Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Ten reasons
Chapter twenty-six: The Riot part two- Pet sitting party
In the evening after most of the Loud family returned from Gus' Game n' Grub, they found the only Louds to not come, Lori, Leni and Luna, had taken on a rather big responsibility, that being that they were pet sitting for their friends, the Ace siblings, while the Aces were in the next state over, helping their grandaunt handle the final affairs of her husband, their granduncle, who had recently passed away.
Rita, the Loud matriarch, wasn't all that surprised to see Fenrir, Allison Ace's pet Tibetan Mastiff, as she had seen the large dog a few times before; Fenrir had even been over on one occasion, acting as a taste-tester for a unique kind of dog biscuit that Lisa had invented. Granted, the dog's sheer size made her a bit wary at first, but that was in the past; it helped that Fenrir was essentially a living teddy bear.
What did throw Rita for a bit of a loop was seeing the other two animals that her three oldest daughters had taken responsibility for; a skunk and a fox. At first Rita thought that some of the animals that Lana looks after had gotten loose, but she had been informed by Lori that both the skunk and the fox did indeed belong to the Ace family.
"Father is right in regard to the fact that skunks and foxes can be legally kept as pets in this state," Lisa informed her mother, "So long as the appropriate laws and regulations are followed."
"What about pet sitting those animals?" Rita asked.
"Allison and her family literally won't be gone long enough for that to be a problem, mom," Lori replied, "Besides, with all of the emergency workers still helping out with the ongoing wildfire, I literally doubt that the police are going to bother us about Spirit and Kyubi."
"Are those their names?" Lana asked as she stroked the back of the pet skunk on Luna's lap.
"Oh yeah," Lincoln remarked, "I actually saw them a few times when I was over at the Ace residence for kendo lessons a while back. Spirit is Amy's pet skunk, and Kyubi is Aggro-sensei's pet fox."
Watching the red fox hop onto the sofa and yip at Cliff the cat to go away, Lana remarked, "Man, he doesn't like playing with Cliff, does he?"
"Kyubi is actually a girl," Lori explained, "And Cliff is literally bothering her, so you've got to figure."
"Is it safe to keep a skunk in the house?" Lola asked, "I mean, they can leave a really terrible smell all over the place."
"Spirit is a pet skunk, Lola," Lisa began, "Which means that he's obviously been deodorized."
"Deodorized?" Lola repeated in a confused tone.
"The thing that allows skunks to produce the quote unquote 'really terrible smell' are two glands that produce a liquid mix," Lisa began to explain in simple terms, "It's that liquid mix that makes the really terrible smell. When someone says that a skunk has been deodorized, that means that the glands have been surgically removed."
"Well that stinks," Lana remarked, "I was hoping that he could still make that smell. It would have been fun to see Lola's reaction to smelling it."
"No way!" Lola exclaimed, and the two twins proceeded to get into a fight that was soon broken up by their older brother.
"Thanks for that, Lincoln," Lori remarked. To the family as a whole, Lori continued, "Look, Leni, Luna and I are sorry if this came out of the blue. But Allison, Aggro and Amy are close friends of ours, and we do kind of owe them."
"Well," Lynn Sr. replied, "A skunk and a fox aren't any more unusual compared to some of the other animals I've seen Lana handle, so I don't see why not."
"And that skunk seems like an absolute sweetheart," Rita remarked.
"Amy said that Spirit loves being with people," Luna said as she continued to pet the skunk that was on her lap.
"What about the fox, though?" Rita asked, "It's been bothering Cliff, so shouldn't we keep it away from him?"
"Aggro's fox totes isn't bothering Cliff," Leni stated, "It's, like, the other way around. If anything, Cliff should totes be kept away from her." Looking back over to where Kyubi was, she was now standing on the closest arm of the sofa to the family as a whole; she seemed intent on yipping at Cliff to go away. Sighing, Rita walked over and collected Cliff; seeing the cat being taken away seemed to have calmed down the nervous vixen.
"Well girls," Rita said to her three oldest daughters, "If you think you can handle looking after your friends' pets for them, then I don't see why I should say no. And I'm certain that your siblings wouldn't mind pitching in to help, assuming you let them, of course."
"Oh, Kyubi totes loves being petted by Linky," Leni remarked, "I remember that from when Linky went over for sword-fighting lessons from Aggro."
"And I still have a box of the special dog biscuits that Lisa invented," Lana stated, "I can split it with Fenrir if he wants."
"Spirit is free to join me, Charles, Cliff, Walt and Geo for seances if he wishes," Lucy offered. Rita and Lynn Sr. both chuckled a bit. Lori chuckled a bit as well, amused and more than a little grateful that her siblings would be behind her on this one. The next few days in the Loud family residence were going to be very interesting indeed.
Lori could not believe it; she and her beloved Bobby Boo-Boo Bear were standing together alone on a beach at sunset, looking into each other's eyes. The setting, the time of day, Bobby himself; ooh, Lori could not believe how literally perfect everything was. If only this moment would last forever, then the oldest Loud sibling would be happy.
"Ooh, this is literally the most romantic outing that we've ever had, Boo-Boo Bear," Lori cooed as she gently hugged her boyfriend, "Will this last forever?"
In response, Bobby gently stroked Lori's left cheek with the back of his hand, getting Lori to look up at his eyes after the gentle, loving gesture. Bobby then leaned in closer towards Lori's face, making Lori's eyes widen in anticipation; was her Boo-Boo Bear going to kiss her? Ooh, that would be so-
Lori's thought stopped suddenly when her Boo-Boo Bear, for reasons that escaped her, licked the side of her face. "B-Bobby," Lori said in a tone of surprise, "That was…rather bold." In response to Lori's comment, Bobby made a sort-of grumbling sound, which sounded like it actually came from some sort of animal, probably a dog. A confused look on her face, Lori said, "Huh?"
…
In real life, Lori was currently lying in bed, having a dream about her Boo-Boo Bear, while Fenrir, who wandered into Lori's and Leni's room, was standing next to Lori's bed. Grumbling in a mildly confused tone, Fenrir started to lick Lori's face while he wagged his tail, thinking that licking the human's face would get the human to wake up.
Slowly, Lori woke up, and the first thing she saw was a large dog licking her face. Eyes widening in surprise, Lori jolted awake and scooted away from Fenrir, going, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Seeing that Lori was now awake, Fenrir gave a happy sounding woof before lowering his head to the floor, picking something up, and tossing it onto Lori's bed.
Seeing the dog leash that Fenrir tossed onto her bed, Lori sighed in a resigned tone. "Hey Leni," Lori called out as she turned to face the direction of her sister's bed, "We've got to-" Lori stopped short upon seeing that Kyubi was standing on Leni's bed, trying to wake Leni up the same way that Fenrir just woke herself (Lori) up.
Leni was obviously still asleep, as she seemed to be talking in her sleep, giggling a bit. "Ooh, you're, like, totes bold, Aggro," Leni said as she was talking in her sleep, but she was cut off before her sleep talking could continue.
"Leni!" Lori called out at a much louder volume. Lori's shout must have worked, because Leni shot awake right away. Sitting straight up, accidentally shoving Kyubi off to the side somewhat, Leni removed her sleep mask and turned to face her older sister. "Oh, good morning, Lori," Leni greeted in a friendly tone. The fashionable Loud sibling noticed right away that the young vixen that she and her siblings were watching was sitting on her bed next to her.
"Ooh, and good morning to you to, Kyubi," Leni greeted as she petted the female fox's head gently, "I had a really good dream last night. You wanna hear about it while I'm making myself a smoothie for breakfast?" Kyubi gave a friendly sounding yip as her tail gently swished back and forth.
"Leni, we should literally walk the pets as soon as possible," Lori pointed out to her younger sister, "And not just the pets that we're watching for Allison and her siblings. We should also give Charles a walk as well."
"Just let me do my morning getting-ready routine," Leni said, "I've totes got to brush out my hair, you know."
Sighing, Lori said, "Whatever. Just don't take too long, alright?"
Out of the Loud siblings, Lori, Leni, Luna, and Lincoln were walking Fenrir, Kyubi, Spirit and Charles respectively. Although Leni, Luna and Lincoln had no trouble keeping ahold of the animals that they were walking, Lori wasn't walking Fenrir, so much as the Tibetan Mastiff was dragging Lori along behind him; the oldest Loud sibling was having great difficulty in trying to keep Fenrir's leash from getting out of her grasp.
"Allison must literally be the toughest girl at school if she can walk a dog like this no problem on the daily basis!" Lori cried out as Fenrir was excitedly going all over as he was being walked.
"He's just happy to be out for some fresh air, brah," Luna remarked, "I mean, look at Charles. He's just the same." Lori looked to where Charles was practically hopping around out of excitement as Lincoln was walking him.
"Yes, but Charles is literally much smaller," Lori pointed out, a bit calmer since Fenrir stopped to sniff a fire hydrant, thus he wasn't yanking her all over the place. Sighing, Lori continued, "The next time I have to take Fenrir for a walk, I'm getting two extra leashes and two of our sisters to help me control him."
"He totes can't be that bad, Lori," Leni remarked.
"You try walking Fenrir on your own, then," Lori replied in a dry, bemused tone.
Later that morning, Lori was sitting on one end of the sofa in the living room, with Leni sitting on the other end. Kyubi was laying on the fashionable Loud sibling's lap, clearly enjoying Leni gently stroking her back. "Aww," Leni cooed to Kyubi as the vixen tried rolling over onto her back in hopes that Leni would stroke her stomach, "You're, like, totes adorable!"
Seeing her younger sister petting the pet fox that they were watching, Lori could not help but smirk in an amused manner. "You know, Leni," Lori began, "For a fox, Kyubi is surprisingly tame. She's literally like a house cat with the personality of an affectionate puppy."
"Is that why I saw her using Cliff's litter box earlier?" Leni asked as she turned to face her older sister.
With a mildly confused look on her face, Lori remarked, "Well that might explain why Cliff has been bothering her a lot." The two oldest Loud siblings turned their attention back to the TV, which was playing some sort of show girls in their age group liked to watched. As the two girls watched the show, Fenrir came walking over. Using his nose, the Tibetan Mastiff nudged Lori's hand that was resting on the arm of the sofa, getting Lori's attention.
"Oh, hey Fenrir," Lori greeted, "What do you-" Lori was cut off when Fenrir hopped up onto the sofa then tried crawling onto Lori's lap, making the oldest Loud sibling cry out in surprise. When Fenrir was as much into Lori's lap as he could get, he proceeded to lay out. Although Lori thought that Fenrir crawling onto her lap was way too much, Leni thought the sight of it was kind of cute.
"Aww," Leni gushed, "Allison was right! Her dog thinks that he's a lap dog!"
"But he's literally way too big to be a lap dog!" Lori remarked as she tried, and failed, to shove Fenrir out of her lap. After about half a minute, Lori just flumped back against the sofa in defeat, hoping that Fenrir would get up off of her lap soon enough of his own accord.
Later, Luna was in the garage, setting up to practice her guitar playing. She even had a few of her younger siblings helping her set up; specifically, Lincoln, Lisa, Lola and Lana. As they were getting everything ready, Lana said to Lola, "Wait a minute, you had Amy's skunk come to one of your tea parties?"
"Well mom had a point about how Spirit is really affectionate," Lola pointed out, "Plus he knew what to do at the tea party. I think that it wasn't the first tea party that he's been to."
"Oh yeah, little dude," Luna remarked to her pageant winning sister, "Amy said that her little sister Anna usually corrals all of the family pets into playing tea party with her from time to time. Amy says that she doesn't really like it all that much when Anna tries to put an outfit of some sort onto Spirit."
With a mildly annoyed tone, Lola said, "Well due to the last time I had Charles and Cliff at a tea party, they tore up the outfits that I put on them for-" Lola was cut off when Luan came into the garage suddenly.
"Hey, have any of you seen my video camera?" Luan asked.
"Why are you looking for your video camera, Luan?" Lincoln replied.
"You all know about that one animated movie with the bunny cop and her fox partner?" Luan began, and after everyone nodded in the affirmative, Luan said, "Yeah, I was planning on trying to recreate a scene from that movie, using Gary and Kyubi. I got both of them waiting in the living room together, so now all I need to do is-"
"Excuse me for a moment," Lisa interrupted, "But did I just hear you correctly when you said that you left your pet rabbit alone with Aggro's pet fox?"
With a mildly confused look on her face, Luan said, "How is that a problem?"
"Domesticated or not, Kyubi is still a fox," Lisa explained, "If you leave a rabbit alone with her, chances are that Kyubi will attack it, kill it, then try to eat it."
"Oh no!" Luan exclaimed as she turned around and ran back into the house, with her siblings following behind her. Upon entering the living room, they saw Gary, Luan's pet rabbit, sitting on the coffee table, a toy police badge laying on the coffee table next to him. Sighing in relief, Luan said, "Thank goodness that Gary's okay."
"Wait a minute," Lincoln said, "If Gary's still there, what happened to Kyubi?" Suddenly, Lincoln and the others heard Leni cry out in mild alarm from the kitchen. They all ran to see what happened, and to their relief, Leni was alright. There were a number of blueberries on the floor of the kitchen, though.
"Leni, what happened?" Luna asked.
"I was, like, trying to make a blueberry smoothie," Leni explained, "But I accidentally dropped the container of blueberries that we got, and now they're all over the floor, and now I can't use them to make a smoothie." As the Loud siblings all turned their attention to the floor where the blueberries were scattered, Kyubi wandered into the kitchen, walked over to the spilled berries, and began to eat them off of the floor.
"Ha!" Luan exclaimed in amusement as she pointed to where the young vixen was helping to clean up the mess in her own way, "A fox is eating blueberries!" The others all thought that the sight was kind of amusing as well.
Lucy was having another one of her seances, as per usual. Charles, Cliff, Walt and Geo had come to take part in the séance, as they do from time to time. Fangs, Lucy's pet bat, was perched next to Walt; the two flying animals sat next to each other as if they were good friends. "Okay, everyone," Lucy said to the gathered animals, "We're about ready to communicate with-"
Lucy was cut off when she heard an animal make some sort of noise. Turing in the direction the noise came from, Lucy and the animals saw Spirit standing there. The deodorized skunk wandered over to the table where Lucy had everything set up, and then sniffed the table out of curiosity. Seeing the skunk's interest, Lucy cracked a small but amused smile.
"Would you like to join us, Spirit?" Lucy offered, getting the skunk's attention in the process, "We're about to communicate with the incorporeal beings that you're named after." Spirit wandered over to where Lucy sat and nuzzled his head against the side of her leg. The gothic Loud sibling gently petted Spirit, which obviously made the deodorized skunk happy.
"I'll take that as a yes," Lucy remarked.
Up in Lori and Leni's room, Leni was working on something over at her sewing machine while Lori was laying on her bed, talking on her smartphone to her Bobby Boo-Boo Bear. "That's great to hear, Boo-Boo Bear," Lori said into the phone, "I knew your grandfather had a bright idea when he let you help out at-" Lori was cut off when Fenrir hopped up onto Lori's bed, making the oldest loud sibling cry out in surprise.
"No!" Lori said in an ordering tone to the Tibetan Mastiff, "Down, boy! Get off of my bed!" Speaking into her phone, Lori said, "Sorry, Bobby, but I literally have to go. One of the pets that my siblings and I are pet sitting clearly Fenrir you get back here with that teddy bear, Bobby got it for me!" Lori ended the call prematurely because Fenrir took a stuffed animal that was sitting on Lori's bed near her pillows and hopped off of the bed.
Putting her smartphone on her nightstand, Lori got off of her bed and stood on the floor, giving Fenrir a firm glare. "Don't you dare do anything to that bear," Lori said in a warning tone, "My boyfriend Bobby won that for me at a game booth when we had a date to the last carnival that was here in Royal Woods before Bobby's family moved out of town!" Fenrir just stood there, looking up at Lori, as he wagged his tail. "Leni," Lori said without taking her eyes off of the dog that took her teddy bear hostage, "I literally need your help in getting Fenrir to return the teddy bear that Bobby got for me!"
"Come on, boy," Leni said in a kind tone after taking a break from her sewing. Turing around on the stool she was sitting on, Leni continued, "Please be a sweetie and return the teddy bear, okay?" Turning to regard Leni, Fenrir walked over to her, deposited the teddy bear in her lap, then proceeded to nuzzle his head into Leni's lap, knocking the teddy bear off in the process. With an amused giggle, Leni started petting Fenrir's head.
"See, Lori?" Leni remarked, "All he wanted was some attention. You really ought to spend some time playing with Fenrir and the other pets that we're watching for Aggro and his sisters." Lori walked over, picked up her teddy bear, and held it as she looked down to where Fenrir stood next to Leni.
"Well he literally didn't have to steal my teddy bear to get my attention," Lori remarked in a mildly bemused tone. Walking back over to her bed, Lori laid her teddy bear back where it was originally sitting before the Tibetan Mastiff took it. Turning around, Lori said, "If I can get two extra leashes and two of our siblings to help me, I can take Fenrir for a walk."
After her experience from the first time she tried to walk Allison's Tibetan Mastiff, Lori felt literally justified in getting two of her siblings to help her keep a hold on the large, powerful dog. Luckily for Lori, she ended up getting Lynn and Luna, who Lori felt were arguably the two most physically powerful of the Loud siblings, to help her with walking Fenrir.
"Wow, Lori," Lynn remarked as she, Lori and Luna each held one of the three leashes that Lori had attached to Fenrir's collar, "You weren't kidding when you said that you needed help walking this dog!" Even though she, Lori and Luna were all working together to keep Fenrir in check, the athletic Loud sibling could tell full well that, were she alone in walking the dog, that even she would be dragged all over the place.
"Now you see why I literally didn't want to have to walk Fenrir again unless I got help to do it," Lori replied to Lynn, "There's no way I would have been able to control-"
"Well I'll be," a familiar older male voice called out, getting the three Loud sisters to look over; the girls were walking past the house of their next-door neighbor Mr. Grouse, and he was out checking his mailbox. He looked over and saw that Lori, Luna and Lynn were walking Fenrir. "Hey Louds," Mr. Grouse said in a conversational tone of mild surprise, "You never said that you all had a Tibetan Mastiff."
"Wait a minute, Mr. G," Luna said to her family's older neighbor, "How do you know what kind of dog Fenrir is?"
"I've had a hand in raising and breeding Tibetan Mastiffs here in the Royal Woods area for well over thirty years, young lady," Mr. Grouse replied, "No finer breed of dog out there, if you ask me. Unfortunately, I had to step out of the business when age started making things difficult for me. Can you imagine a man my age trying to walk a dog like that on my own?"
"Why do you think I literally had to get two of my siblings to help me walk my friend's dog?" Lori remarked in a bemused tone.
"Oh, your family didn't really get a new dog?" Mr. Grouse said.
"Luna, Leni and I agreed to pet sit for friends of ours while they're out of state for a few days," Lori explained. Gesturing to the dog that she and her sisters were walking, Lori continued, "Fenrir here is my friend Allison's dog." Fenrir, out of friendly curiosity, walked over to the Louds' older neighbor, sniffed at his shins, then looked over to one of Mr. Grouse's hands and proceeded to start licking it. Chuckling out of amusement, Mr. Grouse proceeded to pet Fenrir with his free hand, which only served to make Fenrir wag his tail.
"Hoo boy, this sure brings back memories," Mr. Grouse replied, his tone showing that he was recalling fond memories of the past. Looking up from Fenrir to the girls, Mr. Grouse said, "Well, I suppose I bothered you three enough. I ought to let you continue on your way."
"See ya later, Mr. Grouse," Lynn said as she and her older siblings took their leave to continue walking Fenrir. The large dog then shot forward, dragging three girls behind him.
Later that day, as the Loud siblings were in the living room watching TV, their father Lynn Sr. came through the front door, having returned from work. "Hey dad," Luna greeted when she turned to face the door upon hearing it open and seeing her dad walk in, "How was work?"
"Work was good enough," Lynn Sr. replied in a mildly concerned tone, and with a look of concern on his face as well. Neither of these went unnoticed by his children.
"Dad, what happened?" Lincoln asked, "You look like something bad happened."
"Well, not at work," Lynn Sr. replied, "But during a break that Sergei and I took, Sergei saw a news report on his new smartphone, concerning that trial taking place in the city where the Santiagos moved to."
"Oh yeah, my Boo-Boo Bear told me about that trial," Lori remarked as her tone started getting just a little bit apprehensive, "What happened?"
"According to what Sergei saw on the news report, the police officers that were on trial were all acquitted," Lynn Sr. said, "And as soon as word of the officers getting acquitted got out, a lot of the locals were…less than thrilled, to say the least."
"The officers were acquitted?" Leni asked, "Like, what does that mean?"
"It basically means that the judge let them off the hook, Leni," Lori replied, "But that's literally not the point right now." To the Loud family patriarch, Lori said, "Dad, did Sergei say anything else about the news report he saw on his-"
"Oh, here's a breaking news report that may interest everyone," Lisa said as she had a laptop on her lap, "Apparently, a full blown city-wide riot is currently going on over in the city where the trial took place."
"A RIOT?!" the other Loud siblings (aside from Lily for obvious reasons) all exclaimed in unison. The look on Lynn Sr.'s face confirmed that what Lisa had said was right.
Further scanning the article that she was looking at, Lisa said, "According to reports, at least eighty-nine people so far have been confirmed to have been killed. Most of those who have been killed are persons of Hispanic heritage, having been targeted by persons of the racial groups that the teenagers beaten by the officers all belong to."
"This can't be real, brah," Luna remarked in a shocked tone as she gently shook her head in the negative, "This can't be-"
"I'm heading over there right now," Lori said suddenly, cutting Luna off in the process. Turning to face Lynn Sr. Lori said, "Dad, I literally need the keys to Vanzilla."
"No way, young lady," Lynn Sr. replied in a firm but understanding tone, "Not only is that far too much distance for you to go off in, but you heard what Lisa said. A city-wide riot is going on over there at the moment. People have even been killed."
"But my Boo-Boo Bear is in danger!" Lori replied, "Not only is he smack dab in the middle of that riot, but he could be targeted by mad rioters, simply because of his heritage! If something happens to him, I literally have no idea what I'd do!"
"Can't you, like, call Bobby to see if he's okay?" Leni suggested, "It would save a lot of time."
Realizing that she was not going to be able to head over to where beloved was so she could be there for him, Lori took her smartphone out and proceeded to call Bobby, hoping that calling him would not put him in any danger. Lori even walked up the stairs and into her and Leni's room, as she had a feeling that she was going to get very emotional as she talked on the phone.
…
After about half an hour, Lori came back down stairs, tear stains running down the side of her face. "Bobby is safe," Lori said to her worried family, "He and his grandfather managed to get to the safety of their home. Bobby's grandmother, as well as his cousins Carl and Carlitos, are also safely at home. And Mrs. Santiago is currently working at the local hospital, so she's safe too."
"Wait, you said that one of Bobby's boy cousins went missing, right?" Lynn Sr. asked, "What about that Carlota boy?"
"Carlota is a girl, dad," Lori pointed out, "Bobby told me it that was his cousin Carlos who went missing."
"Jeez, that can't be good," Lincoln said in a concerned tone; he remembered the time he played around with the oldest of the three Casagrande boys. Lincoln thought that Carlos was a good kid, and as such, he sincerely hoped that he'd be found, safe and sound.
"Wait, what about the rest of Bobby's family?" Lynn asked as she and the rest of the Loud siblings turned to face their oldest sister.
Taking a breath to steady herself, Lori said, "Bobby told me that…that his aunt, uncle, cousin Carlota and Ronnie Anne were not home at the time I talked to him. They're all unaccounted for." Struggling to keep from losing it, Lori said, "Bobby, his youngest cousins and their grandparents have no idea about how any of their unaccounted family members are doing right now, and not knowing that is tearing them apart inside."
"That is…that is a feeling that all of here can sympathize with," Lisa remarked aloud, a hint of hesitancy in her usually dry monotone, "After all, considering what happened close to three months ago…" The brainy Loud sibling, her gaze shifting to her older brother, didn't finish her sentence, trailing off instead.
The Louds all wore looks of concerned worry on their faces, but none were more worried than Lori and Lincoln. After all, the two of them each has someone very close to them who is in great danger; Lincoln was especially worried, as Ronnie Anne is currently unaccounted for. The animals, both those owned by the Louds and the three pets owned by the Aces, sensed the mood, prompting them to all meander over to the humans to try and comfort them by nudging against them, and overall just being there for them.
A few days after the Louds got news of the riot, the three oldest Loud siblings were getting breakfast in the kitchen when they heard a knock at the door. It was Lori who answered the door, and to her surprise, Allison Ace, along with her younger twin brother Aggro and their fifteen-year-old sister Amy, were standing at the door. "We have returned to Royal Woods victorious," Allison said to the oldest Loud sibling, "And thus we are here to collect our pets, as well as pay you and your family for the service of watching our pets for us."
Lori was relieved that the Aces had finally returned, and a little excited since she and her siblings were about to be paid. Since they had to watch Fenrir, Kyubi and Spirit for a few days longer than anticipated, Lori hoped that she and her siblings would be paid a little extra. However, all thought of payment fled Lori's mind when she realized that Allison spoke in a tone that sounded like Allison was both too tired and too shocked to express anything else. The look on Allison's face was of a similar disposition as Allison's tone, and both the look on Aggro's face and the look on Amy's face matched that of Allison's.
"…Are you three okay?" Lori asked, concern clear in her tone.
"We are…exhausted is all," Allison explained, "Our time assisting our grandaunt took a rather interesting turn."
"Interesting…how?" Lori asked, sounding like she was afraid of what the female Ace twin would say. As Lori stood at the door, Leni and Luna came wandering over, and thus they saw the three oldest Ace siblings.
"Hey Aggro!" Leni greeted in a happy, cheerful tone, "So you and your sisters are here to pick up your pets, huh? Well let me tell you that they were, like, total angels while we were watching them, Kyubi especially."
"I'm…glad to hear that my pet and the pets of my sisters apparently behaved themselves while we were gone, Leni," Aggro said, his tone sounding drained, similar to that of Allison's. It was then that Leni and Luna noticed the drained, tired, dare they say shell-shocked looks on the faces of the Ace siblings.
"Dudes, are you guys okay?" Luna asked, a look of concern on her face.
"Allison said that something came up while she and her siblings were with their grandaunt," Lori said. Turning to regard the Ace siblings, Lori asked, "What happened, exactly?"
"I don't suppose you heard of that city-wide riot that took place, did you?" Amy asked, "It finally ended late yesterday afternoon."
"Yeah, it was literally all over the news," Lori said, "Heck, new developments on news concerning the-"
"Our grandaunt lives in the city where the riot took place," Amy interrupted, cutting the oldest Loud sibling off in the process, and drawing shocked look out of Lori, Leni and Luna, "We were there when the violence broke out."
END, TEN REASONS CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Author's notes:
Remember when I said that I had a minor sub-plot for this story in mind for increased drama? You know, where one of Bobby's boy cousins goes missing? Well, after reviewing each of those three boys, I came to the conclusion that, regardless of which one I picked, I'd be playing with some rather serious fire. To be as fair as possible, I took a six-sided die, assigned Carlitos numbers one and two, Carl numbers three and four, Carlos Jr. numbers five and six, then rolled the die ten times, with whichever numbers I got determining which of the Casagrande boys would go missing. I ended up rolling Carlos Jr.'s numbers a total of six times.
Carlos Jr. being the one to go missing kind of reminds me of his ultimate fate in my 'Broken Mirror: New War' story. Rest assured that Carlos Jr.'s ultimate fate in THIS setting is, as of this moment, undecided. I'll be needing some time to figure out what exactly I want to do with Carlos Jr. in the 'Ten reasons' universe. I'll also be considring suggestions from comments, but only from ones that were made while the person was signed in (suggestions from guest comments will be ignored).
Anywho, the next chapter will not only wrap up this arc, but this story as a whole. For those who've stuck around since the beginning of Lynn's arc, thanks. To give you all fair warning, the next chapter will include some racial slurs, not to mention a lot of strong swearing and some VERY serious violence. You're about to see why exactly I gave this story the M rating.