Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image: A tale retold

Chapter fifteen: Path of the Sword

The Loud kids were having breakfast one day at their family's house, just as they would any other morning. This morning was a bit different since Lynn, the athletic sister of the eleven Loud children, had just gotten out of the hospital. "Hey, Lynn," oldest Loud sibling Lori began, getting her athletic younger sister's attention, "Are you feeling better after what happened at the dance?"

Looking up from her cereal and over to Lori, Lynn said, "What, you mean when that stuff all fell on me?" With a casual shrug, Lynn replied, "Ehh, that was nothing."

"I literally hesitate to disagree with you on that," Lori remarked dryly, "But seriously, Lynn. I think that you ought to take it easy for a bit."

"She's got a point, Lynn," Lincoln said, a mild hint of concern in his tone. Lynn turned to her side to see her younger brother regard her with a look of mild worry on his face. "You just got out of the hospital need I remind you," the white-haired boy pointed out, "Emphasis on just. I think that Lori's got a point on how you ought to take it easy."

The sporty Loud sister relented a bit, touched by the concern her siblings were showing her. Especially Lincoln, who had recently done something that Lynn was expecting would never happen; forgive her for her part in driving him to the point of running away. Lynn was thinking that her little brother would never reconcile with her, mostly because it was more or less her fault that the bad luck nonsense from a while ago even took place at all.

"…Sorry, guys," Lynn relented, "I guess I do need to learn when to dial it down a notch."

"You aren't the only one, Lynn," Lisa remarked dryly. Turning to regard Luna, Lisa continued, "Wouldn't you agree?" As Luna started to get into an argument with Lisa, Loud family matriarch Rita came walking into the dining room area. Seeing that some of her kids were arguing, she called everyone's attention to her, quelling any argument that might have happened.

"Hey kids," Rita began, "The local youth group being hosted by the community center is throwing together a football team!"

"That's great, mom!" Lynn said, her interest suddenly piqued.

Nodding once in acknowledgement to her athletic child, Rita continued as she walked over to where Lynn sat, "It's technically open to most kids, but I figured that you at least would be interested, Lynn."

"Cool," Lynn remarked, "Hey, I wonder if-"

"Lynn, brah, your shoulder," Luna pointed out.

"Oh," Lynn replied, her tone deflating. Slumping back in her seat, Lynn lamented, "Well there goes that plan."

"And here I thought that this would help to lighten the mood after you got out of the hospital," Rita said in a mildly regretful tone.

With a sympathetic sigh, Lori said, "Mom, Lynn literally just got out of the hospital, and you were thinking of letter her get right back into strenuous physical activity?"

"Oh," the Loud matriarch remarked, realizing that her oldest child had made a good point. Grabbing an empty chair at the table and sitting down in it, Rita continued, "I really wasn't thinking there, was I?" As Lori proceeded to try and cheer her mother up, Lincoln was looking around the table at the faces of the other people sitting there. Specifically, the white-haired boy was looking at Lynn's bummed expression and Rita's self-disappointed expression. Lincoln can understand Lynn being bummed; after all, she was currently nursing an injury that would keep her away from her favorite pastime for a little while longer yet.

As for Rita, Lincoln could tell that she was disappointed in herself for screwing up as a parent. …Did she feel this way when she was struck by the realization of having contributed to making him run away? It was bad enough that Rita had screwed up as a parent when it came to what she had helped to put Lincoln through, but by doing so she went back on her word that she would never kick one of them out. It's not that he had forgiven his ex-mother for her part (far from it, actually), but there was something in Lincoln that made him not like seeing Rita in the dumps like this.

"…Hey, Mrs. Loud," Lincoln began, planning to do something that he was at least forty-two percent sure would backfire on him in some way.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN LINCOLN GOT HURT?!"

In a move that he was unsure of why he actually decided to make it, Lincoln decided to sign up for the youth football team being hosted by the local community center. He even had some fun working on plays along side some of his fellow teammates, which included Ulfric Aesir, Lynn's friend/current crush, and Andy Ace, the younger brother of Lincoln and Ronnie Anne's friend Astrid. …Why there was such a bizarre range of ages (Andy's ten to Ulfric's thirteen) on one team was beyond the white-haired boy, but that was beside the point.

During the first game where Lincoln's team played against the youth football team organized by a community center from outside of Royal Woods, the white-haired boy was hurt when several kids from the other team dogpiled onto him near the end of the game in an attempt to dogpile onto another kid that was going to score a touchdown. Thankfully, the worst Lincoln got was some bruising, and even more thankfully, Lincoln did not require treatment at the local hospital. …Not that it stopped Rita from giving the youth football coach a rough time, mind you.

"It was a total accident, ma'am," the youth football coach said apologetically, close to cowering due to Rita being intimidating "And we contacted the parents of all of the boys that were res-"

"THAT'S STILL NO EXCUSE!" the Loud matriarch exclaimed at the youth football coach (living up to her family's name in the process), who was growing steadily more afraid of the angry blonde woman who was yelling at him. It did not help his case that Rita's feelings on the matter were shared by four of her daughters, Lynn, Lori, Leni and Luna, all of which were standing behind their mother, staring down the youth football coach in a manner similar to the Loud family matriarch.

"You are literally one of the worst youth sports coaches ever," Lori snapped as she pointed an accusing finger, "In fact, where's the coach of the other team?"

"A group of angry parents from the Royal Woods area are scolding him," the youth football coach explained, hoping that it would help him. Thankfully for him, Rita and her daughters seemed to simmer down somewhat due to hearing this.

"Hey, sorry about this," Lincoln's voice called out a bit weakly, prompting his ex-sisters, his ex-mother and Lynn to look over and see Lincoln come up, accompanied by Andy and Ulfric, the latter of which was supporting Lincoln due to the white-haired boy being hurt. Andy was, for some reason, wearing a black-and-gold variation of his usual red-and-white outfit.

"Yo Ulfric, you think Lincoln's going to be okay?" Andy asked his fellow teammate in a mildly concerned tone, "I mean, he did take one heck of a beating but lived to tell the tale. He's got a warrior's resilience, that's for sure."

With a gentle nod of agreement, Ulfric remarked to his younger teammate, "I myself would be interested in seeing Lincoln continue playing with us. He's got speed and respectable stamina, and you raise an excellent point about Lincoln's resilience."

"Lincoln!" Rita exclaimed in a worried tone upon seeing her injured son. Running right over to Lincoln, Rita got down on one knee so that she was level with Lincoln before she proceeded to examine the bruises and mild scrapes on his face. "Oh, I'm so sorry that I pushed you into this, sweetie," Rita said as she started to look Lincoln over, "I should have OH MY GOODNESS YOU'RE BLEEDING!"

Looking on his left forearm, Lincoln saw a minor scrape that was bleeding; not enough to warrant treatment at the hospital, mind you, but a bandage wouldn't hurt. "…I highly doubt that this would kill me," the white-haired boy remarked dryly, "Besides, it was my idea to join the youth football group, remember?"

"Yes, but only because I was so pushy about trying to get you to exercise in the past," Rita said, her tone clearly conveying guilt.

"Hey mom," Leni began in a curious tone, "Now that you, like, brought it up, I've been meaning to ask you. If your intention was to, like, try to get Linky in shape, then why did you sign him up for that football team that one time? Lynn says that one has to have some amount of physical fitness to begin with in order to get into sports. I mean, if you wanted Linky to, like, get in shape, then wouldn't something like track be a better and more logical option?"

"Leni…" Lori began, but then stopped short as she considered what her ditzy younger sister just said. "…Raises an excellent point, mom," Lori continued as she found what Leni said to have made a lot of sense, "Heck, with all of the running around that Lincoln does trying to keep up with everything going on at home, he'd literally be a wiz at track."

"I…did not think of that," Rita replied, her tone indicating that she was struck by a sudden realization. Holding a hand to her forehead, the Loud matriarch continued, "…Wow. I really dropped the ball on that one, didn't I?"

Lori was about to say something, but she was cut off when everyone heard a familiar female voice call out, "There you are, Andy!" At that prompting, everyone turned to see Allison Ace, the owner of said voice, walk up to the group, accompanied by her younger twin brother Aggro and another teenager that looked to be roughly the same age as Luna.

This mystery girl that was with the Ace twins had fair but pale skin, and long black hair whose bangs covered the left eye, leaving the right eye, which was a strong, vibrant and striking shade of burgundy, uncovered; the rest of the long black hair trailed down the girl's back in a single braided ponytail. The girl also wore a black sleeveless girl's blouse, a black skirt that reached her knees, black and white striped arm warmers that reached halfway up her upper arms, black and white striped stockings, and black shoes. The mystery girl was also holding onto a simple staff that, judging by some of the intricate details that could only be seen up close, was of Native American make.

"You played well, little brother," Allison said to Andy, "Surely that means that Odin had seen fit to bless you and your team, allowing you all to win."

"The Allfather's intentions are mysterious to us, are they not?" Ulfric remarked to Allison, getting her attention in the process. Allison nodded in an approving manner at Ulfric before turning her attention back to Andy.

"Yeah, we won big time, alright," Andy said to Allison, then continued with a hint of concern in his tone while pointing to Lincoln, "But one of my teammates was injured during the game."

Allison quickly shot a look at Lincoln, who was still being looked over by Rita. The female Ace twin then shifted her attention to Lori, Leni, Luna and Lynn, who all stood behind their mother. Pointing at the white-haired boy, Allison said, "I take it that this one is one of yours, Lori?"

"Yes, that's my younger brother Lincoln," Lori replied. Pointing to Andy, the oldest Loud sister asked, "And I take it that this is your little brother, Allison?"

"This is Andy, yes," the seventeen-year-old Ace sister replied, "Only ten years of age, yet he already shows promise as a warrior!" Turning her attention to Andy quickly, Allison wore a look of confusion while saying, "How come you're wearing black and gold today? Don't you usually wear red and white?"

"It's in the wash, remember?" Andy pointed out to his older sister.

With a mild hint of embarrassment in her expression, Allison replied, "Oh yeah."

"Great job on winning the game," the mystery girl said to Andy and his teammates as she took a step forward, "That goes for all of you."

"Thank you, umm…" Lincoln began, but trailed off due to not knowing the girl's name.

"Oh dude," Luna said as she got Lincoln's attention, "That's Allison and Aggro's younger sister Amy. I share a few classes with her at the high school."

"Well anyway," Rita began to say to her children, "We ought to get going home now. I'm also going to look into trying to find some safer physical activity for Lincoln tomorrow."

"I can use him as my go-to caddy," Lori offered, "Since the golfing season is kicking up for the varsity golf team, we've been seeing a lot of play recently. Lincoln will be getting plenty of exercise carrying my golf bag for me."

"And I suppose that while you're on the subject, you're going to try to convince me to join your little golf guild again?" Allison remarked in a knowing tone, "Try to get the cherry on the top while you're at it, as it were?"

"Well it wouldn't hurt…" Lori admitted, drawing an amused chuckle out of the oldest female Ace teen. The male Ace teen, on the other hand, was giving Lincoln a look of consideration while everyone's focus was on the two talking seventeen-year-old girls. "Come on, Allison," Lori said right when Aggro came out of his thoughts, "We'd be a shoo-in to win nationals if you join the team!"

With a shrug, Allison replied, "I'm still trying to figure out why Odin had seen fit to give me his blessings whenever I play golf. If I can figure out the reason why, then I can keep it up because who am I to displease the Allfather?"

"Actually, Allison," Lori replied, "I've been meaning to tell you-"

"Excuse me, ma'am," Aggro said to Rita, interrupting Lori in the process, "But can I borrow your son for a minute?" Having heard Aggro speak up just now caught everyone's attention, especially the Loud sisters who were present.

Curious and with a look of mild apprehension on her face, Rita asked, "What do you need Lincoln for?" In response, Aggro reached over his right shoulder to the cloth carrying case that was worn over his back, similar to the thin rectangular carrying case that Allison currently wore over her back. Opening the cloth carrying case over his back, Aggro drew out a bokken that was inside. Just a little over three feet in length, the bokken was a reddish-brown wood color. There was also some faux black leather (with red threading) wrapped around the one end, serving as the bokken's hilt.

Turning the bokken around in one hand so that the hilt was pointing outwards, Aggro tried to hand the bokken over to Lincoln. "I believe that I may have a possible answer to your concerns about trying to find your son a physical activity that he can do," Aggro said while facing Rita. Turning back to face Lincoln again, Aggro noticed the confused look that was on the face of the sole Loud boy. "Try holding Morning Sun as if it were a sword of metal," Aggro said as he gave Lincoln instructions to follow.

"Morning Sun?" Rita repeated in a confused tone as Lincoln hesitantly took the offered blade.

"Yes, I named my bokken," the male Ace twin replied as he motioned for everyone to get back. When Lincoln had enough space, Aggro said, "Try swinging it, but not wildly." Confused by the instructions, Lincoln nonetheless followed them, imagining himself as a swordsman from one of the anime shows that he and his friends watched, specifically the ones that were more realistic as opposed to the more fantastical swordsmen of other shows.

A straight forward swing. Two diagonal swings, one from the left and one from the right. Lincoln even held the bokken horizontally in front of him, as if he were blocking a sword strike. While Lincoln was doing this, everyone else watched, Aggro especially. The seventeen-year-old Ace boy could tell that Lincoln had no formal training, but he also saw the sparks of latent talent, not to mention an honest interest in swordsmanship. "…Not bad," Aggro remarked, prompting Lincoln to stop.

Turning to regard Rita, Aggro said, "Ma'am, with your permission, I would like to get your son into Kendo."

"Kendo?" Rita repeated in a confused tone, "What's that?"

"Kendo is a Japanese martial art that draws its origins from swordsmanship," Aggro explained, "I myself have been practicing it for a good number of years now." Gesturing to Lincoln, who still held the bokken he handed to him, Aggro continued as he spoke to Rita, "You'd be surprised by the amount of physical activity your son will get out of it, and there are more benefits than just the physical ones." Turning to face Lincoln, Aggro said, "I'd like it back now."

Still a little confused by what Aggro was talking about, Lincoln nonetheless nodded as he turned the bokken he held so that he could hand it back while its hilt pointed to Aggro. A mildly amused smile on his face, Aggro said as he took his bokken back, "And just like that, you passed my first test." Confused by Aggro's praise, Lincoln was nonetheless happy that he was apparently off to a good start from the get-go.

Turning to face his mom, Lincoln said, "Well what do you think? Would it be okay if I started practicing Kendo?"

To be honest, Rita was unsure about any physical activity for Lincoln, given that he just came off of one due to getting roughed up really bad. …But then again, that happens to Lynn more or less all the time, and she always bounces back. And the youth football coach did seem like he was a bit incompetent, whereas Aggro here seemed to exude skill and competency. Plus, the male Ace twin had the benefit of being someone that some of Rita's daughters knew personally; that level of familiarity helped to breed trust.

With a small but honest smile, Rita replied, "Well I don't see why not. Your sister's friend seems to know what he's-"

"Linky would totes love to sword fight with you, Aggro!" Leni said to Aggro in an excited and almost eager tone, interrupting her mother in the process as well as mildly startling the male Ace twin, "When should I bring Linky over for his first lesson?"

A mildly confused look on his face, Aggro said, "Umm, Kendo is no mere child's game of pretend sword fighting. It is an actual martial art that requires discipline."

"But you'll still show Linky how to do it, right?" Leni continued.

"…Well yeah, since your mother just gave me the okay to do so," Aggro replied, a mildly confused look on his face due to Leni's sudden shift in behavior.

Practically beaming, Leni said, "Then I'll bring Linky over first thing tomorrow!"

Casting a quick glance at Lincoln, Aggro said, "Umm, I believe that your younger brother ought to rest a bit first. I mean, he was roughed up quite a bit in today's football game."

"Your friend's right, Leni," Rita said to her second-oldest daughter, "Lincoln needs time to heal from his injuries."

"Oh, sorry," Leni replied, looking mildly embarrassed.

After Lincoln had sufficient time to recover, his older ex-sisters Lori and Leni took him over to the Ace family's residence. Lori knew the way over to the Ace family's place, and she was still a bit keen on trying to get Allison to join the RWHS varsity golf team. However, Lori had no idea why Leni of all people would want to come over.

The three of them eventually reached a two-story house that seemed similar to some of the other two-story houses in the Royal Woods neighborhood. The oldest Loud sister walked up and knocked on the door, which elicited a loud, booming barking from the other side. The white-haired boy jumped a bit when he heard the barking, although neither of the girls did, as they had both long since become familiar with the beast within.

"Relax, Linky," Leni said as she looked over and noticed the startled look on Lincoln's face, "That was just Aggro's dog."

"It's Allison's dog, Leni," Lori corrected, "Aggro doesn't own a dog."

Soon enough after Lori had knocked on it, the front door of the Ace residence opened, and the three Loud siblings were greeted by Aggro. "…I see that you came around the time I specified," Aggro remarked as he gestured for the Loud siblings to enter, "Punctuality is a virtue that anyone practicing a serious discipline needs to keep in mind."

"You're disciplining Linky?" Leni asked in a worried tone, "Did he do something bad?"

"No, Leni," Lori said, "Discipline can also mean a field of study or training. Martial arts are sometimes referred to as disciplines."

"Your sister is correct, Leni," Aggro remarked to the fashionable Loud sister, "Rest assured that Lincoln is not in any trouble to speak of. At least as far as I am aware."

"Thank goodness," Leni replied, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Well then, we shouldn't just stand out here and shoot the breeze," Aggro remarked to the Loud siblings with a hint of mild mirth in his tone, "Come on in."

Lincoln and his ex-sisters walked through the first floor of the Ace family residence. As they went through the living room, something caught the attention of the white-haired boy; a large and somewhat ornate dreamcatcher was hanging on one of the walls in the living room. It clearly looked like something that would cost a considerable sum to purchase from a Native American-themed gift shop somewhere. Leni likewise agreed that the dreamcatcher looked beautiful.

"Ah, that," Aggro remarked when Leni pointed out and asked about the dreamcatcher, "That came from Amy and Alphonse's parents."

"Wait a minute," Leni began in a mildly confused tone, "I thought that, like, Amy and Alphonse were your siblings. Are you saying they really aren't?"

With a bit of a sigh, Aggro explained, "In truth, Amy and Alphonse are biologically my cousins, with their mom and dad being my aunt and uncle." With a hint of somberness in his expression, the male Ace twin continued, "After a car crash roughly five years ago claimed the lives of my aunt and uncle, my mom and dad took Amy and Alphonse in, and even formally adopted them as their own kids. My mom still has the official paperwork and everything."

"Wait a minute," Lori began, "So are Amy and Alphonse your cousins or your siblings?"

"Yes," Aggro replied, drawing mildly confused looks out of Lori and Leni. With a mildly amused smile on his face due to the reactions that he got out of them, Aggro continued, "Amy and Alphonse, unlike me and the rest of my siblings, are half Native American rather than half Japanese. They're still half Swedish because my late aunt was from my mother's side of the family." With a look of mild puzzlement on his face, Aggro added, "I don't quite remember the tribe that my late uncle was born into. I'll have to ask my mom when she-"

Aggro was cut off when a large, and I do mean large, fluffy dog came running into the living room and right up to the Loud kids that were visiting, wagging its tail in an excited manner. The dog was mostly black in color, although it had a light brownish-tannish underbelly that reached up to around the muzzle. He also had a large, lion-like mane of fur around his head, making him look even more ferocious.

The sudden appearance of this dog caught Lincoln by surprise, although the dog's friendly demeanor and eagerness to consistently lick Lincoln's face as it wagged its tail seemed to have made the white-haired boy relax. "Aww, isn't he sweet?" Leni gushed as the (very) large dog practically coated the side of Lincoln's face with slobber, "Aggro's dog totes likes Linky!"

"Fenrir is Allison's dog, not mine," Aggro corrected, a hint of amusement in his tone that was brought on by the dog's overly friendly display.

"Yeesh, even though I saw him when I came here that one time to ask Allison if I could borrow her special golf club, I'm still literally shocked by how big her dog is," Lori remarked, "I think he's even a little bit bigger than the dog that Bobby's cousins own." Gesturing to Fenrir, Lori asked Aggro, "What breed of dog is Fenrir again?"

"Fenrir is a Tibetan Mastiff," Allison's voice called out, prompting everyone to turn and see that Allison had entered the living room. With a snap of her fingers, Allison said, "Fenrir, come." Without missing a beat, the large and fluffy dog stopped showing affection to Lincoln and went over to his owner right away, sitting down on the floor on Allison's right.

"My apologies if Fenrir here gave you any trouble," Allison remarked, "It's just that he loves greeting guests is all."

Gesturing to Fenrir, Lincoln remarked, "Well at least he's friendly."

"So, Louds," Allison began, "What brings you all over?"

"Oh, me, Lori and Link's mom gave Aggro the go ahead to teach Linky to sword fight," Leni explained, "Linky's over for his first lesson, and I think that Lori, like, wants to talk to you about something."

Nodding in understanding, Allison said, "Seems reasonable. Aggro did say something about teaching one of Lori's siblings how to do kendo." Turning to face Lori, Allison continued in a knowing tone, "And I can probably guess why you yourself came over."

"Heh, yeah," Lori remarked, "We do have a few things to discuss. Well, at least I hope you'll literally hear me out."

"Uhh huh," Allison replied, "Well anywho, I suppose we ought to let my brother get started on tutoring your brother." With that cue, Lori followed Allison out of the living room, with Fenrir walking along behind them. When they were gone, Aggro turned to face Lincoln and Leni.

"Well then," Aggro said, "We ought to head into the backyard. I have some extra Kendo equipment in the shed in the backyard, and the backyard has the most space for practice."

Nodding in agreement with the male Ace twin, Lincoln replied as he and Leni both proceeded to follow Aggro into the Ace family's backyard, "Yeah, sounds great."

While Lori and Allison talked with each other inside, Aggro, Lincoln and Leni were outside in the backyard. The Ace family's backyard was somewhat more spacious than the Loud family's backyard, although a fair part of the backyard was taken up by a large, constructed kennel that was in the upper left corner, with a large walk-in shed in the upper right corner of the backyard, putting it opposite of the large kennel.

"Before we start," Aggro began as he turned to face Lincoln, "I need to get an appropriately-sized Bogu set for you. Luckily, everything we're going to need is in the shed."

The white-haired boy, having no idea what Aggro's talking about, asked, "What's a Bogu?"

"It's the set of training armor that one wears while practicing Kendo," Aggro explained, "Additionally, we'll have to get you fitted for a gi and a hakama. A gi is the long-sleeved jacket worn by people who practice martial arts, and a hakama is the basically the pants or skirt of the outfit, depending on if your hakama is an umanori or an andon bakama. The gi and hakama are usually worn under the Bogu. As a side note, the gi and hakama both have special methods for properly storing after use and overall care, which I will show you how to do later."

"Wow, Aggro!" Leni remarked in amazement, "I didn't know that you knew so much about fashion!"

Looking mildly confused, Aggro replied, "…Umm, what I'm talking about doesn't relate to fashion as a whole. At least not as much as you might be assuming." Turing to face Lincoln, Aggro said, "Well then, are you ready, Lincoln? Ready to walk the way of the sword?"

The white-haired boy was somewhat nervous, but it was a mild amount of nervousness at most. And the excitement of learning a martial art far outweighed any trepidation that he had. After he had gathered enough of his nerves, Lincoln nodded in the affirmative, saying, "I'm ready to start learning when you're ready to start teaching, Aggro-sensei."

"Oh," Aggro replied in a tone of mild amusement, "I see that you have some familiarity with honorifics." Looking upwards to the sky, Aggro continued with a look of consideration on his face, "Yeah, I'm your Kendo instructor, so I suppose that calling me sensei would be correct." Lowing his head back down so he could face Lincoln, Aggro continued, "Anyway, let's get that size-appropriate Bogu, gi and hakama for you. I can't have you training without being properly outfitted." With a small but amused smile on his face, Aggro added, "Lincoln-kun."

"Hee," Leni giggled cutely to herself, "This is going to be fun."

END, RESTORED IMAGE: A TALE RETOLD CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Author's note:

I…don't really have a lot to say here that I haven't already said before. Maybe that'll change the next time I get a chapter out for this.