That night, Lincoln was in his room, sitting on the bed, talking with his father.

"But dad, all my friends are gonna be there."

"I know son," his dad said. "But if all your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you do it too? Heh, I don't think so." Lynn Sr took a seat on his bed. "Lincoln, I know how much you wanna have fun, but sometimes you can't always do what you want, when you wanna do it. Whether that's fair or not, that's the rule."

"The rules should be fair!" Lincoln argues. "What are you teaching the girls?!"

"To respect the rules!"

"Even when the rules are unfair?!"

"If rules are unjust, there are rules to change them! Otherwise it's chaos!"

"And that's exactly what we have!" Lincoln stomps his foot to the floor in rage. But then he calmed down a bit. "Sorry dad. I guess I'm just tired."

"I understand son. You could probably use some alone time. When you're ready to be mature about this, then we'll talk." Lynn Sr. was about to leave, but not before turning around one last time. "Oh and by the way, mom says you're grounded. Sorry." He then closed the door and left.

Lincoln just lays on his bed staring at the ceiling.

Clyde came in through his window. "They didn't go for it, did they?"

Lincoln just shook his head. "It's not fair! What's the point of being a man with a plan if you can't even go out on a school night?"

"Lincoln, listen. I heard what you said to your sisters. Don't you think you should apologize?"

"As if! All they do is treat me like a baby!"

"They're just trying to help!"

"Help by meddling!"

"Lincoln calm down! You're getting steamed over nothing."

"I know Clyde. But I can't help it. There's no way I'm missing that tournament! I'm going over there right now!"

Lincoln was about to march right out the front door, but Clyde halted him. "But Lincoln! You can't just barge right in there and just leave out the front door!"

"Why not?"

"Because if you do, your parents will see you. And then you're going to be in even more trouble than you already are. You don't want that, do you?"

Lincoln sighed. "Oh you're right."

Clyde smiles for a moment.

"Then we're gonna need a new strategy."

Clyde got surprised. "What?"

"I'm gonna sneak out of here. That way I can still go, and no one will see me. But I need a plan, something clever, unsuspecting and…"

Just then, a strange vortex appears out of nowhere into Lincoln's room. The vortex appeared to be a bright light. Once it dimmed down, it was revealed to be a certain kappa girl with goggles and a jumpsuit.

"Perhaps I can be of assistance," she said (which was then followed by a sound of children cheering).

"Dendy?" Lincoln was quite surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I overheard your dilemma and decided to make my way over here." Dendy noticed Clyde standing right behind Lincoln. "And I can see that you've got some company here as well."

"Oh yeah. Dendy, this is my best friend Clyde. Clyde, this is Dendy."

"Greetings," Dendy said as she shook his hand.

"Uh….nice to meet you…..I guess," Clyde answers. "Lincoln, who is this girl?" He whispered to his best friend.

"It's a long story. A really long story."

"Anyway," Dendy continues. I believe I can help you get out of here."

"How you gonna do that?" Lincoln wonders.

"Simple. I can shrink you down to the size of a toy figurine. That way, you can sneak all the way down stairs and through the mail slot without anyone seeing you."

"This is perfect! I can still get to the tournament, make it back into bed, and nobody will ever know! Clyde, I need you to go downstairs and distract mom and dad for me."

Clyde was shocked. "What? You mean lie to them? I don't know Lincoln. Lying gives me stomach aches, remember?"

"But Clyde! I'm your best friend!" Lincoln began to use the puppy dog eyes. "You wouldn't want to let me down, would you?"

Unfortunately Clyde gave in. "Oh okay. I guess I can cover for you. But you better hurry up."

"Sweet! Thanks buddy!"

"No problem. But if your parents come up to check on you, and you're not here, you will be in big trouble."

"Not to worry," Dendy assures. "I have that covered as well."

"Yeah Clyde," Lincoln says. "Don't worry about it. Dendy has it covered. Just go stall mom and dad."

"Stall them?" Clyde asked. "How do I do that?"

"I don't know. Say something. Anything. Just keep them busy."

"Well, if you say so."

Clyde headed down the stairs where Lincoln's parents were sitting on the couch.

"Hey Mr and Mrs Loud."

"Hello Clyde," Lynn Sr. greeted. "What brings you here so late?"

"Oh you know. I was just seeing how my best friend was doing," Clyde said as he took a seat in the chair.

"I kinda feel bad for grounding him," Rita told her husband. "Maybe I better go upstairs to check."

This got Clyde nervous. "Oh no! No, no, there's really no need to. I'm sure he's just….reflecting on the error of his ways. You know, dealing with it in a mature and responsible manner."

Meanwhile, Lincoln was busy talking with Dendy about the plan.

"So what do you have in mind Dendy?" Lincoln asked.

"Put simply…" Dendy took a numerous amount of codes out of her backpack. "I can create a code that shall decrease your size by precisely 80%."

"Sounds complicated."

"Actually it's not. With a little skill and concentration, it's as easy as tying your shoes."

"Well, okay. Let's give it a whirl!"

Dendy then put together a code before placing an electrode on the back of Lincoln's head. Once the code was activated, Lincoln was now the size of a hummingbird egg. Dendy picks him up off the floor with her hand.

"This is awesome!" Lincoln says. "I mean that still felt as weird as Lisa's inventions, but hey, it beats having a third eye or a tail growing out of my butt."

"As requested," Dendy complies. "Test was a success."

"Now I just need a way to get downstairs." Lincoln thought for a minute before getting an idea. "I've got it!" He then put his fingers to his lips and let out a really loud whistle. After just a few seconds, the Loud family's dog Charles came into the room.

"Here boy! Here Charles! Up here!"

Charles spotted Lincoln in the palm of Dendy's hand. Dendy then places Lincoln on the dog's back.

"Okay boy. I got a job for you. Are you up for it?"

Charles nods.

"Good boy."

With that, the dog ran out of the room, carrying his little tiny master along with him.

"See you later Dendy!" Lincoln called.

"Good luck Lincoln," Dendy waves.

Once they got to the stairs, Lincoln held on tight as Charles ran down the steps.

At the same time, Clyde was busy stalling Lynn Sr. and Rita.

"You know sooner or later, you're gonna have to stop treating Lincoln like he's a baby," Clyde continued. "He's a young man now. And it's time he started being treated like one."

"I suppose that's true," Lincoln's mother agrees.

"You know my dad told me about when he was a kid. He remembered being grounded a whole week and not being allowed to go to his best friend's bachelor party."

"I bet he was pretty obedient, huh?"

"Well…..actually he snuck out."

Then something crossed the parents minds. "You don't suppose that Lincoln…"

"What?! No! Of course not! That's ridiculous! Besides, how's he gonna sneak out? I mean it's not like he can just walk right out the front door."

"I guess you're right."

However, unbeknownst to any of them, Lincoln was hiding behind the chair. As Clyde kicked one of his legs back and his foot kicked Lincoln right towards the front door and through the mail slot, landing him right outside.

Lincoln got back up on his feet. "Yes! Thank you Dendy!" He then made his way towards the arcade.

"Look, I know Lincoln is a great kid," his father said. "I just wish he would grow up a little. Maybe toughen up a bit."

At the same time, the girls all came out of their bedrooms and listened in on the conversation from upstairs.

"Well, did you guys ever stop to think that maybe the reason he's soft is because of his sisters?" Clyde asked.

"What do you mean?" The father asked.

"I mean the way they always wanna fight his battles for him. Let's say for instance, you tell him to stay put. 'Lincoln, if you move from that couch, you're grounded.' But then he happens to come across a band of ghost pirates. And then they decided to take all of his sisters away and make them a part of their ghostly crew. And it's all up to Lincoln to save them, but alas, he can not because he's never had to deal with these problems before. Because he's been protected and his problems have been handled by only his sisters."

Both parents were stunned. "I think you guys have been reading too many comics."

"Okay I exaggerated. But the point is Lincoln's sisters can't solve all his problems. I mean sooner or later, he's gonna need to learn how to fight his own battles."

"I understand Clyde," Rita said. "But Lincoln won't come to us and complain, so there's not much we can do. And his sisters only want to help him because they care about him."

"Well sometimes, that's what happens to people when you care too much. They grow soft. If you protect them their whole lives, you never let them think for themselves and soon, they can barely think at all. A lack of fear keeps us weak."

The girls upstairs looked at each other with guilt after hearing that.

"You're right Clyde. Maybe it's time we make this right."

Both the parents got up from the couch and started heading towards the stairs.

Clyde tried to stop them. "Where you going?"

"We're gonna go talk to Lincoln," Rita said. "Just to make sure he's doing alright."

"Oh there's no need to, really! And anyway, he's probably sleeping right now and doesn't want to be disturbed!"

"It'll just be a quick peak Clyde."

"I'm telling you, he's fine!"

But despite Clyde's efforts, both of them reached Lincoln's room. When they opened the door, they found the light was off and there was a lump on his bed covered by a blanket.

"There," Clyde said with relief. "See? Now what I tell you? Nothing to worry about."

"Clyde," Lynn Sr. requested. "Would you mind waiting downstairs? We're gonna have a few words with our son."

"Oh of course. And please, take all the time you need," Clyde said as he left.

Rita turns to the bed. "Lincoln? Sweetie? Are you awake?"

"Yes mother. I am awake." Said a voice. However, while the voice did sound like Lincoln's, it actually came from Dendy, who was lying in Lincoln's bed with the covers pulled over.

"Son," the father said. "You're mother and I just wanted to say goodnight."

"Yes," Rita approached. "And to tell you that we love you." But as Rita got closer to the bed, Dendy pulled the covers up even more. "Oh honey, I know you're upset. We don't really like to punish you. You're such a special boy."

Just then, the girls came into the room.

"Uh, mom? Dad? Is it okay if we say a few words to our brother?" Luna asked.

"By all means," Lynn Sr. answered.