Intermission 1: Man's Best Friend
It has been a couple of months since the Loud kids now Anderson were adopted by their new mother, Sarah Anderson. Everything that was in their old home are now inside their new, really big and very wide home and that include their pets though Lana had to send her reptiles to an animal sanctuary save for her pet snake.
It came as a surprise to the kids especially their elder siblings that their mother also had pets specifically two dogs and a wolf which only serve to cause Lana to be ecstatic. The dogs are a male German Shepard named Grim and a female Doberman named Debbie while the wolf is a female Gray Wolf named Grey.
Sarah told them that during her time away from Royal Woods, she adopted the dogs as a way to keep her company and also to train them to be attack dogs but the wolf was raised by accident which only confused the kids. She explained that she wanted to raise a Siberian Husky but was somehow sold a Gray Wolf pup, she tried to release the wolf once it was older but it never left far from her with little choice, she decided to keep it.
Lana was so fascinated by her mother's story that she was inspired to once again to train Charles to be a guard dog.
The following day, the entire family were having a quality family time breakfast, chatting with each other, eating together with little trouble though Lana was mostly scoffing down her food without chewing most of the time.
"Lana sweetie, you're going to choke yourself if you keep eating like that." Said Sarah who is feeding Lily her favourite mashed peaches.
"Sorry mum but I really want to get to training Charles as soon as possible" Lana continued to eating and nearly choked before drinking a tall glass of orange juice which was Lola's who is now peeved at her for stealing her drink. "Oops sorry sis, I'll owe you one later."
Lana quickly ran towards the backyard leaving the family wondering what she is training Charles for.
"Does anybody know what Lana is training Charles for and I'm pretty sure it's not another dog show otherwise I would be the trainer." Said Lola
"Well Lana said she was inspired to train Charles to be a guard dog again thanks to mum story." Said Lincoln
Sarah always felt touched that one of her children felt motivated from her story which is an almost daily basis, like Leni ever since she took up home school, she has become more focus which is why she won the cleaning contest. It came as a surprise to everyone of how much of a sharpshooter she was, even more so when she asked their mother to teach her self-defence techniques.
The next few days, the family would see Lana use her spare time to train Charles in the backyard and each time she would always be more motivated that she would train all the way into the night and that worried Sarah a lot.
A week later, Lana was still training Charles though it seems to make little difference in his daily routine which is bad for Lana's health who is now only sleeping less than three hours per day and eating less food.
Sarah knew that she needs to do something or this obsession might be death of her and she promised on Rita and Lynn Sr's grave that will never happen.
Sarah went to the backyard check on Lana whose training course has become a lot more elaborate then when she last checked. It now consists of an obstacle course as well as make-shift dummy that she guessed were supposed to be Charles's opponent but upon closer inspection they barely had seen any use.
"Come on Charles! Attack that dummy! I promise I will give you some bacon if you do a good job." Sarah heard Lana shouting and saw that Lana with Charles and is miserably failing to get Charles to attack a dummy that had been laced with steak sauce though seem to do little to motivate Charles.
Seeing this was almost comical that Sarah chuckle a little but she has a purpose here and that is to teach Lana how to train a dog. "Sweetie, if you're planning to make Charles into a guard dog. You are going at it the wrong way." Lana was startled by her mum's sudden appearance.
Sarah heart ache when she saw the state that Lana is in now. She has dark circles around her eyes, her hair is unkempt and she looked slightly emancipated. She looked so fragile that even the slightest of touch could cause her to break apart.
"Lana when was the last time you slept or ate properly … or even shower?" Sarah could smell a foul odour coming from her daughter. It was such rancid that she is surprise that Charles could sleep through it.
"I'll do those later, right now I need to get Charles to be a guard dog." Exclaimed Lana.
Clearly the lack of sleep has gotten to Lana and Sarah will not stand for this. "Lana Marie Anderson! You march your butt into that house right now and take a shower this instance!"
"But-"
"No buts! Your obsession is ruining your health. Now get going!"
Lana wanted to object but knew better than to argue with her mother and slowly made her way back into the house. Meanwhile Sarah clean the yard up of all the training equipment that Lana had constructed and left only the essential parts for training.
"Ok Charles, when Lana comes back you are going to follow whatever she tells you and if you do good, I'll be sure to give you an extra set of bacon with your dog food later." Hearing this caught Charles attention though the kind you would expect from a domesticated dog.
"But if you don't do good." Sarah whistled and not long after, Grey and Grim arrive. "Grey and Grim will give you a good scolding." Grey and Grim look so intimidating to Charles that he stood at attention.
A few hours later, Lana came back out to the backyard after taking a shower and eating a proper meal who had to be supervised by Lori, Leni or Lynn Jr since their mother told them to.
Lana was surprised that her obstacle course and most of her training dummies has been removed, in its place Sarah had a few training guards, an actual training dummy and a few clothings that could conceal a person identity.
"Wha-What happen to all my stuff!?" Said Lana
"I threw them away, they were unnecessary for Charles's training" Answered Sarah
"Lana, if you had trouble training Charles, why didn't you asked for help?" Sarah asked sternly.
Lana didn't know where to respond, she had wanted to ask her mother for help but she was so focus on the training that she kept forgetting about it.
"I'm sorry mum, I really wanted to but I guess I got way into it. Can you help me now?"
Sarah gave Lana a hug and smiled warmly at her. "Of course I can sweetie. I have been waiting for days for you to ask me."
Sarah helped Lana get familiar with the training equipment while Grim and Grey ensured that Charles pay attention to either Sarah or Lana's commands. The next few days Charles saw significant improvement, he is now able to identify threats and give adequate protection and Lana was satisfied with the results but Sarah felt Charles needed some real world training, so she decided to devise a test.
It was a regular morning the next day and everyone is happy to see that Lana is back to her old self again, being a messy, mud loving and risk taking little girl. The only thing missing was their mother who left a note.
Kids I've gone to the restaurant to do some inventory. I'll be back in the afternoon or later. Breakfast is on the stove and lunch is in the fridge. Lori is in charge until I'm back. P.S. The pet food is running out, so I need someone to go buy them, money is on the counter, bring Charles and Grey along with you if you're heading going out, they need the walk anyway.
"Seems like mum will be gone for half a day, what do you guys think about going to the newly open Royal Woods open air mall" said Lori
Everyone cheered in agreement. "Ok settle down before we go, mum ask that one of us buys the pet food. So who's going?"
"Oh I'll go." Lana immediately volunteered.
"And I'll go too." Everyone was surprised that Lola would want to go to a pet store. "What! Mum asked me to keep an eye on Lana and if that means that I have to go to an icky pet store then so be it."
"Ok but that also means that you two will have to take Charles and Grey with you. Mum also said that they need their walk." Said Lori proudly much to Lola disgust.
A few hours later, the Anderson kids arrived at the new mall and it is a spectacular sight. It has a balance of nature blend together with the modern day architecture.
"Ok you guys do whatever you want, we'll meet up at the food court." Said Lori as she goes off to park the family Hummer that they have affectionately called Brick.
It didn't take long for the kids to split up and beginning exploring the new mall and possibly buy things with the money that they have split among themselves though Lola and Lana were given slightly more to buy the necessary pet supplies.
While making their way to the pet store, Lola who is walking Charles took noticed that his behaviour isn't any different then he usually is. She had expected that Charles would be more discipline like Grey is.
"Hey Lana, I thought you trained Charles to be a guard dog, so why is he behaving like normal?" Asked Lola
"For starters, yes I did finished training Charles but mum said that it would take a few years of training to be as discipline as Grey, Grim or Debbie. So for now, we are taking a break from training then we'll get back to it in a week or so." Answered Lana who at the same time manage to find the pet store.
A few minutes later, after having bought all the pet supplies they need. Lola and Lana were making their way to the food court while carrying several bags, a few of which is being carried by Grey.
"You're sure we need these many pet food!" Lola complained as her arms are starting to cramp up.
"Well not all of it is pet food, there's also a few brush, shampoos and treats. I know mum said to just buy pet food but seriously you think I wasn't going to exploit that twenty five percent off sale. You must be nuts."
The twins were nearing the food court until they noticed that a group of people had gathered near said food court. They squeezed their way through and that's when they realised what the commotion is about, two mean looking men were harassing their family.
"Like I said, we are willing to pay for your dry cleaning. There's wasn't any need to hit my brother and sister." Said Lori who is by Lincoln's side while Leni was by Lynn Jr's. Both of which has a black eye from an apparent scuffle.
"Oh ya? This is a Gucci jacket. You kids think that you can afford a couple of thousand dollar dry clean." Said one of the men who had a ketchup stain on said jacket.
"Hey! what's going on!" Lana shouted catching everyone's attention as she made her way towards her siblings.
"God damn, how of you are there!?" Said the second man.
"I don't care how many there are. Look here kids either you fork over about three thousand dollars or me and my friend here will do something nasty."
Upon hearing that statement, Grey and Charles protective instinct kicked in and began to growl and snarl at the men, seeing this made them flinch a little but they retain their composure and to move on the kids in a threatening manner.
Both Grey and Charles can sense the growing fear in the kids, and began to bark at the men loudly with little effect. When the men were just inches away from them, Grey and Charles lunge at the men and began biting furiously on their arms.
The men despite the pain tried to put up a fight but each time they manage to kick the wolf and pitbull away from them. They pounce on them again on either their chest, legs or arms.
It was a furious fight which ended when the two men ran away with nearly tattered clothes and when Grey and Charles wanted to give chase, Lana told them not to.
Lana and her siblings gave Charles and Grey the biggest hug they had ever given them. She knew that both her and her mother's effort had not been in vain after witnessing her beloved dog protecting them.
At a nearby alleyway near the mall, the two men stopped running after realising the dogs weren't giving chase.
"Damn even with protection on, this fucking hurts." One of the men said as he and his friend remove their jackets to reveal that they are wearing an arm guard, shin guard and a chest protector.
"She said it would hurt"
"No I believe I said that it wouldn't hurt as much." Came a voice which startled the men to reveal that it was Sarah who spoke.
"Damn Sarah you got to stop doing that. One day I'm going to have a heart attack."
"Sorry Alan but I needed to know whether Charles training had stuck. Speaking of which, how did he do?" Said Sarah as she helped him out of the protectors.
"Well I have to say, you trained that dog well though it's reflex and alertness was a little slower then Grey's but that is to be expected right?" Said Alan
Sarah nodded having been satisfied with the result though Charles still need more training but she is going to leave it her daughter to finish it. She can now rest easier knowing that there will be one more member of the family that can help protect the family whenever she is not around.
A/N: To people who are reading my story, firstly i apologise if updates are slow but i guarantee you that i have not given up writing, it just takes me a while to write a chapter due to my work being in the way. So to make up for the lack of updates, I'll be doing this type of chapters from time to time. Hope you enjoy it and apologise if its terrible since i sometimes write on my phone.