"So I'm not allowed to play most of my games anymore" Lincoln sighed dejectedly to his friend Clyde. The two eleven year olds were on the porch of Clyde's house.
"Why, what happened?" the bespectacled boy enquired, turning to face Lincoln's glum face. "Did you get in trouble for anything? Bad grades?"
"Not really... Well.. Mom and dad apparently saw a news report on TV about a link between violent behaviour and video games, so they kind of cracked down on me." Strangely enough, Lincoln didn't seem too upset despite having one of his hobbies seemingly taken away from him.
Clyde noticed this as well "I thought you'd be more upset over this".
Lincoln suddenly realized that his friend was right. "Hmm... To be honest, I was actually getting a bit bored of the same old 'shooting zombies in the face' or 'running over people with an ice cream truck' shtick." He craned his neck upward to look at the clear sky absentmindedly. "Still, its such weird timing for mom and dad to act like this..."
"Hold on, you said you couldn't play 'most' of your games right?"
"Yeah, they said that I can still play non-violent games." Lincoln gave out a short sigh "But that leaves me with only two games: Blarney's Counting Adventure and Clapping Party."
"I don't know, Blarney's Counting Adventure is a classic..." Clyde thought about something until an idea came to mind "Oh yeah! I've got the solution to your gaming woes, just one sec."
He quickly got up from where he was sitting and ran inside his house, leaving Lincoln puzzled. After a few minutes, his friend came back out holding a game case. On the cover were what appeared to be smiling children and anthropomorphic animals frolicking outside on a summer's day.
"Animal Valley..." Lincoln read. He had heard of this game, but he wasn't too familiar with it as it wasn't the kind of thing he would go for. The cover looked too... Cutesy. "There's no violence is there? What exactly do you do in this game?"
"Nope! Not at all." It would make sense that Clyde's dads would only let him play non-violent video games as they were quite overprotective of him. "You fish, collect bugs, pick fruit and sell them to pay off your debt."
"Wait, debt?" Lincoln was kind of curious as the game's cover didn't suggest anything about being in debt. "Is there a mafia in this game?"
"Not really, you're given your own house and you need to pay off its mortgage." Clyde explained as he saw Lincoln getting more worried. "The guy you owe money to is super casual about it, so there's no real time limit."
"So what else do you do in this game?"
"Well..." Clyde thought for a moment on how to go about explaining how the game works. "You can also befriend various animal villagers who can move into your town. You can also celebrate different holidays and the days and seasons change in real time. The game keeps track of time even when you're not playing."
"I see then... Normally I'd find this kind of game to be extremely boring, but desperate times call for desperate measures I guess." Lincoln examined the game a bit more. It still looked like something designed by the same people behind Princess Pony.
"Trust me, this game is a really relaxing but fun experience. I ended up playing this game exclusively for about a year." Clyde reassured his friend.
"Are you sure you don't want to keep it?" Lincoln was wondering why Clyde would let him borrow a game that was supposedly that good. "How long do you want me to borrow it for?"
"You can keep it for as long as you want." Clyde gave him a reassuring smile "If you don't like it you can always give it back, and if you do, you can keep it."
"Really? Thanks, Clyde!" He gave Clyde a quick hug and then got up and quickly ran off, excited to play the game as soon as he can.
"You're... Welcome?"
Just then, Howard McBride came outside with a pitcher of lemonade and some glasses. "I wonder where Lincoln is running off to?"
Lincoln ran home as fast as he could, slowing down as soon as he got onto the front yard. He entered the house, making sure that no one was watching something on TV. He could hear plenty of activity elsewhere in the house but surprisingly enough, no one seemed to in the living room and the TV was off. Perfect. Not a sister who could ruin his plans.
He popped the game into the game console and booted it up. After the screen with whoever published, produced and created the game. Lincoln was greeted with a scene of a random dog person walking in a field. Soft piano music played what could be the game's theme. The logo of the game, "Animal Valley" appeared onscreen and a "press start" appeared on the bottom. The game appeared as non-violent as they come.
"What kind of cartoon is that?" Lincoln quickly turned to the source of the voice. It was Lola, clad in her usual pink dress and plastic tiara.
"Oh Lola!" Her sudden presence caught him off guard. "It's not a cartoon, it's a video game." he blurted out.
"Hey, Mom said you weren't allowed to play video games anymore..." Lola glared at Lincoln. A sneaky grin crept onto her face. "I'M TELLING!"
"Lola wait!" Before the six year old could leave, Lincoln quickly grabbed her face and covered her mouth. "Mom said I wasn't allowed to play violent ones. This game supposedly isn't one of those."
The young girl stopped what she was doing and settled down onto the couch. "Well, the game looks kind of cute I guess..." She never cared for her brother's video games, but this one looked a bit different from his usual zombie-busting fare.
Lincoln pressed the start button as the screen prompted and he was met with a menu, but this one only had one option: "Start a new file". With no other option, Lincoln confirmed his choice.
The scene changed to being on what looked like a passenger cabin of a train. The walls were a soft yellow and the seats were green. The camera panned to a dog person who smiled and approached the player. He had a dark blue and white body and red eyes. He also appeared to be wearing a sleeveless sweater with a red and black diamond pattern on it. A dialogue box appeared which indicated that his name was "Rolland".
"Excuse me, could I ask you a quick question?" The dog person spoke with a warbling noise. "The time is 4:30 pm on May 16th 2016 right?" Lincoln quickly took out his phone to check the time. Yup, that was the correct date. "Oh good, my watch gets thrown off very easily. Do you mind if I sat down on the seat across from you? If you don't mind". Rolland then made his way toward the seat opposite of the player character. "By the way, what's your name?"
"This dog's very nosey isn't he?" Lola said as she continued to watch.
"No kidding, but I guess this is all for setting up the player character and the town." Lincoln replied. He took the time to enter his name: "Lincoln", luckily there was enough spaces for his name.
"Lincoln... That's a very nice name." Another option appeared in the dialogue box:
"It's very cool isn't it"
"It's very cute isn't it"
"Oops I misspoke"
Lincoln selected the first option. The cat person spoke once more
"Yeah, it is cool for a boy like you" Another dialogue box appeared to confirm choice and Lincoln selected the "yes" choice.
"That must choose if your character is a boy or a girl..." Lincoln looked at Lola to see if she was bored of this or not. By now she should have gotten up and walked away, however she hadn't and was still watching. Lincoln decided not to question it and continued.
"Hang on, where exactly did you say you were headed?" A field for the town name showed up.
"Hey Lola" Lincoln asked "You got any ideas on what to name the town?"
"Sorry, I haven't got a name." Lola answered "Give me a moment..." Just then, Lily wandered in from somewhere, she had something orange in her baby hand, which could have been a cheese puff or a mandarin orange slice, Lincoln couldn't tell due to being distracted by the game. Having spotted her siblings on the couch, she proudly showed off the orange thing to them.
"Glooba!" She exclaimed before wandering off in a different direction to show someone else what she had. The two siblings simply looked at each other.
"You're okay with 'Glooba'?" Lincoln asked.
"It'll do I guess." Lincoln entered "Glooba" into the field.
"Oh the town of Glooba, I haven't been there in a long time... Let's see, is this it?" The dog pulled up a map. It appeared to be a settlement with a few houses, buildings, a grey patch and a pond in random locations. A long river snaked its way through the town before dumping into the sea on the east side.
Just then, Leni walked in through the door with a few bags from a few of her favourite clothing stores.
"Hiya Linky! Hiya Lola!" She set her bags down and plopped herself besides them. "I've been shopping all day and now I feel like I'm ready to, like, drop! Maybe that's like where that saying comes from..." She finally noticed what they were doing. "Hey are you guys watching the weather channel?"
"It's some new video game Lincoln got... What's it called?
"It's called 'Animal Valley'." Lincoln showed Lola and Leni the cover
"Oh That looks totes cute." Leni gave the cover back. "So what's going on now?"
"I guess this is the part where we choose the town's layout." Lincoln was a bit confused as to why two of his sisters have taken interest in this game. Normally they wouldn't be interested in his hobbies, but he was appreciative of their involvement.
"Hmm..." Leni looked at the screen with a discerning eye. Lincoln wasn't entirely sure what Leni was looking for specifically, but he also figured that Leni wasn't sure either and was going with her gut. If there was one thing Lincoln knew about his older ditzy sister, it was that she had an eye for aesthetics. "I don't like it... Is there, like, a way to change the layout?" Lincoln chose the "no" option and it brought out a different layout. This one had the same number of house icons, but the river ran from east to west coast. There were also more ponds. "Ick, I don't, like, like this one either..."
Lola's patience was wearing thin. "Ugh, just pick the next one and get this over with!" Lincoln selected the next option and it was similar to the others before it.
"Oh, this one looks nice!" Unlike the other maps, Leni's eyes lit up. Something about it must have felt right to her even though Lincoln himself couldn't see it. Tired of picking layouts himself, he chose to confirm it.
The cat person wouldn't leave him alone as he asked a number of questions about where he was going and what he was going to do once he got there. Lincoln realized that this wasn't the kind of game where you could mash "A" to win. It was the kind that needed role-playing. After selecting the answers at random, the train conductor announced that the town of Glooba was the next stop. That was the cat person's cue to stop pestering him.
The train came to a stop at a train station. Exiting the train was a tiny or "chibi" version of Lincoln, complete with white hair, freckles and buck teeth.
"Awww, how cute!" Lola squealed.
"He looks just like you!" Not only was it weird that his character looks exactly like him, but that his sisters would be interested in a video game. Lincoln focused back into the game.
Little Lincoln exited the train and walked out of the station, only to encounter a different dog, a hamster and a frog. They murmured amongst themselves.
"Oh look to got into town!"
"Could it be him?"
"I suppose he is."
"Quiet, I think he can hear us. We gotta say hi to him"
"Okay everyone, here we go... Ready? from those of us from Glooba..."
"WELCOME!" They all yelled.
L.L. couldn't believe it, there was a welcoming party just for him. Big Lincoln knew what was coming though.
"Mayor!" A cute kitty came up to him. "We're so happy that you're finally here!"
"Who's this mayor?" a worried gesture came across Little Lincoln's face.
"Um..." The kitten hesitated at first but then started to laugh. "Oh come on, quit joking around. You know exactly who you are! Come on, we'll go to Town Hall and explain everything Mayor Lincoln. The big building on your map is the Town Hall, come on!"
Little Lincoln walked around with the cat, who he assumed was a secretary following him. He noticed a couple of things, such as a shop, some apple trees and a pond before coming up to a building who he assumed was the town hall.
"Well, we're here!" The puppy exclaimed "Lets go inside and get more acquainted." With that, both of them went inside the building. Inside was a lavish yet cozy office space with bookshelves, a reception desk and an office desk setup behind it.
"So this is the town hall, the base of your operations, oh, an I'm on staff as well, my name is Eliza and I'll be your secretary. To tell the truth, we've never had a mayor so young, the old mayor held the position for many years, but having a young mayor would be a breath of fresh air for the town."
Big Lincoln simply nodded along. He didn't really care about that part, he wanted to get to the good bit. What was the "good bit"? Well he wasn't entirely sure.
"Right then, all we need now is... OH NO THIS IS BAD!" Eliza remembered something vital "Before you can register as mayor, we need your address. You can't be mayor without being a resident of Glooba. We don't have any vacant houses, but you can have one built! All you need to do is visit Nook's Homes, the real-estate office, which is located on Main Street. You can access in the North. He'll help you with setting up a new house."
With that, Little Lincoln left town hall and made his way to Main Street. It looked pretty barren with only a few shops that were open. He spotted the building labelled "Nook's Homes". He went inside and was immediately greeted by some kind of raccoon in a sweater.
"Ah, hello, Welcome! Welcome! You must be the new mayor, right? Eliza told me that you would be coming here." Big Lincoln knew that this must be the raccoon that Clyde warned him about. "On the behalf of Glooba's chamber of commerce I'm pleased welcome you. Now then" The raccoon continued "I assume that you've come here so you can build a house correct? Good good, then you've come to the right place. Have you decided where you want to live?"
After giving much though, Little Lincoln gave a halfhearted "Not really..." He hadn't explored the town enough to have a good idea on where to build a house. Big Lincoln was kind of getting bored of the game's tutorial, but his sisters were still interested in the game, so he continued to play.
"Well, that's not a big issue. Since you just moved here, you wouldn't know the lay of the land. I'll accompany you so you're able to choose the best spot for your house."
With that, Little Lincoln and Mr. Nook came back to the town of Glooba, which was mostly fields dotted with various trees. Lincoln chose a spot he thought would look good for a house. As he tried to confirm it, he was met with an irritating response.
"Hmm... I don't think we can build your house here, as we're too close to a rock." Sure enough, he spotted a grey rock that was nearby. Big Lincoln directed Little Lincoln to another spot and was met with a similar response.
"...We're too close to the river."
"...We're too close to a resident's house."
"...We're too close to the a bridge."
Little Lincoln thought it would take a few more tries but the next one was one that Mr. Nook found suitable.
"Ah yes yes! This spot is fine! We'll have to move some trees and flowers but it'll be perfect! This is what your future house would look like." The scene immediately cut to a "vision" of what Little Lincoln's house would look like.
"Are you fine with where the house is?" the raccoon man asked. Not wanting to continue this process, he quickly selected the yes option. "Good good! We'll section off this area for you. We'll also provide... temporary accommodations for the time being."
A second or two of loading later, and a tent was placed in the area where Little Lincoln's house would be in the near future. "Oh ho, it doesn't look too bad... It even has a mailbox so you can receive mail as soon as possible. You don't usually see a tent with a mailbox..." Sure enough, Mr. Nook was right and there was a rather shabby mailbox in front.
"Well then. It seems like everything in order..." The raccoon then paused "Almost... There's still the down payment. I haven't calculated what it is right now so you can stop by Nook's Homes later for it. Right now you should head back to Town Hall and Eliza. I'll see you later, ta ta for now." With that, Mr. Nook left. Little Lincoln headed back to the town hall, where he met with his kitten secretary Eliza.
"So did you find a nice spot for your house? You did? That's great! We're almost done, but first I need a vital piece of information before all the paperwork is complete." Little Lincoln anticipated what the kitten was going to say. "When is your birthday?"
On the other side of the screen, Big Lincoln entered the birth date "13/02", which meant the "13th of February". Which he then confirmed when prompted.
"Great! Everything appears to be in order for now, but the residents and I need you to come to the town square. The town square is where we hold celebrations and other events and holidays. Come on, it'll be fun!" And with that, both Lincoln and Eliza were transported to the town square.
Five animals, the dog, hamster and frog from before, alongside a different cat and a bird were gathered around the middle, which was a raised plot filled with dirt. Little Lincoln and Eliza were on top of the raised plot and Lincoln was holding what appeared to be a tree sapling.
"Now I want you to plant this sapling in the hole right here..." She motioned towards the hole in the middle. "Plant it using the B button with all your might." Big Lincoln pressed the B button and planted the sapling. Once planted, the villagers all cheered for Little Lincoln as he blushed. A text box appeared:
"On June 27th 2017, Lincoln became the mayor of Glooba."
The sapling ceremony complete, Eliza disappeared and the villagers went back to walking around town. A new text box appeared.
"You can now save and quit at any time by pressing the start button." Which is what Big Lincoln did. He learned from experience to save his game as often as he could.
"Well that was totes adorbs..." Leni said as she stretched her arms above her head.
Lola grabbed Lincoln's arm "Hey Lincoln, I kinda wanna play this game with my own character."
Lincoln leafed through the game's manual. "Hmm... It says here that you can make up to four players at any time. There's even an option for an election if you want someone else to be mayor of the town."
"That's pretty convenient. I wouldn't mind being mayor of this town myself then."
"I had no idea they made video games that were cute. Maybe if you, like, got more games like this one, we'd, like, play them more Linky."
Just then, Dad called from the kitchen. "Kids! Dinner's almost ready! Come set the table!"
The three siblings got up from the sofa. Lincoln turned off the gaming console and joined Leni and Lola as they made their way towards the dining room, leaving the living room seemingly devoid of activity. However, the was one person left. The raven-haired sister Lucy came out of her hiding place. She wordlessly inspected the game case that her siblings left behind and a small wiry smile formed as she looked at the cute animal people frolicking on the cover. She then put the case down and joined the rest of her family in the dining room.
And there we have it, the first of hopefully a bunch of Loud House fanfics. I haven't written any kind of fanfic in a long while so maybe its a bit rusty, but we gotta start somewhere right?