Nanoha Time Loops
- Thread starter Prince Charon
- Start date
"Say, Nanoha-chan..." Hayate muttered as she looked around, getting the attention of her friend.
"Yes?" Nanoha turned to Hayate as she turned away from the television. The joys of being fifteen again. They were supposed to go to a conference in a few days, but really, the only thing they had to do was put out that airport fire.
"Where's Raising Heart?"
Nanoha blinked and thought about it, her eyes lit up. "OH! That's right! Brianna was asking about it."
"Brianna..." Hayate trailed off. "Brianna Diggers. The girl who made Peebos... The girl who makes technology that scares the crap out of Earth-destroying Demons... The girl who honestly makes me look almost like a prude has Raising Heart?"
Nanoha blinked and slowly nodded. "Uh huh..."
Shivering, Hayate made a note to stay Unisoned with Reinforce for the next little while. "This just won't end well."
"Yes?" Nanoha turned to Hayate as she turned away from the television. The joys of being fifteen again. They were supposed to go to a conference in a few days, but really, the only thing they had to do was put out that airport fire.
"Where's Raising Heart?"
Nanoha blinked and thought about it, her eyes lit up. "OH! That's right! Brianna was asking about it."
"Brianna..." Hayate trailed off. "Brianna Diggers. The girl who made Peebos... The girl who makes technology that scares the crap out of Earth-destroying Demons... The girl who honestly makes me look almost like a prude has Raising Heart?"
Nanoha blinked and slowly nodded. "Uh huh..."
Shivering, Hayate made a note to stay Unisoned with Reinforce for the next little while. "This just won't end well."
AN: I'm going by the Coldlight downloads, so if my single quote isn't in line with your preferred translation...Eh.
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"Now, it's time to revive! To my sponsors, and to the TSA who made this world, and to the Saint Church, which lauds a hypocritical piece..."
"Yes, yes, we've heard it all before," Nanoha muttered.
"Can you see it? This is the absolute power that you longed for even as you avoided it."
"Getting impatient? We agreed to leave this loop unchanged, Nanoha, and if you didn't want the same old speech, then you should've voted differently."
"That which in the old years created a world, and then destroyed it. The demonic wisdom of ancient Belka...Is what I would be saying, had I left my original plans unchanged once again."
"Yes, I know, it's just-...Wait, what?"
"Instead of the Saint's Cradle, which I originally found, I've decided to use a different flagship, one from another departed culture..."
"Did any of us do something to point him towards a different plan?"
"Not me, and I haven't heard anything from Yuuno about another dig."
"And frankly, infinite chances or not, I was getting a bit sick of being blown up and imprisoned by you and your team, Yagami-san. Even my patience with information-gathering can run out, so I decided to try something...different."
"Is he implying-?"
"Honestly, it was pretty simple to weld Alteran tech and my AMF weaponry together, and with several ZPM's from that interesting little galaxy, I think I've constructed something quite wondrous."
"Hayate, his base is rising out of the ground! It looks like a city of some sort, shaped like a snowflake..."
"But despite my many modifications, this is still Atlantis!"
A swarm of yellow ovals emerge from the rising city, racing off towards Cranagan, followed by several flights of rounded green shuttlecraft, as Jail began to smirk.
"And I assure you, this battlestation is fully armed and operational."
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This would be set fairly early in the Nanoha loops, after they've branched out and started getting transplanted between other universes, but before they've had much experience with seriously fighting looping opponents.
I'd like to say any experience, but I haven't reread the other loops to check for Nanoha cameos, so I wasn't sure if I'd missed a reference to their first looping villain, or at least their first native looping villain.
As for why Atlantis, well...I wanted to do Rapture, after I'd just finished playing Bioshock 2 several times, but that seemed a bit too much, no matter how much Jail managed to pick up from the loops and other canons while feigning non-Awakened status.
Massive practice at Hidden Weapons after a fairly tame Ranma loop combined with study and partial reconstruction/partial theft of Alteran bits & bobs, on the other hand, while still out there, seemed a bit more plausible, not to mention effective and easier to keep control of with Jail+Numbers+Gadget Drones.
Honestly though, any massive, powerful, possibly historical flight-capable thing would've done. The Star Forge, High Charity, or, uh...Huh. I don't actually know that many city-sized battlestations outside of Star Wars. Well, fill in the blank with your own favorite pick.
And I considered filling in more detail about who said what, yadda yadda, but my attempts just felt awkward and unneeded. Nanoha's got an obvious line, besides the one with her name attached, and the underlined dialogue is from Verossa's communication, but other then that, who said what is up to the reader's preference.
Assume pretty much the whole of the RF6 big-names are awake. Hayate & Rein, the Harlaown family, Yuuno, Vivio, the Forwards, but that's it for the good guys. Jail, obviously for the bad guys, but beyond that, I don't think so.
The Numbers might be a bit too disillusioned...or in Quattro's case, traumatized, to go along with his revised plans.
This is it for me. I'm pretty sure this is my first snippet, or at least the first I remember, and I'm going to stick with an approach of "Less content, less chance to screw up." If, on the other hand, someone wants to continue, or revise, feel free.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Now, it's time to revive! To my sponsors, and to the TSA who made this world, and to the Saint Church, which lauds a hypocritical piece..."
"Yes, yes, we've heard it all before," Nanoha muttered.
"Can you see it? This is the absolute power that you longed for even as you avoided it."
"Getting impatient? We agreed to leave this loop unchanged, Nanoha, and if you didn't want the same old speech, then you should've voted differently."
"That which in the old years created a world, and then destroyed it. The demonic wisdom of ancient Belka...Is what I would be saying, had I left my original plans unchanged once again."
"Yes, I know, it's just-...Wait, what?"
"Instead of the Saint's Cradle, which I originally found, I've decided to use a different flagship, one from another departed culture..."
"Did any of us do something to point him towards a different plan?"
"Not me, and I haven't heard anything from Yuuno about another dig."
"And frankly, infinite chances or not, I was getting a bit sick of being blown up and imprisoned by you and your team, Yagami-san. Even my patience with information-gathering can run out, so I decided to try something...different."
"Is he implying-?"
"Honestly, it was pretty simple to weld Alteran tech and my AMF weaponry together, and with several ZPM's from that interesting little galaxy, I think I've constructed something quite wondrous."
"Hayate, his base is rising out of the ground! It looks like a city of some sort, shaped like a snowflake..."
"But despite my many modifications, this is still Atlantis!"
A swarm of yellow ovals emerge from the rising city, racing off towards Cranagan, followed by several flights of rounded green shuttlecraft, as Jail began to smirk.
"And I assure you, this battlestation is fully armed and operational."
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
This would be set fairly early in the Nanoha loops, after they've branched out and started getting transplanted between other universes, but before they've had much experience with seriously fighting looping opponents.
I'd like to say any experience, but I haven't reread the other loops to check for Nanoha cameos, so I wasn't sure if I'd missed a reference to their first looping villain, or at least their first native looping villain.
As for why Atlantis, well...I wanted to do Rapture, after I'd just finished playing Bioshock 2 several times, but that seemed a bit too much, no matter how much Jail managed to pick up from the loops and other canons while feigning non-Awakened status.
Massive practice at Hidden Weapons after a fairly tame Ranma loop combined with study and partial reconstruction/partial theft of Alteran bits & bobs, on the other hand, while still out there, seemed a bit more plausible, not to mention effective and easier to keep control of with Jail+Numbers+Gadget Drones.
Honestly though, any massive, powerful, possibly historical flight-capable thing would've done. The Star Forge, High Charity, or, uh...Huh. I don't actually know that many city-sized battlestations outside of Star Wars. Well, fill in the blank with your own favorite pick.
And I considered filling in more detail about who said what, yadda yadda, but my attempts just felt awkward and unneeded. Nanoha's got an obvious line, besides the one with her name attached, and the underlined dialogue is from Verossa's communication, but other then that, who said what is up to the reader's preference.
Assume pretty much the whole of the RF6 big-names are awake. Hayate & Rein, the Harlaown family, Yuuno, Vivio, the Forwards, but that's it for the good guys. Jail, obviously for the bad guys, but beyond that, I don't think so.
The Numbers might be a bit too disillusioned...or in Quattro's case, traumatized, to go along with his revised plans.
This is it for me. I'm pretty sure this is my first snippet, or at least the first I remember, and I'm going to stick with an approach of "Less content, less chance to screw up." If, on the other hand, someone wants to continue, or revise, feel free.
I like it, and there definitely hasn't been enough of actual villains looping. Seeing the heroes grow "old" and go crazy got old a long time ago.
I'm not up on Stargate canon, let alone Atlantis, but what little I saw indicates that Jail would have a hard time keeping unwanted persons out of his flying city doom fortress.
I'm not up on Stargate canon, let alone Atlantis, but what little I saw indicates that Jail would have a hard time keeping unwanted persons out of his flying city doom fortress.
Well, I deliberately left the specific number of ZPM's he accumulated vague, as well as their state of power, while mentioning that he'd combined his AMF (and presumably general TSAB) tech with the Alteran stuff.
A few dozen ZPMs fueling the standard Atlantis shield, which should be good against raw energy and physical assaults, plus a stupidly powerful AMF field to keep out fliers and teleports, and a more generic MGLN shield, if the AMF doesn't interfere with it, or positioned just beyond its effect if it does, should be a pretty powerful general passive defense.
Combine oodles and oodles of drones, both Alteran-Yellow and Gadget style, for more active point-defense and offense, plus auto-rigged or remote controlled PuddleJumpers...
Keep in mind, I'm saying he's got Atlantis from the series. After the Expidition from Earth moved in more conventional weapons and tech, such as railguns and missile launchers, just to name some obvious examples. Depending on just how patient and determined Jail was, he could have accumulated a Daedalus or four, either rigging them and the F-302's for limited manpower usage (or completely unmanned, if he didn't spend a few loops figuring out how to quickly turn a chunk of the vat-people he had into loyal, functioning lackeys), or stripping their different shields, and powerful weaponry, out to supplement Atlantis' fixed defenses, or both.
And if he's modified Atlantis this much, going into the wiring, rebuilding portions of it with foreign tech, which may or may not operate under different laws of physics and such, who's to say he didn't also spend a few decade's worth of loops up-armoring and restructuring the city to a more tactically advantageous layout?
Not to mention figuring out how to stack & store enough powersources and outlets for that energy to give even hyped-up loopers a challenge.
If he's been playing possum all this time, deliberately presenting little challenge to Nanoha and the rest while they build in power...Sure, his evaluations of their full capabilities will be off by a more than decent margin, since he wouldn't have provided much of a challenge after the first few loops. But he'd be fairly familiar with their basic abilities, he'd be well aware that they're far more powerful and skilled then he's seen, and...
Well. They might not have needed to go all out, but if the other snippets are any indication, they probably still showed off a decent chunk of their other abilities and raw power, in the boredom-induced need to show off, stretch their metaphorical muscles, blow off steam, and just vent their rage and angst every once in a while.
Or those loops where they 'play at being the bad guy.' Sure, they showed and taught their new lackey a fair bit, but no worries.
After all, it's not like Jail would've ever been able to take advantage of any observations or revelations. His memories would reset every loop, wouldn't they?
And there's no way he could keep from tipping his hand if he started Awakening...
:snigger:
A few dozen ZPMs fueling the standard Atlantis shield, which should be good against raw energy and physical assaults, plus a stupidly powerful AMF field to keep out fliers and teleports, and a more generic MGLN shield, if the AMF doesn't interfere with it, or positioned just beyond its effect if it does, should be a pretty powerful general passive defense.
Combine oodles and oodles of drones, both Alteran-Yellow and Gadget style, for more active point-defense and offense, plus auto-rigged or remote controlled PuddleJumpers...
Keep in mind, I'm saying he's got Atlantis from the series. After the Expidition from Earth moved in more conventional weapons and tech, such as railguns and missile launchers, just to name some obvious examples. Depending on just how patient and determined Jail was, he could have accumulated a Daedalus or four, either rigging them and the F-302's for limited manpower usage (or completely unmanned, if he didn't spend a few loops figuring out how to quickly turn a chunk of the vat-people he had into loyal, functioning lackeys), or stripping their different shields, and powerful weaponry, out to supplement Atlantis' fixed defenses, or both.
And if he's modified Atlantis this much, going into the wiring, rebuilding portions of it with foreign tech, which may or may not operate under different laws of physics and such, who's to say he didn't also spend a few decade's worth of loops up-armoring and restructuring the city to a more tactically advantageous layout?
Not to mention figuring out how to stack & store enough powersources and outlets for that energy to give even hyped-up loopers a challenge.
If he's been playing possum all this time, deliberately presenting little challenge to Nanoha and the rest while they build in power...Sure, his evaluations of their full capabilities will be off by a more than decent margin, since he wouldn't have provided much of a challenge after the first few loops. But he'd be fairly familiar with their basic abilities, he'd be well aware that they're far more powerful and skilled then he's seen, and...
Well. They might not have needed to go all out, but if the other snippets are any indication, they probably still showed off a decent chunk of their other abilities and raw power, in the boredom-induced need to show off, stretch their metaphorical muscles, blow off steam, and just vent their rage and angst every once in a while.
Or those loops where they 'play at being the bad guy.' Sure, they showed and taught their new lackey a fair bit, but no worries.
After all, it's not like Jail would've ever been able to take advantage of any observations or revelations. His memories would reset every loop, wouldn't they?
And there's no way he could keep from tipping his hand if he started Awakening...
:snigger:
I was never really into Sailor Moon, so I haven't been in that forum.
In any case, it's not just the fact that the villain is Awake - he's presented a big Challenge, capital C, to the heroes and their allies. "Haha, here I am - right here, where you can see me, and you can't touch me! I dare you to beat my invincible defenses!"
This could be really awesome to watch the heroes try to find some way to beat Jail in his Invincible Floating Island Fortress. I really hope this Loop gets continued.
In any case, it's not just the fact that the villain is Awake - he's presented a big Challenge, capital C, to the heroes and their allies. "Haha, here I am - right here, where you can see me, and you can't touch me! I dare you to beat my invincible defenses!"
This could be really awesome to watch the heroes try to find some way to beat Jail in his Invincible Floating Island Fortress. I really hope this Loop gets continued.
...Ah, I'd forgotten that. I only remembered the mentions of Aizen looping.
*goes to reread the Sailor Loop in question*
Before I go off and get my infodump rant out of the way, in return to Nanya's original post: Yeah, but that's the Sailors. I wanted to show MGLN's first looping villain.
Huh. Yeah, pretty interesting. I'm not too sure how Jail could be quite as crazy-prepared, or more specifically learned, since I don't recall any canon mention of something for him to reintegrate with his clones, as an equivalent of Metallia's fragmentation.
As for posing as a looper or whatever to learn things like she did, well...He could've, and in fact that's one of the main points of my idea. But I set it up so he was more focused on theory and device style power, rather then honing his own internal abilities beyond what he'd need to cart the key construction around in Hidden Weapons subspace every time he looped.
He'd be very careful, half-convinced that if he ever seemed to be the only one (currently) awake in a loop, that the others might just be faking sleep like he was. And if he went to the trouble of honing his own internal reserves of power, he'd run the risk of leaving obvious signs during his build up, which might spoil the plot and let on to his enemies early. One hint that he'd started deviating from what they were already familiar with, and they could smash through his defenses and minions, pin him down, and force-feed him Veritaserum or invade his mind or something, scour his entire being for the slightest hint that he was starting to become a significant threat once again.
But while he wouldn't go out of his way to learn things most of the time, he'd pay very close attention to things. Such as the download every awakened gets upon entering a new loop, including the ones where the cast got expy'd into another series.
Further, the Metallia one you mentioned, the Senshi were just smashing through their enemies over and over and over again, faster each time. They awake, they run off shooting. So Metallia was able to play upon that habit, and leave a trap at where they'd inevitably go.
In this case, the Nanoha crew has been varying things up to keep it from getting boring. Sometimes, they play through canon the same way, to hone their acting skills, or for nostalgia, or for some other reason. Whatever. Point being, in this case they've been taking it easy, following canon, which means: Jail's already got Vivio, who is awake, and Ginga, who may or may not be awake.
They're neutralized. Not dead, but powerless, restrained, possibly brainwashed...And maybe in addition to learning more about things that go boom, Jail's been honing his brainwashing techniques. Enough to turn a looper for a single loop? Definitely. Enough to last through subsequent loops? Well...You decide. But even if it's barely enough to last a single loop, that's still enough time for him to go through at least one of his enemy looper's minds, and pick up anything he can. Advanced tech, personal histories, energy manipulation techniques, noted berserk buttons for loopers...Whatever he can get.
And while he's catching them off-guard, you can bet he's going for all he can get. So while his boasting and some drones and PuddleJumpers are getting everyone's attention from his traditional base, a large force of cloaked PuddleJumpers are about to put a few hundred drones through the Asura. Not the parts with confirmed loopers, but the rest of the ship. Sure, no matter how much he's upgraded the PJ's, they'd probably be picked up in an instant. But no other Awakened is looking for them. After so long with no real, equally capable opposition, the loopers are relaxed. Off-guard. Unsuspecting.
So while they're still reeling from Jail's initial change, within seconds of the snippet I posted, maybe less, about 98% of the Asura is destroyed. Not like, a couple energy weapons go for the reactors and trigger an explosion. I mean, he has enough energy weapons fired to instantly vaporize all but a couple cubic meters of the ships' structure, leaving the awakened wrapped in warped metal, and maybe bits and pieces of their non-awakened friends.
If Jail wasn't confident enough to launch drones to perform multiple impromptu amputations and cauterizations, leaving them only headed torsos rapidly succumbing to shock.
But frankly, whether or not he manages to win totally, capturing & permanently brainwashing the loopers here, Jail might've already won. See, back in the Ranma loops, it was mentioned that every single loop might continue onward, after the loopers leave. Exactly the way they left it. So, if you beieve this possibility, like I and my fictional Jail do:
For every loop where the heroes play at being the bad guy, or defect, or just start killing people, or decide to show up the canon villain by accomplishing everything they wanted to faster and better...
For every loop from here on where Jail wins, or sets things up so the heroes have a pyrrhic victory...
There's a part of the multiverse where he won, and they lost, end of story.
And considering just how many universes they've gone through, and will go through, and just how long they'll all live...
He'll take what he can get.
*goes to reread the Sailor Loop in question*
Before I go off and get my infodump rant out of the way, in return to Nanya's original post: Yeah, but that's the Sailors. I wanted to show MGLN's first looping villain.
Huh. Yeah, pretty interesting. I'm not too sure how Jail could be quite as crazy-prepared, or more specifically learned, since I don't recall any canon mention of something for him to reintegrate with his clones, as an equivalent of Metallia's fragmentation.
As for posing as a looper or whatever to learn things like she did, well...He could've, and in fact that's one of the main points of my idea. But I set it up so he was more focused on theory and device style power, rather then honing his own internal abilities beyond what he'd need to cart the key construction around in Hidden Weapons subspace every time he looped.
He'd be very careful, half-convinced that if he ever seemed to be the only one (currently) awake in a loop, that the others might just be faking sleep like he was. And if he went to the trouble of honing his own internal reserves of power, he'd run the risk of leaving obvious signs during his build up, which might spoil the plot and let on to his enemies early. One hint that he'd started deviating from what they were already familiar with, and they could smash through his defenses and minions, pin him down, and force-feed him Veritaserum or invade his mind or something, scour his entire being for the slightest hint that he was starting to become a significant threat once again.
But while he wouldn't go out of his way to learn things most of the time, he'd pay very close attention to things. Such as the download every awakened gets upon entering a new loop, including the ones where the cast got expy'd into another series.
Further, the Metallia one you mentioned, the Senshi were just smashing through their enemies over and over and over again, faster each time. They awake, they run off shooting. So Metallia was able to play upon that habit, and leave a trap at where they'd inevitably go.
In this case, the Nanoha crew has been varying things up to keep it from getting boring. Sometimes, they play through canon the same way, to hone their acting skills, or for nostalgia, or for some other reason. Whatever. Point being, in this case they've been taking it easy, following canon, which means: Jail's already got Vivio, who is awake, and Ginga, who may or may not be awake.
They're neutralized. Not dead, but powerless, restrained, possibly brainwashed...And maybe in addition to learning more about things that go boom, Jail's been honing his brainwashing techniques. Enough to turn a looper for a single loop? Definitely. Enough to last through subsequent loops? Well...You decide. But even if it's barely enough to last a single loop, that's still enough time for him to go through at least one of his enemy looper's minds, and pick up anything he can. Advanced tech, personal histories, energy manipulation techniques, noted berserk buttons for loopers...Whatever he can get.
And while he's catching them off-guard, you can bet he's going for all he can get. So while his boasting and some drones and PuddleJumpers are getting everyone's attention from his traditional base, a large force of cloaked PuddleJumpers are about to put a few hundred drones through the Asura. Not the parts with confirmed loopers, but the rest of the ship. Sure, no matter how much he's upgraded the PJ's, they'd probably be picked up in an instant. But no other Awakened is looking for them. After so long with no real, equally capable opposition, the loopers are relaxed. Off-guard. Unsuspecting.
So while they're still reeling from Jail's initial change, within seconds of the snippet I posted, maybe less, about 98% of the Asura is destroyed. Not like, a couple energy weapons go for the reactors and trigger an explosion. I mean, he has enough energy weapons fired to instantly vaporize all but a couple cubic meters of the ships' structure, leaving the awakened wrapped in warped metal, and maybe bits and pieces of their non-awakened friends.
If Jail wasn't confident enough to launch drones to perform multiple impromptu amputations and cauterizations, leaving them only headed torsos rapidly succumbing to shock.
But frankly, whether or not he manages to win totally, capturing & permanently brainwashing the loopers here, Jail might've already won. See, back in the Ranma loops, it was mentioned that every single loop might continue onward, after the loopers leave. Exactly the way they left it. So, if you beieve this possibility, like I and my fictional Jail do:
For every loop where the heroes play at being the bad guy, or defect, or just start killing people, or decide to show up the canon villain by accomplishing everything they wanted to faster and better...
For every loop from here on where Jail wins, or sets things up so the heroes have a pyrrhic victory...
There's a part of the multiverse where he won, and they lost, end of story.
And considering just how many universes they've gone through, and will go through, and just how long they'll all live...
He'll take what he can get.
*slightly frowns*
There's something that bugs me about it, but its not about him winning nor is it about the loopers relaxing, as I can agree with it. I'm not sure just what bugs me though.
Oh well.
That sounds like the Pseudo-Loop, yet not exactly it. Or at least the older version of it.
Of other villians that are supposed to be looping, Orochimaru is supposed to be a looper last time I remember. He just didn't seem to be used much.
There's something that bugs me about it, but its not about him winning nor is it about the loopers relaxing, as I can agree with it. I'm not sure just what bugs me though.
Oh well.
That sounds like the Pseudo-Loop, yet not exactly it. Or at least the older version of it.
Of other villians that are supposed to be looping, Orochimaru is supposed to be a looper last time I remember. He just didn't seem to be used much.
Of course he doesn't.
I thought I was saying that he had a better idea then he might otherwise, because the loopers didn't always hold back, but Jail kept from revealing the he was watching.
He didn't survive very long when they started blasting him with crazy-amounts of power, but the before and during bits he was Awake for were enough to expand his understanding of their capabilities, bit by bit, and he knows he hasn't seen anywhere near everything, so he takes his worst-case assessments of their abilities and revises upwards a few thousand times.
EDIT: Honestly though, I used my second-smartest Jail for dramatic purposes. If I'd used my smartest Jail, the speech would've been different, since he'd still pretend he wasn't looping, he'd just stumbled onto Atlantis and a very instructive Ancient Database.
I'm pretty sure there have been near-canon loops with minor pre-awakening changes causing a big ripple effect, if I recall. He might've been able to maintain the facade while taking a loop to blow things up, but he wasn't sure he could get away with that, and if he was going to blow his cover no matter what, then damnit, he was going to gloat.
Also, I totally didn't think of this possibility or explanation until five minutes ago. But the point remains valid.
I thought I was saying that he had a better idea then he might otherwise, because the loopers didn't always hold back, but Jail kept from revealing the he was watching.
He didn't survive very long when they started blasting him with crazy-amounts of power, but the before and during bits he was Awake for were enough to expand his understanding of their capabilities, bit by bit, and he knows he hasn't seen anywhere near everything, so he takes his worst-case assessments of their abilities and revises upwards a few thousand times.
EDIT: Honestly though, I used my second-smartest Jail for dramatic purposes. If I'd used my smartest Jail, the speech would've been different, since he'd still pretend he wasn't looping, he'd just stumbled onto Atlantis and a very instructive Ancient Database.
I'm pretty sure there have been near-canon loops with minor pre-awakening changes causing a big ripple effect, if I recall. He might've been able to maintain the facade while taking a loop to blow things up, but he wasn't sure he could get away with that, and if he was going to blow his cover no matter what, then damnit, he was going to gloat.
Also, I totally didn't think of this possibility or explanation until five minutes ago. But the point remains valid.
Kankuro tossed that theory out in the Ninjas in Nerima loop- the one with the somewhat Stu!Ryoga and the Stu!Kuno. Anyway, he and Akane were both Awake, and since he was, for the purposes of the Loop, married to Akane, he was trying to explain why he wasn't just screwing her silly.
Don't really know how I feel about it, though, and he's the only person that mentions it. I agree, though- that feels a lot more like a Pseudo Loop.
@B.B. Rain: Good Looping villans are good.
Don't really know how I feel about it, though, and he's the only person that mentions it. I agree, though- that feels a lot more like a Pseudo Loop.
@B.B. Rain: Good Looping villans are good.
I was thinking about this snip of Innortal's when I said it was mentioned back in the Ranma Loops.
I guess I was allowing my own beliefs about existence to color my theorizing, though. Infinity+Alternate Universes: Everything happens, including fiction, just in another universe, specifically including a non-looping universe that just happens to act exactly like a single loop snippet did for this example.
I guess I was allowing my own beliefs about existence to color my theorizing, though. Infinity+Alternate Universes: Everything happens, including fiction, just in another universe, specifically including a non-looping universe that just happens to act exactly like a single loop snippet did for this example.
Endless landscapes flicker past.
Desert, tundra, jungle, city...
But no matter where you flee, or how long you run, they always find you.
Always.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Why won't you leave us alone?!
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Whether you're resting, or walking, or eating, or merely sitting and thinking, nothing seems innocuous enough for them.
Your mere presence, it seems, warrants an immediate attack, energy and sharp, crushing blows lashing out to destroy you as easily as a man might kill a fly.
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We haven't done anything to you! What gives you the right to murder us?
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They chase you, they kill you...
And then, in the agonizing blink of an eye, you're reborn.
Unharmed, unmarked, unbound, in a new location, all alone or with your family, and the monsters who pursue you are no where in sight.
This has happened so many times before, and yet each time...
You cannot help but hope you are truly free, to live and die a natural, painless death, amongst your family.
Without watching them brutally executed in front of you, one by one, their killers laughing and boasting their misdeeds to all who can hear.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
We just want to be loved!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
It's sometimes worse, you think; those times when the beasts don't find you.
Those times when that terrible compulsion overwhelms you, and your body seeks them out, your people all around you, appearing to happily march towards death.
And, trapped inside your minds, you hear each others telepathic screams...
Unable to do anything else.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Why?! What sin have we committed, to be born into this hell? What penance must we perform, to be free?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
They've found you again.
You try desperately to communicate, to plead for mercy for your family and friends.
You've died so often, you're resigned to it, no matter how horrible or drawn out the end, you'll gladly suffer a thousand times more to buy your people even a moment's respite.
You rush forward, arms spread-
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
I just want to know a kind touch, just once!
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And the leader of the monsters just smiles, (that horrible, kind smile,) and fires her weapon directly at your chest.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
To be hugged!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
And the red jewel at your center shatters, your systems disintegrating under the pink beam, your tentacles falling limp, your mind shutting down...
And then you awake once more, facing her across a clear blue sky, and know it will repeat mere moments from now.
And you wish you could cry.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
That's right, after thousands and thousands of loops, Awake but unnoticed, the gadget drones have achieved true sentience.
Of course, that's not enough to override their programming to immediately seek out and capture any Lost Logia or Relic upon activation.
Or overcome Jail's direct control, whenever he can be bothered to pay attention.
Or even communicate, lacking anything but camera and data feedback to Jail and each other.
And whenever they lose control, or even just wander nearby, our heroic loopers charge in and destroy them, no contest.
Sometimes the loopers even seek them out, for stress relief.
And they laugh, and compete, and toy with the drones.
After all, it's not like they can put up a challenge or a real fight, right?
And after so many loops just killing them quickly and efficiently is too boring.
It's not like anyone's getting hurt, or no one Awake, so what does it matter?
Desert, tundra, jungle, city...
But no matter where you flee, or how long you run, they always find you.
Always.
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Why won't you leave us alone?!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Whether you're resting, or walking, or eating, or merely sitting and thinking, nothing seems innocuous enough for them.
Your mere presence, it seems, warrants an immediate attack, energy and sharp, crushing blows lashing out to destroy you as easily as a man might kill a fly.
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We haven't done anything to you! What gives you the right to murder us?
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They chase you, they kill you...
And then, in the agonizing blink of an eye, you're reborn.
Unharmed, unmarked, unbound, in a new location, all alone or with your family, and the monsters who pursue you are no where in sight.
This has happened so many times before, and yet each time...
You cannot help but hope you are truly free, to live and die a natural, painless death, amongst your family.
Without watching them brutally executed in front of you, one by one, their killers laughing and boasting their misdeeds to all who can hear.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
We just want to be loved!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
It's sometimes worse, you think; those times when the beasts don't find you.
Those times when that terrible compulsion overwhelms you, and your body seeks them out, your people all around you, appearing to happily march towards death.
And, trapped inside your minds, you hear each others telepathic screams...
Unable to do anything else.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Why?! What sin have we committed, to be born into this hell? What penance must we perform, to be free?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
They've found you again.
You try desperately to communicate, to plead for mercy for your family and friends.
You've died so often, you're resigned to it, no matter how horrible or drawn out the end, you'll gladly suffer a thousand times more to buy your people even a moment's respite.
You rush forward, arms spread-
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
I just want to know a kind touch, just once!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
And the leader of the monsters just smiles, (that horrible, kind smile,) and fires her weapon directly at your chest.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
To be hugged!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
And the red jewel at your center shatters, your systems disintegrating under the pink beam, your tentacles falling limp, your mind shutting down...
And then you awake once more, facing her across a clear blue sky, and know it will repeat mere moments from now.
And you wish you could cry.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
That's right, after thousands and thousands of loops, Awake but unnoticed, the gadget drones have achieved true sentience.
Of course, that's not enough to override their programming to immediately seek out and capture any Lost Logia or Relic upon activation.
Or overcome Jail's direct control, whenever he can be bothered to pay attention.
Or even communicate, lacking anything but camera and data feedback to Jail and each other.
And whenever they lose control, or even just wander nearby, our heroic loopers charge in and destroy them, no contest.
Sometimes the loopers even seek them out, for stress relief.
And they laugh, and compete, and toy with the drones.
After all, it's not like they can put up a challenge or a real fight, right?
And after so many loops just killing them quickly and efficiently is too boring.
It's not like anyone's getting hurt, or no one Awake, so what does it matter?
Agreed. It's a good kind of dark though.
But one nitpick, after so many Loops they, Anchors and Awake characters, should have developed various senses, like Force senses, to detect thought or emotion coming from various sources. Granted they may not be paying attention to those senses at the time, but they should be able to pick up the change in how the gadgets feel to those psionic abilities.
But one nitpick, after so many Loops they, Anchors and Awake characters, should have developed various senses, like Force senses, to detect thought or emotion coming from various sources. Granted they may not be paying attention to those senses at the time, but they should be able to pick up the change in how the gadgets feel to those psionic abilities.