[fluid.forty.one]

BBL I think you're thinking about this from the wrong angle.

They (Cobb and the girl, not Fisher) were in a dream AND in limbo at the same time, because they jacked into FISHERS mental state. Basically, Fisher was in limbo (his state of mind) because he died and they entered his dream (his state of mind) with that machine to find him. Does that make sense? They followed him in through the machine so they needed a kick to get out of it.

Proof that it was limbo and not just a dream world 4. When they enter, it's Cobb's old limbo place. If this was just Fisher's dream world 4 it would be HIS place, not Cobb's... but limbo works differently.

This is the most important thing: The reason Cobb RE WASHES back up on shore into limbo again (ultimately rebooting for a sec giving Saito time to age and build his own little castle thing) was because as they are getting kicked back up, and they are back in the van... they leave Cobb in the van. They all take air and swim back up... Cobb stays and drowns, therefore dying in an earlier dream state which sends him back into limbo because of the sedations.

edit: I see your flow chart has "Cobb dying in the van part" correct but I also see Cobb as dreaming world 4. It just doesn't make sense. They follow FISHER in. It makes way more sense for them needing the kick (which seems to be whats bothering you) because they entered Fishers state technologically rather than organically.