Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
A collection of Loud House one-shots
Getting ready for the adventure to come, part two (Plot: Lori graduating from high school soon isn't something that will affect just her; the other Loud siblings are also getting ready to see the oldest of their number prep to head off to college. As for Lori herself, she and her friend Carol are still in the middle of gathering people for their last hurrah out of RWHS.)
In the backyard of the Loud family residence in Royal Woods, Michigan, six-year-old Lana had some of the family pets sitting in a line. She was walking back in forth in front of this line, as if she were an army general inspecting the troops. "Gentlemen, we have a very serious task lying ahead of all of us," the tomboyish Loud twin remarked, prompting the more attentive animals such as Charles and Cliff to turn to face here whenever she walked in front of them.
Stopping to stand approximately in the middle in front of the line of Loud family pets, Lana said, "Soon enough, my older sister Lori will be graduating from high school, meaning that she will be heading off to college soon. That being said, we need to do all that is within our power to make her send-off as awesome as possible! Lori needs to know that while we are happy to see her reach and move on with such an awesome milestone in her life, we will still be missing her here at the homestead!"
The animals, given that they are, of course, animals, had no idea what words were coming out of Lana's mouth. In fact, Geo the hamster fell over onto his side in his little hamster ball and went right to sleep. Lana gave a mildly exasperated sigh, seeing that she was failing to get through to Charles, Cliff and Geo. Lana got her family's pets' attention, pointed to further down the line where pets from other families waited in line.
One could see Lalo the mastiff who belonged to the Santiago-Casagrande family, and the pets belonging to the three oldest Ace siblings; Fenrir the Tibetan Mastiff, Kyubi the fox, and Spirit the skunk. "These guys here aren't even members of our family, yet all of them all know the importance of the upcoming graduation from Royal Woods High," Lana pointed out to the three pets of the Loud family, "Seriously! Lori is about to graduate and move out, meaning we-"
"LANA!" the shrill voice of Lola cried out in annoyance, cutting Lana off and making her turn to see her younger twin sister stomp into the backyard. The pageant-winning Loud sister clearly had an annoyed look on her face as she marched right over to her sister. Lola pointed to all of the pets from other families that was in the Loud family backyard. "What do you think you're doing with everyone's pets here?! Luna had to deal with panicked shouts over the phone from Bobby's cousin Carlota and Anna's older sister Amy! They're going to flip when they find out that you had their pets back here this whole time!"
"I'm trying to get them all to realize the gravity of the situation that's coming up shortly, Lola!" Lana explained, "Our own pets don't seem to realize it, but Carlota's dog and the pets from the Ace family all seem to get it that the upcoming graduation from Royal Woods High is a very big deal! I'm just trying to get them to impart the example that-"
Lana was cut off when the door to the backyard opened, and in rushed Carlota and Amy, the latter making a quick beeline for her pet skunk. Following after the two girls was Lori and her friend Carol, the former looking very unamused and the latter looking more confused than much anything else. Regardless, both twelfth-grade girls had their respective arms crossed over their chests as they both regarded Lana.
Lana, seeing all of the looks she was getting from the teenagers and couple of young adults, could not help but chuckle out of mildly panicked embarrassment, the kind that someone makes only when they were caught in the act.
Lynn and Luan were over at Royal Woods Mall, looking around for what to get for Lori as a joint gift from the two of them to congratulate her for graduating high school. Lori's passing from Royal Woods High meant a lot of changes, and not just for Lori herself; among other things, Lori's graduation meant that, soon enough, Lynn herself will enter high school; as for Luan, she'd be going up a grade, from freshman to sophomore.
"Hey Luan," Lynn began, getting her comedic older sister to turn to regard her, "Did Lori get her senior class ring yet? I mean, from what Lori and some of the folks in her grade were going on about it, the senior class ring is kind of a big deal. I was thinking that we could partly donate to the fund being saved up to get the ring for Lori, if we had the cash available for it afterwards."
Luan, her attention piqued by the proposition that Lynn had proposed, actually found it to be a sound idea. "…Hey, that doesn't sound too bad," Luan said, "That idea has a nice ring to it." Lynn looked expectantly at Luan for a couple of seconds in silence, eventually eliciting a mildly confused look out of Luan. "…What is it, Lynn?"
"You…" Lynn began, a mildly expectant hint in her tone, "…Aren't going to ask me 'get it' before laughing at your own pun like you always do?"
Luan continued to look at her sporty younger sister with an expression of lost confusion. "What do you mean I made a pun?" Lynn, a look of total disbelief on her face, proceeded to explain to Luan what she had missed. "…D'oh! I can't believe I missed that!" Luan gently shook her head in a hint of shame at herself for missing how she made such a pun. "Sorry Lynn, I guess that I'm too caught up in looking for what we can get Lori as a graduation gift that I'm not paying much mind to what I'm saying."
To be quite honest, Lynn was actually a bit amused by how her older sister, who loved comedy and prided herself on making puns, had been so caught up in what they were doing that she had totally missed the perfect pun that she had unknowingly made. "…Well hey," replied the sporty Loud sister, "If anything, I bet that Lori and the others will get a kick out of how you had missed how you made a pun just now."
Luan understood how some of her siblings would find a few laughs at her being oblivious to a pun that she had made, then proceeded to have a chuckle about it herself before she and Lynn got back to looking for what the two of them could get as a joint gift from them to Lori to celebrate her graduating from high school. Luan remembered that Lori and her friends liked to play golf, so she suggested to Lynn that they head to the sports store in the mall to see if they can get any nice golf accessories for Lori.
Lynn only needed to be told that they were heading to the sports store in the mall before she agreed to go along.
To say that Lisa was surprised at herself would be a bit of an understatement. The genius kindergartner would never have suspected herself to try and make an arts and crafts project willingly, thinking she'd only try to tackle such an undertaking if she were forced into it by some outside party. But there Lisa was, in the living room of her friend Darcy's house, sitting around the cleared-off coffee table with Darcy sitting on her right, then on Darcy's right was Hugo, then on Hugo's right was David, who sat on Lisa's left. "Boy, Lisa, it's obvious that, in order to make this hooray you graduated banner for Lisa's big sister, I have to take charge here," Darcy began, a surprising hint of seriousness in her tone, "As I am super awesome at arts and crafts."
"Do any of us even know how to spell the words we want to put on the banner?" Hugo asked, a hint of his usual nervousness coming out.
Giggling a bit, Darcy replied, "Lisa and David are both super smart, so I bet they can get all of the spelling that we have to do correct for all of us."
The gifted kindergartners both nodded in the affirmative, as they were both at a level of overall literacy that was vastly well above what kids their age normally have. Getting all of the spelling for the arts and crafts thing that Lisa wants to make to celebrate Lori's graduating from Royal Woods High correct will be a cake walk for her. As the four kindergartners were getting ready to make their project, they were cut off by a knock at the door.
Darcy's mom answered it, and a few seconds later Lisa's older sister Lucy came in. The gothic Loud sister was eating from a pack of white powdered donuts when she walked in. "What are you and your friends up to here, Lisa?" Lucy asked curiously.
"Making a congratulatory banner to celebrate our oldest sister's significant milestone in graduating from high school," Lisa replied dryly. Arching a wry eyebrow, Lisa went on, "I've heard how one kid in your class used makeup to apply fake blemishes to disgust that new teacher that your class got."
"You should see what Argent's brother Andy is helping him do," Lucy replied, "And I still want to ask you about what you had mentioned to me earlier about modifying my teeth so that I have actual vampire-like fangs. Not only would that we totally wicked, but it would also go a long way to help me and my class in our protest against our new teacher and how she wants to run things in class."
The gothic Loud sister proceeded to walk around the kindergartners and sat on the sofa behind them. "Mom asked me to find you and make sure that, if anything, an eye is kept on you. I guess that she's busy running around to prep for what she and dad are doing because Lori is graduating soon, and she wants to make sure all of us are accounted for."
Lisa nodded a few times in understanding. "I'm just making arts and crafts with my friends here, although I have to ask that you never mention this to anyone in our family, at least until we're all ready to throw the big celebratory party for Lori." Lucy can understand that Lisa wanted to keep the project that she, Darcy, David and Hugo were making a secret since it was being made for Lori's sake. Appreciating that, Lucy nodded to agree to keep to silence, shifting to do what she had come over to do and keep an eye on Lisa.
Over in the garage of the Sharp residence, Luna and her girlfriend Sam were working on some notes for a rock version of the graduation music; they were intending to do a performance for Lori when the time came. Sitting in the garage watching the musically inclined girls play was Luna's older sister Leni, who wore a bit of a troubled look on her face. After Luna and Sam got to a stopping point in their practicing, the former noticed the look of trouble on her older sister's face. She sat her guitar down, walked over to and sat down next to Leni on the sofa in the garage.
Luna wore a sympathetic expression of concern as she addressed her older sister. "…I guess that Lori soon leaving the nest has you the most worried out of all of us in the family, huh Leni? Given that it will leave you as the oldest after Lori goes off to college, I can't quite blame you for being so nervous."
The fashionable Loud sister gently shook her head in response. "That's not, like, all that I'm worried about Luna." Letting out a resigned sigh, Leni said, "Lori graduating means more than just Lori moving out. It also means that other friends of ours will be going off as well." Leni's expression scrunched up out of a hint of upcoming worry. "Aggro is in the same grade as Lori, so he'll be gone when Lori and everyone else is."
Now Luna had an idea of what was troubling her older sister; Lori wasn't the only twelfth grader that the Loud siblings were friends with. A good number of their friends would be leaving away after graduation rolled around, with one such example being the Ace twins, Allison and Aggro. The fashionable Loud sister was actually in a relationship with the male Ace twin, so she could not be blamed for dreading the idea of seeing him go off to college, away from her.
"I suppose that this means you want to try and do something special for your guy, huh Leni?" Luna wore a mildly self-amused look on her face as she talked to her older sister. "You want to pull out all the stops in making his send-off to the world of college as awesome as possible, because his classes when he gets into college will keep him occupied and away from you. It's understandable that Aggro going off has you just as worried, if not more worried, than Lori going off to college."
"Hence why I'm certain I speak for Lunes when I say that the two of us will help you pull out all the stops in making Aggro's last night with you before he goes off as awesome as possible," Sam spoke up as she walked over, drawing an affirmative nod out of Luna. Sitting down on the other side of the sofa, thus putting Leni in t he middle, Sam went on, "Granted, we may want to wait on hitting Aggro up since he's still a bit ticked off because of the stunt Luna's little sister pulled off earlier, but I'm certain he'll be open to t he idea of special alone time with you, Leni."
Leni had a strong hint of hopefulness in her eyes as she regarded both Luna and Sam. "Do…do you girls, like, totes think so?" Luna and Sam both nodded in confirmation, restoring a measure of hope to the fashionable girl. "…Aww, thanks you two," Leni said as she threw her arms around Luna and Sam, dragging both of them into a hug. It wasn't something that either of them were quite expecting, but they weren't going to object to the gesture, knowing that it came from a place of sincere thanks.
Lincoln was over at the Santiago-Casagrande residence, talking to his (more than a) friend Ronnie Anne about what they were going to do since Lori was graduating. The fact that Lori, who is Lincoln's older sister, was graduating meant that Bobby, who is Ronnie Anne's older brother and the boyfriend of Lori, was also graduating. Since Lori and Bobby were so strong of an item together, Lincoln talked it over with Ronnie Anne who, liking the sound of what the sole Loud boy had in mind, decided to help him out with planning out a joint gift from the two of them to their respective older siblings.
"Hey Lame-o," Ronnie Anne began, referring to Lincoln by a name that started off as a form of cruel name-calling but was now an insult of endearment from her to him, "Your sister and her friend Carol got Bobby to agree to join some sort of team or another. I don't know all the details since Bobby won't tell me about it, but from what I was able to gather here and there it's a team representing Royal Woods High when they go to visit a foreign country for some competition against a local high school over there."
Lincoln had a look of mild confusion on his face as he regarded Ronnie Anne. "…I wasn't aware that Bobby was into joining sports teams like that. It sounds like something that would be more up my sister Lynn's ally to join a sports team that goes out of country to take part in some sort of international sporting competition against a school located in a foreign country." Straightening up a bit, Lincoln asked, "Do you at least know what country it is that Bobby and the others will be going to, Ronnie Anne? Or for what sport the team is for?"
The Hispanic tomboy gently shook her head in the negative as she shrugged her shoulders in a helpless gesture. "I have no idea what sport the Royal Woods High team is being thrown together for, but since they're going out of country to take part in an event, my guess is that they're going to either Canada or Mexico, as they're on either side with the United States." She crossed her arms over her chest, wore a contemplative look on her face. "…If they go to Mexico, I can see why they'd bring Bobby along despite how he's not an athlete. He's fluent in Spanish, so he can serve as a very reliable translator."
Lincoln nodded in agreement with Ronnie Anne, seeing why that sort of logic would be used in the decision-making that went into choosing to bring Bobby along as part of a sports team that's going to an event in another country. Lincoln wished that he and Ronnie Anne had more information on the matter, as all they know is that Lori and Carol managed to get Bobby to agree to join the team that's being thrown together. Perhaps the white-haired boy would ask Lori about the matter when he next saw her.
He also had to remember to keep quiet on what all he and Ronnie Anne had planned for the special thing that they had in mind for Lori and Bobby.
Lynn Sr. was at a ring store, checking a catalog to pick the design options for the senior class ring that he and his wife Rita were getting for Lori, as she was nearing graduation. The Loud patriarch was feeling a conflicting mix of emotions at the moment in regards to his first-born's approaching graduation. Lynn Sr. was, naturally, proud that Lori had achieved such a major milestone in her life, and was getting ready to go off to college to study and graduate from there and earn a degree from there, making her all the more appealing to people looking to hire her for a nice, well-paying job.
…But at the same time, the Loud patriarch was nervous about how one of his children was getting close to leaving the nest. It would leave a space in the family that Lynn Sr. and Rita, as parents, would be the only ones to understand, to feel it. It would hit them in a way that it can't hit anyone else, although Rita's father Albert would understand where Rita and Lynn Sr. were both coming from, as Albert had similar feelings when he saw Rita off so long ago. But Albert only saw off one child.
Lynn Sr., as he looked through the catalog of class ring design options, realized that he and Rita were going to be seeing off a total of eleven children. That's more than what can be counted with the digits on both hands combined. Lynn Sr. and Rita were already feeling the dread of not being able to see one of their own children for quite some time, and the Loud patriarch had no idea how he and his wife would deal with it when the other ten cases came around.
Leni would be happening roughly a year from Lori's upcoming leaving from the nest. Lola and Lana, as twins, would happen at the same time. Lincoln's leaving would have a sort of impact that none if his sisters leaving would have, by virtue of Lincoln being the only boy. Lisa, due to how incredibly gifted she is, may very well achieve graduation at least one year earlier than her other siblings would/will (given that it's Lisa, it might happen sooner than that). Lily, when she at last graduated, will mean that the last of the children that Lynn Sr. and Rita had raised will have grown up.
The true weight that Lori's graduating brought to Lynn Sr.'s mind was starting to have it's actual impact on him. Seeing all of his and Rita's children grow up fully was going to happen sooner than he had anticipated, and while he was indeed happy to see his brood all become responsible and able to look after themselves, Lynn Sr. also felt a bit of dread as it meant that, one day, the next that he and Rita had presided over would be totally empty.
That idea made the notion weight all the heavier on the Loud patriarch.
To be quite honest, Amy, who had her beloved pet skunk Spirit resting on her lap as he enjoyed having his back stroked, was still unamused with the stunt that Lori's kid sister Lana had pulled off earlier. Out of her, Aggro and Allison, Amy is the one who was most angrily upset, and might very well have lost her temper on the tomboyish Loud twin, which would have resulted in a very rare moment of Amy striking anyone without being prompted by the need of self-defense or defending another party from assault.
But Spirit was Amy's baby. No one messes with Spirit and gets away with it.
So when Lori, accompanied by Carol, visited Amy to talk to her about something that they wanted to propose to her, Lori first took an appropriate amount of time to apologize for what Lana had done by borrowing Spirit without Amy's consent, or even Amy's knowing. The fifteen-year-old Ace sister, her temper lowered a bit even though it was still a little strained due to how riled up by Lana's stunt, was able to keep herself calm enough to hear Lori and Carol out on what they wanted to ask her.
"…You want me to do what now?" Amy asked, more surprised than anything.
Carol nodded in confirmation before she went on to say, "Principal Butterbean and I are trying to throw together a team of ten students from Royal Woods High to take on an international trip over to Japan to take part in a competition against a Japanese high school. Counting myself since I'm part of the team, we have eight of the ten persons that the team needs. We're missing two, and Lori and I both think that you'd be perfect as one of the two that we still need for the team."
Amy, with a confused brow arched, looked at Carol and Lori. "…I don't even play golf."
Lori gently shook her head in response. "It's literally not a golf team that Carol and Principal Butterbean are throwing together. The only ones on the team who play golf are Carol and Allison, and the rest of the team consists of my Bobby Boo-Boo Bear, plus Fiona, Luna, Sam, Trixie and Carlota." Gesturing to Amy, Lori went on, "Carol and I were really hoping to get you to agree to join the team that's being thrown together, Amy."
The lineup that the oldest Loud sibling just listed caught Amy's attention. It listed Amy's older sister Allison, who barely played golf at all despite how godly legendary she was at the sport, as someone who agreed to join the team despite how the trip would take the team to Japan, a place that Allison, despite being half-Japanese herself, had no real interest in visiting. Since Allison was one of the people on the team, and had willingly joined the team if what Lori and Carol said is true, then that told Amy that the trip to Japan was by no means for some international golf competition between two high schools.
There was also the fact that all of the persons on the list for the Royal Woods High team all had a certain…something…in common with one another. It piqued Amy's interest, compelling her to ask what exactly was going on. "…What is this team being thrown together for, might I ask?"
"We can't quite give all the details out at the moment," Carol replied, giving a gentle shake of her head in the process, "But it's not for golf, or any other sport." Letting out a mildly resigned sigh, the former homecoming queen said, "Also, we need you as Visionquest for this team."
Right away, Amy perked up when Carol mentioned her by another name that she went by from time to time. Gently, Amy scooped Spirit up out of her lap and sat him down on the floor at her feet, allowing the young adult skunk to waddle off into the living room. "…I see," Amy replied, "Yes, know I can tell that this is no sports team that you and Principal Butterbean are throwing together to take to Japan. But that just leaves me with a few questions."
Holding up a hand to make Amy take pause, Lori said, "Carol and I will literally answer any and all questions that you have about this later, assuming that you agree to join the team." Amy could tell that the two older blonde girls before her were going to remained tight-lipped about just what it was that the team was being thrown together for, but the fifteen-year-old Ace sibling was just too curious to care, her interest piqued by what little hints Carol and Lori had dropped.
Amy agreed to join the team, and after Lori and Carol added her to the list, she proceeded to ask a few questions that she had.
END
Author's notes;
This chapter, while it still continues the background plot of Lori and Carol gathering members for some mystery team that Royal Woods High is throwing together, also highlights the fact that Lori's graduating from high school has impacts on others than just herself. Her siblings, as well as her parents, are also going to feel the impact of Lori graduating, as was seen here by how all of them, aside from baby Lily who I couldn't think of anything appropriate for (assume she was with Rita while the Loud mom was doing some shopping).
I also wanted to include a bit that saw Albert do something nice for his oldest grandchild, but I ran out of time/space here. Maybe in the next chapter, I'll include a bit with Albert, along with Myrtle since she's growing on me, as well as Lily if I can think of any way to utilize her in the celebrating of Lori's upcoming graduation from Royal Woods High.