her little brother, she ran over as quickly as her stubby legs could carry her and joined her mother(s) and father in watching it.

"Come, Keisuke, sweetie, you can do it," the middle head of Queen Katierah urged as the egg kept shaking, a few cracks appearing on it.

"Is he okay, can he get out?" the left head of Natsume asked anxiously, her other two heads looking to her parents with questioning and worried looks.

"Don't worry, he's doing it, I know he is," Nate assured his daughter(s), looking at the cracking egg with pride.

A little bit of brown hair shined through the cracks; a little head broke through with a loud wail.

"There he is!" the three heads of Queen Katierah all cheered, before moving down and using their serpentine necks to pick the new baby up, and then placing him into the waiting arms of his papa.

Nate quickly grabbed a nearby towel and wrapped his crying son in it, rocking him gently as he did so.

The two-year-old kaiju girl(s) looked eager to see their new(for this point in the Loop) little brother, however when they did get a good look at him, they noticed something, "Wait… why is he a human!?" the Natsume heads all questioned in unison with incredulous expressions.

Nate just smiled as he held his newborn baby son while his wives' heads affectionately nuzzled the infant to quell his crying. "You should probably just go with it, Sweetie, the Loops go much deeper than this kind of stuff," the adult man smiled fondly as his baby boy gripped onto his finger while letting out some baby-noises.

"Besides, he's not completely human," the left head of her mother looked away from the new baby with a sweet smile of her own.

"Yeah, he's got a littly, tiny tail!" the middle Katierah head giggled as her son's ghidorah-tail curled around her ponytail.

"Like how you have arms," the right head added with a nod and a giggle of her own.

Natsume kept staring at her parents and baby brother with baffled expressions, before shaking all three of her heads in defeat.

12.11

White Spirit

[RWBY/Yo-kai Watch]

Weiss Woke up in both senses of the word… and let out an annoyed groan as her Loop memories told her who her partner and boyfriend was this Loop…

"Oh good, you're up."

The male voice alerted Weiss that she wasn't alone, rolling over in her bed to see one Keita 'Rose' smiling at her awkwardly.

"And from that groan, I assume you've Awoken in more ways than one…" the visiting Anchor let out a small chuckle, which quickly faded as he scratched his head, "Unless that's just morning grogginess, in which case… ignore that."

"No, I'm not groggy, just really Loopy," Weiss commented as she pulled herself up from bed. "So, how long have you been awake…?"

"I Woke up when I woke up, just a bit earlier than you," the male rolled his eyes, "I would never act so… lovey dovey with anyone aside from my wife if I were Awake."

Weiss had to suppress a shudder as she recalled how her, and Keita's UnAwake selves behaved as a couple… "So… how are we going to… you know… 'breakup?'"

The friend of yo-kai hummed a bit as he paced the room, "We are going to need a pretty good reason, our UnAwake selves were kind of…"

"'Lovey dovey?'" Weiss repeated the visiting Anchor's earlier words, cringing slightly.

Keita flinched a bit himself, "Yeah… gonna be kind of hard to give a convincing reason for a breakup…"

"What, you guys are breaking up!" Yang suddenly questioned as she shot up from her bed, reminding the two Loopers that they weren't the only ones in the room. The newly awoken blond immediately focused on the white-haired girl, her eyes narrowing and turning red, "Weiss, what did you do to my little brother!?"

"What the heck, Yang…?" Blake groaned from her bunk below Yang's, groggily looking up. "Why are you yelling this early in the morning?"

"What's happening is this 'relationship' is falling apart, just like I knew it would!" the brawler shouted, jumping down from her bed and keeping her glare on Weiss. "I knew this all would happen, I said it; 'she will break your heart, Keita!' But did you listen to me!?"

"Yang, your brother is an autonomous person whom can make his own decisions," Blake sighed, pulling herself from her own bed, "And he doesn't look very heartbroken to me…"

Weiss and Keita watched as the two UnAwake teammates started to argue amongst themselves on if Keita and Weiss' relationship was doomed or not, and how 'bad an idea' it was from the beginning, and somewhat if Keita could or could not make his own decisions.

The two Loopers glanced at each other, before sneaking out of the room, Yang and Blake too engrossed in their argument at that point to notice…

After making it to the hallway, the two stood in silence for a moment.

"So… I think it's safe to say news of the breakup will get out somewhat quickly," Keita muttered blankly.

"Yeah, while painting me as some kind of heartless monster," Weiss huffed, giving the yo-kai watch user a half-glare.

"I'll… do my best to refute any such claims, and calm Yang down," Keita assured, though he didn't look too sure if he could do that.

Weiss shook her head, giving a bit of a chuckle, "It's fine either way, really. But I could do without Yang hating me this Loop, even if that was kind of sealed as soon as our UnAwake selves started dating…"

"I'm sure she doesn't really hate you, she's just a bit more protective this Loop…" Keita tried to assure, but the increasing volume of his sister's shouts made it less convincing.

"Yeah, a bit," the Schnee girl nodded. "Let's just get a change of clothes from our pockets and head to class, and hope people don't bug us too much about this."

"Yeah, sounds like a plan…" Keita nodded, before they both retreated into their pockets, just as Yang burst out from the door, apparently having finally noticed the two missing teammates.

"Keita!? KEITA!?" the blond shouted, looking around the hall, while a visibly annoyed Blake looked over her shoulder. "Oh no, it's worse than I thought; SHE'S KIDNAPPED HIM, BLAKE!" Yang screamed, shaking her dark-haired partner.

"You can't be serio– "Blake started to criticize, but didn't get to finish her sentence, as the wind was knocked out of her as her partner grabbed her by the arm and ran off.

"HOLD ON KEITA, BIG SISTER'S COMING TO SAVE YOU!"

12.12

Crisis Across the Infinite Loops

"Alright everyone, we have a big problem!" the Anchor of the Yo-kai Watch Loops, Nate Adams, shouted as he stood at the front of Mt. Wildwood shrine, before an assembly of Loopers. "Or at least, a potential big problem!"

"This better be good, I sped all the way over from BBQ," Usapyon grunted with crossed arms.

"Shh! My grandson is talking!" Moximous N scolded, standing beside the otter yo-kai.

Nate continued without interruption, "I just got word from Yama, AKA: The Admin Enma!" the Anchor spoke seriously, his eyes flashing blue. "There's some kind of virus going through the Loops, it's attaching to random people and Activating them if they survive to the end of the Loop… anyone!"

A collective gasp sounded through the group, the severity of the situation becoming clear.

"Anyone, as in, anyone-anyone?" Kyubi questioned seriously, floating closer to the shrine where the Anchor stood. "Even if they are could be a near-guarantee of an Ascension risk!?"

"Yes! That's why I got the warning," Nate nodded, speeding around the area in a blur of rose petals, stopping by the steps that led down to the Crank-a-Kai's location. "This would be bad enough on its own… but as I think we're all aware; this is a Game Variant!"

"I wasn't entirely sure, but I did notice a few things…" Lily muttered, looking down to the ground.

"Oh my swirls!" Komasan exclaimed in worry, before blinking, "Er… why is that worse than normal, Nate? There's some pretty bad stuff in Baseline…"

"And a Game Variant has pretty much all of it!" Jibanyan interjected, jumping from the crowd and landing by Nate's side. "And more!"

"Chairman McKraken," Whisper muttered with dread.

"The Ghoulfather," Katie spoke with a fearful look. "Or any of his followers for that matter…"

"WOBBLEWOK!" Hailey shouted, jumping up and pulling at her hair.

"That could be bad…" Manjimutt grunted. "Not to mention the likes of Mass Mutterer…" the dog-man shuddered a bit as he spoke that name.

"Or even… Whisped Cream!" Kyubi hissed with narrowed eyes.

Nate nodded, planting his feet firmly on the ground, before pulling Spectral Fang out from his pocket, shifting into scythe mode. "There's only one way to avoid this, though I don't like it… we need to eliminate them all!" the Anchor's eyes narrowed further, "I know we don't usually like to resort to such means, even if it was the only way to deal with someone in Baseline… or 'Base Game Variant,' but in this case, we don't have a choice!"

A lot of muttering came from the Loopers, before a small shadowy humanoid jumped forward.

"Nathan," Moximous N gave his grandson a troubled look. "Are you sure about this, can we even stop it? Death in this world is… well; look at me."

"We destroyed the Ghoulfather, didn't we?" Hailey spoke up, having calmed down from the prospect of 'Wobblewok Looping.' "Well… that weird, UFO stone is what really destroyed him… but it proves it can be done!"

"Even if we don't know for sure if a yo-kai can be destroyed completely, we need to try!" Nate. "There are too many of them that wouldn't care about this world in the prospect of godhood! We won't wait for them to strike; we'll split into teams and hunt them all down!" zooming through the crowd, each Looper soon found themselves holding a list.

"What's this…?" Lily questioned, adjusting her glasses a bit, them having been knocked a bit out of place by the gust of her son's speed.

"It looks like it's a list of all the yo-kai we can't allow to Loop… and where to find them as soon as possible," Katie said as her eyes scanned the paper, before she traded a nod with her fox yo-kai companion.

"We'll make sure none of them Activate," Nate held his weapon tightly, giving Jibanyan a nod, before the cat yo-kai gave a roar and shifted into his Shadowside form. "There's no time to waste, Game Variants have always been a bit tricky about how long they last, so let's move get moving everyone!"

Chairman McKraken laughed sinisterly in his new throne, it wouldn't be long before he had complete control of the Yo-kai World, and then he could move forward with his plans to claim to the human world as well… "Yes, everything is coming along… swimmingly!" the squid-like yo-kai let out another sinister laugh.

Suddenly two red blurs crossed his eyes, and before he even had time to blink, he was suddenly faced with an oversized nekomata, and a human child holding a… mechanical scythe!?

"Sorry, not happening," the human spoke in a scornful tone.

"Game over, McKraken," the nekomata grunted, before he slammed a fist down on the chairman's head.

McKraken fell to the wooden floor below the throne with a resounding smash, shaking his dizziness off, the new ruler of the Yo-kai World tried to regain his composure. "I say; what is going on, what fool dares– "

"I don't have time to argue you with you today!" the human scoffed, twirling his scythe around in a skillful display, jumping forward, he sliced through all the giant tentacles that had been stationed behind the throne, before his scythe somehow transformed into a gun, which he pointed at McKraken.

The humanoid-squid yo-kai could barely process what was happening, and then it was all over…

The fires of the Infinite Inferno blazed endlessly, the cries of imprisoned, evil yo-kai, echoed throughout the many levels of the fiery space. It made sense that this area would be one needed to be dealt with by the Loopers, in the face of this Activation Virus, but there was one in particular individual, trapped in the lowest level and sealed with powerful charms, that was the primary target of the team that had entered this place…

"Wobblewok, Wobblewok, WOBBLEWOK!" Hailey shouted frantically as she charged through the fiery depths, eliminating every minor boss along the way.

"Hailey, wait up!" Usapyon called out as he tried to keep up with his partner. "Why are ya' so worked up about Wobblewok anyway?"

Hailey skidded to a stop, causing Usapyon to bump into her when she caught up, before she turned to face him with a frantic expression, "Usapyon, Wobblewok is a giant monster, sealed at the bottom of the Infinite Inferno! The most dreaded of the dreaded! It is basically the Devil!"

The otter yo-kai pulled himself back up, brushing his suit off, "A bit debatable on that last bit, but I kind of see where yer coming from."

"Either way, we need to get rid of it! We can't let Wobblewok Loop!" Hailey turned back around, facing the endless fires and passages of the Infinite Inferno; but it was no issue for her, she already knew how to solve this place...

Usapyon did a stretch, before pulling one of his lightsabers out from his pocket, "Well then, if we're going to do this, we're going to do it right."

The human-yo-kai duo nodded to each other, before charging forward.

The endless threat of Wobblewok, the beast sealed at the bottom of the Infinite Inferno, would end that day…

Out in the vast darkness of space, a komainu shaped ship rocketed forward.

"Brother, we have the UFO in our sights," Komajiro, in the co-pilot seat, looking over the radar, before glancing to his brother in the pilot seat.

"Full force ahead, Komajiro!" Komasan ordered, one of his front paws outstretched. "I don't like doing this, but we can't give that Ghoulfather the opportunity ta' Loop, that'd just be trouble!"

"No argument about that here," Komajiro sighed, leaning in his seat a bit. "Let's just deal with this, without thinking about it too hard."

Komasan managed to give a small smirk at that comment, "Not thinking too hard is what I do best, little bro!"

Speeding up, the komainu ship zeroed in on the UFO…

"What is this!?" the massive, mutant jinmenken known as Mass Mutterer growled as he fell to the ground, finding himself trapped in a cage of ice.

"Simple," Mermaidyn stated calmly as she hovered by the cage.

Manjimutt waddled up to her side, giving a small whistle, "Wow, you're getting better at this stuff, Mermaidyn."

"Thanks, Manji," the fish-girl smiled towards the dog-man. "I have been practicing, though… I didn't think my skills would need to be used in this way."

"Hey, what are you sounding so impressed about!?" Mass Mutterer shouted as he grabbed onto the ice-bars. "Don't you know who I am? I'm Mass Mutterer, the most notorious Yo-criminal that can be held by no prison! Do you really think yours will be any different!?" the larger dog-man gave a howling laugh.

Mermaidyn's eyes narrowed, "No, I don't think so… but it doesn't need to hold you, for long…"

"Hmm?" Mass Mutterer looked confused by that statement.

Manjimutt turned away, while Mermaidyn willed the ice cage to change shape…

After the rather… uncomfortable act of eliminating the threats within the Loop, the Loopers regrouped at the Adams' home.

"I think that's everything…" Hidabat spoke in a quiet voice, looking up from her computer screen.

"All the yo-kai that would continue with McKraken's plans, we took care of all that," Nate spoke in a calm tone, though he exchanged a solemn look with Jibanyan.

"The followers of the Ghoulfather here on earth that could be considered dangerous have been dealt with," Moximous N nodded as he stood beside his great-grandson; Snottle. "And we left Dame Deadtime alone…"

"Yes, she will still need to do the time travel stuff, of course," Katie gave a weak smile, Kyubi hovering by her side and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "She can still become Dame Deartime, and then we can befriend the Wicked, so we don't need to worry about eliminating them."

"And with the help of Hidabat; as my navigator, all traces of Whisped Cream have been destroyed," Whisper spoke up with confidence. "There's no possible way for him to regenerate!"

"Unless you missed a piece," Manjimutt muttered.

"I did not miss a single piece!" Whisper snapped, shaking his fists as he flew over to the man-faced dog.

"I can attest to that," Hidabat raised a wing, giving a nod as well.

"Wobblewok went down like a chump," Hailey gave a confident grin and a thumbs-up.

"We destroyed 'em without breaking the seals," Usapyon grunted, his arms crossed and giving his purple-haired companion an unimpressed look.

"It's all a little overwhelming still…" Lily muttered, shaking her head. "But I'm pretty sure all the threats of the alternate universe were also handled…"

"Ah yes, that too," Katie nodded with a small grin. "I was very surprised to see me, I'm sure," she chuckled a bit, before a frown settled. "And… probably a bit terrified, considering what she saw me do…"

"We did what we had to, there are some beings we can't risk Looping," Kyubi said seriously, using a few of his tails to wrap around his best friend in a comforting way.

"What about the Terror Time oni, we didn't deal with any of them," Snottle questioned as he walked up to his father, fingers up his nose, like always.

"The onyis aren't really evil, they're just trying to scare kids into behaving," Jibanyan spoke up, shifting from his Shadowside form and back into his normal state.

"Yeah, a bit reckless in how they do so, but not the end of the world if they Loop," Nate nodded in agreement, giving his eldest child a pat on the head. "Similar cases with Damona and Plundros, they seem bad, but they aren't really all that bad."

"So, we really are done?" Mermaidyn gave a relieved smile, scratching Manjimutt behind the ears as she floated by him.

"I think we are," Lily allowed herself a genuine grin. "So… what exactly does that mean for the rest of the Loop?"

Nate looked contemplative for a moment, walking over to the couch and sitting down, Jibanyan quickly following and jumping on his lap, giving a purr as the Anchor scratched the nekomata's ears. "Well, aside from the time travel stuff and redeeming the Wicked, there's still the more… domestic problems to help with. Classmates to help out, minor yo-kai issues to resolve, we should help Lucas realize his true identity…"

"We can't let Doctor Hughley stay in a depressed state, we need ta' help him like in both Baseline, and the normal Game Variant!" Usapyon spoke up with determination.

"Yeah, we can build the rocket again!" Hailey gave a fist pump.

"We should still make sure you move to BBQ later on, even if we've dealt with the Ghoulfather-based problems, there's still things to be done there," Whisper stated calmly.

"I'll make sure Aaron takes the job there when it comes up," Lily affirmed.

"We should help Diana figure out the Gates of Whimsy, should go see Mr. Byrd and make sure he's doing okay and help him discover, and make peace with, Skreek," Nate listed off some, stroking Jibanyan's fur a bit.

"Zomboy with his identity problems, help Nyanses II find the perfect human owner in Jessica, also Amy will need that help with her fashion designs…" Hailey trailed off thoughtfully.

Jibanyan immediately shot, jumping over to the purple-haired girl, "Amy!? I'll take that quest!"

Katie chuckled, giving Kyubi a pat on the head to signify she was okay, and for him to release her from the warm embrace of his tails. "There's also that whole issues with that particular Dancing Trio, there's the process of reforming Dr. Maddiman… possibly reuniting him with his son."

"I'm still not sure Maddiman isn't a threat," Nate grunted, getting up from the couch and walking over to his wife. "But… as long as he goes through his normal Game Variant character development, he'll have learned his lesson about letting his experiments go too far, and he can probably be handled if he Loops…"

Katie gave an understanding smile to the Anchor, patting his head and giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

"So, basically, there's still a whole lotta of Loop left, even if we got rid of all them major threats," Komasan smiled, waving a paw happily as his brother smiled at him.

"And as far as we'all can tell, Game Variant still hasn't Expanded to the 'Shadowside era,' so we probably don't need to worry 'bout any O' that," Komajiro nodded.

Processing what his brother said, Komasan's smile briefly turned upside down, "Aw, that's too bad; the virus could'a Activated that Shadowside Komasan, then we'd have two Looping Komasans!"

Komajiro sweatdropped, "Er… then we'd have to think O' something to call 'em, better than just 'Shadowside Komasan…'"

"Besides, with how close he is to my little sibs' group, he'll probably Loop on his own eventually," Snottle spoke up as he trotted over to the komainu brothers. "He's super different from you anyway, so aside from name, it wouldn't really be like 'two Komasans' Looping…"

"Eh?" Komasan tilted his head with a clueless expression, "But… his name is Komasan, so how could it not be like two Komasans Looping…?"

Komajiro and Snottle exchanged blank looks.

Maximous N jumped up onto the back of the couch, thrusting a fist into the air and giving a triumphant call.

The up-until-this-point-silent Hovernyan floated over to his once-human partner and gave a similar pose and cry.

Lily laughed a bit at her father-in-law and the floated cat's actions, before turning to the kitchen, "Well, I think we could all use a rest after all of that; still a lot of Loop to go, but for now I think I'll prepare us all a special dinner!"

Whisper floated over to the adult woman as she walked into the kitchen, an enthusiastic grin, "Allow me to help! It is a butler's duty, of course!"

"Of course," Lily chuckled, giving the ghostly butler a nod.

"I'll bake up a dessert to end all desserts after!" Nate called out with renewed enthusiasm of his own, speeding into the kitchen and giving a thumbs up.

"I'll help, honey!" Katie quickly moved over to the Anchor's side with a cheerful grin.

"Me too, dad!" Snottle exclaimed as he waddled over to his parents.

Nate gave his son a critical look, "Only if you get your fingers out of your nose and wash your hands!"

The uncomfortable atmosphere around the Adams' faded a bit as the other Loopers joined in laughter, or pitching ideas for what they could do for this little celebration they wanted, though an underlying uncomfortable feeling of what they had needed to do remained, but they chose not to let them bother them at that moment…

Next Loop

Keita gave a content smile as he made his way to school; while last Loop was definitely distressing, it was nice to Wake up to a nice, calm, Baseline Loop. The potential of a possible Yggdrasil threatening Looper Activating from the Game Loop had been something of great concern… though they did get rid of all the threats, as far as they could tell, he still did need to be on the look out for any potential new Loopers.

"Ah, I so hate Waking up in that Crank-a-Kai every time, even if I can get out on my own with ease, whissu," Whisper did a bit of stretch as he trailed behind his friend/master.

"You know, in a way, the Crank-a-Kai could probably be considered a box," Keita pointed out as he glanced back at the ghost. "So, maybe you could manipulate it in more ways than just escaping your capsule…"

"The Crank-a-Kai as a box-whissu!?" Whisper looked shocked at that suggestion. "Why didn't I ever consider that? Whissu…"

"I don't know, why did I only consider it now?" the human boy shrugged, turning his focus forward again as he approached the school, he took a breath of fresh air, spotting his non-Looping friends up ahead; Kanchi and Kuma, planning to meet up with them… but was quickly interrupted by the unexpected appearance of his wife at his side.

"Keita-kun," Fumika spoke in a serious tone, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "We… have a situation."

"Huh?" the Anchor looked towards the female Looper questioningly, before she motioned him to follow her…

"What is happening, this… what is this?" Mika Yamaguchi cried out as she paced around the back of the school, kicking the wall briefly, a look of frustration crossing her face, before going back to panicking.

"She's been like this for a bit," Fumika stated to the Anchor as she gestured to the pacing girl. "And… I heard her mutter about her name being 'Alex…'"

"Alex!" Mika suddenly shouted, drawing the attention of the Loopers back to her, the darker-skinned girl looked at Fumika with an expression ranging somewhere between desperation and outrage. "Katie-no-Fumika!? What's going on, do you know… why did you bring Na-Keita!? Why do I… remember so many conflicting things," the girl gripped at her hat-covered head, taking a few breaths to keep her panic down. "I don't understand, I remember hanging out with you a lot, Fumika… but I also remember being best friends with Eric and Kenny, we formed the Wildlife Club, we had a secret base… but that also isn't really real? And Eric and Kenny are actually Takumi and Kenji, whom I don't hang out with that much!?" Mika slapped her face a couple times. "Am I going crazy!?"

"… Well, that virus was said to be able to Activate anyone, whissu," Whisper stated, unseen or heard by Mika as he hovered by Keita's side. "Should I make myself visible? Whissu…"

Both Keita and Fumika shook their heads at that.

"No, she's already overwhelmed with all her conflicting memories," Keita said seriously. "Probably made worse because she's from the Game Variant, there's a lot more conflict going on in her memories than when any of us started Looping…"

"Yeah, it's probably like a war going on in her mind," Fumika sighed sadly at the state of her friend, before she gave a calming breath, a faint glow emitting from her body.

Mika looked like she might have a breakdown at any moment, however, she soon found herself feeling strangely calm and clear-headed, not noticing as a wave of spiritual healing energies washed over the sports-loving female, "Er… I…" Mika looked between Fumika and Keita, confusion still evident in her eyes, but the panic having subsided. "I… did you just do that, Fumika?"

Fumika gave a gentle smile, approaching her friend and placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, Mika, everything is going to be alright, there's nothing wrong with your memories… all of them are true."

Mika looked at the other girl with an even more lost expression, "What are you talking about, how could all of them be true…?" she looked towards the boy that was standing by. "And, why is Keita here anyway?"

"I'm here to help you out, since you seem like you really need an Anchor," Keita smiled kindly as he stepped forward.

Mika just blinked, staring at Keita with continued confusion, before she shook her head, placing her hands in her pockets, and narrowing her eyes towards the boy, "O-okay, if you can give me help, an explanation… tell me…"

Keita nodded, looking towards Fumika as she nodded back.

"This is going to be a lot to take in, Mika-chan," Fumika said in a calm tone.

"Should I reveal myself now, whissu?" Whisper questioned as he floated by the Anchor's head.

"Not yet," Keita subtly hissed, before focusing on the new Looper again…

Mika took a firm stance, looking prepared for anything, the healing aura of Fumika's power still helping her hold her composure, along with her natural sturdy personality…

Mika leaned against the wall of school as Keita and Fumika stood a little bit away from her, all three of them were certainly late for class at this point, but that was the last thing on Mika's mind at the moment…

"Time loops, super-computer trees, gods…" placing a hand to her forehead, the sporty girl let out a heavy breath. "And on top of it all, I probably was started up 'Looping' by a virus!?"

"Well… you are our friend, so it's unsure to say if that's really the reason, but… yes, probably," Fumika gave a weak chuckle, "Honestly, I'm glad it was you that Activated as opposed to some of the other potential options, even without the true threats we dealt with…"

Mika didn't seem too pleased, despite her friend's relief, "But that's not all; the world I remember… that's not even our 'Baseline!' It's a 'Variant,' I'm a 'Variant…'"

Keita shrugged, "Well, if it makes you feel better, you always have shown more personality than Baseline Mika-Alex…"

"Keita!" Fumika hissed, jabbing her husband with her elbow.

"Ow! What I mean is, most of Mika-Alex's personality in a Baseline run is almost always the same as yours whenever you happen to get more involved, aside from a few different memories of events, you essentially are the same person, not some 'Variant' of someone else we know with your face…" Keita tone took an assuring tone as he spoke to the new Looper.

"I… I just don't know what to make of all this now…" Mika looked up at the sky with a long sigh, before she glanced down at her legs, giving a weak smile, "Well… I guess I have all the time in the world to perfect my soccer skills now…"

"THAT'S THE SPIRIT, LOOK AT THE POSITIVES! WHISSU!" the white, floating form of Whisper exclaimed, becoming visible right in front of Mika's face.

The new Looper's expression turned to stone for a brief second, before a new wave of panic set in, "AH! GHOST!?"

"WHISPER!" both Keita and Fumika shouted in outrage.

"Whoops, sorry, got a little inpatient there, whissu…" the yo-kai butler gave a sheepish chuckle, drifting away from the panicking Mika…

"Okay, now I think we've gone over most everything," Keita sighed, sending a slightly scolding look towards the yo-kai butler whom shamefully floated by his side, before focusing on the re-calmed down Mika.

"Yo-kai… spirits, ghosts… everywhere…" Mika gave a few heard breaths, clutching her heart, her expression fluctuating between panic and excitement, "It's cool, and freaky, and amazing, and terrifying…"

"That's one way to put it," Fumika looked a bit concerned as she kept her eyes on her newly-Looping friend, prepared to cast more healing magic if she needed to. "Sorry we didn't bring the yo-kai up beforehand, we thought you might have needed a bit to process it after learning of the Loops."

"N-no, it's okay," Mika gave a small chuckle, looking towards Fumika with a grin, "I-I think, that kind of… shocked me back to normal, and now I'm just thinking about… how cool this all could be!" she gave a few more laughs. "I'm gonna get superpowers for sure… this is gonna be awesome!"

"… Well, you seem to be in a better move," Keita smiled at the now-laughing girl.

"All thanks to yours truly, whissu," Whisper grinned, but duo of glares from the Looping couple shut him up.

"Well," Keita stepped over to Mika, gave her a pat on the shoulder, before turning to Fumika, "I think I should leave her to you, I'm gonna go make sure none of us get in trouble for being late to class!" the Anchor disappeared in a blur of red and rose petals, before the blur almost immediately came back and Keita reappeared. "Also, we should probably check to make sure if anyone else Activated or not!" he disappeared once more.

"Keita-kun, wait up! Whissu!" Whisper called out, floating after the Anchor as a relatively slower pace.

Mika stared after where Keita had run, a few of the rose petals floating by her face, looking like she was trying to process something else now, "Wow… Nate-er-Keita seems… kind of different, kind of…" the new Looper's face turned a slight shade of red as she kept her eyes on the Anchor, "Kind of… cool…"

"Yeah, he is," Fumika gave a playful giggle, along with a friendly elbow-jab to her friend's side. "Just don't get too many ideas; he's mine."

"Huh…?" Mika looked at Fumika questioningly, before she fully processed what she said, "Wait; what!?"

'Professor Daimon' gave a hum of curiosity as she found herself back at Gourd Pond museum… with a different name, along with a whole different set of memories.

Chuckling to herself, the researcher's grin widened, "Interesting… very interesting, is this a product of the Gates of Whimsy… or is there something else going on here?"

"Mika still seemed kind of overwhelmed, but I think she'll be okay…" Katie spoke seriously as she walked beside Keita, both of them walking home as the sun set.

"That's good, she seemed excited about a lot of the possibilities of Looping, so hopefully she'll get the hang of it all soon," the Anchor smiled kindly, before glancing up at the sky. "Whisper's still out scouting for any other potential new Loopers…"

"Well, if there are any more, it's definitely none of our other classmates," Fumika muttered thoughtfully.

"Or mine!" Inaho's voice called out from behind the duo, causing them to turn around to see their fellow human Looper, charging forward to catch up with them. "None of my classmates are Looping, but I heard one of yours is; that's not fair!" the purple-head exclaimed, throwing her arms into the air.

"Don't start," Keita grunted, narrowing his eyes at the glasses-wearing female.

"I will start!" Inaho protested, before crossing her arms and shaking her head, a small smirk coming to her face, "When I want to, that is…"

Keita and Fumika both stared at Inaho for a moment, glancing to each other and sharing clueless expressions, before shrugging and just continuing on their path home, with Inaho not far behind.

"… You remember you live in the other direction, right Inaho?" Fumika questioned bluntly, glancing back at the other female.

"Yup!" Inaho responded cheerfully, never breaking her stride…

The trio continued in silence for a while… before they were abruptly interrupted by another intruder.

"Aha! I knew I'd find you around here!" an adult woman in a lab coat exclaimed as she jumped out from the side of their path, smirking widely as she looked between the children.

"Diana Gately!?" the three kids jumped back in shock; eyes wide with surprise.

"Aha! You do know that name!" the adult's eyes seemed to sparkle a bit behind her glasses, "But you should probably know that right now; I'm Prof. Daimon!" the scientist gave a enthusiastic laugh, pointing to the kids, "And, I'm sure you're not Nathan Adams, Katie Forester, or Hailey Anne Thomas right now! But names aren't important, I'll figure yours out later!"

"Hold on– "Keita started to speak but was interrupted by the energetic woman throwing her fist up into the air and shouting.

"Alright! So, I think it's pretty obvious that whatever has happened here has something to do with distortions in dimensions, either the Gates of Whimsy, though since we already solved those, perhaps something else! So, we all need to put our heads together and figure it, since you clearly remember me in this world, I don't need to recruit you again!" a chuckle escaped the adult's mouth, before she turned around and pointed towards the sunset. "So, let's get out there and do just that, come on, let's go, go, go!"

Silence filled the air once more after Prof. Daimon's enthusiastic speech, the kids just staring at her.

"It's… Diana Gately… or Prof. Daimon, she's also Looping…" Keita muttered with an unsure expression.

"I… didn't see that coming," Fumika stated with a bewildered expression, Inaho nodding in agreement.

"Hmm?" the professor blinked, looking at the kids again with a quizzical expression, "What's that… 'Looping?'"

Keita let out a long sigh, "Prof. Daimon, we don't need to figure out what's going on, we already know… and now it seems we need to explain it to you…"

"Keita-kun!" Whisper's voice suddenly called out from above, before the butler ghost flew down and settled hovering by the Anchor's side, "I looked all over, but I couldn't find any sign of another…" the yo-kai's words trailed off as he noticed the out of place individual among them. "Whissu…?"

"Oh, seems you're part of this too," Prof. Daimon grinned, using her special glasses to see Whisper. "This just gets more and more interesting, do tell young Nate, what is happening?"

"Keita, my name is Keita right now," the Anchor sighed, "And you see… imagine a big tree…"

12.13

Questions on Extra-Dimensional Housing

Nate Adams let out a yawn, Waking up in both senses of the word, before he went to brush his teeth, followed by washing his hands, going to eat breakfast with his parents, and get ready for school; all with a sort of sleepy-detachment in his eyes.

It wasn't until the Anchor got out of his house and began walking towards school, that he got interrupted by something that snapped him out of his sleepy state.

"NATE!"

With small yelp, the seemingly young boy jumped up, turning to look and see the adult, though technically much-younger-than-him, woman, looking at him with an eager grin and a gleam dancing across her glasses.

"Diana…?" the boy questioned slowly at the sight of one of their Branch's newest, and more unexpected, Loopers. "What do you want? I have to go to schoo– "before the Anchor could even finish his sentence, he was already being dragged away by the wrist.

"Yes, yes, school is important. But you've already gone through the same schooling for billions of years, right? So, it shouldn't matter much," the newly Looping scientist declared with little care. "I have need of you for an experiment of much larger importance!"

Nate grumbled a bit as he allowed himself to be dragged; this wasn't a Null-Loop, so he could easily escape from Diana Gately's grip if he really wanted to… but, seeing that he didn't really have any plans for this Loop yet, he decided to just let her drag him away and see where this went…

"The sub-space pocket?" Nate questioned skeptically, standing in the backroom of Gourd Pond Museum along with the professor.

"Yeah, you showed me how to do it, but mine is still really tiny!" Diana exclaimed with a hint of a disappointed frown, which quickly turned to a wide grin again as she faced the Anchor. "But yours is a lot bigger, so I figure it would be better for testing my theories!"

"I already have a bad feeling about this…" the ancient Anchor in the body of an eleven-year-old child muttered with a dreadful expression.

"Come on, Nate-Keita, whatever you like to be called, you know me! I won't do anything unless I've thought it through!" Professor Gately's cheerful assurance did nothing to subdue Nathan's dread. "Anyway, you remember why I was so interested in the Gates of Whimsy, right?"

The brown-haired boy paused for a moment as he thought about that, "Yeah, I think… it was about extra-dimensional housing, right? You wanted to solve both the overcrowding and housing problems of the world, and you thought the Gates of Whimsy could provide that solution…" a look of realization crossed the Anchor's face. "Wait, you don't intend to use the sub-space pockets for this purpose, do you?"

"Imagine it, Nate!" Diana had sparkles in her eyes, raising her hands with a flourish, "Nobody ever would have to deal with being homeless, there would be no need to build and take up resources and space of our world, because everyone would have their own personal homes that only they and those they choose could access! There would be no fear of break-ins, there would be no worries of your privacy being invaded by spy-satellites!"

"It's infeasible, Diana," Nate wasn't really happy to shut down the professor's idea before it even began, but he needed to give the facts. "I know what you're going for; give everyone access to the sub-space pocket once the Loops have concluded, right?"

"Yeah, what; that's not impossible, right?" Diana questioned, looking a bit displeased that the 'child' before her had just declared her 'brilliant' idea 'infeasible.' "I mean, surely it's possible to teach someone whom isn't a Looper the ability, especially once this 'world tree' is repaired and our world begins running normally again!"

"Teaching them the technique isn't the problem, yes; it's possible, but…" Nate gave a deep sigh, shaking his head. "Do you know how long it takes to get a sub-space pocket to a substantial size for storage? Much less living space…?"

"Well, yours is pretty big, isn't it? Like, almost a planet's worth?" Diana pointed out with a quizzical look.

"Diana, you said it yourself; I've been Looping for billions of years! And I barely have a planet's worth of pocket-space!" the Anchor took another sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "More than that, a sub-space pocket's growth isn't just about time, it's in direct relation to a Loopers power! Its true purpose is so that we don't accidentally Ascend, the storage of items is just a side-effect! Without Looping into different worlds and accumulating different powers, it would take even longer for any random person's pocket to grow!"

As the logic of her Anchor's words hit her, Diana shrank back a bit, but tried to maintain her optimism, "But… surely, there's a way…? You can't just tell me this is a dead-end! I don't do dead-ends Nathan!"

"The sub-space pocket is not what you're looking for, Diana, I'm sorry," Nate stated firmly. "It just is not feasible for this purpose, besides; there are plenty of other alternate-dimension housing options you could probably pick up in other worlds…"

That last comment caught the scientist's attention, "Wait, other options, in other worlds… like what?"

Nate blinked, before scratching his head, "Er… I don't know off the top of my head, I'm just pretty sure there are some…"

Diana huffed, leaning against a wall with a slight pout, "That isn't exactly a very satisfying conclusion to my hypothesis! Are you gonna shoot down all my ideas like this now, since you're so old?"

"I'm not just going to 'shoot down' ideas, I'm going to give you the correct information to make new ones," Nate stated plainly, heading for the exit of the backroom. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see if my wife is Awake."

"Wait!" Prof. Gately called out to the leaving Anchor. "Maybe you could at least let me into your pocket, check it out a bit, see if the idea could maybe still have some merits– "the new Looper was interrupted by the closing of the door, from the yo-kai watch user's exit. "… Hmph, billions of years of immortality have really made that kid ruder."

12.14

Died to be Wild(!?)

[Yo-kai Watch/RWBY/Red Vs Blue/Fairy Musketeers/Hyperdimension Neptunia]

"It's great to have a big family get together, I'm so glad to see everyone!" Ruby cheered, giving each of her siblings a hug as she ran through them.

"Not so hard, Ruby," Val, currently a wolf faunus, grunted after the strong hug from his adoptive sister.

"ZUKYUN!" Akazukin cheered, jumping on the canine cheerfully.

"Oh, come on Akazukin!" Val complained to his hyper sister.

Neptune laughed at the display, before returning a hug from Ruby.

"So, what's the plan anyway…?" Grif questioned, reclining on the couch and looking a bit annoyed, "Since for me; I have some Ursa to get rid of, but after that, I should be free…"

Yang laughed, while Ruby smiled.

"Well, I think– "the Anchor began, before she was interrupt by the appearance of her eleven-year-old younger brother, holding up a scroll with a picture of one of the Grimm that stabilized with their latest Expansion. "Um… Keita…?"

Keita simply gave his sister a trance-like stare, before pointing to the picture of the Sabyr, "I wanna ride one…"

Ruby blinked at his mesmerized tone, "Huh…?"

Before any of the other siblings could react, Keita was out the door, flying through the air with a mixture of Ruby's speed semblance, ki, and probably various yo-kai powers.

"Keita, where are you going!?" Yang called out among the shocked siblings.

"I'M GONNA RIDE ONE!" Keita's voiced shouted in the distance, before he was gone…

Ruby coughed, staring after her younger brother with a blank expression, before chuckling, "Well… I guess Keita has his plans… sure hope he comes back at some point…"

Several days later, Ruby was preparing for the inevitable trip to Beacon, when a she got an unexpected visitor.

"Ruby," Weiss grunted as she approached her team leader, partner, and Anchor, a stern look in her eyes.

"Hey, what's up Weiss?" Ruby questioned innocently.

Weiss just glared at her partner briefly, before sighing, holding up a scroll. "I assume you heard about this, right?"

Looking at the scroll her partner held up, a blank look came to Ruby's eyes at the headline 'Whitley Schnee kidnapped by insane Sabyr-riding child…' "No, I had not heard about that…"

"WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED! SURRENDER PEACEFULLY AND NO HARM WILL COME TO YOU!"

Keita laughed madly at the broadcast threat from the surrounding Atlas military, "NEVER, YOU TURKEYS!"

"You are the most insane person I have ever met in my life…" Whitley commented from his seat behind the boy, before he glanced around. "… So, how do you intend to get us out of this?"

Keita smirked at the (physically)older boy, "Just watch," glancing down at the Sabyr the duo was riding, he tapped its head, inciting a low growl from the long-fanged beast, "COME ON BOY, YOU CAN OUTRUN 'EM! ONWARDS JENKINS!"

With a mighty roar, 'Jenkins' leapt forward; the Atlas military surrounding them thought it was insane, and that they would capture this lunatic and the Grimm he somehow-trained soon… before a blue glow suddenly surrounded the jumping Sabyr, allowing it to fly away into the sky…

"… What?" The Military officer speaking over the radio could only comment blankly.

"YEAH! SHOW WHAT YOU CAN DO JENKINS!" Keita cheered, subtly using his powers to allow the Grimm to fly through the air, while he continued to laugh, which Whitley soon joined in as all sense of realism faded away…

12.15

Alex's Goals

"Fort-Adams is now impenetrable!" Nate laughed madly, standing at the top of a stone wall that surrounded his house, with several large oni guards stationed around it. "Let's see Thomas get through these defenses!"

"We're prepared to stand by you nyo matter what, sir!" Jibanyan announced as he saluted, along with Whisper whom floated beside him.

Standing below the wall, on the porch of the house, two human girls sat.

"So, when exactly did Nate go crazy…?" Alex questioned blankly, keeping her eyes on the Anchor's antics.

"We're not really sure, but it was probably somewhere between his first and 10'000th Loop," Katie answered with an amused chuckle.

Alex stared at her friend in response to that, before putting a hand to her head, "I think… I may still need a bit to process all this."

Katie nodded, sighing a bit as she looked aside, "Understandable, at least you're handling this better than my son…"

Alex looked away awkwardly, "Oh yeah, you mentioned that… how is he doing anyway?" internally Alex was still trying to get over the fact that her friend was technically married and had two children, more if she counted the Snottles…

"He still hasn't accepted that time is repeating," Katie shook her head. "There was an experience with one of Nate's sisters that shook him up for a bit, but he just dismissed that as a nightmare later…"

"Geez… how are you gonna deal with this?" the tanned girl questioned carefully, scratching her head.

"Keisuke will accept the truth eventually, same as he did with yo-kai existing…" Katie assured, though her frown remained, "But… this is taking him an awfully long time in comparison to that… I'm worried he may be in a state of fear-induced denial…"

The sounds of cannons firing alerted the two girls that the invasion from 'Fort-Thomas' had begun.

"SERENDER NATE, I HAVE ENOUGH FIRE-POWER TO REDUCE YOUR DEFENSES TO ATOMS! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY TO THAT!?" Hailey's voice shouted from outside the walls.

"YOU SMELL!" Nate responded childishly, before he jumped onto an energy-cannon-turret (which Alex and Katie were sure wasn't there last they looked…) and started firing.

The two human girls kept staring at this for a few moments, before turning to each other again.

"Well, your son not accepting what's right in front of him is kind of a bummer, at least you're confident it will work out in the end," Alex offered in a sympathetic tone.

"I suppose, but it is still worrying…" Katie gave a soft smile, before giving her friend a long look. "… Speaking of worrying; what's eating you?"

"DON'T USE ME AS AMMO YA' MORON!" Usapyon shouted in protest as he was catapulted over the Adams fortress, soaring overhead and completely missing the mark.

Alex gave a nervous look to the other girl, forcing a chuckle, "Eating me? What are you talking about, Katie? I'm fine."

"Alex don't try to play that game with me," the older Looper spoke knowingly. "I can tell something's bothering you; if you don't want to tell me, that's fine, but know that I'm here and willing to listen if you are willing."

"MANJIMUTT, YOU TRAITOR! I WOULD HAVE GIVEN YOU EVERYTHING!" Nate shouted in outrage.

"I'm sorry Nate, but– "Manjimutt started, before a much louder voice interrupted him.

"MY MAN ISN'T FIGHTING ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE AS ME! AND THAT'S FINAL!" Mermaidyn's voice carried over the wall.

Ignoring the shouts from the escalating conflict, Alex sighed, looking to the ground, "I don't know, it's just… this whole thing is really confusing, you know?" she looked to the other girl, whom nodded understandingly. "Not only do I find out about all this yo-kai stuff, but times repeating, and I'm not even 'Looping' from our Baseline! Life as an elementary school student used to seem so complicated, but now…? I don't know what I should be doing…"

Katie nodded again, "That's all perfectly understandable, it was a really long time ago, but I felt pretty similar when I started Looping…" the brown-haired girl gave a nostalgic smile. "It's overwhelming to have almost everything you thought you knew about the world ripped out from under you, and seeing everything we Loopers do…"

"HAHA, WHO HAS THE UPPERHAND NOW, HAILEY!?" Nate cheered madly, while Robonyan 28 lay waste to the enemy forces outside the wall.

"YOU HAVEN'T WON YET, NATHAN!" Hailey desperately shouted back.

Alex gave a blank stare up at the Anchor, before she turned back to Katie and nodded slowly, "I just don't know, I could work on my soccer skills I guess; perfect my strike technique? Or maybe learn some more martial arts, but that all just seems so small in the face of the multiverse…"

Katie patted her friend's shoulder, "Don't worry about that, you don't need to do anything huge with your Looping life, just do what makes you happy!"

Alex looked thoughtful, "I'm… still not sure," she smiled at the other girl, "But thanks."

Katie smiled back with a cheerful nod.

A large explosion suddenly erupted, and the walls surrounding the Adams house crumbled.

"No! My defenses!" Nate shouted as he fell from his high perch, "Wha! ABANDON BODY!" a blue blur flew out of the human body at incredible speed, before he was covered by rubble.

"HAHA! NOW MY INVASION CAN BEGIN!" Hailey cheered, standing on the street, surrounded by a battalion of armored tanks, robots, and yo-kai soldiers. "EVERYONE; FORWARD MARCH!"

"Not so fast!" Whisper blocked the way, Fuu 2 soon joined him, looking ready for action. Robonyan 28 got back up in the background, before glowing and compacting into the form of Ultimate Robonyan, speeding over to the two ghosts' sides.

"This battle isn't over yet," Fuu 2 spoke seriously.

As the more direct faze of the war between the Adams and Thomas factions began, Alex and Katie both sighed as they watched.

The door to the house opened, and Lily Adams stepped out, "Are Nate and Hailey done playing yet?" she spotted the continuing battle, "… Never mind; tell Nate to wrap it up soon, I'm almost done with dinner."

"Will do, Lily!" Katie gave a thumbs-up to her mother-in-law.

12.16

Post-Crisis Bar Loop: Baby Brother's Baby

[RWBY/Yo-kai Watch]

Natsume Amano let out a loud cry, the baby being frightened by the noise of all the other people chatting around them.

"Oh, Natsume, it's alright, mommy's here," Fumika Amano assured as she held her tiny daughter up to her chest, giving a small sigh of relief as she seemed to calm down a bit.

"What were our UnAwake selves thinking, bringing an infant only a few months old out into this mess…" Keita Amano sighed as he stood by his wife's side.

"Baby brother!"

The Anchor of the Yo-kai Watch Loops gave a grunt as his torso was latched onto the, currently smaller form, of his 'older' sister. "Ruby? Nice to see you."

"Likewise!" Ruby let go of the man, giving a chuckle of excitement, before frowning as she looked up at him. "This feels off…" smirking, the form of the Remnant Anchor blurred, shifting, before she had transformed into an adult woman, a good head taller than Keita. "There, that's better!"

Keita just gave his sister a dull look.

"Gah!" Natsume exclaimed, wiggling in her mother's arms and reaching for her ponytail.

Ruby's eyes lit up as she gave a gasp, "BABY NATSUME!"

Natsume's eyes widened at the exclamation, turning to stare at Ruby, before she let out a terrified cry, hiding her face into Fumika's chest while whimpering.

Ruby's mood noticeably dropped, "Natsume…?"

Fumika gave her daughter a few comforting head strokes, looking towards her sister-in-law with a sigh, "Sorry, Ruby, Natsume's not Awake; right now, she's just a normal baby, and she doesn't know you."

"I'm sorry," Ruby muttered, carefully moving over to Fumika's side, Ruby gave a friendly smile as the infant peeked a look at her. "I didn't mean to scare you little Natsume, I'm just your auntie Ruby, all I want is to love you and make you happy!"

Natsume stared at the strange woman with the innocence only an infant could possess, babbling a bit as she seemed to not be as afraid.

Getting an idea, Ruby quickly reached into her pocket, before she pulled out a plush toy of Zwei. "Here, you want to play with doggy?"

Natsume stared at the toy with wonder, "G-gah!" she reached out her little arms with intent to embrace the soft replica of Remnant's Looping canine.

Ruby, as well as the parents, smiled softly as the child claimed hold of the plush toy, hugging it tightly and letting out happy coos.

"Why do you have that, Ruby?" Keita questioned after a moment.

Ruby shrugged, "I knew something like this would happen after you guys had biological children, so I decided to prepare."

"Well I think it's nice," Fumika gave her approval as her daughter continued to cuddle the stuffed toy.

Ruby gave a thankful smile, before she recalled one of the main reasons she had been looking for her Looping family, "Oh right, you guys had to deal with that crisis stuff, right?"

Keita let out a low groan, "Oh yeah, that was an ordeal. We ended up in a Game Variant when it hit, which significantly increased the list of potentially dangerous Loopers."

Fumika gave a pained wince as she recalled the Loop, "Not to mention that we're not exactly used to… you know."

Ruby gave a sympathetic look, "I know, still, you handled it, right?"

Keita nodded, "We eliminated every necessary threat. You?" despite the trouble he and his Loopers might have had with the concept of 'eliminating' potentially threatening individuals, he knew that his sisters' Loop was a lot worse than his own, and that she probably wouldn't have been thrilled with the concept either…

The red-clad reaper nodded, "We did what we had to do. Though we did get a new Looper out of it; Maria!"

"Baba!" Natsume exclaimed, sucking on the toy Zwei's ear, oblivious to the nature of the conversation.

Keita smiled, "Oh, well that's actually pretty nice to hear. From the times I've met her, whether I was in your place or not, gave a pretty positive impression."

"Yes, that is good to hear," Fumika chuckled, bouncing her daughter a bit in her arms, inciting some giggles from the baby. "We got a couple new Loopers ourselves!"

Keita nodded, "Pretty unexpected ones too; Mika, or Alex, and Prof. Daimon, AKA; Diana Gately."

Ruby blinked, before smiling widely, "Wow, those are pretty unexpected choices. I mean, Mika's Fumika's friend, so it's not too much of a stretch for her to Loop, but a Looper exclusively from your Game Variant?"

"Yeah, caught us off guard," Keita shrugged. "Lucky for Daimon that our crisis hit during a Game Variant, I suppose, even if it made things more difficult for us…"

"Wawa!" Natsume smiled cutely, staring at Ruby.

Ruby smiled back at the tiny girl, "Aw, Natsume, do you understand I'm your auntie now?"

"Wawa!" Natsume giggled, waving her arms and legs around.

Keita and Fumika just smiled warmly as Ruby lovingly patted their daughter on the head, before Natsume reached out and grabbed hold of one of Ruby's fingers with a tiny hand.

"Awww…" Ruby's smile widened, "I love you so much, Natsume."

12.17

Future Breakup, right now trouble!

[Yo-kai Watch/Doraemon]

"Robonyan, prepare to face my wrath!" a blue mechanical feline shouted as he burst into the bedroom of Nathan Adams, glaring at the red cat yo-kai whom was previously sleeping on the bed.

"Nya!?" Jibanyan jumped up in surprise.

"What the heck, Doraemon!?" Nate cried out in outrage as he came charging through the door.

Doraemon ignored Nate, keeping his focus firmly on the nekomata, "Robonyan, I'm going to make you wish you never died!"

Jibanyan managed to regain his composure, before glaring at the robotic cat with a mixture of annoyance and confusion, "Um, I'm nyot Robonyan yet, I'm Jibanyan. What are you talking about!?"

Doraemon was undeterred as he hopped down from the broken rubble of the wall and onto the bed, still glaring at Jibanyan, "Doesn't matter! You're Robonyan in the future, and when you broke my sister's heart!"

"… NYA!?" Jibanyan nearly went cross-eyed as he tried to process what he was being told.

"Wait… what?" Nate blinked, crossing his arms and looking at Doraemon, "Are you even Awake?"

"Yeah, I'm Awake, and all Loopy!" Doraemon sounded no less outraged as he confirmed this. "But that doesn't change anything; for breaking up with Dorami–in the future, I will make you suffer–right now!"

"NYA!? The cat ghost cried out as the cat robot jumped him, turning them into a dust cloud of combat.

Nate stared at the display with a sweatdrop, unsure of how to react, before he walked over to the hole in his wall and sighed… before he noticed another boy standing down on the sidewalk, "Nobita…?"

"I tried to stop him, sorry!" the other Anchor called out.

Nate sighed again, leaning against some rubble, while the fighting continued in the background.

12.18

Grimm Sanctuaries

[Yo-kai Watch/RWBY]

When Tyrian Callows had been sent out into the frozen wastelands of Solitas, to investigate the rapid disappearance of a large number of Grimm, he had expected to find some sort of Hunter settlement. Perhaps there were some military trying to build up a base where nobody would see it, or some desperate people found a way to survive out in the cold and were strong enough to kill every Grimm in their path…

Either way, the serial killer was sure he would at least get to kill a couple of people before he had to return to Salem and report his findings… but what he was not expecting, was this!

"Hello there, and welcome to Grimm Sanctuaries!" a creature which appeared to be a small dog with a human man's face greeted in a cheerful tone, standing at the entrance of some sort of large dome. "Are you interested in visiting our establishment for an opportunity to see Grimm which will not attempt to kill you on sight? Or are you perhaps here to take part in our courses on Grimm relations?"

Tyrian just kept staring, unable to fully comprehend what he was seeing… before a small smirk made its way onto his face, and then a slight chuckle cracked through.

The man-dog-thing barely had time to react as a scorpion stinger shot towards him, luckily he managed to roll out of the way and land on his feet, glancing at the insanely laughing man with a bit of annoyance, "Okay, seems you're gonna be a problem…"

"No, no!" Keita scolded as he stepped over to a fuming Harriet Bree, whom was being restrained from attacking a Sabyr, which was just standing there and licking its paws. "We do not 'fight' Grimm here!"

"YOU'RE CRAZY!" Harriet shouted as she struggled against the psychic hold.

Fumika sighed as she stood nearby, a slight glow emitting from her hand as she held it out towards the Ace Operative.

Keita huffed, crossing his arms, "That's rude. I'm not 'crazy,' I'm empathetic." As if to prove his point, he started stroking the cat-like Grimm's fur, which incited a purr-like sound from it.

This, of course, only had Harriet struggling harder.

"Here at Grimm Sanctuaries, we strive to find a middle ground of peace and understanding from which all people, or Grimm, can learn to coexist!" Keita explained calmly, before gesturing to where another of the Ace Opts; Vine Zeki, was currently standing a bit uncomfortably while looking directly at a Centinel, with a smiling Ruby standing between them.

The centipede-like Grimm emitted a few clicks and hisses.

"Ahuh, I see…" Ruby nodded, as if she understood the Grimm, before she turned to Ace Operative. "And what about you, Vine?"

"Um…" Vine didn't look sure of what to say, "I would… like to reach a… compromise…?"

The Grimm gave a few clicks that sounded to be in approval.

"This is so ridiculous…" a tired Weiss commented as she watched the attempts of 'Grimm relations' from a good distance away. "Why does Ruby seem to forget what Grimm are whenever her little brother shows up?"

"Maybe because whenever he shows up, what Grimm 'are' seems to fundamentally change?" Blake suggested as she walked by, leading a somewhat small Goliath along the way.

"I like it; even if they're soulless monsters, nonviolent measures are always appreciated!" Penny spoke up as she was attempting to play rock-paper-scissors with an Imp.

Weiss just sighed, shaking her head.

"BLASPHEMY!" Tyrian's voice suddenly rang through the sanctuary as he came charging in but was quickly restrained by the combined forces of Jinmenken, Kyubi, and Yang. "YOU ARE ALL TRAITORS! HOW DARE YOU GO AGAINST HER WILL!"

The raving madman was only spared a glance by several of the Grimm around the area, before they simply continued with their business.

12.19

The Power of Empathy

[Yo-kai Watch/RWBY]

"Okay, Nate, you know I love you, and I love that you do this when you show up," Ruby spoke carefully, patting the head of a beowolf that had seated itself beside her, as she sat in the clearing of the Emerald Forest, surrounded by other Grimm. "But, seriously; how do you do this!?"

Nathan Adams, AKA Keita Amano, made a humming sound as he sat on the back of his beloved deathstalker; Greta. He glanced around at the other peaceful Grimm, before turning his focus back to his sister, "… You know what; I don't know."

"… You don't know?" Ruby blinked in response to her little brother's words.

"Well, I mean… it's not one thing," Nate tried to explain, patting Greta, inciting a few happy sounds from her, "I don't think so at least. Grimm don't always work the same way between Loops, sometimes showing them kindness is all it takes, but that's rare…" the young boy crossed his arms, a brief bit of frustration crossing his face as he tried to explain, "Many times, it's like… well, Grimm don't usually have emotions, or if they do, it's all negative stuff; anger, hatred, hunger…"

"I don't think hunger's an emotion, but I get what you mean," Ruby nodded, watching as the beowolf by her side got up and walked over to Greta, hopping onto to her to get into a position where Nate could pet it. "But that makes it even harder to understand; how do you get them like this…?"

"Again; it's not one thing, and I'm not sure if I can properly explain it…" Nate sighed, scratching the beowolf's fur, "Many times, it's almost like… they may not feel emotions, but I can feel the emotions for them…? Like, with Greta here…" he patted the scorpion Grimm's carapace again, "The bond I share with her shouldn't carry over between Loops, because; Baseline-wise, she's a mindless beast, and it shouldn't be possible for her to Loop, or be Dreaming, in any manner, but… she doesn't have to…"

Greta gave a few clicks, reaching up with a pincer.

Nate smiled, holding out a hand to the claw and touching it, "Greta doesn't need to feel or remember anything, because I carry the bond for both of us. And, when I meet her again, I share that with her…"

Ruby scratched her head, staring at the boy with a confused look, "Nate, um, sorry; that doesn't really make sense, or tell me how this works…"

An ursa gave a grunt, almost as if to agree with the local Anchor.

Nate shrugged, "Sorry, that's not all there is to it either, but… it's really hard to explain. The best way I think I can say it is: I just do."

Ruby chuckled, shaking her head, "Probably should have expected something like that, not like something like what you do with the Creatures of Grimm could be easily explained…"

Nate just shrugged again, chuckling when Greta's claw came down and started petting his head.

12.20

The Stepmother

[Yo-kai Watch/RWBY]

'Hm, so here I am once more, the stepmother…' Lily thought, a melancholy sigh escaping her lips as she looked out the window of the Xiao Long-Rose-Adams household, watching a three-year-old Nate playfully running around with his new big step-sister.

"I'm gonna get you, Nate!" the seven-year-old Ruby cheered as she chased the small boy.

"No get! No get!" the little boy laughed as he fled from the charge.

Lily allowed herself a small smile as she watched the two children; often in these kinds of Loops, when Nate wasn't Awake, it took him a bit longer to warm up to his new sisters. A pained frown came to her face as she brushed through her memories, catching a glimpse of something that occurred not too long after Nate's birth this Loop, 'Why… why do these Loops always need to give me such horrific visions of my dear Aaron dying…?'

Getting up from the chair she had been reclining on, Lily picked up her coffee mug, giving another sigh, 'I suppose I understand why this sort of Loop happens as much as it does, my son's bond with those girls is quite remarkable… still, I sometimes wish I did not have to experience it in this sort of manner…'

A creak by the doorway brought the Looping woman out of her thoughts, glancing over, she caught only the faintest flash of blond hair as footsteps echoed through the rooms.

A gentle smile came to Lily's face as she moved to follow the retreating shadow…

"Yang?" the dark-haired woman called out as she stepped out into the living room, "Yang? I know I saw you; do you need something?" walking around the corner, Lily was able to spot the nine-year-old ducking behind the couch, "Alright, I won't make you come out, but if you need something, I'll be here," moving over to the couch, the Yo-kai Watch Looper seated herself on the couch and turned on the television.

Yang peeked out from the corner of the couch, her eyes drawn to the cartoons her new stepmother had put on, instead of some 'boring adult show' like she was expecting. The blond glanced warily at the woman seated on the couch.

Lily didn't turn to Yang or give any indication she knew she was there; she took a sip from her coffee and kept her eyes on the television, releasing a small chuckle on occasion in response to something happening on the screen.

Creeping out a bit more from her hiding spot, Yang stood out in the open, glancing between the woman and television, before she finally sat down on the couch, giving a little smile as she watched the cartoons play out on the screen.

Lily subtly glanced in the young girl's direction but said nothing as they both continued to watch the show.

"… I don't need anything," Yang finally said, after what felt like an eternity of silence between the two, not looking in the woman's direction, her eyes firmly focused on the television.

"Oh, well my mistake," Lily nodded, also keeping her eyes on the TV. "But you know; I'm here for you if you need anything."

"Yeah… but for how long?" Yang's hiss was nearly a whisper, but it was still audible enough for Lily pick up on.

Lily frowned a bit at the comment, already having a feeling she knew what this behavior was about; it wasn't an uncommon behavior from Yang, whenever she found herself taking the role of the girl's stepmother, and she wasn't Awake; no matter how many times she'd encountered it, she felt sympathy for the child currently under her care all the same. "Why aren't you out playing with Nate and Ruby?"

"Ruby thinks that baby's our brother; he's not my brother," Yang grunted stubbornly, "Like how you're not my mom!"

"… True, I'm not your mom," Lily admitted with a slightly sad smile, her eyes looking to the ground.

Yang seemed surprised by this admittance, finally looking towards the woman.

"I can do my best to help you, but I can't take Summer's place, she was a very special person," Lily smile turned a bit brighter as she sat down her mug on the coffee table. "And… I want you to know, Yang; I'm not going to try and take Summer's place, that wouldn't be right. I'm not your mom, and I'll never be your mom, but…" the bespectacled woman turned to look at the blond girl, reaching out with a hand.

Yang almost seemed to want to pull back but did not as Lily's hand came and brushed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes.

"Even if I'll never be your mom, I want you to know that you can count on me, both you and Ruby, just as much as my own son can. I promise you; I'm not going anywhere, and I'll always do my best to help you," the Looper kept smiling as she spoke, looking to the young girl with eyes full of maternal love.

"But…" Yang sniffled a bit, a few tears starting to form in her eyes, "How can I believe that? Mom said the same thing… she said she'd never leave us, like… like…, she said she'd never leave! She lied! She lied!" Yang turned and covered her face in a couch cushion, small, muffled cries escaping from it.

"Shhh…" Lily's voice took on a soothing tone as she moved closer to the child, gently stroking her hair, "She didn't lie to you, she would have stayed with you forever if she could help it."

"Th-Then why didn't she…?" Yang whimpered as she looked up from the pillow, moving to sit in the woman's lap, hugging her to cry into her chest.

"Some things can't be helped, it's sad, but it's how it is," Lily frowned as she looked up towards the ceiling, continuing to stroke blond girl's hair to comfort her. "It was the same with Nate's father… this world took him from us, even if he would have rather stayed with us forever…"

"Huh…?" Yang looked up curiously, blinking a few tears out of her eyes.

Lily sighed as she allowed the Loop memories to wash over her once more, "Nate was too little to remember. In a way, I'm happy he doesn't have to grieve, but… I'm sad he never knew him. It pains me to know Nate will grow up never having met his father, I'm sure Taiyang will do a fine job in the roll, but… well," the Looper sighed again, patting the small girl on the head. "People leave us, Yang, whether they want to, or not, it's painful, but we all need to leave eventually…"

Yang let out a few more sniffles, "But… you just said you wouldn't leave… doesn't that mean you will leave?"

Lily motherly smile, petting Yang's head a bit more, "We do all have to leave eventually, but I don't intend to leave you, Ruby, or Nate, for a long time. Not until you don't need me anymore…"

"I… I don't need you," Yang insisted, trying to hold back more sniffles, before she hugged her stepmother, "But please, don't leave… not yet…"

"I won't, Yang, don't worry," Lily assured, lovingly hugging her stepdaughter back. 'These Loops can be painful, especially the memories I get in association with them… but I do love these girls, as much as my own son, and I'll always do my best to do the best I can for them, even if I can never be their mother…'

From the window Ruby and Nate, both Anchors having just Awoken, peeked into the room, before they turned to each other and made 'shushing' motions, before running off to continue playing.

FINALLY got around to compiling another chapter for this!

I can't think of any closing comments right now, maybe I'll add some later…