Final story of the year, and it's a brand new story instead of an update to one of my existing stories.

You know, the usual fare.

This idea was suggested and developed with Nobody245, who I give my utmost thanks for both giving me the idea and sticking with my stories despite all the waiting.

So, without further ado, let's go with this pilot!

Lincoln Loud stood in the middle of a pitch black room, floating helplessly as many voices began to shout at him.

"What have you done?!"

"That was priceless!"

"How could you do this!?"

"Why would you do this!?"

"YOU ARE NOT MY SON!"

"BEGONE!"

"Lincoln?"

The snow-haired boy flinched and woke up screaming and soaked in sweat. He took a moment to catch his breath as he looked around.

And to his relief, he was in the bedroom he shared with his childhood friend and adopted brother, Clyde McBride, who stood next to him.

"Another nightmare?"

"Yeah… but it's fine," Lincoln took a deep breath and got off his bed. "I'm fine. Let's get to work."

"Take a bath first."

Once he took a bath and changed to his work clothes, Lincoln began working on the field alongside Clyde and his adoptive fathers, Harold and Howard.

They were working at the fields: managing the crops, separating what was good from rotten, and grinding them or otherwise using them to create potions to sell.

They were an odd mix between merchants and farmers; they made their own food from their own crops, but they also took some of said crops to create objects to sell for money. Mostly potions.

Whose production process is so boring, it will be skipped outright.

"Alright boys, that should be good enough," Howard said as he helped the boys finish putting some potions on a carriage. "Let's get this wagon onto the central guild!"

"Carriage."

"I know what I said, Harold."

And so, the family got on the wagon-sorry, carriage-and moved towards the central guild. And despite having done this before, Lincoln still felt uneasy going there.

Mostly because it was controlled by his former family.

The Loud family was powerful, and not just because they were the owners of some of the strongest guilds in the world.

For starters, The Literal Champions, led by Lori. This guild mostly dealt with internal affairs and the nobility, so they didn't see much action, but from what he's heard, they were fierce fighters regardless.

Next, The Fabulous Fashionistas, led by Leni. This guild focuses on treasure hunting, with any fighting being relegated to something swift and quick.

Then, The Rockin' Demon Slayers, led by Luna. Their focus is on dealing with multitudes of monsters at once.

After that, The Smiling Fools, led by Luan. Their focus was on thieving and traps.

Right beneath them were The Armored Valkyries, led by Lynn. Their focus was on overpowering stronger monsters by exploiting their weaknesses. They also only had female members.

And under them, The Healing Ravens, led by Lucy. Their focus is on necromancy and healing.

Underneath them, Beasts Incorporated, led by Lana. Unlike most other guilds, Beasts Incorporated focuses not on fighting monsters, but taming and domesticating them.

He wasn't quite sure if Lola, Lana's twin sister, had a guild: there was conflicting evidence everywhere, and she wasn't willing to tell him anything even before he was disowned.

Finally, because Lily was too young to own a guild, there was The Scientific Brewing Company, led by Lisa, the youngest and smartest of the sisters. Their focus was on potion brewing and alchemy, among other things.

"We've arrived."

The boys looked up and saw they had arrived at the central guild, which resembled a large mansion with a collection of stores on the street.

Lincoln and Clyde got off the cart and began unloading the potions.

"Hey there, Stinkoln!"

And they didn't even get half of them off before a familiar face came to bother them.

It was Lynn, leader of the valkyries mentioned before, donning her red and golden armor like usual.

"Hey there, Lynn," Lincoln sighed. "I take it you want the usual?"

"Yup," Lynn raised two fingers. "Two dozen healing potions, please!"

The boys stared at the valkyrie with unamused looks, which remained even as she angrily aimed her spear at them and hissed:

"Now."

The boys sighed and began taking down the healing potions.

"You know, you wouldn't need to buy so many healing potions if your warriors had more healing powers."

"Tsk, as if a disowned nobody like you could understand," Lynn scoffed. "My valkyries are all equally good as healers as well as warriors."

Lincoln lowered his eyelids. "Then why do you buy so many healing potions?"

"Listen, sometimes even our powers aren't enough: our job is to deal with monsters the average adventurer can't take," Lynn narrowed her eyes. "Now shut up and give us potions before I snatch them from your hands."

Yup, lovely as always.

One heavy day at the central guild later, the family went back to their home, ready to enjoy the rest of the day and hit the hay.

And then one of their other carts flew above them.

"What the-"

"A Behemoth?!"

The family looked forward and saw a colossal beast wrecking their home. They resembled a mix between a gorilla, a dragon, and a very angry quarterback.

You know, the average fantasy monster.

"What's happening?!" Clyde asked. "Where did this Behemoth come from?!"

"I'd assume it came from Beasts Incorporated, but they don't deal with these kind of creatures," Lincoln said. "Did one of the other merchants send it here to sabotage us?"

"Whichever the case, we need to call for help!" Howard exclaimed.

"Way ahead of you on that!"

Suddenly, an arrow struck the Behemoth, causing the monster to wince in pain as a duo of adventurers entered the scene.

One was a girl with pointy ears and a white sweater-robe hybrid with red highlights. She held a golden staff with a triangular gem floating on top.

The other was a more normal guy wearing a green hood, bits of red hair poking out of it. He had a bow and arrow in tow, which he put behind his back to take out a sword.

"Allow me!"

The family turned to see the pointy-eared girl spinning her staff before placing it on the ground, slowly summoning a barrier around them.

However, as the barrier formed, Lincoln noticed something in the distance, prompting him to escape and run towards it.

"Lincoln, come back!" Clyde cried.

Before he could chase after his adoptive brother, however, Clyde was stopped by the barrier, which finished forming in that second.

"Please, let me out! I gotta go get him!"

"Sorry, sir, but it's too dangerous!" the sweater girl answered. "Don't worry, I'll get your friend back!"

The girl elevated up and flew towards Lincoln, who dashed towards the beast's foot and rolled past it, rolling until he hit a tree.

Once that was done, he looked at what he had grabbed, and smiled.

"Phew."

"Gotcha!"

Lincoln suddenly found himself being carried away by several winds, causing him to levitate until he reached the sweater girl's position.

"That was really dangerous, you know? Why did you do that?"

Lincoln revealed what he had on his hands: a rabbit plushie with "II" written on his shirt.

"It's the first gift Clyde gave me when his parents adopted me. I couldn't let it be destroyed."

The sweater girl smiled sympathetically, but that was cut short when the Behemoth screamed and tried to swat them aside, the girl levitating them aside to dodge the attack.

It was then that Lincoln noticed the hooded boy climbing up the Behemoth's body using his sword, trying to stay steady as the monster kept moving.

And then, Lincoln got an idea.

"Throw me at him!"

"You got a death wish?!"

"Not the Behemoth, your partner!"

The girl raised an eyebrow.

"I got an idea, just please, trust me!"

The girl paused, then shrugged and shot Lincoln to Chandler's side, landing right next to him and managing to catch and stick to his skin.

"The heck?"

"Give me a pair of your arrows!"

Unlike the sweater girl, the redheaded boy only took a moment before he handed Lincoln a pair of arrows, which he used to climb up the Behemoth's body alongside the redheaded boy as they kept moving up.

As this happened, the sweater girl sent winds at the monster, keeping him occupied long enough for the boys to reach the top of his head.

With this done, they walked a little bit until they came across a large, X shaped spot on the Behemoth's head.

"Huh, that's rather convenient."

"Less talking, more executing."

The boy walked closer to the spot, but a sudden movement caused him to drop the sword and slide down…

Until an arrow hit his hood and kept him in place, while Lincoln grabbed the sword and inserted it right into the spot.

The Behemoth cried in pain once more, this time moving away from the house before rapidly collapsing on the ground, causing the boys to fall off.

"I gotcha!"

The sweater girl used her winds to catch the boys before they hit the ground.

"Nice work, Eleanor!"

The girl brought the boys back to the merchants, who hugged Lincoln once the barrier keeping them in place was removed.

"You don't know how scared we were!" Howard exclaimed. "Like, seriously, the therapy bills for this are gonna be insane!"

"We get attacked by monsters every other week, though," Harold pointed out.

"Yeah, but these are Carbuncles, or Kobolds, or other pest species, not freaking Behemoths!"

And as the family kept talking and the brothers shared a hug, the adventurer duo exchanged looks and spoke.

"Snow white hair, buck teeth, and those eyes…" the boy remarked. "You think he might be it?"

"I mean, I've seen many boys with white hair or buck teeth, but rarely those together," Eleanor answered. "And if that's not it, then the eyes definitely make it clear: he's the Disowned Loud."

Hearing that, the redheaded boy got an idea and approached the brothers, taking out his sword as he said:

"This is a common sword bought by anybody who starts their career as an adventurer. It's not black, or shiny, or really anything special, but it gets the job done."

"Yeah, I know, I've heard all about them," Lincoln sighed. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because it's yours now."

Chandler flipped the sword so he now held the blade, and it took the guys a moment to realize what he was implying.

"Wait, what are you talking about?!"

"You showed some prowess with fighting a moment ago," Chandler smiled. "That's something that, I think, should be trained. Besides, it just doesn't feel right if my team is only made up of two people: every good team needs three people."

Lincoln folded his arms. "So you want me to be the third wheel with you and your girlfriend?"

"Haha, no, Eleanor's not into me," the boy answered, the sweater girl nodding in agreement. "We're giving you a chance to develop your skills. And who knows, maybe you'll enjoy this."

Lincoln looked back at the sword, and after sharing a look with Clyde, he grabbed it with a tiny smile.

"I think I can give it a shot."

The boy nodded, and he and Lincoln shook hands as he stated:

"In that case, Lincoln. I'm Chandler McCann, and I welcome you to my team."