It was March 31st, and tomorrow was the most feared day in the Loud House: April 1st, A.K.A. April Fool's Day; the day when Luan tortures her family with deadly pranks that can land people in the hospital, and she gets a good laugh from all of their pain.
A bus stops in the middle of a street, and Lincoln steps out, wearing a coat, hat, and glasses with a fake mustache. He then hides behind a dumpster in a tree (which he falls out of) and then rides a scooter to a nearby highway.
Then Lincoln made a bird call. "Ca-ca! Ca-ca!" J.D., Varie, The Eds, Woody, Jessie, and The Loud family, minus Shannon and Luan, emerge from their hiding places in disguises.
Lynn Sr. asked, "What animal does Mary have?" in a slow, deep voice.
"A lamb with a fleece as white as snow," Lincoln responded, his voice affected.
Everyone, except Lincoln, breathes a sigh of relief and removes their disguises.
"Oh, good," Lynn Sr. said, relieved. "It really is you, son. Are you sure Luan didn't follow you?"
Lincoln nodded. "Definitely. I took four different buses. Plus, I've got Clyde doing some surveillance on her."
At the Sunset Canyon retirement home, Luan is entertaining the elders. In contrast, disguised as an elder, Clyde keeps an eye on her.
Lynn Sr. grinned. "Great! Now let's get down to business. April Fools' Day is tomorrow, and we still don't have a plan to keep Luan from pranking us! So, who's got an idea?"
Lori's eyes glowed as she told them about her plan. "Oh, Bobby said we could hide in the bodega's basement; we just have to be careful of the rat traps...and the asbestos. After we moved the Casagrande Apartment building here, we had everything set up."
Lori's suggestion did not impress Rita. "You're really selling it, honey."
"Asbestos is a poisonous insulation that can kill you," J.D. explained.
Eddy let out a long sigh. "I had no idea my girlfriend could pull such lethal pranks."
"It's not a pretty picnic, Eddy," Varie remarked.
"There's an island off the southern tip of Guam," Lincoln suggested. "You can only get there by submarine."
Lynn makes a buzzing noise. "We don't have passports, Stinkin'!"
"Yeah," Linka agreed.
"Guam is a long way from here, guys," J.D. explained, "plus we have to worry about typhoons in the Western Pacific Ocean."
"With some grant money, I could build a ship that could take us to Europa, one of Jupiter's moons," Lisa explained.
Varie shook her head. "That's far too risky."
Ed grinned as he said, "Going to Europa would be cool."
Edd nodded. "I agree. I've always wanted to study Jupiter's Icy moon."
"Or we could dig a network of tunnels beneath the house," Lana suggested.
"That would be really cool," Woody said, smiling, "but I'm not much of a digger."
"Why don't we just ask Luan to stop, but really nicely?" Leni suggested.
Jessie shook her head in disapproval. "It's not going to work, Leni."
Laney spoke up. "Guys! You're missing the point! For far too long we let Luan make us her Pranking Targets! I'd say we prank her back!"
Lori gave her a glare. "Laney! You're literally forgetting the last time we did that. Luan just picked herself up after we grounded her and she vowed to get revenge."
J.D. nodded. "I remember that."
Laney also nodded. "I know, but maybe this time will be different. I've been making plans since last year. She is holding some blueprints. "All right, the boxing gloves will go here, then the raccoons will burst through the bathtub, and then we..."
Lynn Sr. raised a hand to prevent her from continuing. "Laney, please. Nothing we do will ever be able to stop Luan. Maybe it's hopeless!"
Lily was not convinced and yelled, "No! As long as we work together, nothing is hopeless!"
They are approached by a film producer. "Excuse me, do you folks mind? We're trying to shoot a movie here."
J.D. blushed and apologized. "Oh sorry, sir."
Except for Lola, the family leaves the set. "Yeah, guys! Outta the shot!" She began posing. "All right, I'm ready for my close-up!"
"Sorry, little girl, you need to get out of the shot, too," the producer apologized. "We're filming a dangerous stunt."
Lola scoffs. "Your loss!'
She walks away as well.
"And...ACTION!" exclaimed the director.
On a high-speed chase, a man in a red suit and matching motorcycle crashes through a boarded window and leaps over a crowd of police cars, followed by an explosion. He lands on the ground with a loud thud.
"CUT!" exclaimed the director.
The man recovers from the crash and removes his helmet. His appearance looks like Lynn Sr.'s.
"Man, that guy can really take a beating!" Lynn exclaimed, impressed.
"He looks exactly like Dad!" Leni remarked.
"It's too bad I can't just hire him to take all of Luan's pranks for me," Lynn Sr. lamented.
At that statement, everyone turns to look at Lynn Sr.
Lynn Sr. appeared nervous. "I wasn't serious."
"You know, Mr. Lynn, that's not a bad idea," J.D. pondered.
Lincoln agreed with a nod. "Maybe that's the perfect plan, Dad! We hire a bunch of stunt doubles to take all the hits for us, and we get off pain free."
"Yeah, that's brilliant," Varie agreed.
"But Lincoln," Laney pointed out. "What about our doubles? We don't really want them to suffer from Luan's terrible pranks."
Lincoln dismissed her concerns. "Laney, everything will be fine. Besides, you haven't done a particularly good job of stopping Luan. This plan is our only shot."
"Yeah, let's do it," J.D. agreed.
The family talks it over and agrees to the plan.
"Wow, these doubles look exactly like us!" Leni exclaimed, looking in the wrong direction.
Rita shook her head. "No, honey. Those are the doubles." She points to the real stunt doubles.
Leni blinked. "Oh well, they're good too."
"It's like looking in the mirror," J.D. exclaimed in amazement.
"So, uh, how much is this going to cost me?" Lynn Sr. asked.
Lynn Sr.'s stunt double hands him the bill.
Lynn Sr. lets out a gasp. "Is this in dollars?"
J.D. examines the bill and is unimpressed. "That's considered small change to me."
"I don't understand," Lincoln said, confused. "How come my double is so old?"
Linka agreed. "Mine too."
"You're 11 and have white hair, I did the best I could," Lynn Sr.'s stunt double said defensively.
"I came out of retirement for this gig," Lincoln's stunt double explained. "These days, I mostly just sit around in my underwear reading."
Lincoln was impressed. "Never mind, he's perfect."
"I've got to give them a "A" for effort," Varie said.
Jessie nodded. "Agreed."
"All right, famo," Lynn Sr. said. "Now that everyone has a double, it's time to teach them how to look and act like us. We gotta work fast! Luan arrives home at 5 p.m., and if she finds the house empty..." He took a look at his double. "Are you picking up on this? I talk with my hands. Big hand talker right here."
Later, the Louds teach the doubles what to do and how to act like them.
"Really, get that mud in your face," Lana instructed. "Don't be afraid to eat a little."
"Now, in addition to English, I speak Mandarin, Latin, Swedish, and West Coast Rap," Lisa explained.
"So, this is the novel I'm working on," Rita explained. "In case Luan asks, you probably read the entire thing tonight."
Laney shows her double her paintings. "Okay, so here are all of my paintings. As you can see, I am an excellent artist."
"Well, can't you tell me?" Laney's stunt double asked. "Since I'm trying to be you and all."
"Oh well," Laney admitted sheepishly. "Alright..."
"All right, let's see the walk," Leni said to her double.
Leni's stunt double tries to mimic her walking motion.
"Almost, but you forgot a part of it." Leni walks into the wall, and her double does the same.
"I usually rush to the bathroom first thing in the morning to beat the crowd," Lincoln explained.
"Oh, same here!" exclaimed Lincoln's double. "There are some pushy blue hairs at the senior center!"
"Then, before school, I'll sometimes stop for a Flippee," Lincoln explained. "My favorite is Watermelon Lime."
"It's my favorite flavor of gelatin!" exclaimed Lincoln's double.
Lynn Sr. begins narrating, "Okay, here's the plan: at midnight, we'll sneak out of the house and swap places with the doubles. They'll handle the rest. J.D. Varie, Ed, Double D, Eddy, Woody, and Jessie will watch the house from the Knudson estate's castle tower." Rita and Lynn Sr. go to wake up the kids. Lynn steps in to help when they go to wake up Luna.
"I've got this!" Lynn assured them. She makes a paper airplane and throws it at Luna.
The Louds sneak out of the house to swap places with the doubles.
Lynn Sr. gave the doubles a smile. "Good luck to you guys! Are you sure you're ready?"
"Don't worry about us, we'll be fine," Lynn Sr.'s double assured him.
Morning.
Inside the garage, the Louds peer out the window. Lynn Sr. is making pancakes, Lily is sitting on the floor, and Lisa is looking at a large monitor.
"Family, gather 'round," Lisa says as the family approaches the monitor. "We can watch what's going on thanks to the cameras I installed in everyone's room last year..." The family looks at Lisa with suspicion, and Lisa tries to correct her outburst. "Er... last night." Lisa then catches sight of something on the monitor. "Oh! There's movement in the twins' room!" Lisa presses the "CAM 8" button, and the monitor shows Lana and Lola's stunt doubles about to leave the bedroom.
"Here it comes!" Lana and Lola exclaimed nervously.
Lana and Lola's stunt doubles leave the room, but nothing happens.
"Huh," Lana scratched her head, perplexed. "I thought for sure Luan was going to nail them with a bucket of grease."
"Or a sock full of quarters!" Lola added.
"Old Lincoln is on the move... slowly," Lisa observed.
Lisa adjusts the monitor to show Lincoln's room. Lincoln's stunt double sits up, cracking his back.
Lincoln closes his eyes. "Oh, man, I can't watch this. What's happening? Did he get injured?"
Lincoln's stunt double exits the room, but nothing happens.
"Well, he did hurt his back," Rita explained, "but it doesn't appear to be related."
Luna was becoming suspicious. "What's the dealio? Why aren't they getting pranked?"
"And why are they leaving the house?" Lucy asked.
"Knudson Watchdog to Loud Birds, over," J.D. announced over the radio.
Lynn Sr. picks up a walkie-talkie. "Loud Bird Sr. here, over."
"Something isn't right. Your doubles aren't being pranked. I can see them leaving the house. Over."
On the monitor, each stunt double is seen leaving the house. The family gasps as they realize something and rushes to the garage door, peering out the windows to see the doubles heading off in different directions.
Lynn Sr. became peeved seeing this. "What the heck?! I paid good money for them to get their butts pranked off!"
Rita had a sudden realization. "Wait a minute, I get it. Luan's prank was to not prank us at all."
"What do you mean, Mom?" Lincoln asked.
Rita decided to explain. "Ha! She knew we'd go crazy trying to protect ourselves, so she just let us chase our tails."
Lori's eyes widened at that. "Oh, you're right. She is good."
The family laughs, realizing the trouble they went through.
"Well, I may have burned through all of our savings," Lynn Sr. exclaimed with relief, "but at least it's over!"
From somewhere, Luan responded. "Over? It's just getting started!" When the family turns around, they scream in terror as they see Luan staring at them devilishly on the monitor. "You know, family, I had a completely different plan for today, but I'll save it for next year because seeing the amazing doubles you guys found inspired me to do even better. So stay tuned because the rest of this day will be doubly special!" She laughs evilly. "Get it? You don't now, but you will."
The monitor turns off.
"What is she talking about?" Lucy wondered, worried.
Lynn starts panicking. "Ah! Ah! Ah! We gotta stop her!" She tries to open the door, but it won't budge. "She welded the door shut!"
Lincoln and Lana try the windows, but they, too, refuse to open.
"And the windows!" Lana added.
"I'll try the garage door," Lori suggested. "Who has the remote?"
Leni was peeking out the garage window. "Oh, Luan does, she's outside!"
The family rushes to the garage door and peeks out the windows. When they see Luan with the garage remote, they scream in terror. Then, sitting in her jester's chair, Luan turns around to reveal Cliff on her lap.
"Don't look at me. Look at the monitors! I set up cameras all over the place so you could enjoy the show. Ta-ta!" Luan attempts to roll away but becomes stuck. "What the?" The chair will not budge. "Well, this is embarrassing..."
"So is this!" Laney's stunt double quipped. She hurls a pie at Luan's face and hits it.
J.D. gaped at that. "Whoa! We've got some action, guys."
"Laney's double nailed her good," Eddy commented.
Varie agreed. "She sure did."
"What is she going to do?" Ed wondered.
Woody shrugged. "Let's see what happens."
"What is Laney's Stunt Double doing?" asked Lynn Sr.
Luan looked at her in disbelief. "You? But I thought I sent you to Joey's house!" Luan gets out of her chair but slips on a banana peel and runs down the garage road just as a truck full of trampolines passes by. She bounced off one and landed by the front door.
Varie looked confused. "A truck full of trampolines? That's unusual."
Jessie agreed. "Yeah."
"But it was convenient for her," J.D. pointed out.
Luan snarled. "Grr!" She then gets to her feet. "Listen you! The family may have paid you, but I gave you instructions to go over and humiliate Laney and..."
Luan's leg is snagged by a trap rope pulling her inside the house. When Edd switched to the monitors, they saw Luan subjected to numerous pranks. Luan first crashed into the stove, where she was mauled by raccoons, before being punched into the basement by a punching glove and landing in a bunch of pies. Then a rope drew her back upstairs and into the living room, where she became entangled in sticky flypaper. Then she was dragged upstairs, pelted with flour, garbage, rotten eggs, vacuum dust, and sprayed by a skunk. They all laughed as they watched Luan being pelted and pulverized by other pranks. She then landed on her chair, bruised, gooped, tattered, skunked, and shocked. Finally, Laney's Stunt Double grabbed the remote and pushed open the garage door. J.D., Varie, Woody, Jessie, the Eds, and the Louds all came and cheered.
"That was awesome!" exclaimed J.D.
"Luan certainly got a taste of her own medicine," Varie remarked.
Lincoln had a big grin on his face. "That was incredible! I can't believe that Laney's double is such a pranking genius."
Jessie agreed. "Me neither. She is awesome."
"How can we ever thank you, stranger who looks like our daughter?" Lynn Sr. asked.
"No thanks needed, dad," replied Laney's Stunt Double.
"Uh, okay," Lynn Sr. said, confused. "You can stop pretending now."
"Who's pretending?" Laney wipes away the freckles, revealing it was really her. They all gasped in surprise.
"Laney?" said her siblings. Laney hands the tissue to her double and wipes the paint away, revealing her freckles.
Lola was perplexed. "But how the heck did you pull it off? You were supposed to swap with your stunt double like the rest of us!"
J.D. nodded in agreement. "We're wondering the same thing."
"Simple..." Laney explained. Flashback to Last night. "Just as we all left with our stunt doubles in our places, I got a call from my double saying she overheard Luan's plans for April Fools. She was going to use our stunt doubles to humiliate us. And that wasn't a joke at all, more like incredibly cruel and horrible." Laney is placing traps all over the house. That's when I got to work on my ultimate plan to prank Luan back a thousandfold... " Laney is shaking hands with her double, and they walked away separately. "And then I undid my switcheroo. End Flashback And I did it! I finally gave Luan a taste of her own medicine!" Laney then turned to Luan and asked, "How does it feel, Luan? To be painfully messed with and humiliated for amusement? Not good, huh?"
They were amazed at her plan.
"Laney, that was pure genius!" J.D. exclaimed, amazed.
"You beat Luan at her own game!" exclaimed Varie.
"I agree," Edd responded. "She used Reverse Psychology!" He takes out a book on Reverse Psychology and opens it. "We tried it before with the Kanker's." After that, he reads a verse from the book. "In order to defeat your Enemy, you must become your enemy".
Laney nodded. "That's right."
"You certainly showed her, Laney," Eddy commented.
Ed grinned. "That was cool!"
"That was impressive, Lanes," Woody remarked.
"You were as sly as a fox, Laney," J.D. pointed out.
Laney was blushing from all the praise. "Thanks."
"I have to say, Laney," Luan admitted, "you've really gotten into the pranking game. I had no idea you had it in you."
Laney gave her a glare. "Well, I did. And what I did taught you a valuable lesson. That your pranks are insane and dangerous, even to yourself and your family. And you went too far when you tried to humiliate my family! I did this to you to show you how much your April Fool's Day Rampages hurt each and everyone of us! To make sure that you never go this far to prank us ever again!"
"YEAH!" yelled everyone in agreement.
"That prank you were about to pull was not funny at all, Luan," J.D. said flatly. "It was downright cruel and evil."
Woody nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Luan."
Eddy smiled and shook his head. "I can never stay mad at you for your bad pranks, Luan, but Laney sure got you good, didn't she?"
Luan laughed. "She certainly did. Look guys, I'm sorry for all that I've done to you. I promise to tone it down next year."
Lily then thought of something. "Let me check something here." She checked her phone and discovered another revelation. "Wait a minute. It's not April 1st. It's August. She duped us again."
Everyone checked their phones and discovered that Lily was correct.
"Just like the last time with that hotel death trap," J.D. remarked.
"But what about the rest of the doubles?" Linka asked.
"Oh, I don't think you need to worry about them," Laney reassured her. "I called them all and rerouted their destinations. They're now taking all of your places for the day. But hopefully, Luan, you've learned your lesson."
Lynn Sr. nodded and then cast a disapproving look at his daughter. "I agree. You're in big trouble, young lady."
Rita gave her a frown. "You're grounded for two months, and no more pranks!"
Luan groaned at that. "Aw, man."
"Let's hope you've learned your lesson, Luan," J.D. said. "That your pranks on April Fools are deadly."
Jessie nodded in agreement. "That's right."
Varie nodded as well. "Yeah."
"Don't even think about crossing your fingers behind your back." Instead, J.D. made the finger sign for "I'm watching you."
J.D. then wondered. "But where's Shannon?"
"Oh, I spared her because she's still healing from her ordeal as a Black Daffodil," Luan explained.
Luna gave her a proud look. "That's very noble of you brah."
Luan smiled slightly. "Thanks."
"But we're still watching you," J.D. added.
Woody then did his signature laugh.
THE END
