Red shrouds covered his eyes as Brian floated in empty space, trying to drown out the insidious laughter. There was no way he was prepared, it hammered against his skull again and again.
"HAHAHAHAH…HAHAHAH!"
Brian wanted it to stop, it was too much. There was no relief, nothing. It was just him and that sound…
…and a small patch of blue with sniffling noises?
Brian bolted awake. It seemed that with each passing day the nightmares continued to get worse and worse with no chance of stopping. He was at least happy that the Loud siblings have his back when these things happen, but if they wanted specifics…they were better off not knowing.
"Ugh, I feel awful. These nightmares are really getting to me, and I don't…wait, where the heck am I?"
Upon waking up Brian noticed immediately that he wasn't anywhere familiar. In fact, he couldn't see anything around him, everything was pitch black. His back felt wet from lying on the ground which slightly sunk into the ground from his weight. Wherever he was, it gave him chills.
He tried calling for any of the Loud siblings.
"Lori, Luna, Lincoln, Lucy?! Anyone here?!"
Nothing.
This gave him chills and the feeling of déjà vu. This was almost like when he first found himself in the Louds' backyard, shrunken and tiny amongst them all. At least he didn't lose his memories this time; he still remembered the times with the Louds up to this point, although he was struggling to remember how he got to this pitch black area in the first place.
"Brian, come in Brian! Are you there?"
The sudden voice spooked him upward slightly before a light turned on around his wrist. It was a special watch Lisa made for when she needed him to do special "experiments" so to speak and keep an eye on him. Brian had no idea why he was wearing it now all of a sudden, but Lisa's face did show up on the face of it like normal.
"Lisa, am I glad to see you!" Brian said. "I have no idea where I am and I can't see a thing!"
"I don't know where you are either, that's why I called you!" Lisa replied. "I would have talked earlier but I had some business to attend to."
"Explaining you superiority to other genius girls from other dimensions?" Brian asked with a smirk. Lisa's eyes squinted as her skin lightly clammed up.
"Errrrrr, something like that…" Lisa responded through an obvious guilty crooked smile. Brian playfully rolled his eyes and Lisa got back in her regular mood.
"Anyway, since you don't know where you are situated I'm going to have to resort to something else." Lisa said. "Do you remember anything that happened earlier that may have led to this?"
Brian paused. Unlike when he arrived with the Louds, the memories of what happened earlier today were still there, but were a little fuzzy. He rubbed his head before something came up…
"…and I will never tick off that dog again."
"I can literally picture that. I don't usually get along with those types anyway."
Lori continued to chat with Bobby over the phone on her bed. She tended to do this for hours, and today was no different. Some of her siblings label her as a weirdo when she does this, but she was quick to point out their weird habits in a pinch. Therefore, they immediately left her alone after that.
She wiggled her toes in excitement, making it almost a rollercoaster to the one standing on them. He ended up getting smacked in the face with one of her toenails in the process.
"Ugh…" Brian said to himself. Wiping some excess nail polish off of his face, he then gripped the bits of cloth around his hands before getting back to work. Because Lori didn't want to do two things at the same, she appointed Brian to polish her toenails while she got off easy with Bobby, which Brian hesitated to do at first. He didn't want to be known as the "nail polish guy" since he also did it with Lucy some time ago, but with this progress he seemed to be that type of person already. Doing it a single time was one thing, but with Lucy's and now Lori's toenails, he slowly got irritated with the whole thing. Not only that, but Lori wanted absolute perfection with her toenails so Brian couldn't completely cover himself and get it over quickly like he did with Lucy. Instead, he was given two scraps of cloth and forced to use those, nearly tripling the amount of time he needed to work on them. He handled each of the edges carefully and made sure no extra spots were exposed. Nearly all of the time he spent on Lori's toenails, he had on a very flat and unhappy expression. He just wanted it to be over.
After wiping light pink nail polish over the last few spots, consequently finishing his job since he also did the others, Lori finally hung up and put her phone to the side. When she saw the impressive work Brian did, she couldn't help but smile.
"Wow Brian, you perfected all of it just like I said!" Lori said. "I literally can't thank you enough!"
Brian turned around sweating buckets as he walked off of Lori's toenail and onto her foot. He still wasn't happy he had to do it, but at least it was over.
"It was tiring…but I managed." Brian stuttered. "You owe me for this you know."
"Duly noted." Lori replied. "Let me sneak you some food from the dinner table first."
Brian agreed as he got off of Lori's foot while she exited the room. He heard some kerfuffle go on in the hallway, but he wasn't interested in it.
Lisa's face was flat when Brian's finished explaining the memory.
"Really? That's what you remember?" Lisa asked. "That doesn't exactly help with figuring things out!"
"Well it was the first thing that popped up!" Brian responded. "I know that there is more, but the details are still a bit hazy."
"Ugh, it's something I guess…" Lisa responded. "Maybe you should try finding a way out of there until the answers come to you. Don't worry; I'll be with you every step of the way."
"Thanks Lisa." Brian responded. Using the light of the watch, Brian glanced around the room he was in now that he could see, although the sights made him sick to his stomach. Bright rosy walls and floor everywhere that appeared to pulsate every few seconds. Something about them rubbed Brian the wrong way, but at least he seemed to be the only one in the room. He noticed to his right was a large visible cut in the wall that looked to be spewing out a clear liquid at a slow pace. Judging from everywhere he scanned the room that looked to be the only escape route.
He slowly walked over to it, his feet lightly sagging into the ground, but as he approached it Lisa suddenly spoke up.
"Don't tell me you are actually thinking about going in there." Lisa said. Brian looked down at Lisa's image on the watch.
"There's no other exit, I have no choice." Brian replied. With that said he grasped both sides of the cut before doing the insane and leapt straight inside.
The next thing Brian knew he was spat out to somewhere different. He coughed a little from the liquid getting in his mouth as he got up to find out where he landed. It was taller than the last room, but it actually had stuff in it unlike before. There were various liquids overhead connected by weird crimson tubes that went in and out of the room quickly. There was an exit upwards near the vertical middle of the room that the liquids sometimes went through. As for the walls and flooring, they sported the same rosy outlook the previous room had.
"Woah…" Brian said to himself. "It's like there's an entire network of these things. What the heck is going on?"
Static went through his eardrums as his watch now looked to be offline. That didn't last long however as Lisa's image quickly came up.
"You there Brian? Oh good, you're awake." Lisa said. "Looks like you got waterlogged for a second there. I'm hoping there was no internal damage."
"It's still operating fine." Brian replied. "The sights around here ring any bells to you?"
Brian pointed the watch in nearly every direction so Lisa could get the full picture. She requested some re-scans a few times before answering back.
"Unfortunately, I got nothing." Lisa answered. "You might want to be a bit careful though, who knows what you might come across?"
"I'll keep that in mind." Brian said. He looked up from the watch as Lisa tried to get some more visuals from the angles the watch kept going in only to see a group of three mysterious things ahead of him. They appeared as some sorts of bleached splotches that slid across the ground while making some very grotesque noises, and Brian quickly didn't want to get noticed. Luckily there was a crimson tube that stuck out of the ground that Brian immediately took for a hiding spot. He rushed behind it as the splotches slid their way in his direction. Sweat fell down Brian's brow as the splotches were nearly in front of him. After parts of the splotch's' bodies stretched upward for a bit, they slithered off and left Brian alone. The boy exhaled heavily after.
"Phew, that was close!" Brian said. "Someone definitely doesn't want me to get out of here."
"What? What just happened there?" Lisa asked. "You have to angle that watch correctly so I can see the troubles too you know!"
"Kind of hard to do when you're sneaking around." Brian replied. He thought he was out of the clear for now, being able to take a brief moment of rest, but he failed to notice a stray splotch sneak up behind him as he talked to Lisa. She noticed the splotch and was about to alert Brian, but it was too late. Opening up two flaps, it went down straight on Brian's left leg. Brian screamed, for it was actually doing more to his leg than what it seemed. It was like someone put it straight into an oven and set it on high, it was an intense burning sensation. Brian shook his leg to try and get the splotch off of him, but it had a firm grip on him and wasn't letting go. Lisa was also panicking on the other side despite the limited view on the watch. She scrambled to access a functionality to potentially help out.
The burning feelings of the splotch also informed Brian of another memory that happened earlier.
Brian continued sitting impatiently for Lori to return. He couldn't blame her for being late with her ten siblings roaming everywhere in the house, making him wonder how she held back snapping from…everything related to them. He could still hear noises coming from the hallway that didn't sound natural, although there was nearly nothing natural when it came to the insanity of the Loud house.
Brian's stomach growled from hunger before seeing Lana enter the room with a big smile.
"Hey little guy, hanging around Lori I see?"
"Yeah, I am." Brian answered. "She's getting me something to eat from the dinner table."
"Then I came in at just the right time!" Lana said. Brian tilted his head in confusion as Lana walked up to him.
"I need your opinion on something."
"And that would be?" Brian asked. Lana got on her knees so she could be at eye level with the tiny boy.
"If you, let's say, have a painted turtle for a pet what would be a good name for it? I just love the mixed colors of its claws and face and the fact that you can dye their shells if you want to. Surely you have something in mind for the pretty creature."
Despite trying to hide the facts, Brian was no idiot. He could tell that Lana just got a new reptilian roommate even though she didn't want to admit it. He knew Lola wasn't going to enjoy it in the slightest but he swept that under the rug as Lana needed a name for her new turtle friend. He had only seen a few glimpses of it in certain picture books Lana hoarded on reptiles and it seemed to be a decent pick for her to go after one. Nothing really stood out for Brian to complement on though, making it a bit difficult to come up with a name for one.
"Ummmm…" Brian started. "How about Clouse?"
"Too formal." Lana replied.
"Larry?"
"Don't like that one."
"Phil?"
"Eeeeew, no thank you."
"Rainbow?"
"Too descriptive."
"Tiptup?"
"That name died over twenty years ago."
"Xavier?"
Lana paused upon hearing that name as if it struck a chord with her. She looked at Brian with a grin.
"Wow, that's perfect!" she said. "A name you don't hear often but with a distinct chime to it, I like it!"
"Are you going to name your new reptile that?" Brian asked. Lana's eyes slightly went wide before tilting her head down.
"Well…okay, you got me there." Lana replied. "It's just…he's so cute and I couldn't resist picking him up. I'll show him to you later if you want me to, he's friendly!"
"I'll make a note of that." Brian replied. Lana nodded as she walked over to the door.
"Wait Lana."
The young girl turned her head back towards Brian.
"Yes little guy?"
"What's the insanity going on in the hallway? I'm hearing some yelping and banging out there."
"Oh, that's just Luan chasing Leni around with a rubber spider. I wouldn't pay attention to it much if I were you."
"Okay, thanks Lana!" Brian replied. With that said Lana put on a smile as she left the room and shut the door. Brian's stomach growled soon after since Lori wasn't back yet, and the hunger was clawing at his insides right now. He pouted to himself before suddenly seeing the door swing open…
The splotch finally let go of Brian's leg as its body rippled a bit before it slithered off. Brian sighed with relief as the watch around his wrist beeped to get his attention.
"Ultrasonic sound waves, they can save lives." Lisa spoke up with a half snickering smile. Brian breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"Thanks for the backup there." Brian said. "I don't know what that was, but you are a lifesaver!"
"It pays to have a genius mind." Lisa responded. Brian looked down to his leg to see how much damage was dealt. It wasn't dire thankfully, but it was marked in red all over like sunburn. He tried to move it but it caused pain to spike through. He needed to get a move on though, for those splotches could be back any second and he didn't want to know how it felt if his entire body was enveloped.
Lisa took a good look at Brian's torched leg and started to get concerned.
"Ouch, that doesn't look pleasant." Lisa said. "You still think you can get out with that sort of handicap? I wish I could do more…"
"I kind of have no choice. Even though it hurts, I need to get out of wherever this is before something even deadlier comes up." Brian explained slowly picking himself up to ease pain on his leg. He needed to find another exit, and after a quick glance around the room he spotted one. There was one section of a crimson tube above him that lacked a surface, and it was small but just big enough for Brian to squeeze through and ride the current out of the room. There was one single catch, it was high up. There was a tube that extended out of the ground vertically to get there, but it was going to require some climbing, and with an injured leg it wasn't going to be easy. Limping over to the vertical tube, Brian held his arms out before gripping around it tightly. He started to slowly inch himself up it while trying to keep his injured leg from flaring up, and while it did on occasion Brian had to adapt quickly to avoid falling down and potentially injuring himself more. It was a tiresome climb, but he eventually made it up. He took a breather on the side as he looked down at the opening of the horizontal tube. The liquid looked to be thick, but it was currently his only way out. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before taking a dive straight into it.
It was one big waterslide being carried by the liquids. Brian had never been on one before, only seeing the Loud kids get on one on occasion, but if what he was on now was like that, he would definitely want to go on more in the future. It was difficult to see through the thick shades of crimson that went up in his face, but he did see a large wall of white a few times through small glimpses.
He wasn't keeping track of time as he swept through the tubes around him, even going through some intersections a few times, but he eventually got dumped out. He coughed a few times as he slowly got to his feet, making sure not to lean that much on his injured leg, and looked around to see where he ended up now. While the wall behind him sported the typical rosy look, in front of him was something equally large that was ruddy and sported many curves and dents. Brian didn't know why, but he didn't like the look of it.
"I'm probably going to have to climb that thing aren't I?" Brian thought as he frowned to himself. Before he could think further, the watch rang up and jolted to life, and Lisa wasn't exactly thrilled.
"Is water logging my invention your primary goal or something?" Lisa asked. "Parts don't come cheap you know!"
"I think there are more pressing matters." Brian replied before angling the watch so Lisa had a clear look of the large object in front of him.
"Hmmmm, that seems to strike a chord with me somewhere…" Lisa replied. "Unfortunately I can't really deduce it from this angle."
"Well the only way to go is up." Brian said. "You want me to look around once I get up there?"
"That would be a smart idea." Lisa said. Brian nodded as he limped over to the weird wall. He still didn't like it for some reason, or something was just rubbing him the wrong way. Either way, he was going to have to climb up another thing so he took hold of a few parts that stuck out of the dents. It squished through his fingers and was hard to keep any sort of grip, but that wasn't going to halt progress any time soon. At least the indents made positioning his feet, especially the injured one, way easier than most walls. As he made his way up, the slippery substance over the wall splashed over his face a couple of times, making it hard to see at some places.
It was a struggle, but Brian managed to get right on the top almost completely drenched in the process. He nearly collapsed on the new ground worn out after climbing up something again, but that's when he saw the new visuals. The ground sported the same ruddy and indented pattern and even curved downward on the opposite side while there was an actual curved ceiling above him.
"I…don't see anything that comes to mind." Lisa said as Brian slowly got to his feet. "I'm going to need a couple more angles to get the better picture."
"Well nothing really sticks out with me either." Brian replied. "I don't know how I'm going to find out where I am if-"
"Hahahahah, that's a good one! I'll have to test that joke later!"
The voice rang through Brian's and Lisa's ears loudly. It seemed to come out of nowhere but it sounded familiar. Just where the heck was he-
The memories from what happened earlier in the day started to come back to him. Where he was standing, the visuals around him, the sudden voice…
"Oh no…oh no…nononoNONONONONO!"
Suddenly seeing himself get rudely interrupted by the swinging doors, Brian got startled. Coming in without warning, Brian watched as Leni rushed hastily into the room with Luan behind her holding a stick with a rubber spider at the end while laughing playfully. The shrunken boy rolled his eyes at the sight from how stupid the situation looked.
"Eew, eew, eew, get that away from me!" Leni said.
"But it just wants you to be its friend! Hahahahah!" Luan exclaimed.
"I'm not being friends with an icky spider!" Leni exclaimed back. As she continued to get chased around the room, she tried to pick up random objects and throw them straight at the rubber spider, but she wasn't exactly Player of the Year material and missed all of her throws. From makeup compacts, shoes, and even hairpins, Leni threw them and wasted every single one; not that being constantly chased by Luan wasn't bad enough.
The constant struggle between the two did give Brian a slight smirk after watching for a bit. It was stupid, but mildly entertaining in a sense. He held back a couple of chuckles as he tried not to laugh and offend Leni, but that smile would soon be replaced with a direr outlook. Leni was so dedicated to smack that rubber spider away that she didn't even bother to pay attention to what she was grabbing and chucking, and then Luan had her cornered between the rooms' two beds.
"Just give the little bug a hug and be his best friend! He won't bite! Hahahahah!" Luan said as she dangled the rubber spider in front of Leni. Noticing that he was a bit too close for comfort and the fact that he didn't want to be a part of the confrontation, Brian tried to back off behind the bedroom table lamp, but he was a bit too slow as he quickly found himself bounded by Leni's giant fingers all around his body. The giantess wasn't even looking in his general direction to see that she was holding, for she just wanted to get out of the situation immediately.
"GO…A…WAY!" Leni yelled as she thrusted her hand forward and let Brian loose through the air. Like her throws before, she completely missed the rubber spider but she threw Brian at such a quick speed that he didn't get any time to react as he went sailing through the air. While Leni missed the rubber spider, she unwarily sent Brian towards a new target. Since Luan was still enjoying herself and laughing at Leni's misfortune, her mouth was wide open…
…and she threw Brian straight toward it.
Luan stopped laughing the moment the shrunken boy flew right into her mouth. She stood stunned for a few seconds before unintentionally swallowing him whole. She looked at Leni like she just saw a ghost.
"Leni…what did you just throw into my mouth?" Luan asked with a hint of horror.
"Oh, it was probably just some leftover dinner Lori brought up. You know how she tends to hoard away the good stuff!" Leni replied. She couldn't have been more oblivious to what she just did than a brain dead animal.
"Well…uh…that's a relief I guess…" Luan said still in a bit of shock. She didn't know how to feel with what Leni just did. She really hoped Leni wasn't saying crazy things since she didn't want to go to the hospital anytime soon. She needed some time to herself after that stunt so she slowly left the room with a stagnant face and the rubber spider in tow. For Leni, she was happy to finally be relieved from Luan's stupid rubber spider prank so she went into her closet to try on some shoes.
As for Brian, it couldn't have been a more different situation. The instant he found himself sliding down Luan's throat his emotions went into overdrive. This wasn't one of his nightmares, this was actually happening and he wanted out. He tried pushing himself up but the muscles of Luan's esophagus kept him from going anywhere but downward. He felt himself starting to cry as he struggled and struggled to no avail. An intense smell hit his nose as he knew what was coming next, and soon after the esophagus gave way and dropped him into the organ he never wanted to go in. He fell through the air before making a splash into the gastro acids of Luan's stomach. The instant he made contact with the acids it nearly gave him burning sensations all over. Even though he couldn't see anything since it was pure darkness inside Luan's stomach, he knew he had to find a temporary safe spot. While he was completely blind in the dark, Brian trudged through the muck burning him all over and eventually made it to a small slope next to the stomach wall. The footing wasn't great, but it was just enough to stand on.
He pounded against the stomach wall again and again.
"Luan, please hear me! I'm not a piece of food, you have to notice! Please get me out of here! PLEASE LUAN, I DON'T WANT TO GO LIKE THIS!"
Tears flowed down his face as he hit the stomach wall again and again, but he got no response. He eventually stopped as he felt that it was now pointless, there was no way he was avoiding the fate ahead of him. Knowing this, he sobbed quietly and he turned around and sat as well as he could without touching the gastro acids in front of him. He wasn't going out with ones that cared sitting around him; he was going out in complete darkness as a Loud sibling's lunch. They wouldn't even know what happened to him once they find out about his absence, just to rub salt in the wound.
He heard a gurgling noise as he felt the acids begin to churn, telling him his time alive was now up. He covered his eyes sorrowfully as the slimy stomach walls made him slide back into the gastric acids. He didn't want to see his death, it was too much. He felt the burning sensations flare up again as he was taken under before feeling himself get sucked down…
That was all Brian could remember from earlier. He wasn't completely sure how he survived getting digested, but he must have strayed off course into another organ somewhere. He guessed that he must have got out of the small intestine somehow and got dumped into the appendix. As for the rest, the place with the red tubes everywhere had to have been the kidneys and those globs that nearly torched his leg were white blood cells. Once he took a trip inside the tubes, which had to be blood vessels, he traveled up her spine and finally ended up here.
And he was standing on her brain.
"Brian…Brian?! What's going on over there?! You're not saying anything, so what's happening?! Brian?!"
Brian's face went pale as all color drained from his body. He was treading through Luan's insides the entire time, a scenario he didn't want to experience. Everything up to this point suddenly was too much for Brian to handle, and he knew there was no way out of this. He was going to be stuck inside Luan's body for the rest of his life, and he thought before how there was a glimmer of hope to surviving at the size he was at. Now it was hopeless.
He collapsed onto the ground of Luan's brain completely out of it in a fetal position.
"It's gone…never getting out…inside her…Luan…so horrible…so very horrible…"
Lisa tried to get Brian's attention by pounding on the screen. She could see that he was suffering from his emotions and needed her help to snap out of it.
"Brian! You have to tell me what's going on! Please, I can help if you tell me!"
All Lisa could see on the other side of the screen was a shell of a boy muttering to himself as he lay on a pink weird surface. With him out of the picture, she was going to have to do things the hard way and figure things out for herself. She brainstormed on the words Brian was currently muttering about, the angles she saw, and the obstacles she saw Brian go through. Something had to tie them together, and Lisa needed to know what it is. All of the thoughts started to give her a headache, for even a genius like she got strains when calculating tough numbers. She rubbed the sides of her head as she couldn't let a little headache stop her from finding out-
The wires connected and sparked.
"Oh dear…"
She grabbed the monitor looking over Brian as she bolted out of the room. She needed to get to Luan as soon as possible before something happened. She was so focused that she failed to notice Lori on the phone walking up the stairs with a plate of pizza bites. She seemed to be playfully speaking to Bobby over the phone.
"No, you hang up silly! No, you hang up…wow; he actually hung up on me."
Lisa zipped past Lori causing the older sibling to spin around silly in a cartoon fashion. It almost made her drop her plate so she angrily looked at Lisa.
"Hey, I'm trying to deliver dinner to Brian here!" Lori said.
"He's not going to eat that when he's stuck inside Luan's head!" Lisa replied in a flustered and hasty manner. Lori cocked an eyebrow as Lisa made her way to Luna's and Luan's room. Not exactly getting what her younger sister was trying to say about Brian, Lori followed in curiosity.
As for Luan, she spent most of her time after pranking Leni in her room reading up on potential jokes she could use for later while sitting in her bed. She didn't think much on the stunt Leni did to her, although she did get a few cramps in her lower abdomen earlier. Luna wasn't in the room at the time, giving her more personal space as she read up on new potential jokes.
"Heheheh, that's a good one. I'll make a note of that for later." Luan said to herself as she read up on a good punchline. Before she could read further, the door swung open as a hyperactive and rabid looking Lisa burst into the room, eyes locked on Luan.
"Woah Lisa, what's got you so worked up?" Luan asked. "Did you lose some chemicals or-"
"LIE DOWN ON YOUR BACK!"
Lisa lunged right on Luan like a madman and tried as best as she could to pin her to the bed. Lori came in with a look of disbelief as Luan started to get angry.
"Lisa, you aren't Lynn during a wrestling match so get off of me! What has gotten into you?!" Luan exclaimed. Not wanting the incident to continue, Lori set her pizza bites on a nearby dresser before running over and trying to pry the insane Lisa off her other sister.
"This is literally not the time to do this!" Lori spoke up.
"BUT IT IS!" Lisa shouted. "BRIAN IS STUCK IN LUAN'S HEAD AND CAN'T GET OUT!"
Upon hearing what Lisa said, Lori suddenly let go of Lisa while Luan tilted her head up to face Lisa.
"What do you mean by that?" Lori and Luan asked.
Brian saw nothing but red shrouds around him as he heard the insidious laughter again and again. He managed to succumb to coming back to this nightmarish realm, although he wasn't sure how he got here in the first place from Luan's brain.
"HAHAHAHAHAH…HAHAHAHAH!"
Each one drilled into his head and it was horrendous. Not only did he just take a trip through Luan's insides, but now he found himself back to this realm of suffering. He needed to find a way out, but he didn't know where to look. Everything was nothing but red, not a single other color in sight…
…except for the small patch of blue.
Among the endless laughter and pain was a little portion of blue that gave off a different noise. Brian remembered seeing it in this place earlier, and it gave off completely different vibes to the realm around it. Now that he had a better look at it, he could see droplets fall from all around it. There was a low emitting noise he could hear around it even through the mad laughter from everywhere.
"Where…gone…empty…need comfort…fault…help…"
"Brian, please speak up!"
The voice instantly snapped Brian out of his emotional stasis. He took a quick look around, seeing that he was still in the confines of Luan's head, before looking down to where the voice came from. It came from Lisa's watch, but instead of her face on the screen Lori's was there instead.
"Lori…is that you?" Brian asked. He could see her on the other side with a calming smile.
"Brian! Thank heavens; I was literally worried to death here!" Lori replied. "You alright?"
"Ummmm, I'm…still a bit shaken up." Brian said. "I really want to get out of here but I think there's no way to do so. I…I…"
"There's quite a contrary actually." Lisa said as she showed her face on screen with Lori. Brian was all ears for what Lisa had in mind.
"You should be able to crawl out of Luan's ears without serious repercussions. There should be a tunnel next to the brain that should-"
"He better not mess with anything in there! I have perfect jokes that I want to remember for later!"
The voice rang through Brian's hearing like a loud band. He could see Lori and Lisa look to their sides, with Lisa even rolling her eyes, before the image shifted over to an unimpressed Luan lying down on her bed.
"Oh, uhhhhh, Luan, errrrrr…" Brian stuttered. "Ummmmm…sorry if I'm intruding on personal space…quite literally in fact."
"It's okay; I know you didn't mean to do it." Luan said. "Just please find a way out without damaging anything else. I can tell you clearly want an out of body experience right now."
Brian chuckled.
"Okay, I have to admit that was a good one." Brian responded. Even with the current situation, Luan always had jokes at the ready to keep spirits up. The image shifted back to Lori and Lisa as Brian began walking towards a tunnel near him, which lead to one of Luan's ears. Unfortunately, he failed to realize that he was still on top of Luan's brain and that there was a drop to the ground below until it was too late, causing him to fall through the air. To add insult to injury, there was another tunnel on the ground below him that he ended up falling into; leading to another part Brian didn't know about.
Lori and Lisa were mortified to see Brian go off course. The guaranteed way of escaping Luan's body had flown out the window, and the two struggled to pinpoint where he was going to end up next.
"Oh no, nonononono!" Lori exclaimed. "He's off course! Lisa, please tell me you know where he's going to end up!"
"I'm trying to figure that out! I can't concentrate closely through anxiety like this!" Lisa answered.
"WHAT?! HE'S GOING SOMEWHERE ELSE IN MY BODY?!" Luan exclaimed, clearly ticked off. "I CAN'T KEEP GOING THROUGH STUFF LIKE-"
Luan stopped as she felt a twitch in her face before a certain feeling slowly came forward. She sniffed vigorously as she felt a big one coming forward, catching the attention of Lori and Lisa who backed away to give some room.
"aaaaa…aaaAAAAA…AAAAAAAAAAAA…CHOOOOOOOOOO!"
She let it loose ahead of her, but something very surprisingly also flew out of her nose. Some low pitched yelling felt like it was flowing through the air, and while it was quite small both Lori and Lisa caught on quickly as an image materialized among them. Their eyes went wide as the figure fell straight on one of Luna's drums, making a small sound as the figure made impact with it. Just as it made contact, Lori and Lisa, along with Luan who got up off the bed, rushed over to the scene and were ecstatic to see it in one piece.
The figure held its head in massive dizziness.
"Ugh…is…is it all over…and when did all of you get triplets?"
After the three Louds made sure Brian was okay, the tiny boy sat in the living room watching some TV. He had some tissue paper wrapped around his left leg from the injury earlier as he sat comfortably on the couch, which Lisa, Lori, and Luan had to explain to their other siblings so they wouldn't get left in the dark. Leni was especially apologetic, for it was her goof that started all of it in the first place, which Brian accepted despite the fact that her "less than average" smarts almost got him killed for a second time. He was still a bit shaken up over the experience, so he chose to stay quiet and let the TV satisfy him. Even so, there was also that weird shade of blue he encountered when he spaced out earlier…
He heard something snort next to him and when he turned to see he was greeted by the biggest face of a turtle he had ever seen. He jolted upward before seeing a set of hands pick it up, giving him a clear picture on who came to see him.
"Now there, don't go wandering off now!" Lana said to the turtle before looking down and seeing the tiny boy. "Oh, hi Brian!"
"Hi there Lana!" Brian replied back. "You finally got that turtle, huh?"
"Yup, and he's pretty sweet!" Lana stated. "He's still a bit curious about the house so he's still getting out of his cage. Hops and I are still teaching him though!"
"That might take a while considering he was eying me back there." Brian replied. "So did you name him Xavier like you wanted earlier?"
Lana quickly turned to the side and looked down at her new turtle, showing a hint of uneasiness as the emotionless turtle gazed back at her.
"Ummmm, well…I…kind of changed my mind on that…"
"How so?" Brian asked.
"Well…" Lana started. She turned back to face Brian.
"I thought of something else to name him and, well…I named him after you."
This surely surprised the shrunken boy. He surely thought Xavier would be a good name but then she threw him a curveball and named the turtle Brian after himself. Something must have caused her to change her mind.
"Errrrrrr, wow, that's quite something that I wasn't expecting." Brian responded. "What warranted the change?"
Lana looked down and stuttered for a bit.
"Well…you…you have been with us for over half a year and…there's been a rollercoaster of events that's been happening around here since you came. The constant appearances of rifts, dinosaurs appearing, other dimensions, and even completely different people showing up through those rifts…they were some of the most amazing things to have happened to us of all families out there. I can't help but eagerly wait on what crazy thing might happen next, so I couldn't help but name this little guy after the one that started it all."
Lana specially smiled at the tiny boy who couldn't help but smile back.
"You will also have something to remember me by once my memories return and I get back to my normal size." Brian stated. Lana's smile slowly faded as she had on a grim look.
"Something wrong?" Brian asked. Lana sighed.
"A little bit actually." Lana replied. "It's…with all of the incidents you brought to us, I just…can't bear to see you leave us. It's so cool to actually have someone like you staying with us; I often forget that you still have a life you are trying to remember. You're…like a brother to me."
He could see where Lana was coming from. Not being much of a hassle, an absolute joy to be around, it was no wonder she was upset. Once Lisa cures him of his amnesia and fixes his size problem he was going out the door back to where he came from, and he knew that it wasn't going to be easy for the Loud siblings especially to the ones that felt really close to him. He knew Lana was one of them, and she didn't want to see him go.
"I…appreciate you thinking of me that way." Brian responded. "I don't think you should be worrying about it for now, I'm still miles away from getting cured and we still have the whole rift business to figure out in the meantime. Besides, even when I'm back to normal I won't forget about all of the generosity you provided me, and even when I go back to where I came from I'll make sure to come by and visit you. You're too special of a girl for me to forget."
Lana's frown flipped back around as Brian swore he heard her sniff a little. She really was close to him more than he thought.
"…thank you." Lana quietly said as she ruffled Brian's hair with one of her fingers.
"Watch the leg, it's still healing!" Brian replied.
"Say…" Lana spoke up. "When your leg gets all better, you want to help me train Brian the turtle? I could always use the extra effort."
"I would be happy to." Brian replied.
"Thanks little guy!" Lana responded. "Good timing too, for he's getting a bit antsy right now."
Brian the turtle moved his arms and legs in the air erratically to try and get free, so Lana had to cut things short and rush back up to her room to put him in his new cage. This caused the tiny boy to chuckle under his breath.
"Heh, she can never have too many reptiles." Brian said to himself as he got back to watching TV.