Nobody could believe their eyes. The man in front of them was claiming to be a much older version of Lincoln from the future. They had to admit, the resemblance was incredible, but this wasn't some 80's sci-fi movie. They were gonna need to see some proof.

"If you're really me," Lincoln challenged. "Then tell me something only I would know."

The man leaned over and whispered something into Lincoln's ear that the girls couldn't hear. Whatever it was, it made him blush so hard that his face was as red and hot as a chili pepper. He turned to his sisters and said "Guys… this guy really is me!"

All of the Louds were amazed, especially Lisa. "Absolutely astounding! An authentic being from the distant future on a pilgrimage to our present! You must tell me how this is possible!"

Future Lincoln showed that he was wearing a high-tech-looking bracelet around his wrist. "Time-travel wristband. You invented it, Lis. Only two exist in the whole world."

"Holy Megahertz! I am a GENIUS!"

As Lisa grabbed his arm to better examine the wristband, the others started bombarding him with questions.

"How many movies are there about us in the future?!"

"Do I ever get to perform with Mick Swagger?!"

"When is Bobby gonna propose to me?!"

"Have I been elected Miss Universe yet?!"

"Whoa, whoa! Easy guys!" he said as he pulled himself away from them. "Believe me, I'd love to answer all your questions, but I'm here on an important mission. It's about the guy who attacked you."

"You know him?" Lincoln asked.

"Yes. He's a dangerous villain from my time. We call him Infrared. He wants nothing more than to see the entire Loud family wiped off the face of the earth."

"So what's he doing here?" asked Lynn.

"Well, you see, in the future, our powers have evolved way beyond what yours are now. In fact, we just about had him defeated before he pulled a stunt at the last minute and got away. Remember how I told you there were two of these wristbands? Well Infrared stole the other one and used it to travel back fifteen years into the past. He couldn't beat us as adults, so he thinks he can beat us as kids."

"Well it looks like he was right," Lana commented.

"I volunteered to go after him myself and bring him back to my present to face justice. But I can't do it alone."

"Don't worry. We'll all help you catch him," Lori said confidently. "Right guys?"

The entire team cheered in agreement.

"Thanks everyone. I really appreciate it," Future Lincoln said with a smile. "You all better start training right away if you wanna stand a chance at stopping Infrared."

"You heard him guys. Let's get training!"

At Lori's command, the Louds headed towards the training area. Lincoln stopped, however, when his future self grabbed his shoulder.

"Hang on, Lincoln. I need to have a word with you," Future Lincoln said.

"Uh, okay. What is it?"

F.L. looked around to make sure the others were gone. "Between you and me, I think the real key to stopping Infrared for good… is you!"

"Me? Really? But why?"

"I'll let you in on a secret. I probably shouldn't tell you this, but in the future, you've become the single greatest superhero in the world."

"Whoa! Seriously?!"

"Yup. You see, when I was you, I always felt like I couldn't keep up with our sisters in the field. I didn't have nearly as much experience as they did and, let's face it, The Event didn't exactly bless me with a flashy superpower. Everybody always treated me like a sidekick."

His adult self's words struck Lincoln pretty hard.

"I got so determined to prove myself that I started dedicating all of my free time to improving my technique. I trained several hours a day to learn everything I could about martial arts. I sharpened my mind and my senses until my intuition became as strong as my body. As I grew, so did my power. My eyes began to show me more than just measurements and trajectories. I saw things that no regular human eye could ever see on its own, which turned out to be a great advantage. And I continued to unlock new secrets about my staff as well as discover countless uses for it."

The more F.L. talked, the bigger his younger self's smile grew. Lincoln was hanging on his every word and he absolutely loved what he was hearing.

"Lincoln, if you continue on your path, then someday you're going to accomplish great things. And the whole world will see you for the hero you truly are… especially the ladies." He emphasized that last point with a wink.

"I like the sound of that."

"Lincoln, trust me when I say that you are destined for greatness."

"Sweet! But… what does that have to do with stopping Infrared?"

"Well, I believe that the way to beat Infrared is to fight fire with fire. We have to use his own power against him."

"How do we do that?"

"I'll show you."

F.L. lead Lincoln into the laboratory where Lisa kept the meteorite. Lincoln was confused at first, but then F.L. swung back and punched a whole straight into it. His arm was shoulder deep inside the giant space rock and after fishing around for a couple seconds, he yanked out a bright glowing chunk of it. Lincoln's eyes went wide in admiration and wonder.

"Do you know what this is?" F.L. asked. "This is the core of the meteorite. In the future, this is all that's left of it. It's the center of all its power. The thing that makes it so special. And it's also the key to your victory."

"Are you saying that… if I use the meteorite's core…"

"You can become as powerful as Infrared and you'll be able to beat him single-handedly at his own game."

Lincoln gazed at the glowing rock in his adult self's hand. What he was suggesting did sound pretty appealing, but something made him unsure that it was the right thing to do.

"What do you say, Link?"

"I don't know. Something about this feels kinda… dangerous."

"Yeah, I get that. Think on it for a bit. But don't forget that there is an ultra-powerful super maniac who wants to see you dead. Just something to consider."

All of a sudden, an emergency alert came through on Lincoln's communicator. When he read it, he thought maybe he needed new contacts or something because it sounded way too odd to be real. "Well that's a new one," he said out loud. "Sorry F.L. There's a monster emergency at the park. I'd better go help take care of it. Hey, do you wanna come too?"

"No, no. You go ahead. Traveling back in time is pretty exhausting. I'll just make myself comfortable here and rest a while. Maybe grab a sandwich."

"Okay then. I'll see you when I get back."

On that note, Lincoln exited that lab to join his sisters in the field.

It turned out that the report on the team's alert system was right after all. A giant mutant squirrel was terrorizing the playground at Ketcham Park. Authorities had already cleared out all the people and were doing their best to contain it, but now that the L-Force had shown up, they were starting to feel a lot better about the situation.

"Yikes. That is the ugliest squirrel I have ever seen," Princess commented.

"Indeed," Brainy agreed. "So what is our course of action?"

"I say we kick that squirrel in the nuts!" said Athlete.

"No! We can't do that!" Housepet protested. "He's probably just scared, or maybe he's in pain."

"Fine. We try to catch it without hurting it too much," Control Freak ordered. "L-Force, attack!"

Everybody sprang into action. Athlete grabbed the squirrel by the tail and dug her feet into the ground to keep it from running away. Housepet got in front of it to try and calm it down.

"Careful! Watch out for its tongue!" shouted one of the cops.

"What? Why?"

Her question was answered when the squirrel's long whip-like tongue shot right past her and stabbed a nearby tree. The tree quickly turned black and shriveled.

The squirrel whirled around and yanked Athlete out of the ground. She still had a strong grip on its tail, but now it was tossing her around and trying desperately to shake her off.

"Quick, Tailor! We need a net!" said Link. "And make it a big one!"

"Got it!"

Tailor quickly fashioned the biggest net she could out of the strongest fabric she had. Athlete managed to wrestle the creature into submission and moved out of the way just in time for Tailor to trap it. The squirrel thrashed around to try and free itself, but all it could do was lash its tongue around in random directions. Brainy took care of that by using her nanobots to form a muzzle around its mouth.

"Good job, team," Control Freak said. "This guy's not going anywhere."

"Yeah, especially since he got tied up at the last minute," A.F. joked. "Hahahaha! Get it?"

Her siblings all groaned.

Suddenly, Link found himself engulfed in a bright red aura while being levitated off the ground.

"Hey, what's the big idea, Freak?" he said.

"It's not me doing it," she defended.

He was flung against the jungle gym, where the metal rods twisted around his body and held him in place. Then they all saw who was responsible for it. "Oh no."

Infrared descended from the sky, uttering a deep, sinister laugh. "Ready for round 2?" he said before firing the first attack. Link merely watched as his sisters were once again seriously outmatched.

Future Lincoln waited in the conference room, snacking on an apple. Then his kid self entered, covered in bruises after being pried out of the contorted steel of the jungle gym. His face carried a serious expression.

"Let's do it," young Lincoln said. "I'm ready to train using the core."

"Awesome."