I don't own any of this Loud House belongs to Nickelodeon.

Several days have pass since the terrible day of loosing his father. Lincoln doesn't know exactly on how many days have passed, as he had been unconscious ever since day two of laying on this log that floated through the water, but if he was conscious then he could guess that it's been six days since then. He's spread out on the log with his legs and arms hanging out with both of his hands and feet in the water, his mouth is also open slightly letting his tongue hang out a bit.

The current of water had carried the log far into Scotland, until finally it brought the log into a Loch and very slowly brought it ashore on a sandy bay. This goes unnoticed by Lincoln, who's still in his unconscious state, although his arrival did get notice by some birds that began to circle above him as it looks like that they have a free meal to look forward to.

They never got the chance to swoop on down as a couple of approaching voices kept them at bay. The voices belong to a boy with glasses and a Latino girl who worn a ponytail as her usual hairstyle. They had two completely different personalities as the boy is cautious, while the girl loved to live life on the edge while on her skateboard. Their names were Clyde and Ronnie Anne; two local kids who lived in this area of Scotland and these two were currently on their way to meet up with their other friends: Liam, Stella, Rusty, and Zach at the arcade and the fastest way of getting there is by taking the shortcut that Ronnie Anne has claimed that she definitely took before.

"I'm definitely going to wipe the floor with Zach on Dance, Dance Revolution!" Ronnie Anne exclaimed proudly as it's in her title to keep her Dance, Dance Revolution record on the very top of the scoreboard.

"Oh that sounds fun. While you do that. I'm going to be having a nice game of skee ball." Clyde happily exclaimed for he can feel that this time he'll finally have enough tickets to get his ultimate prize. A prize that Ronnie Anne knew all too well. "Still trying to get that official Bake Off oven?"

"You know it! With it, I can make the perfect-boy?" Clyde stuttered at the end.

Hearing the end of that sentence earned a weird look from Ronnie Anne. "What?"

Clyde doesn't answer as he is too busy looking towards the shore of the Loch. Ronnie Anne fallows his gaze and is very surprised to see a boy laying on a log, its a real shocker for the two as they weren't expecting to run into this today. The two quickly got concerned for was this guy alright? Or even alive for that matter?

Rushing on up to the mysterious boy, Ronnie Anne carefully inspected him while Clyde had his hands held together in worry. "Is this poor guy alright?"

Ronnie Anne doesn't answer as she honestly doesn't know. The only thing that she could do is pick up a random stick and poke the boy much to Clyde's utter shock. "What are you doing? You just can't poke someone with a stick."

"I'm not touching a possible corpse." She defensively countered as that would be outright disgusting and not to mention very creepy, besides the stick poking is always the best way to make sure that someone has kicked the bucket or not. So she pokes him on the arm and is replied with a low moan from the boy.

"He's alive." She sighed with relief. Behind her Clyde let's himself at ease as they didn't find a dead body of a kid on the Loch shore, but that didn't change the fact that this fella needed some help in post haste. "Come on. Let's get him off this log." He instructed.

Picking up his arms, Clyde pulled with all of his might to get him off the log. However since he wasn't exactly the strongest boy, he barely moved the unconscious boy an inch from his spot. After some more struggling Clyde eventually stopped and began panting for breath, he soon regain his breath and then sheepishly looked over to Ronnie Anne who just stood there with her arms crossed, raised eyebrow, and small smirk of amusement. "Can you help me please?"

"Sure" Stepping on up to the boy, Ronnie Anne grabs hold of his legs and together with Clyde the two carried the boy on over to a grassy slope where they gently set him down. Studying the boy carefully, the two wondered on what to do now?

They guess that one of them should stay here as the other went to get help as that's the most logical thing to do during this unusual situation they found themselves in. Which one of them should go is a quick question that they both quickly answered. Ronnie Anne should go as she's fast on her skateboard, while Clyde does know a few things about medical care.

Their plan is however stop by the boy himself as he suddenly began to moan while flickering his eyes. Clyde and Ronnie Anne stepped closer in curiosity and concern, he slowly opens his eyes, blinking a bit as he looked to both of them. A series of coughs then escapes the boy that bounced his head a few times, when the last one left him the boy looked to the two clearly dazed.

"Are you alright?" Clyde finally asks as he placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah. Why were you on that log?" Ronnie Anne asked further.

The boy looked at them in his daze, clearly trying to find words after being passed out for who knows how long. He soon let out a grunt before he finally spoke up. "What's going on?"

"That's what I just asked." Ronnie Anne pointed out.

"Come now Ronnie. The poor guy clearly experienced something traumatic in order to be on a log, although I could be very well be wrong and it was a horrible accident and he's just lost."

"Clyde!" Ronnie Anne interrupted. "Your blabbering."

"Sorry"

Regaining more awareness to his surroundings, the boy tried to sit himself up only to wince in pain which Ronnie Anne quickly moved to his side and helped him lay back down. "Whoa. Take it easy there. Your hand looks broken." She then looked over to Clyde with complete seriousness. "Are you carrying any bandages on you?"

"I sure am." Clyde reached into his pocket and pulls out some hospital level bandages, an item that his dads have given him just in case something happens. He happily gives the bandages to Ronnie Anne who tenderly wrapped it around the boy's hand, she could hear him wince and grunt from the sere touch. After she did a final loop around his hand, she tears it off the roll and handed it back over to Clyde who happily places it back in his pocket.

"There we go. Now your hand should be all better in no time." She told him.

The boy looked down at his now bandage up hand and smiled for at least that's one problem gone. "Thank you."

"It's no problem. We're just happy to help." Clyde happily remarked before remembering something. "Oops. Where are my manners? I'm Clyde McBride and this is Ronnie Anne."

Ronnie Anne lifts her hand up to the boy. "Sup."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Lincoln." He didn't bother giving out his last name as he didn't want to give away his old life. By now his family had probably written him off for what he had done. It's hard for him to believe that a few days ago his life had dramatically upturn on him and now he's on his own, well almost for at least he met these two kids who were very kind.

Suddenly Clyde extended his hand out to him, Lincoln is caught in surprise for a second before grasping it and shaking it. Ronnie Anne meanwhile raised her fist, indicating a fist pump which Lincoln kindly gave.

"It's very nice to meet you to Lincoln." Clyde exclaimed.

"Though that does beg the big question. Where are you from?" Ronnie Anne question.

"Nowhere." He quickly responded sadly. "I'm from nowhere and I'm never going back." Looking downwards at his feet, Lincoln ignores the surprised looks on both of their faces. Turning to each other, frowns formed for they both knew on what this means and they needed to show Lincoln some comfort, so Ronnie Anne gets down her knees in order to be at his eye level.

"A runaway huh. I taken that something horrible happened."

"You can definitely say that." Lincoln answered. "It's the worst thing that's ever happened and I wish that I could fix it." Getting himself up, Lincoln walked over to the log and sadly stares out to the Loch, while Ronnie Anne and Clyde stood concernely behind him. It was eventually Ronnie Anne who had the confidence to speak up. "Look, I may not be a pro on this, but whatever has happened to you. Well, you don't have to be blaming yourself for bad things happen all the time and we can't do anything about it as that's how the world works. The best thing for you to do is let things go and try to continue on with your life or else your just going to end up miserable for the rest of your life."

"Ronnie Anne's right." Clyde chimed in. "My therapist: Dr. Lopez says that the best thing to do in life is to let things that are bad go and look to a brighter future."

"That's even better than on how I put it." Ronnie Anne admittedly said.

Thinking hard about this, Lincoln still looked to the waters of the Loch for awhile before looking back to the smiling Ronnie Anne and Clyde. Perhaps their right? He'll still have the tragic death of his father deep in his mind, but perhaps he should begin to move on and even more perhaps start a new life here with these nice people. It's not like he can go back anyway as his family didn't want to see him, plus he really didn't want to travel all across Scotland in order to find a new life. That being said, he has to know where exactly he is first?

"Where am I?" He asked the two.

"Only the most famous Loch's out of all of Scotland." Ronnie Anne proudly answered with her hands on her hips. "Welcome to the eastern side of Loch Ness."

"Loch Ness?" Lincoln dumbfoundly repeated.

"Indeed. home of the world's famous Nessie." Clyde happily added.

"Though we have never seen her in are entire lives." Ronnie Anne pointed out.

"But Zach's parents have." Clyde quickly remarked for he very well recalls the tale Zach had told them about his parents encounter with the infamous Loch Ness Monster one night. All this did was gave Ronnie Anne a chance to roll her eyes for Zach's parents have also said that they saw an alien with a crazy robot looking through their trash.

However upon hearing Zach's name, it made her remember that they were late. "Oh geez! The guys are probably wondering on where the heck we are?"

"Oh goodness you're right! We need to get moving." Clyde then thought up a good idea and turns to Lincoln who is all too busy looking down at his feet. "Why don't you come with us."

"You sure?" Lincoln asked in surprise for he just met these guys, but Clyde smiled brightly at him. "Of course! The more the merrier."

"Yeah. After being stuck on a log for who knows how long. I say that you are in desperate need for some fun." Ronnie Anne stated.

With a small smile spreading on him, Lincoln found himself slowly nodding to them. "Alright then. If you guys really insist."

"Great! Just fallow us as we know the way." Taking charge along with not even waiting for the two, Ronnie Anne leads Clyde and Lincoln away from the Loch. As they travel their way down a path, Clyde decided that this is a good time as any to get to know Lincoln a bit more.

"So, I know this may seem a bit overstepping, so please forgive me for asking, but what's your family like?" Clyde fully expected Lincoln to shut that question down with silence, but instead he chuckled a bit as he fondly remember his family. "You can say that I come from a rather large family."

"That's interesting. Ronnie Anne actually comes from a large family herself." Clyde happily remarked.

That got Lincoln very interested for he didn't know anyone back home who has a large of a family as the Louds. "Oh really?"

"Yep. She lives with her mother, grandparents, aunt and uncle, along with her three cousins. Her brother used to live there to, but moved out last year." Clyde happily informed.

"They sound like a nice bunch." Lincoln commented for he would like to perhaps meet them some time later.

"They are and her grandmother is perhaps the best cook in all of Scotland." Clyde suddenly licks his lips for he could just imagine tasting Rosa Casagrande's world's famous tortillas. He practically felt his mouth water like a raging river. But Lincoln wasn't so sure about that statement for his dad had been a great cook. He wasn't going to say anything though for he didn't need to start a flame war with the kids he had just met, so he quickly asked Clyde a question in order to avoid slipping up on his personal opinion of who's the better cook.

"So what's your family like?"

"I got the two most friendliest dad's in the world. Sure they maybe a bit protective of me, but again they are the nicest people I ever knew. They are skilled at spotting antiques, run a successful Bed and Breakfast, and of course I can't forget that they give out the best hugs. I'm sure that they would like you." Clyde happily explains to him.

"Well, I hope that I get to meet them later." Lincoln stated in glee.

"I promise that you won't regret it. And you know, I gotta say that I like your hair."

"Why thanks Clyde. I also gotta say that you have a nice shirt."

"Thanks. Hey have you by any chance watch ARRGH?"

"Yeah! Your looking at the person who watched through the whole series."

"Me too. I send Specter fan mail every chance I get."

"That's awesome. What else do you like?" And just like that the two boys find themselves chattering away with one another. As they do the two found out that they both liked the more of the same things from hobbies to some foods, then pretty soon as they finally entered the village they were laughing with one another as they told each other their best jokes. Looking back on them, Ronnie Anne couldn't help but smile for it's very clear that the two have officially bonded with one another.

The three went pass three more blocks before the arcade finally came into view, right along with the gang who are all currently watching Liam balance a egg on top of his head. "Hey guys." Ronnie Anne greeted. "Sorry that we're late, we had an unexpected detour. Um, what are you doing exactly?"

"Rusty made a bet with Liam to see how long he can balance an egg on top of his head." Stella answered.

"And he's been doing it for twenty minutes." Rusty added a bit bitterly for loosing the bet. Now he has to give Liam half his arcade tokens.

"I told ya. I'm the egg balancing champion of my family." Liam proudly exclaimed as he took the egg off his head.

"So what kept you guys?" Zach asked.

Moving aside, Ronnie Anne shows off Lincoln to the group. They all looked at him in surprise for they never seen him around here before, they were very sure that they wouldn't forget a boy with white hair walking around the village. As for Lincoln, he gives them all a polite smile and slowly waves to them.

"Who's this?" Stella finally asked.

"This is Lincoln. He's a very cool guy." Clyde answers happily on his behalf.

"Yes and it's very nice to meet you all." Lincoln remarked.

"Thanks pal. I'm Liam and these good fellas are Rusty, Zach, and Stella." With each introduction the three do their own greetings: Rusty snaps and pointed his index fingers at him, Zach gives a rock pose, and Stella just simply waved to him.

"Nice to meet you all." Lincoln greeted.

"Likewise man, so you here to play some games?" Rusty asked.

Looking briefly up to the arcade, Lincoln looked back to them with a shrug. "I guess I am."

"Great! Now let's go already." Zach exclaimed as he ran into the arcade, fallowed shortly by the rest of the group. The arcade is a standard one with purple carpets, neon walls with video game characters painted on it, and a good batch of arcade games with some that Lincoln had never seen before.

Lincoln suddenly found himself being dragged on over to a claw machine by Zach, he watched him place in a token before grabbing hold of the joystick. "Check it Lincoln. Your looking at the claw machine master."

"Your a master?"

"Sure am." Zach proudly replied.

"I always thought that these games were rigged?"

"That's because no one has learn the correct strategy to win them." Moving the joystick, Zach lays his full attention to the game. "Watch and learn Lincoln." Turning and twisting the joystick with skill and precision, Zach maneuvers the claw above an alien plushie. Pushing the button, the claw went down and grabbed hold of the alien very firmly. Now using the very same skills, Zach maneuvers the claw to the drop off where the claw releases the alien.

Retrieving his prize, Zach proudly smiled to the impress Lincoln. "And that's how it's done. Now I have another alien for my collection.

"That was very cool." Lincoln exclaimed.

"It takes years of practice and patience. Now if you excuse me. I'm going to try and get that other alien." Going back for another round, Lincoln leaves him to it and wandered off to find something to do himself. He soon comes across Rusty standing in front of a mechanical arm wrestling game.

"Are you strong enough?" The machine asked in a Arnold Schwarzenegger type voice.

Rolling up his sleeves to show off his "muscles", Rusty flexes them in front of the machine. "I sure am. The ladies can't get enough of my glorious muscles." Grabbing the machine, Rusty is full of confidence as the machine counted down to one.

With a simple flick, the machine pulled Rusty down to the floor with a hard thud. Groaning from the sudden slam, Rusty slowly gets himself backup. "That was just a warm up."

Moving on to avoid watching Rusty being thrown down to the floor again. Lincoln next comes across Stella, Clyde, and Liam having a skee ball tournament. Looking at the scores it's clear that Clyde is in the lead with Stella one point behind him. He didn't want to disturb their game, so he moved along where then came across Ronnie Anne stepping up on Dance, Dance, Revolution. "Oh yeah! Time to beat my high score!"

Interested in the game, Lincoln walked on up to her as she was just about to push the start button. "Mind if I play?"

Looking to him briefly, a competitive smirk spreads across her face, which very well reminded him of the ones Lynn gives. "Sure. I can always use some competition."

Stepping up on the second platform, Lincoln gets himself ready to dance. On the screen; the game automatically selects a stage and song before starting a countdown, beside him Ronnie Anne gets herself ready by stretching her legs and arms, by the time the countdown got all the way down to three, she turns to him with that competitive smile. "I hope your ready to eat my dust for I'm the Dance, Dance Revolution queen."

With that being said, Lincoln gave out his own competitive smirk. "Game on."

The game begins with the first beats of the Mick Swagger song; "Transformation", and the two dance in equal speed. Ronnie Anne is very impressed for no one has managed to keep up with her when playing this game, but it's not going to last very long, not if she can help it. They dance faster, pulling off many moves as the arrows got more complicated and even faster, and as unbelievable as it sounds, Lincoln is still keeping up a good pace with Ronnie Anne, the others have soon gathered around to watch the two dance off with each other. Like Ronnie Anne; they to are very impressed with Lincoln's dancing skills, they knew from experience that they could never keep up with Ronnie Anne as they usually fall behind at about halfway through the song.

"Man. This guy is good." Zach stated in amazement.

"No kidding. Ronnie Anne usually wipes the floor against anyone who dare play against her." Rusty remembered very well on the day that she beat him. He had almost won, but somehow in the very last moment of the game, she got quantruple points and won.

Speaking of which, the song had finally ended and the scores totaled all the way up to the exact same number; meaning that it was a tie. Ronnie Anne is beyond impressed for this is a very first, she turns to Lincoln and gave him a playful punch on the arm. "Nice moves man."

"Thanks. I had some practice." Lincoln said as he rubbed his somewhat sore arm from the punch.

"I say." A grumble suddenly escapes from Ronnie Anne, she looks to her stomach for a second before looking back up to him. "All this dancing sure gave me an appetite. You up for some pizza?"

"Sure" He didn't need to be asked twice for like the rest of his family, he just loved pizza.

"Alright fallow me to the best pizza place in the village." Jumping off the platform, Ronnie Anne leads him and the rest of the group out of the arcade and across the street to Joe's Pizza. After they entered the pizzeria; they all sat themselves down at a booth in front of a window and ordered a large sausage and pepperoni pizza.

"You were really great on that dance machine. Where did you practice from?" Rusty asked.

"Oh you know. In other arcades." Lincoln answered. It's a small lie as Loch Loud didn't have a arcade, but he did have the home port of Dance, Dance Revolution on the game console in the rec room. He would usually have dance battles against one of his sisters or Taylor which ended up with either of them winning.

"Ronnie Anne better watch out. For it looks like her crown will get taken." Zach teased.

"Don't get too far ahead of yourselves. I'm not the type to give up my title that easily." Ronnie Anne remarked with a smirk.

"So anyway Lincoln. You visiting here with family or just moved in?" Stella question.

"You can say I moved in." Lincoln uneasily answered while shifting his eyes a bit, which Liam had quickly took notice of.

"Why are you so uneasy there Lincoln?"

Lincoln didn't know if he should even answer as he felt that the least of people who knew that he's a runaway the better. "No reason, I'm just thinking about Nessie."

"Ah yes Nessie." Zach exclaimed, falling for his lie. "Did you know that my parents once saw her.

"Here we go again." Stella blankly whispered to Rusty for Zach just loved to tell people this story.

Placing his hands on the table, Zach happily began his tale of his parents Nessie sighting. "They were out on the cliffs one night looking for UFOs. When they heard some splashing down by the Loch, they looked down and catch a glimpse of a long neck coming out of the water. She kept her head up for a good while before going back down under the water."

"Whoa" Is all that Lincoln could say for this is the first time that he heard of a Nessie sighting in person for he usually read them in books or listen to them online.

"Ever since that night. My folks have been monitoring the Loch and have came up with a few theories."

"Which are?"

"That there's more than one and that they usually go around in underwater caves, where there are pockets for them to breath out of when they want to surface. They go out into the Loch for hunting and the reason that they rarely surface is because they usually get enough air from in the caverns."

"Those are very interesting theories. They probably explain a lot of things regarding the mystery of Loch Ness." Lincoln remarks.

"They sure are and here's the really cool part. My parents are planning to send a underwater drone down in one of the caves to find the breeding grounds." Zach could already see it, the pictures of a lot of Nessies swimming around with juveniles and babies. They would be so famous when those pictures come out to the public.

The pizza soon arrives in just the nick of time for Ronnie Anne was just about to make a crack on Zach's parents plans. With the pizza in front of them, the kids all took a piece and happily ate them with Lincoln having the biggest smile on his face. This is perhaps the best pizza he ever had, he's sure that his sisters would fully agree with him on that statement. Instant sadness fell on him upon thinking of his sisters, they like the rest of his family are now a thing of the past with no hope of reunion. However as he took a glance to the group of kids who happily accepted him as they ate the pizza, he felt rather happy for at least he made some new friends and they were pretty cool to hang out with.

The only thing that really bugged him though was his future living situation. He really wasn't a fan of living in a cardboard box right in the middle of a alley. Perhaps he could somehow convince one of his new friends to have him live with them. It's a very long stretch, but he'll find a way to convince them as he is after all the master of convincing.

But as for right now though. All he could think about is the deliciousness of this pizza along with the start of his new life. After all you what you know what they say; hakuna matata, it means no worries.