LOUDERTALE

by Superdimentio77

When Lincoln wins a free reservation at a resort, he of course invites all of his family to join him. But when said resort is standing next to a certain mountain, their visit up the mount might extend the Loud Siblings' trek by a little bit. What friendship and trials await them? Look out Underground, here come the Louds.

6. Ruins, Part 4

LOUDERTALE

Arc 1 : Ruins

Part 4 : Gloom and warmth

IMPORTANT : If you're following me and you've already read this chapter, I'm simply reposting it for those who haven't seen it. See, for a little while, the E-mail alert of was broken, I saw that when I didn't get an alert in my own mailbox. So in order to not have those people surprised when they see they are one chapter behind, I am reposting it. As for the next chapter, it's in developpement as I write this. See you soon~

Author's Note : *Author is lying on the floor like a piece of dry calamari...*

Finals... took most of my time... sorry to be that late...

But hey, I guess that there is a new chapter now. One that I actually managed to make even longer than the previous ones...

Still, all my apologies for being so slow. Next updates shall arrive faster. Thank you all so much for your support, I read every one of your reviews. I even got to incorporate an idea or two that were thrown at me, I'm sure those who proposed them will recognize themselves. Anyway, enjoy this wrap-up of the Ruins quest, and some adorable spooks meeting eachother.

Or not... you choose... it's all you...

Loud House and Undertale are not mine. Sigh...

---

Lincoln had been a fan of the show 'AAARGH !' for at least two years now. He had been immediately hooked up the moment he saw Hunter Spector catch the dastardly cunning 'Ghost of a hundred fridges'. The effects had been so good, the eleven year-old couldn't tell if the apparitions were real or not, and that despite Lori's snarky comments or Lisa's lectures on how the existence of lingering spirits was purely frivolous and a waste of the human's mind to believe in them.

But though Lincoln had been 'hunting for ghosts' ever since, causing some humourous sheninigans with the house vacuum cleaner, the snow-haired boy couldn't help but gape in wonder before the undead entity right in front of him. This was no shadow moving in the corner of the basement or reflection of light in the attic, this was the real deal. A 100% authentic ghost, floating and everything.

Struck dumb, Lincoln stood speechless, as were his sisters. It however changed when colorful hearts appeared before them, and his lips began to flap on their own. And that could only mean one thing.

*"Here comes Napstablook."

Fight engaged !

{Undertale OST – Ghost Fight}

"By Newton's apple and Nikola Tesla's facial hair. Ghosts are real too." breathed Lisa. She could feel her brain slightly spazzing out by this new addition to the avalanche of unscientific revelations that had been falling on her for the last hour or so.

"G-G-Ghost ?" trembled Leni as she hid behind a bewildered Lori. Spiders were her worst fear, but she wasn't really fond of ghosts either. The last ghost movie she had seen had made her unable of opening the fridge for two solid months, afraid that she'd find a gateway to Hell in it. Or worse, those ugly suits the heroes were wearing !

Luna tilted her head, not quite sure how to react to this. "I guess we should've expected it, in a weird way." The rocker was surprised, but it wasn't like the ghost was scary. Odd-looking, at best. And was she hearing jazz ? "Napstablook, huh ? Nice name, neatly rolls off the tongue."

"Not gonna lie, this is pretty ghoul !" joked Luan, shaking away her surprise with her natural delight.

"Ghosts are real ! Ghosts are real !" chanted the twins together, a bit worried, yet excited at the same time.

Ignoring his sisters' antics, Lincoln took a better look at the ghost. He really looked like the way a child, if asked, would draw a ghost. Long white body looking like someone wearing a bedsheet on their head, two white eyes with a black outline, and a small mouth, although his didn't have any sharp teeth. But the other noticeable thing with Napstablook's eyes was how sad they seemed, kinda wet-looking as he gazed at the floor. In fact, his whole presence reeked of depression and melancholia, as if he was thinking of the world's misery in permanence.

Lincoln pursed his lips. That sounded very familiar. But before dwelling on this, he knew by seeing the option boxes in front of him that action needed to be taken. So naturally, he first thought of Checking.

*"Napstablook. ATK 10, DEF 10. This spirit seems to be devoid of any sense of humour."

"Wow, that was kinda cold." remarked Lynn. Were spirits mean to eachother or something ?

Napstablook also wasn't deaf to his description, and his eyes watered more as his brow tightened. "oh, i'm a real hoot alright..." he mumbled. The siblings winced, that was the most down in the dumps tone they had ever heard in their lives. And when you lived with Lucy Loud, that was saying something. Just hearing him talk like that made them think of sad kitten, the sense of failure coming from an 'F' in mathematics after studying for it, and grey skies accompanied with drizzling rain.

Suddenly, irony decided to act too, as the moment they thought of the rain, Napstablook began to cry, many tears at the same time. But instead of just splashing on the ground like gravity would want them to, they instead angled themselves to target the humans. With a yelp, they disbanded and arched their bodies in an effort to not be hit by the lethal marks of sadness. Some hit home however, with Lori taking one in the leg, and Lana in the arm. Both blondes yelped at the stinging sensation, the tears proving to be slightly corrosive, leaving marks on both of them and (delepting) 3 HP from each of the sisters.

"Yikes ! I thought that one movie said crying was supposed to be a good thing !" said Lincoln, bending to check if Lana was okay. The tomboy shook it off, she had been through worse, like during the last possum invasion when she had taken them head on, pan on her head and broom in her hand.

"Forget your movie, this is real life !" Lola threw her arms in the air. She calmed down soon enough with a deadpan. "Yep, a ghost trying to cry us to death is real life now."

"It's okay, it's just a small wound." reassured Lori, wincing every time she touched the bruised part. "Let's find a way to get ourselves out of this situation first. C'mon, we need ideas people !"

"Well, we could try flattering him. After all, being nice doesn't ghost anything, hahaha !" guffawed Luan.

"Or y'know, we could scare him away." proposed Lynn with a sly grin. "Let's see how he likes it being on the other end for once."

"Thinking that by being a ghost our foe is only meant to haunt and scare people, is once again quite the stereotypical assumption. This is the 21st Century, try to act accordingly." lectured Lisa.

With those two ideas under their belt, Lincoln was once again beckoned to press ACT. Two new options had been added, 'Flatter' and 'Terrorize'. The first one sounding more gentle for the poor ghost, it was chosen, and let the floor for Leni and Luan.

The ditzy blonde began, working up her courage to ignore that she was talking to a g-g-ghost. "H-Hi there. You've got a real nice... glow ? Yeah, you're totes cute !" she perked up, getting the hang of it. Plus, he really did look cute. "Wanna talk with us for a bit, share fashion tips ?"

"Yeah, let's talk, not cry. I bet that with a little effort, in no time, we'll be able to lift your spirits, hahaha ! Get it ?" joked Luan, always confident that a pun could bring anyone into the mood for conversation.

But while the girls' efforts were commendable, it proved useless on changing the ghost's mood. In fact, he semmed to be getting even more bummed out as he looked up to gaze at them. "thanks for trying... but don't bother... i'll just be a blunder for you..." he murmured.

A wave of intense dejection and self-loathing washed over the two joyful Louds, making them lose their welcoming smiles and share a look. This was going to be tougher than they first thought, but they nontheless wanted to try some more.

"Don't say that about yourself, I'm sure that's not true. You're not a blu... blue... just a weight." Leni said with great kindness.

"Yeah, not only figuratively, but litteraly as well ! That's one diet I wanna try, hehe !" laughed Luan, while keeping a friendly voice.

But to the two girls' disappointement, Napstablook's mood didn't improve one bit. "the answer's simple, i'm nothing... except trash maybe..." the poor ghost pratically cried monotonously. "i'm wasting your time here..."

*"Napstablook thinks he does not deserve your sympathy."

A small rush of adredaline overcame the siblings, indicating Napstablook's turn. Leni and Luan took a fearful step back, but were surprised to see a blurry message appear instead of an attack : "Really not feelin' like attacking right now. Sorry." The spirit's eyes returned to the ground, mouthing a little 'sorry' while doing so. Luan and Leni admitted defeat in their action, and returned to their siblings, heads bowed in shame.

Luna patted her sibling's back, wanting to comfort her. "You tried your best, dude."

Luan shook her head. "If I had, he would be laughing right now." she mumbled dejectedly. The bright comedian was immediately given a small hug by her roommate, making her already feel better. As for Leni, she was quick to be consoled the same way by both Lily and Lincoln, knowing how sensible the practically woman-child could be.

In the midst of all this, Lucy put a hand on her chest, her mouth shaped in a little 'o'. Such melancholy, such sadness of heart. He was as morose as one can be, but unlike Edwin, he wasn't stone-cold about his endless suffering. He was suffering in a way that was actually making Lucy want to end it.

She... certainly did not expect that to happen.

Lynn narrowed her eyes, and punched her open palm. "Okay, now we try my plan. Never thought I'd be scaring off a ghost someday, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna enjoy it." she grinned with uneasy malice.

"Okay, but go easy on him. He's bummed out enough as he is, and we don't want him to litteraly lash out either." punctuated Lori, still feeling the sore spot on her leg.

"Yeah yeah, don't worry, it's not like I can rough him up anyway." she said in a dismissive tone, and advanced under the skeptical looks of her siblings. Once before the spooky depressed lump, Lynn began the trash talk. "Alright mopey, you're bright and awake, so let's do this one more time before it gets ugly. Move away." she glared at him.

It was not very effective on Napstablook, who simply stared at her with the same wavery eyes. "i'm incorporeal... i can try lowering my hp for you, but it's my favourite garbage spot here... oh, i guess i'm gonna lose that too..."

Lynn's fighting spirit, something she was proud of and had endured some of the meanest trash talks ever, actually wavered at Napstablook's bleak logic and curtesy. But that didn't stop her though, as she decided to call on bluff instead.

"Oh, you think that's gonna save you ? That because you're a ghost, you're untouchable ? Bet you haven't been punched by a human then, and certainly not by me. But I can correct that now, by repainting both of those pretty white eyes with a homemade shade of painful black !" Lynn emphasized her threat by showing both of her assistants in the art of punching. She put on a smile that promised no mercy. "Well, what's your call Gloomy ?"

His call was given in a spike of melancholia, looking directly into Lynn's eyes, yet making the teen feel like as if he was gazing into her SOUL. "go ahead, do it... at least it'll be way more interesting than me..."

*"Threats seem to have worsen Napstablook's mood. The sadness in this room has phased off the charts."

Lynn's fists fell back on her sides, and her face fell into disbelief. She couldn't believe it. Normally she'd rough anyone to get her point across, whether to toughen up her sisters and brother, to playfully fight with her friends, to give some bullies a lesson, or even to give a simple slap on the back to the downers to get them riled up again. But THIS guy was something else. It seemed that his entire being was made of pity and self-belittling. She had no idea why he was like this, how he became like this, if he had been that way since the beginning, and for what reasons he kept being like that. But she knew one thing, and it was that she could not harm him in any away, even if he happened to become corporeal. Because then, she'd become what she always feared to be : A jerkwad of a bully.

And as if to add on this sad spectacle, Napstablook began to cry again, although his tears were different this time around. Instead of drop-shaped tears, they were looking all wiggly. The tears fell on the ground normally at first, then they began to slither on the ground like little snakes. The Louds hopped around to dodge them, but they quickly realized the magic tears weren't aiming at them, but at the walls surrounding them, which the tears immediately began to ascend. Then, they made their way to the ceiling, and acted their true purpose, to rain on the children.

They scattered, but this attack proved to be much harder to dodge than the last. Lana and Lori surprisingly didn't get hit again, as well as Lily, in Lori's arms, and Lucy, who had been standing in the back. The others weren't so lucky, with each of them receiving their small dose of pain.

"Yeowch ! Dude, how can someone calling himself bland all the time have acid tears ?!" grunted Luna, slightly rubbing the new bruise on her shoulder. Her foul mood stopped however, when she noticed that a certain other Loud had been hit in a peculiar spot. Her eyes widened. "Uh-oh, bomb blowing up in 3, 2, 1..."

"MY HAIR !" hollered Lola, as Napstablook's tearful attack had touched her in the forehead, just where the front side of her hair was. Well, had been now, as the blonde lock of hair that had usually been resting on the left of said forehead was now burned out, only leaving an ugly mark instead. Lola's blood pressure quickly went ballistic, as the fire of impending wrath burned strong in her eyes. With a high-pitched war cry, she dove for a chance to claw at the defying ghost, without even going through the FIGHT option box. She was stopped, however, by her twin and her only brother. "LET ME GO ! HE NEEDS TO PAY FOR THIS HEINOUS CRIME ON MY PERSON !" she screamed with unbridled fury.

"Lola, calm down, I'm sure he didn't mean it that way !" said Lincoln, trying to ignore the new slight pain on his back.

"He's right !" approved Lana. "Plus, he's intangible. You'll just be clawing air like a dingus."

"I DON'T CARE, I'LL KILL HIM IN SOME WAY !" howled Lola, her rage not subsiding.

The messiest of the twins put on a deadpan face. "Lola, again, he's a ghost."

That got Lola to stop in her tracks, realizing the crucial flaw in her revenge plan. She dropped back on the ground, and sadly watched her reflection in her compact. "Now look at me. My hair and my beautiful face, ruined." she whimpered.

Normally, Lana would have huffed or mocked her sister's overbearing ego. But knowing that the situation was not so normal, she decided to help her feel better instead. Snatching a comb from her pink twin, Lana rearranged her hair with the expertise she had seen Lincoln display during her short Pageant period. When she was done, the burned mark was barely visible, hidden under the a lock of blonde hair. "There you go. It's not perfect, but you'll make it look good." Lana dusted her hands, proud of her work.

Lola looked at the result, and could not help but smile a little at her twin's helpfullness. She tried to stay proud though, "Yes, I believe I will. Thanks." she exchanged a small low-five with Lana.

This small fashion problem resolved, now the siblings could go back to the more threatening problem. "Okay guys, this is looking pretty grim, and not just because of his attitude." said Lincoln, getting kinda nervous. "Flattery or threats, we got the same results. What do we do now ?"

"That guy's a tough nut, yet he's so meek and sad-looking. Not gonna lie, I'm kinda lost here." admitted the usually prideful Lynn.

"Running away could be an option, but then we'll have to wait for Toriel some more. And I gotta say, now that we've got so far, it'd litterally be a waste to just stop." considered Lori.

"Poor ghostie. He needs someone to talk to, but he thinks he's not good enough for us. Like, it's so sad." said Leni with sad puppy eyes.

"Your idea holds value, fellow sibling." Lisa tapped her chin in deep thought, gathering all the informations at her disposal. "Hmm, the best solution we could consider would be to get to his level. To share his pain, his bleakness, the pressure of the world constantly weighing his non-existant shoulders. Simply put, we need to speak his language."

"I could do it." suddenly uttered Lucy, scaring the wits out of her siblings. She had been especially silent for the whole fight, and the aura of gloom around the room had masked her presence even more than usual. Now though, Lucy noticed that the others were giving her some looks again. "What ?"

"Look, no offense Luce, but... there is all that biz with that Whimsun guy..." said Lynn, trying to find the right words. She quickly realized she wasn't doing a good job at it by seeing Lucy slightly bowing her head in shame, and attempted to salvage the situation. "No wait, I'm not saying that was your fault, little guy was ready to faint anyway. It's just that... you came on a little... strong ? And not only that guy ain't looking any better, but he can hurt us good." she explained, looking at the small burn mark on her arm.

"But she fits the bill, doesn't she ?" inquired Luna. "Gloom's her whole flow dudes, we've said it ourselves back then !"

"I suppose that's correct." nodded Lisa, then pointed a finger at her black-clad sister. "But can we be sure that she'll align the right parameters ? The similarity of attitudes presented here is not the ones we've seen with Haiku or that friend of Luan that proves that opposites do attract." Luan blushed a little hearing that last part. "What we have here is a shaken subject, that does not even share the same species as our sibling, and uses his abundent lachrymation as a quite lethal weapon. Too much of a missed step could get us all in a good deal of strife, and not one we'll be walking away from."

"Lisa, could we have it down to about ten words instead ?" criticized Lola, feeling a headache coming.

Lisa rolled her eyes at the 'ignorance' of her peers. "If she messes up badly, we could certainly be screwed." she compressed, perfectly respecting the conditions of her assignement.

Lucy rubbed her arm in silence, thinking of perhaps just walking away and blending with the shadows again, staying out of the way. But looking once again at the ghost before her, she knows that now was not the time to disappear again, and that she had to do what she believed was right.

So with a small boost in confidence, Lucy spoke for all to hear. "Look, I know I did pretty bad before. And I know I'm probably the last person to see if you wanna make someone feel better. But this lingering spirit before me..." she motionned towards Napstablook. "I believe I can build something with him, a connection. And with that connection, I can get him to open up, and share his sorrows with me, so that I can help him." She tilted her head downwards again. "I'm not usually the person who acts to change things, thinking it won't make a difference." She looked up, and her siblings could tell that behind her veil of dark bangs, she was looking at them straight in the eye. "But this time, I want to try. Please, let me try."

Lucy's words were generally quite profound, but this time, the siblings could feel those words piercing right through their hearts. Even though Lucy's voice had not raised by an octave or a true boost of emotion, they could feel the desire in it, and what it was meant for. The little goth wanted to prove herself useful. The siblings looked at eachother, and smiled. Who were they to refuse her that chance ?

Lincoln advanced, and put an arm around Lucy's shoulders. "If you feel you gotta do it, then we say go for it." he encouraged.

"Really ?" Lucy perked up a little.

"Yeppers ! Onwards, Fair Lucy !" beckoned Luan loudly, followed by the others' cheers. "Because I don't like to go into stereotypes, but I'm positive you're the only one who can yank up his chain, hahaha !" the jokester laughed, followed by the others' dismayed groans.

Apart from the pun, Lucy felt herself invigorated by the support of her brother and sisters. She first stopped by the ACT button, and chose the 'Lucy' option. From afar, Lincoln noticed it was shining a bit this time. The option of this turn selected, Lucy calmly proceeded forward until she joined the spot of leaves Napstablook was floating above. Her SOUL beated a little faster, but she quickly took a deep breath, remembering her big siblings' advice to do so in order to get some stress out. And then she talked, her voice all but a tiny squeak rivaling in shyness the tone of the person she was talking to.

"Hi..."

Napstablook blinked at the saluting human before him. "oh, hi..." he returned the politeness.

"...Do you want to sit down with me ? On the leaves ? It'll be less... bothersome that way."

The ghost thought for an instant, then gave a tiny nod. "um, alright i guess..." And he proceeded to actually sit down on the ground, next to Lucy who did likewise, bringing her knees to her chest like she'd usually do.

Lucy twirled a lock of her ebony hair with her finger, as she could feel all of her siblings' attention pinned on her and her patient. Things were going good for now, she had gotten him to sit down and listen. But now, what could she say ? She couldn't speak of her usual stuff, she still remembered of the last time she spoke of helping her on funeral practice to someone out of her family. On a happier note, Artie had discovered that day that he was meant for Marathon. But Lucy knew she needed tact on this one. So, she decided to channel her inner Lori, and start with a bit of small talk. "So..." she began, "do you... like to come here often ?"

Napstablook stopped gazing at the floor for a moment, then looked at it again, too depressed to look at someone in the eye while talking. "it's nice... there's not many people coming here, so I lie here all day... it's better that way, i'd just bother them, make myself a burden and a waste of their time, just like i am to you right now." Napstablook murmured, his eyes getting watery again.

Hearing this speech of gloom however, made Lucy automatically fall back into her dark poetry mood. "Time is a constant, we can't escape it. Do as you want, you can't stop it. We live in its illusion, trying to value every minute. But in the end, we all know it's all for peanut. Time is already a waste, therefore in this category you can't say you are placed." she dryly recited.

The Loud siblings cringed at their sister's bluntness about what she thought of life. Though impressed of how she managed to make rhymes on the spot, the brutality of her words were enough to make them worry for the already despondent ghost. Some even wondered if a ghost could do himself in, and all were scared to find out.

Lucy also internally winced at her own words. She had talked too much about the darkness again, she just hadn't been able to help herself. Once the sour yet sweet licorice taste of the twilight rolled on Lucy Loud's tongue, its contents would spread on the soul she was adressing like a flock of black crows on a table full of stale bread crumbs. Now though, all she could do was to observe her first face-to-face interview with a spirit bomb like never before, once again putting her back to the corner of shame. Perhaps the one she belonged in...

But to the surprise of all the humans, Napstablook... chuckled. Weakly and with apparent melancholia, but he chuckled. "heh... that actually makes me feel a little better..." he said with a tiny smile.

*"Napstablook's mood seems to have improved a little..."

Lucy gaped at this small grin, she simply couldn't believe it. Out of all the things that were said, she was the one who got a reaction out of him, and a positive one at that. She was actually helping Napstablook to get better, while staying herself. She turned to her gaping sibs, who when noticing her looking at them, gave encouraging smiles and a couple of thumbs ups. Lucy was touched by that, but it was when she looked at Luan that she knew what she had to try next.

With a little more determination in her glimmering SOUL, she took a small breath and adressed Napstablook again. "Hey, wanna hear a joke ?"

"um, sure..." nodded Napstablook shyly.

"What does the undead do when they either hear a good joke, or horrible news ?"

"uh... i don't know..."

"They roll in their graves."

(*Slow and creepy Rimshot*)

A gust of icy wind slipped along the Louds' backs, making them shiver at the morbidity of that one joke. Luan herself had delivered a couple of grim jokes before, but never to that level.

Lucy felt a lone trickle of sweat slip along her own back, wondering if she hadn't gone a bit too far with this one. She had gotten that one from Haiku, who had gotten it from her undertaker uncle. The guy was surprisingly friendly, both to the living and to the corpses.

But the joke proved to be a surprising hit too, as Napstablook chuckled again. "heh heh... pretty nice joke... my cousins used to share jokes too..."

"My sister Luan has the job of spreading humour around our house. She does it fine, even if her brand is questionnable at times." explained Lucy, earning a "Hey !" from said buck-toothed comedian.

*"The humour from beyond the grave seems to keep improving Napstablook's mood."

Napstablook shifted akwardly, feeling just as akward, but actually got the courage of looking at Lucy while speaking, though not in the eye yet. "you know some great poetry... do you like art and stuff..?"

"Nothing is greater than art." answered Lucy with a great deal of honesty. "It's a way of showing what you are inside, to pour the contents of your Soul on a white page, a blank disk, or an empty canvas."

"oh..." said Napstablook rather meekly, nontheless impressed by her response. The ghost took a pause for thought. If she liked art, then perhaps he could share...

Feeling like doing something, a feeling he hadn't felt since a certain bleak day of his life, Napstablook (completely) turned to the little spooky princess. "hey, i'd like to show you something... do you wanna see..? i understand if you don't, no pressure..."

Not only acknowledging that she was getting through to him, Lucy also felt genuinely curious by the ghost's request. With both in mind, Lucy put on her quite rare smile. "Sure, go ahead."

Napstablook looked a bit surprised, like he wasn't expecting that answer. "oh... okay then, just a second..." He took a deep breath, and began... to cry. Worry appeared on the Louds' faces for an instant, before noticing that the drop-shaped tears weren't actually descending on the ground or locking on the human near to them. They were actually defying gravity as a whole, and going upward. Once they reached the top of Napstablook's... being, they began to fuse, tear after tear, slowly modelling a distinct form. And when all tears had been shed, they revealed...

"A hat ?" said Lori.

Indeed, on Napstablook's white form, was now a fancy white top hat, 100% made out of natural ectoplasmic tears. "um, I call it 'dapper blook'. it's a trick i've learned while i was working on my spooktunes. do you like it..?"

Lucy didn't hear Luan's chuckle or Luna respectfully snapping her fingers at the ghost's nickname, all she could do was observe the ghastly conception in front of her with an open mouth and hidden glimmering eyes. She was speechless, honest to goodness speechless.

Napstablook, observing that silence, began to fear the worst. "oh no, you don't like it... i'm sorry... oh noooo..."

"You made art out of sorrow." Lucy breathed, gently squeezing her SOUL as her organic heart proceeded to beat a little faster. "You used the very symbol of your despair and sadness, and you shaped it into a form of physical art." She was beyond impressed at this point, admiring the headwear like she had looked at Rocky for the very first time. "I... I have no words."

Napstablook blinked. "oh... so, you do like it ?"

Lucy closed her mouth, gave a genuine smile, and nodded firmly. "I adore it. It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen."

Napstablook's cheeks somewhat reddened by this comment. "wow... gee, nobody ever said about me, except my cousin..." He felt even more akward now, yet somehow happy, as a tiny smile managed to stick on his face. "it's funny, I always come to this place because few people come around here... yet today, i'm meeting someone really nice..." He suddenly realized something. "oh yeah, i never asked. you know my name, but what's yours..?"

"Lucy." she curtly bowed her head. "Lucy Loud is my name. And it's a pleasure to talk to you. I've talk to many spirits before, but you're the first I feel I can truly relate to."

"wow, you mean that..?" murmured Napstablook. Lucy nodded, and his smile got a teensy bit bigger. "heh, it's kinda funny... i wasn't sure if it was worth getting out of bed this morning... but now, i'm glad i did." He looked directly at her. "because i got to meet you."

Lucy felt her cheeks heat up at this praiseful declaration, given by an undead moreover. With a small chuckle, she returned the courtesy. "Well, I can say that out of all the obstacles life has been constantly throwing at me, you're proving to be one of the most pleasant." She gazed at him just as throughly and, in spite of her usual self, just as warmly. "I'm very glad to have met you too."

The heartwarming sight of the two fountains of gloom smiling at eachother elected a few 'd'awws' from the sisters, even getting a tear out of some of them, including the sole brother, who couldn't be more proud of his little sister at the moment. Then, the voice spoke through him again.

*"Action 'Lucy' was successful. Napstablook seems to be feeling much better, and has no ill intent anymore. Towards you or himself."

"You said it, dude." sniffed Luna, banishing a tear from her cheek.

Knowing what that meant, Lincoln hit the MERCY option. And with a smile, he pressed the yellow Spare option.

*YOU WON !

Fight over.

{Music stops}

The human SOULs flew back to their masters, and Napstablook's hat disappeared. Assuming a neutral face again, though not as plagued with gloom, Napstablook approached Lucy to say good-bye. "well, thanks for talking to me... it was nice, i'd like to do it again someday..."

"Me too. Perhaps the universe will for once feel merciful, and let our roads cross again in the future." said Lucy, offering a hand to shake.

Not wanting to be impolite, Napstablook extended a stubby white appendage to her, and shook her hand. While doing that, he also left a little pouch in it, which was making a little jingling sound. "here. It's not much, but it could help you... maybe ? maybe not ? if not, you can always keep it, and do what you want with it... as a souvenir, you know..."

Lucy nodded, and gratefully accepted the gift. "Thanks."

"it's nothing much, but maybe it'll help. or not... well, i'll get out of your way now." Napstablook began to disappear, but not before adressing a soft "see you again soon... Lucy."

The little goth stared a moment at where the ghost had phased out of existence, not feeling his presence anymore. Lucy felt all giddy inside. Out of all the spiritual encounters that she had made over the years, this one had certainly been the most interesting, no offense to Abraham Lincoln or Great-grandma Harriet.

Dare she admitted it... the ghost had managed to move her heart. Which of course, at this point, she was forced to admit that she had one.

She was quickly pulled back to reality when her siblings circled her, giving her pats on the backs and affectionate hair ruffles.

"Great work Luce !"

"Yeah, that was awesome !"

"Thoroughly admirable."

"You go, girl !"

Amongst all the showering of praise, Lincoln managed to slip close to his sister, giving her a gentle pat on the head and a complice smirk. "Told ya you'd meet someone who thinks the way you think." he chuckled satisfyingly.

Lucy blushed a little, but nodded with a small grin nontheless. For once, Lucy openly felt good about herself. And she had to admit, it wasn't so bad.

The praise stopped soon enough, yet all eyes remained on Lucy. Or rather, on the small pouch in her hand. "Oooh, what's in it, what's in it ?" Leni bounced with childlike wonder.

Lucy quickly released the bound to find out, and was greeted with a most interesting sight. No less than fifteen golden coins. Lola was quickly subdued for the safety of all present.

Luan gave a small whistle. "Whelp, he may be a ghost, but he certainly has a heart of gold !" she guffawed.

"Haha, hilarious Luan." Lori laughed sarcastically. "But once again, I am the one who takes care of the finances. And while I'm sure you're a bit more careful with the money you have, I can't privilege anyone." she extended her hand.

"Sigh. Again, my heart is left wounded for the so-called greater good." recited Lucy with her usual cheerlessness. She turned to the oldest Loud present. "Still, can I ask to keep the bag and one coin, please ?"

Lori was a bit confused at her sister's demand. She thought of being strict at first, but then she remembered the adorable scene that had played a minute ago. She knew she could be ruthless at times, but there was a fine limit to it. "Alright, fair deal. But I keep the rest." she said, quickly swiping the fourteen golden coins and tucking them into her shorts' pockets.

"We're getting filthy rich in no time dudes !" Luna gave her rock pose.

"Eww, I didn't know money was dirty ! Do I need to take a shower or something ?" wondered the naive blonde.

"Well, now that Saddy McGloompants is out of the way, that means we can continue !" announced Lola, pointing at the two roads in front of them. "And I say we go straight forward first !"

"Toriel did say there was only one way to her house. So if we pick it wrong, we can just go back." commented Lincoln, earning approving nods from the others. "Let's giddy up then ! To Toriel's house !"

All cheered, and finally went forward for their quest. But one noticeable difference in the way they were proceeding, was that Lucy was no longer dragging her feet at the tail of the group. She was among her family, keeping her shoulders just as straight.

---

The next room was fairly small, and moreover lacking another way to go. But though it was a dead end, the room was not empty. It contained a small wooden sign, as well as two small holes in the wall, that were covered by two-

"Spiderwebs !" cried out Leni, immediately panicking upon seeing the territory marks of her worst terror. She immediately ducked behind her siblings for protection, who all felt either annoyed or sympathetic.

"Leni, calm down. Again, unless the spiderwebs are your size, those spiders will not try to eat you." chided Lori.

Leni however, was not convinced. "Oh yeah ? Well Lisa told me that not only the little ones are the most dangerous, but also that there are spiders so big, they can eat birds !" she accused, diving back behind Luna.

All pointedly looked at the genius, who simply shrugged nonchalantly. "Hey, she wanted to know. How could I have accounted that her short-term memory would actually remember that information ?"

Lincoln shook his head, and decided to investigate the wooden sign. He did a double-take, and looked at it again to be sure he had read it right.

Lana gave him a look. "Well bro, what does it say ?" she asked, getting impatient.

"...'Spider Bake Sale. Hot and delicious eight-legged pastries. All proceeds go to real spiders.'" the orange-shirted boy read. There was a moment of silence, and Lincoln felt forced to add, "This is not a joke by the way."

"Spider... pastries ?" blinked Luan. "That... sounds oddly adorable."

Leni gripped the comedian by the shoulders, and adopted serious Leni mode. "Don't be fooled by their promises of sugar, Luan. It's a trap, a trap I tell you !" she yelled, her twitchy eye greatly unnerving her bronze-haired little sister.

"Okay, even I can tell you need to chill." said Lynn, massaging Leni's shoulders until she released Luan. The thirteen year-old was surprisingly good in the practice of massages, though you weren't guaranteed a benign one for about 80% of them.

"Spider Bake Sale ? I don't see any spider, how does that work ?" wondered Lola.

"You need to put Gold on the webs, and they'll bring you the stuff." replied Lucy, crouching before the small one. "That's not a theory, it's actually written in the silk." she pointed out, her finger delicately passing above the words swiftly engraved in the small threads of the web. "'Spider Donut for 7 Gold'..."

"And '18 Gold for a jug of Spider Cider'." finished Lori, crouching before the bigger web while Lily tugged at it with a coo.

"Yeesh, paying actual gold for one donut ?" said Lynn, still on 'keeping Leni from bouts of anti-spider paranoia' duty.

"Perhaps Gold is a simple currency down here." analyzed Lisa. "Though that would mean there is a lot more, and that does raise the question of why nobody even thought of looking for it inside for all those years. Perhaps the legends were at work here, and not necessarily in the way we think..."

"Yeah yeah, less talkie, more pastries !" blurted Lana. Her six year-old metabolism had heard there was sugar afoot, so she wanted in fast.

"Yeah, but we can't exactly buy one donut each." argued Lori, remembering how much they did get from the monsters they had encountered. "That would cost us about... 77 Gold ! And we only have 19 !"

"We could always split one of them. Lisa still have her ruler, and Luna her emergency guitar mediator. And we keep the other one for later." proposed Lincoln.

He met an almost unanimous approval, save for Leni, still mumbling something about distrustful spiders, and Lori who blushed a little for not having thought of this first. "I-I was about to propose that, thank you very much." she attempted to salvage her pride. She sorted the right number of coins in her hand, gave Lily to Luna, and approached the small web. But just when she was about to place the Monster currency on it, a small light blue spider crawled out of the hole, looking at the giant blond human in front of them with their five sparkly eyes. Lori felt herself mellow at this sight of cuteness, but kept herself in check. "Um, hello. Are you still selling donuts ?"

"They sell lies, Lori. Lies and... other bad stuff !" Leni hissed like a grumpy cat.

Lori decided to completely ignore that, and instead looked at the tiny spider giving a small nod. "Well, we'd like two please." And she dropped off the coins on the web. A couple of purple spiders came along on them and collected the dough, while the blue one went back in the hole, and came back five seconds later with two purple glazed doughnuts (*Rimshot*).

Lori smiled, and gave a small bow. "Thank you very much." The spider returned the bow, and zipped back inside the wall. She handed one of the donuts to Lisa. "Alright, it's all yours Lis'. Just remember to be precise."

Lisa rearranged her glasses with a small huff. "Your doubting remarks hurt my person, dear sistriarch. With my geometric knowledge and Luna's dexterity, I see very few chances for this operation to be a failure."

"Yeah, what she said." sang-song Luna, confidently spinning her purple mediator on the tip of her index. Lisa sorted her ruler, and began to make little pencil marks on the ground, showing where exactly Luna had to cut. Once she was done, it was up to our favourite rock chick, who slowly and carefully worked her magic, as if she was defusingf a time bomb.

Well, in a big family like the Louds, it was pretty much the same thing, especially since the lesson they learned over the Sharon DeMonet incident. Thankfully though, the donut proved easy to slice, offering little resistance despite the crust looking so fresh. Soon enough, eleven pieces, even as can be, had been cut out.

As all took their own piece, Lincoln noticed there was still one on the ground. Huffing, he picked it up and turned to his still pouting sister. "Leni, don't you want some donut ?" he proposed, waving the bit under her nose. Both surprisingly and unsurprisingly, she backhanded her brother's hand off her face.

"Eww, I'm not eating that, it was made by spiders ! It must tastes like flies or something !" maintained Leni grumpily.

"Aw man, now I really wanna eat it !" said Lana, excitedly licking her lips.

"Leni, you're being silly." chided Lincoln. But Leni pouted still, looking the other way with her arms crossed. Lincoln knew that there was only one thing to do now. "Look, if that makes you happy, I'll eat mine first. That way, you can be sure it's not poisonned or fly-flavoured."

He quickly did so, popping the donut bit in his mouth. Leni let out a soft gasp at his bravado, watching his every 'munch' with slight worry for her brother.

Lincoln, however, quickly perked up at the taste. "Hey, this is pretty good ! Can't place the taste, but it's kinda like jelly !"

The sisters, sans Leni, were suddenly very interested, and quickly gorged their bits. Ranging 'hmms' of delight echoed, all indicating that the pastry was an unanimous hit.

"Hmm, I gotta say, these spiders know how to make their pastries pretty sweet." chuckled Luna.

"Hey, you stole that one !" Luan pointed out indignantly, but she quickly added, "You could at least say you're sourry, hehe."

Lisa went into a thorough analysis. "It's quite the acquired taste, a bit like the candies from before. No complaints to be made though."

"Well, it's not fly-flavoured, but it's still good. The jam's pretty gooey anyway." commented Lana, savouring the sugar rolling on her tongue.

Seeing her siblings enjoying their treats, Leni became curious of what it could taste like. So she gently took her piece from Lincoln, and tentatively put it in her mouth, like a kid would do with a brussel sprout.

And once it touched her tongue, Leni realized that they were right, and perked up. "Omigosh, this is so tasty ! Yummm !" she intoned jovially, gently squeezing her puffed cheeks.

The siblings gulped their donut shares, and patted their stomachs. Suddenly, they felt a wave of relief overcoming them, eerily familiar to Lincoln and Leni. Sure enough, the Louds' bruises disappeared, and their HP bars were brought back to normal.

"Ouchy gone !" giggled Lily on the ground, even though she hadn't suffered any damage.

"Right you are, younger sibling of mine." commended Lisa to her roommate. She of course began to excitedly scribble down this new finding in terms of monster particularities. "The properties of this place are simply smashing. I'm piling up breakthroughs one after the other !"

"That's pretty neat. But what do we do with the other donut ?" inquired Lola.

"Let's just cut it again. That way, we can each carry a piece for when we are hungry." simply said Lincoln.

Lori pratically growled this time. Was he ever gonna let her get a word in edgeways ?! But she didn't let it show, and simply approved with a smileless nod. The only one noticing this contrast was Lily, who looked up a bit worryingly at her oldest sister. To comfort her, she beckoned her with a coo. Lori reacted accordingly and scooped her up. Lily then proceeded to give her a face hug. It successfully managed to get Lori out of her funk, as she returned it with a small chuckle.

After putting their freshly cut bits in their pockets, the Louds proceeded with their quest to reach Toriel's house.

---

After going back to the Napsta-room, and seeing that the ghost had not returned ("Sigh..." Lucy... well, sighed), they went the other way.

The new room was way larger, the path going to the right. Three Froggits were sitting down near that path, calmly looking at the wall in front of them. There also was a wooden sign welcoming them as soon as they entered.

But it quickly became an object of panic once the sibings, one by one, read it. The only one who didn't get that chance was Leni, still contently rubbing her stomach in the back. "You know, maybe I was like, wrong about those spiders. They may be all icky, but they also make totes good donuts." she beamed. Her grin fell into confusion when she saw her siblings all huddling and looking at her with tight and nervous smiles, as though they were hiding something. It was so obvious, even Leni picked it up. "Are you hiding something from me ?" she asked with suspicion, hands on her hips.

Lynn 'casually' dismissed her with a wave of her hand. "Pshh, of course n-not. That's crazy talk, and you're not crazy, hehe..." she said, trying her best to avoid her blonde sister's gaze, which only scrunched up at the jock's very unconvincing performance.

Lola then got an idea. "Uh, it's just a wooden sign telling us that we need to go right to continue ! But since you already knew that, we decided it was no use bothering you with it." she lied with a big grin. The others immediately supported it.

Leni blinked, then flashed her blissfully ignorant smile. "Oh, okay ! Tell thanks to the nice sign for me !" With that said, she went along the path, humming a little tune to herself.

Once she was far enough, the siblings sighed in relief, and removed themselves from the front of the sign. Reading it, it became pretty clear why they had lied to their innocent teen sister.

"Spider Bake Sale, don't miss it, down on the left. Fresh and crispy pastries made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders."

"We never say anything to Leni. Ever." stressed Lori, to which the others nodded. Some of them still felt a bit sick over having eaten spiders, even though according to Lisa, they must've been dead. They certainly hoped so.

Quickly, they caught up to Leni, who was speaking the first Froggit. "Hey Froggie. Can you speak ?"

The Froggit nodded wisely. "Ribbit. Say, humans, did you know Monster Food is a great way to heal yourself ?"

"Yeah, we kinda already found out, dude." shrugged Luna.

"Oh, good. But do you know that all foods do not have the same healing effect ?" pursued the Froggit, a sparkle in his eye.

The siblings were surprised. They did not know that. Curious, Lincoln sorted his donut piece, and upon looking at it, spoke with an echo again.

*"Spider Donut bit, worth 4 HP. Sharing the food certainly seems to improve its effects, if you can cut it. Maybe with a knife."

Froggit nodded their head again. "Food is useful for trips. That, everyone knows ! Ribbit."

"Thanks !" said the siblings, then they trudged towards the next Froggit.

"Ribbit. They say the story tends to go faster if a Review is left to enjoy. So... always give your advice on things made by others ?" articulated the monster, not sure of what they had just said themselves. They sighed, "I think I should stop staring at that wall. Ribbit."

The siblings raised an eyebrow, Lana giving the frog monster a small comforting pat on the head. They quickly went towards the third Froggit, but before they could get there, they collectively tripped on something on the ground.

"Ouch ! Watch where you're all going !" barked Lynn, jumping back on her feet.

"The probability of all of us simply falling over due to mere clumsiness at the same time is inferior to 0.0037%." grunted Lisa, trying to push the larger form of Luan off her. "Something obviously made us trip."

"Or fate is simply cruel that way." quipped Lucy. Then she spotted forms moving on the ground. "Oh, something did make us trip. Never mind."

The Louds looked at the forms, and blinked. Their leg-trippers were... giant lime-green jellos, making bubbling sounds as they moved on their own. Lisa slowly brought two fingers to her temples, and rubbed them just as slowly. "Big living piles of jello. Sure, why not ?" she grumbled.

Before any further question could be asked, the children's SOULs came out.

Fight engaged !

*"You've tripped upon a line of Moldsmals. You should watch your step better than that."

"Ouch !" yelped Lincoln upon receiving a sharp elbow nudge from Lynn. "What was that for ?! It wasn't me !"

Lynn realized her mistake, and smiled sheepishly. "Oops, hehe. Sorry Lincoln."

Rolling his eyes, Lincoln selected the ACT. He raised an eyebrow in seeing the monster's name already yellow, but decided to brush it off, and pressed the Check option.

*"Moldsmal. ATK 6, DEF 0. A curvaceous body, but not an ounce of brain."

"Curvaceous ? Well, I suppose they are quite jiggly." sniggered Luan. Her roommate however, frowned at her.

"Too soon dude, too soon." said Luna, pointing at the sisters below Lincoln's age. Luan whistled innocently in response.

"*Splorch*" blubbered the Moldsmals, before letting out tiny bubbles in direction of the Loud kids. Before getting too close, they blew up like tiny fireworks, projecting eight smaller bubbles in eight directions. And while the Louds were busy dodging for their SOULs' sakes, they immediately fired another round. One did manage to touch Lucy, who barely winced with a dry "Ouch". No important damages though, just 2 HP off.

Their turn over, the jello-like monsters resumed their ruminating and mindless bouncing, which began to amuse the baby of the group.

"Hmm, they don't look very smart." commented Lincoln, scratching his head. "Not sure how we're going to get a message across them."

"Music's the universal language dude." said Luna with her usual chill tone, then sighed in disappointement. "If only I had brought my axe, or my acoustic guitar. Or even my harmonica."

"I know many forms of languages, but I'm afraid even sign language is going to be inefficient here." lisped Lisa. "But it seems my sole cadet sister might have an idea."

"Huh ?" said a confused Lori, noticing that Lily was squirming in her hands. "You've got an idea ?"

"Poo-poo !" babbled the diaper-only baby, nodding her little head.

Lori felt hesitant. She knew Lily was a smart and crafty baby, but if she was to ever get hurt because of her decision, the eldest blonde would never forgive herself. But when Lily put on the puppy-eye technique that she had learned directly from her, Lori had no choice but to let Lily do her thing.

She thus put Lily down on the ground, and looked as she waddled towards the monsters. Acting on instinct, Lincoln pressed ACT, and saw the new option unlocked by his littlest sister, "Communicate". He pressed it and, just like his sisters, readied himself to rush to the toddler's rescue if things were to turn sour.

Lily, on the other hand, held no fear whatsoever, as she put herself in front of the Moldsmals. She patted them once, their bounciness making her giggle. Then, in order to either communicate or simply have fun, Lily began to wiggle her body, making up her own little dance, laughing all the way.

And her dance proved to be quite insightful to the simple-minded attackers, who began to wiggle back, which only prompted Lily to continue. Meanwhile, the siblings observed the scene with great amusement and joy.

"That is litteraly the most precious thing I've ever seen." Lori squealed, taking a photo with her own cell phone.

"It's so adorable, I can already feel the diabetes coming." joked Luan, though she held her heart tight. No joyful baby video on the net could replace seeing it in real life.

"It goes against everything I believe in, and yet I can't look away." mumbled Lucy somberly. "There is great power within her, a terrifying one perhaps."

"Don't know about that, but she's certainly got some rhythm." chuckled Luna, tapping her foot to create a beat. The dancers picked it up, and started dancing accordingly.

Lily was having the time of her life. It was fairly easy for her to get to that level of fun, and she loved that. However, after much waddling, her knees demanded a break, and let her fall on her tushie, halting the dancing. The Moldsmals stopped dancing and the siblings gasped a little, thinking it would upset her enough to cry. But she proved stronger than that, and began to wiggle on her butt instead. The monsters happily resumed their jiggling, still following their little fleshy pal.

"Gagblptxxx." babbled Lily, clapping as she made small bubbles with her mouth. Moldsmals replied likewise, bubbles escaping their gelatinious forms.

But they did not just float about like Lily's, those were attacks ! They proved it by immediately heading towards the Humans' SOULs. None dared to take the happy baby as target, but the other siblings weren't as lucky. Fortunately, the moderate pace combined with the fact that they were getting used to dodging, allowed the Louds to successfully move out of the way, preventing any damage.

Oblivious to the assault – which probably applied for both human and monsters – Lily waved at the monsters, indicating that she had to go now. The monsters looked a bit disappointed, but they then told her that they had a great time in their own way. By wobbling forward and rubbing themselves affectionally against her, purring like cats. Lily was hysteric with giggles, their masses tickling her.

*"This meaningful conversation has enlightened the Moldsmals."

This elected a chuckle from the humans, and gave Lincoln the chance to for a Spare.

*YOU WON ! You've obtained 0 EXP and 3 Gold.

Fight Over.

The Moldsmals glowed a little, then let the baby be, sliming their way somewhere else. Lori picked up Lily, and her face scrunched up when she felt the slime the monsters had left on her baby sister. She sorted a handkerchief from her pocket, and began to wipe it off Lily's face, who wriggled and moaned disapprovingly.

"I'm glad you've made new friends Lily, but I am not holding you if you're covered in that icky stuff." huffed Lori sternly. Lily stopped moving, but kept expriming her discontentment vocally.

"I hear ya, sis." Lana solemnly nodded, patting her little leg.

Once Lily was clean and proper again, the siblings went to their original intention, the third Froggit.

"Ribbit. Why hello there, humans." warmly greeted the frog monster. "Say, I've been observing that battle, and you seem to be quite the merciful kind, am I right ?"

"Well, we try." said Luan, slightly boasting.

"Hmm, then surely you know that when a monster's name becomes yellow, it means that you can Spare them."

Lincoln's eyes widened in realization. "Oooh, that's what it means !" he exclaimed, lightly slapping his forehead.

"Indeed." nodded the Froggit to the boy. "Useful, isn't it ? That way, you know when a battle can finally be aborted. To Spare is saying you won't fight, and if both parties don't want to, there is no reason to let the battle go on."

"Yeah, it's better to walk off shaking hands than with teeth missing." jested Lola, pointing to the gap in her own teeth, making everyone snicker.

Before letting them go, the Froggit added, "Knowing that Sparing is an action, and not a lack of action, is the key to avoid conflict. Who knows ? Maybe at some point, you'll have to Spare someone whose name isn't yellow."

*Ring, ring*

The siblings were a bit startled by the sudden noise coming from Lori's shorts pocket. The phone was fished out, and the expected voice of Toriel came out. "Hello, it is Toriel again. I wanted to ask, do one of you have any allergy ? Dust, cotton, any aliment in particular ?"

"Hello, Goat Mother." greeted Lisa, earning a tiny happy squeal from Toriel. "I made a little list of those allergies in the past, that I've perfectly memorized. Lori, Luna, Lincoln, Lucy, Lola, Lana, and Lily do not hold any particular allergy. For Leni, avoid any grape-based aliment. For Luan, no peanuts. Tulips are better to not be in Lynn's presence. And for the love of anything precious on this planet, do NOT feed me anything that might contain blueberries. The results would be less than pleasant."

"Ha ! I remember last time we gave her one by mistake ! She blew up like a balloon, and Cliff and Charles made her roll around the house for ten solid minutes until we finally stopped you from bouncing !" guffawed Lynn. "I even gave you a kick by reflex !"

"And to this day, my gluteus maximus can still feel it." grumbled Lisa, not very happy to be reminded of this humiliating episode of her life. "At least it's not as bad as the blotches and pimples that Leni gained when she gobbled that raisin muffin."

Leni shivered intensly. "Oooh, I don't want to remember that. I was just... just... eww !" she flailed her arms in disgust.

"Well alright. It's a chance that I have none of those things. Thank you for your help, Lisa." praised the woman.

"Glad to be of assistance." smiled Lisa, feeling quite proud of herself.

"In the meantime, if any item on your journey catches your interest, you can pick it up, but do not take too much. You might one day see something that really pleases you, and you'll want to leave a little space in your pockets for those. By the way, are you getting close ?"

"Well, we've just passed the Spider Bake Sale if that's any indication." said Lori.

Toriel audibly grinned. "Ah, you are getting quite close. Perhaps you'll be here before I'm done. In any case, I'll see you very soon children. Be good, alright ?"

"Yes Goat Mom !" chanted the siblings in unison. Toriel giggled, and hung up.

"Welp, that was nifty." chirped Luna with that grin of hers. "Let's get movin', dudes !"

The siblings waved good-bye to the helpful Froggit, and exited the room.

---

The next room was a bit puzzling (*Rimshot*). Quite large, it contained an exit blocked by spikes, writing on the wall just next to them, and six highlighted cracked tiles. "Looks like another puzzle room." decreed Lincoln. The siblings' eyes went of course to the writing on the wall first.

"Only one switch you'll find in this room."

"Um, what does that mean ?" asked Lana, scratching the top of her cap.

"No doubt that this is more of a 'right-or-retry' kind of challenge." analyzed Lisa. "One of six rooms underneath have the lever we need to proceed, but who knows what the other ones contain. Of course at this point, it can be assumed that it's nothing too lethal."

"Kind of like a non-dangerous Russian Roulette." quipped Lucy.

Lori, Luna, Luan, and Lincoln gave heated glares to the black-haired girl's roommate, who immediately raised her hands in defense. "It came out once by accident, I swear !" blabbered Lynn. She quickly tried to change the subject. "So, which hole first ?" she asked. A good question, as nothing hinted that one was a better choice than the other.

"Well, let's do it in order. Up and down, then left to right, until we find the lever." rationalized Lori. They thus approached the one closest to the entrance, poked at it, and all jumped in it, one at the time this time.

They landed on some leaves, and quickly saw that the room was lever-less. Wrong choice. But the room wasn't completely empty, as in addition to the way up, there was a small green leaf sticking out of the ground.

"Oooh, wonder what kind of plant it is." wondered Leni, immediately pulling the leaf a bit. Suddenly, the plant extracted itself from the ground, revealing a big carrot with a face seemingly frozen in a permanent smirk. "Eeep !" the fashionista yelped as she jumped back to where her siblings were, not feeling too keen about smiling plants since a certain incident about .

"Well, looks like things are getting veggie interesting !" Luan chortled, as the rainbow of SOULs came forth.

Fight Engaged !

*"Vegetoid jumps out of the ground !"

Warily eyeing the grinning plant, Lincoln went for a quick Check first.

*"Vegetoid. ATK 6, DEF 6. Sane all around, provides all the necessary nutriments of a meal for one."

"Those were not the kind of statistics I was expecting." admitted Lisa with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, and he's not looking very fresh either." added Lola, referring to his dark yellow colour.

"Part of a complete breakfast, lunch, or dinner." softly cackled the vegetable monster. Out of his leaves, big white vegetables appeared, taking to the ceiling to rain on the children. Not getting touched by them proved to be a tad difficult, given the small space they were encased in.

"I really hope we meet an ice-cream monster on the way." fantasized Lincoln as he dodged around.

"Think less about your stomach, and more about your survival !" rebuked Lynn, blurting an "Oof !" as she took a giant ear of corn on the top of the head, taking 3 HP away from her.

The rain finally ended, and the siblings regrouped for their turn. "Hmm, if he's so concerned about our health, maybe we can talk him out of completely ruin it." proposed Luna, a tad cynically.

The others nodded, and Lincoln pressed ACT, choosing the 'Talk' option. Lisa had the floor, being the one who knew the most about health, having even performed some surgery before. She fished one of her pencils out, as well as her notebook.

"Greetings, sir or madam Vegetoid. Could you share with me the kind of nutriments you are thinking of ? I have a sneaking suspicion that the ones you are to aim at us are quite nefarious for our health in general, and I thus can get you to reconsider your ways of producing sustenance."

The plant was silent for a couple of seconds, before replying, a tad condescendingly, "Plants can't talk, silly."

*"Vegetoid is full of vitamins and snark."

The small genius froze, her eyes widened, then twitched, and she snapped her pencil in two. She stomped back to her siblings with a heavy scowl. "I'm sorry, but I am NOT putting up with that infuriating attitude." she growled. Seeing her distress, Leni proceeded to hug her and calmly rub her back, which she angrily but gratefully accepted.

Still harbouring his dirt-eating smile, Vegetoid sent forth another vegetable-based attack. Only instead of raining on the kids, they wildly bounced around the room. Luna yelped as one bumped her in the back, and Lincoln as well when he took one in the face, leaving a mark on his forehead.

Once the attack was over, leaving the Louds to decide another action, Lynn began to sniff the air, an odd smell carressing her nostrils. It smelled like, ironically, steamed vegetables. This got a bit of mouth watering from the athlete. While meatball subs were her guilty pleasure, the athlete knew to keep a strict diet, and her father could do a mean veggie casserole.

Lincoln noticed his sister licking her lips, but he also noticed the Vegetoid looking quite pleased by that gesture. A lightbulb was switched on in his head. "Guys, I think I've got an idea." he said, catching his sisters' attention. "Lynn, when I press the button, mime to the Vegetoid that you'd like some food. That might get some reaction out of him."

Lynn raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. "Alright bro, y'know what you're doing."

Lincoln flashed a thumbs up, and pressed ACT. The option 'Lunch' had appeared, and was promptly pressed. Lynn immediately rubbed her stomach, and hungrily smacked her lips.

Vegetoid perked up on that. "Eat your Greens !" they cackled. New round of attack, with bouncing vegetables again.

But in the midst of the dodging, Lynn's trained eye spotted the odd one of the jumping vegetable garden. A green bean plant that was actually green. Not only that, but the shade reminded Lynn of the fire Toriel had used to heal Lincoln. The wires immediately connected in her mind, and she grinned. "Ah, I see how it is." Knowing that she had to be quick, she immediately turned to both of her artistic sisters. "Luna, Luan, I need a lift to that greenie one, stat !"

The rocker and comedian immediately nodded, and put their arms together as a makeshift springboard. Lynn rushed towards them, stepped on the fleshy platform, and used the momentum given to her to reach the green vegetable. She quickly gobbled it whole, and she had to admit, it was pretty darn tasty. A small feeling of relief washed over her, as the bruise on her belly diminished, and a single HP was given back to her. The attack over, Vegetoid looked immensly pleased at Lynn appreciating his work.

*"Vegetoid has accomplished their purpose."

Lincoln, seeing the yellow name, chose MERCY, then Spare.

*YOU WON ! You've obtained 0 EXP and 5 Gold."

Fight over.

"Eat healthy kids !" heartily instructed the monster, who then burrowed himself back in the ground, with nothing sticking out this time.

"Yeesh, talk about force feeding." commented Lola.

"Yeah, but at least the stuff's good and healthy." concurred Lynn, contently patting her stomach.

Lori sighed a little. "Well, that was interesting, but there's no lever here. Let's keep searching."

They went back up using the stairs, and headed south, creating a hole and jumping into it. The choice was unfortunately wrong again, with no lever in sight, but there was something else. It was a small red ribbon, left on the ground. There was some dust on it, and the colour had faded a little bit, but it was still pretty cute.

"Ooh, like, red is not usually my colour, but it's totes adorable !" perked up Leni, very interested in the small accessory. "I call-"

"Dibs !" cut off Lori, who snatched it from the ground. She smirked in Leni's direction. "Sorry, a bit too slow."

The fashionista pouted. "No fair ! Why do you get to keep everything nice ?!"

"Hey, it is adorable, and I did call dibs. Plus, I'm the oldest." she grinned, tying the small ribbon in her hair until it was well in place. She saw Leni still glowering at her, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Tell you what. The next cute thing to wear we find ? It's all yours."

Leni's sulky mode ended instantly. "For realsies ?!"

Lori nodded with a grin, feeling proud about herself, but stopped when a weird sensation passed through her whole being. She gasped as she saw her SOUL coming out of her body, thinking there was a monster nearby, or worse, Flowey. No monster or wicked weed appeared though, yet Lori's SOUL was still there.

Suddenly, its cyan aura glowed stronger, and it somehow made Lincoln's red SOUL come out, much to the surprise of the boy. A small part of its outline was shining brighter than the others, a cyan part of it of all things. Then, the cyan glows halted, but the crimson center of Lincoln's SOUL began to glow in its turn. The girls, confused of this developpement, gasped in surprise when their SOULs appeared as well, and the strangest thing was that their red outlines were pulsating, almost like a heartbeat, making the Louds feel funny all over. And after a couple of seconds, it just stopped, the SOULs simply returning to their owners like nothing had happened.

"What, the hedgehog, was that ?" mouthed Lori, not freaked out enough to forget about her language in the presence of her younger siblings.

Her answer came, of course, from Lincoln's dual voice. His red pupils were shining a little brighter this time :

*"You've equipped the Faded Ribbon. Team DEF has increased of 2. Having a cute member in your group might make the monsters hit less harder."

The seventeen year-old blinked at this weird explanation, then gave a small chuckle of pride. "Y'know Lincoln, I'll hand one thing to whoever's talking through you, he's got good tastes." she boasted, giving her blond hair a small 'whoosh' effect with her hand. Some dared to quietly snicker, but were promptly shut up by a swift death glare that promised dread and torment.

"Team DEF ? I remember that the spirit haunting our brother said that last word every time he reviewed a monster over." crowed Lucy.

"Yeah, and what was that weird biz with our SOULs ?" Lana's brow scrunched in confusion. Too much questions were piling up for the small tomboy to stay focused. "Urgh, when you think you've got it all figured out, more weird stuff happens and get you all confused again."

"Sis, I think we're far from seeing the weirdest stuff yet." chuckled Lincoln, patting her head in a sign of support.

"Anyhow, no lever here. Let's bounce." shrugged Lynn, more interested in moving forward.

The siblings approved, and went up again. They decided to continue their exploration by searching the hole next to the one they had just fell in. They quickly descended, looking for the lever. Once again, Wrong Choice, but the room still had a resident. It was none other than-

"Napstablook ?" intoned Lucy, surprised to meet her ghost friend again so soon. The gloomy spirit was lying on a pile of leaves again, only this time he wasn't pretending to be asleep, as he rolled over a bit to look at the humans that had just joined him.

"oh... hi guys." he whispered with his usual slight echo. "fancy meeting you here..."

"Uh, yeah, us too." said Lola with a raised eyebrow. "Say, just asking, what are you doing down here ?"

Napstablook gave a long sigh, and rolled again to look at the ceiling. "i fell down the hole, and i can't get up... just go on without me, I don't want to be a drag to you..."

Leni scratched her head, feeling more confused than usual. "But, like, there's a staircase right here." she pointed at the way out.

"i don't have the will to climb them, too many steps." he explained, his quiet voice clearly backing up his statement. "guess this is where i'll be living from now on..."

While Lisa facepalmed at the cruel flaw of his woeful speech, Lucy decided to adress it. She kneeled to Napstablook's level, and spoke with a monotone, yet straight-to-the-point voice.

"Napstablook."

"hmm..?"

"You're a ghost, Napstablook."

"and..?"

"Ghosts can fly, Napstablook."

A moment of akward silence. "oh yeah..." drawled the monster, blinking in slight realisation. "well then... see ya." And he thus floated upwards, disappearing through the ceiling. Unfazed, Lucy simply waved him good-bye.

"Well, that happened." quipped Luan. Her face then gained a sly grin. "He certainly didn't think that one through ! Hahaha, get it ? 'Cause he's a ghost ?"

The siblings noisely groaned, indicating that yes, they had gotten it. Their search for the lever proceeded, by heading to the hole above them. For the fourth time, they jumped in.

And this one proved to be the Correct Choice. "HURRAY !" cheered the siblings, Lynn immediately pulling the lever down. A *Shlak* sound was heard upstairs, indicating that the spikes were in the way no more.

On the demand of the more curious siblings, the two remaining holes were explored, to see if something else was waiting for them. One contained the peeking leaf of a Vegetoid. It was quickly and wisely decided to let them sleep in peace. And the other was empty, nothing even hidden in the leaves. This small mystery cleared up, the Louds could proceed on their trek for Toriel's home.

…

The following room was built in the form of a sharp turn to the right, going upward in a slope. There were large pillars in the room, with strangely-shaped levers of different colours. The Louds picked up a blue one on their left, a green one straight ahead, and a red one closer to the exit, on its left. Speaking of the exit, spike platforms had been placed before it, but the spikes were, strangely enough, already pulled down. And to complete the room, a writing on the wall.

"Lucky ! Someone already solved the puzzle, we can just pass !" hooted Lola, jumping on the spot.

However, Lisa was quick to get her back on the ground. "Not so fast, this is indeed too easy. There is a good probability that this is supposed to be a set-up for the actual puzzle."

"Don't be such a spoil-sport !" huffed the princess. "Sometimes, things are easy, and that's it !"

"Such youthful naivety." Lisa shook her head.

"I'm older than you !"

"Guys, keep it cool." soothed Lincoln, summoning his big brother instincts and successfully ending the impending fight. He even got the two to quickly make up with a genuine handshake.

Luna couldn't help herself but chuckle. "He's really nailing that big brother thing, ain't he ?"

"Yeah, he's amazing." droned Lori, putting more remorse in her voice than she would've wished for. Luna was too focused on being proud of her little bro to notice, but Lily did, as she gained an unusual worried look on her face.

Now that the feud had been prematurely ended, the Louds tried going for the writing on their left. However, standing in front of it, was none other than another Moldsmal, going solo this time. Not completely solo though, as a monster came from behind the pillar, and immediately settled its eyes on the humans, its body tensing up as it reared itself up on its two legs. The monster looked like a big cockroach, antennae, little legs, scrawny arms and everything. The insect monster also had a face, which was permanently tightened in an angry sneer.

The human SOULs were summoned forth, and the Louds knew what that meant.

Fight engaged !

*"Migosp crawls to battle ! Moldsmal is here too."

"What's with that guy ?" asked Lynn, a little unnerved by the scowl adressed to them by Migosp, like he was trying to give them the stink eye, and a stressful one at that. Lynn replied with a scowl of her own, but it proved ineffective on the monster.

"Lincs ?" called the sisters. Lincoln knew what they wanted, and pressed the Check option.

*"Migosp. ATK 7, DEF 5. Seems pretty mad, but maybe he just doesn't blend in with the crowd..."

Luna shook her head knowingly. "Oi, wrong crowds. It messes ya up before you even realize it."

"I still remember those Dusk fangirls entering our club, with their belief of sparkling vampires, thinking they knew the Darkness. But they knew nothing. Nothing." hissed Lucy, clear anger sprinkled on her dry tone, making it arid.

"Blup blup..." 'said' the Moldsmal, slightly wiggling his body.

"YOU WILL KNEEL BEFORE THE OVERMIND !" screeched Migosp, effectively startling the humans.

"Sweet mercy, what's your problem ?!" wheezed Lori, clenching her chest to prevent her organic heart from jumping out of her chest, her SOUL mimicking its fast beating.

"That was even worse than Lucy teleporting !" added Lana. Lucy answered that accusation with a slow head turn and a piercing glare, which made Lana sweat and laugh nervously. The little dirt monkey couldn't actually see the glare, but boy could she feel its coldness.

Moldsmal prepared its bubbles for assault, but this time he was helped by Migosp, who suddenly made two swarms of white flying cockroaches appear on the lefts and rights of the children. They all stepped back, either out of surprise or out of being irked, but quickly noticed that the cockroaches were stationing on the sides. And when Moldsmal shot out his non-explosive bubbles, they understood the swarms' purpose, to restrain their movement.

Though that didn't stop Leni from freaking out each time one would get too close for comfort, which was pretty dang easy. "Eww, Lisa told me that someone in Japan ate a cockroach once, and it laid eggs in his stomach !" she cried out of disgust, and took refuge behind Lynn.

"Seriously, I know it's funny, but stop feeding her all those infos about insects !" exclaimed Lynn to the small genius, who only shrugged in a 'How was I supposed to know she'd remember all that ?' manner.

"Ha, feeding ! Good one sis !" chortled Luan, snapping her knee. But in doing so, she did not notice a bubble sway her way, and when she did, it was already too late. But after yelping because of the slight pain, Luan made a curious discovery. "Uh guys, I've only lost 2 HP. Weird, are we getting two good for those guys or what ? Hee hee."

"Ooooh, of course ! Team DEFense, that's what it meant !" exclaimed Lincoln in sudden understanding, as the jello-insect duo's attack ended. "That's why Lori equipped the ribbon. It counts as armour !"

Lori's brow furrowed. "Seriously ? That little ribbon is considered gear ?" she said, tugging at the small accessory. "I mean, not denying it's cute, but how does it, apparently, reduce the power of magic attacks ?"

"Well, it could be containing some magic of its own." suggested Lisa, slowly coming to settle a certain logic on this magic business, a big effort on her part.

"Maybe it has something to do with its previous owner ?" offered Luna. "An item that neat can't just grow in the wild, you know."

"Well, we are fighting a living dessert and the missing brother fromthat Cockroach cartoon with the blue cat." reminded Lana.

"Good point." admitted Mick Swagger's #1 fan.

"Well that's good and all, but what do we do now ?" said Lola, bringing the siblings back to the battle at hand.

"Well, we could just get rid of jelly guy first. His name is litteraly already yellow." pointed out Lori. But in her arms, Lily suddenly blew a raspberry, expressing her discontentment over the idea. "What's the matter ?" asked the big sister, only getting baby babbles as response.

Luan, specialist in the language of Lily-tin, made the translation. "She says that Moldsmals are nice, and that we should be nice to them in return."

"Poo-poo !" nodded Lily with conviction.

"But Lily, we'll be wasting a turn." Lori attempted to reason. But a simple glance at Lily's stubborn, but adorable pout, she resigned herself, letting her off with a warning. "One day, that little spell of yours is gonna run short of power, and you can bet I'll be the first one to take advantage of it."

Lily giggled and gave her sister a small hug of gratitude, then went to Moldsmal for a little bit more of Communication, option that Lincoln promptly selected. She made a little dance, and Moldsmal followed just like last time. As for Migosp, he observed the display with the same grouchy scowl.

"YOUR LITTLE JIG WON'T HELP YOU, THE HIVE-MIND WILL PREVAIL IN THE END !" spat the insect monster, slightly startling the dancers.

"We happen to find that jig very cute, so shut it !" Lola barked back. Even she knew better than to scorn Lily, who was obliviously resuming her cute little dance.

"Yeah, and what's with the attitude ? Like, be tolerant." huffed Leni in a disapproving tone.

Migosp furrowed his brow, gnashing his words to make them sound swarm-ish. "FILTHY SINGLE-MINDERS... YOUR GROUP HAS NO BONDS, IT WILL SOON DISBAND !" he accused, pratically threatening the Louds.

The Louds didn't get a chance to retort, as another round of attack began, with the exact same methods. This time however, the Louds made themselves flexible enough to dodge all the attacks, and Lily was spared from any assault, probably due to the dancing link she was sharing with the Moldsmal at the moment.

*"Moldsmal is feeling the burn ! Migosp, not so much."

Upon hearing the voice, Lincoln reflected on what was said earlier. If the crowd was the problem, then perhaps the best thing to do would be to remove it. The brother felt a bit sorry for Lily, but play time had to be over for his plan to carry on. So he reached the MERCY button and pressed it.

As anticipated, Moldsmal's form glowed to signify his removal from the battle, but Migosp's did not. The gelatin monster gave an affectionate nuzzle to the joyful little girl, and slithered to 'mind' his business elsewhere, leaving only a single piece of gold behind. Lily waddled back to Lori, who promptly wiped the slime off her face.

But the monster's departure certainly had an effect on the remaining monster, who completely dropped his grouchy stance and evil look. His body relaxed, his scrawny little arms began to swing at a rhythm that only he could hear, and a blissful smile overtook his facial features.

"Hmm~, alone time's just the best, ain't it ?" said Migosp in a much quieter and relaxed tone. His next attack was only a small insect, resembling his own form, dancing to an unhearable tempo.

The Louds were quite surprised by this drastic change of attitude. "Man, I know they say that it's 'dangerous to hang out with the wrong crowd', but this is a bit much." piped Luan earnestly.

"Eh, I've witnessed worse cases." shrugged Lisa, having discovered a certain interest in the works of the mind recently (If the precedent chapters are any indication...).

"Yeah, but getting all worked out because he wants to be alone ? Who does that ?" huffed Lola a bit mockingly.

The comment, however, rung something in Lincoln's mind. He knew exactly who'd do something like that. But while he used the wrong methods, he felt that he could at least do it right with this guy. Lincoln smiled a bit internally. To be the one to teach the lesson felt like an interesting change of pace for the buck-chip-toothed brother.

Lincoln chose the 'Talk' option from the ACT menu, and advanced towards Migosp, alone. The sisters were a bit surprised, but decided to let him do his thing.

"Hey there." began Lincoln amicably.

"Hiya~." replied Migosp enthusiastically.

"Glad to see you're enjoying yourself."

"Ah, to be who you are, it's the life~."

"Heh, can't argue with that." chuckled the orange-clad human. He then took a more serious tone, "But why the scary face before ? What was so wrong with that Moldsmal being there ?"

That got the monster to stop dancing, and his happy expression dulled. "Nothing's wrong with Moldsmal, it's just the crowd effect. I just don't like being in the spotlight with others."

"Why ?"

Migosp looked sadly at the ground, "I'm afraid that I'll be judged, that everyone will see who I am and how little I have to offer." he explained, twidling his little thumbs. "When I'm alone, nobody can judge me. I can be who I really wanna be."

"Yeah, but it's not as great as it's made out to be." vouched Lincoln.

Migosp blinked and looked up. "How so ?"

"Well, having no one to judge you might feel fine, and it's always important to have some time for yourself, but always keeping everything to yourself kinda pales compared to sharing it with some buddies." the boy smiled. "When you find those pals, the ones that either understand you or share your tastes, it increases the fun tenfold, and you might find more things you like because of them."

"But what if they mock me ?" whimpered Migosp, still a bit recalcitrant about this.

"Mockeries are like those little bits in yogurts : Unbearable at first, but after a while, you just ignore them and swallow them all the same." Lincoln vizualised and shared it with Migosp. "I mean sure, there might be some that will laugh, calling you ridiculous and silly." Lincoln adressed a meaningful look to his sisters, who either blushed, smiled sheepishly, or whistled in faux-innocence. "But you'll find that there are just as much people willing to defend you, or even take a dive for you until you're ready to face said mockeries." he smiled warmly to a certain black-and-white sister, who smiled a little in return. "Besides, if you keep driving everyone away, things might not end so well for you."

"What do you mean ?" asked the monster, genuinely curious.

"I'm talking from experience here." said Lincoln, his voice getting a bit remorseful. "Back where I live, a moment of peace is hard to get, even when you have your own room. It's one of the downsides of having such a big family. I was really desperate to just have that moment of silence, to be myself, you know ?" Migosp nodded, and Lincoln sighed,

"Two times I made a plan for it. First time, I bought earplugs to completely block the noises of the house. At first, it was just to have 5 minutes to read my comic in peace, but then I got greedy, and began to use it all the time. My sisters retaliated with a prank, making me understand that it was not fair from me to permanently block them out like that, as if they were just annoying noises. Their methods were a little extreme, but I'm still grateful for it."

Lincoln's look then darkened, a whole lot more akwardness added to it. "Then, there was that time I pretended to be bad luck to avoid going at my sisters' activities, and yeah... it didn't end well. For everyone involved." he said, rubbing his arm with heavy guilt. The Loud sisters gained guilty faces as well, especially Lynn. The less they talked about THAT incident, the better...

Lincoln then perked up. "But hey, if there is one other thing I've learned from such a big family, it's that there is always a 'crowd' for you. Whether you like bad puns, beauty contests, or turning the amps up to eleven, you'll always find people to share it with."

Migosp began to absorb what he had been told. His face scrunched up a little. Looking back now, he realized how creepy and weird he must have sounded with his whole 'OBEY THE OVERMIND' act. "Oh... well, I guess I can try to be a little less reclusive from now on." he uttered.

"Glad to hear it. After all, dancing's always better with others, don't you think ?" Lincoln winked.

Migosp's face gained blissful happiness again, and he brought back his funky moves. "Oh yeah, swing your arms, baby~" He punctuated this statement by waving his arms in a wave manner, as did his benign little magic white insect.

"Don't mind if I do !" cheered Lincoln, enthusiastically imitating Migosp's arm wave. The sisters began to laugh, much to Migosp's anxiety at first, but he then saw that they weren't laughing of him, but with him. Eventually, they joined in the little improptu wave party, giggling all the way.

*Through your silly dance, Migosp has learned a valuable lesson.

Lincoln, knowing what the voice in his head meant (and also a little creeped out at how logical it sounded to him now), pressed the golden Spare option a second time.

*YOU WON ! You've gained 0 EXP and 6 Gold.

Fight over.

"Woo, that felt good~" Migosp sighed contently. Perhaps there really was something good about this whole 'group activity' thing. Feeling wiser, the monster waved good-bye to the humans, and went on his way, leaving 5 golden coins next to the one left by Moldsmal.

"Y'know, I'm really beginning to get what Toriel meant. Jerk weed aside, monsters are a bit whacky but kinda sweet too." admitted Lori as she picked up the loot.

"Yeah, they are kinda scary and aggressive at first, but then they become so friendly and funny." Luan flashed her shiny smile full of braces. "And they sure know how to party too !"

"An unusual and misunderstood appearance that hides a heart of gold. A tad out of my usual preferences, but something I can get behind." monotoned Lucy with a nod.

As all excitedly shared their thoughts though, a certain sport wonder was still feeling a little down. She tapped her brother's shoulder to get his attention.

"Yeah Lynn, what's up ?" said Lincoln with a natural smile.

"Lincs, I know it's kind of dumb to ask, but... we are cool over that 'bad luck' incident, right ?" asked the jock with unusual shyness, guiltily rubbing her arm.

Lincoln blinked, but he understood. The aftermath of this masquerade of his, completed with the Squirrel Suit debacle, had provided one of the most tense conflicts the Loud House had ever known. There had been tears, oh yes there had been, and while everything went back to normal, it certainly left a small mental scar on all members, especially the moment Lincoln just... exploded.

The boy couldn't remember what he had said, he just knew that when his brain had plugged back in, he was panting like had run a marathon, his whole family was looking at him with shock and tears running down their cheeks, and Lynn laid beaten on the floor, all too conscious as she cried her eyes out. It took a whole lot of hugs, heart-to-heart talking, more hugs, and an entire revision of the household's system to get the Loud family back to normal. But when they did, they knew their bond had become stronger than ever.

Lincoln thus gave a warm smile to his big sister, and spoke just as warmly, "Lynn, of course we're cool. I'd never want to stop being your brother, not for anything." He then gained a playful cheeky smile. "Believe me, it's not like I didn't try."

Lynn was confused at first, but caught on his little act. She eagerly joined in of course. "Oh, you're so gonna get it, come here !" she bellowed, as she locked his head under her arm, and gave him a playful noogie. Lincoln cried out in mock distress, and everyone laughed at the display of tough but heartwarming love.

Lori rolled her eyes with a small grin, let Lily on the ground, and turned to the supposed clue on the wall, wanting to continue. Lisa accompanied her in her endavour, and the two read it.

"Do not be fooled, the rooms do not repeat, it is only a rotation of perspective. (PS : Difficult of this puzzle may vary according to your POV.)

"Did they just admit their puzzle might be broken, one way or another ?" concluded Lori, slightly weirded out.

"Well, I'm afraid that like all the puzzles we've been challenged to, action will be of the essence, and the sole solution to further our advance." lisped Lisa.

Lori tilted her head a bit. "Was that your fancy way of saying "Let's just go and see for ourselves" ?"

"That was high-school vocabulary for pete's sake !" raved the four year-old. "What is the point of myself using extended terminology if no one in this family learns from it ?!"

"I thought you used it to flaunt how knowledgeable you are."

"Well yes, obviously." she admitted. "But still !"

Lori patted the small genius' head, and went to her other siblings. "Okay guys, there's apparently something about perspective next. So keep steady for... whatever it means." she announced to them.

"Ooh, are we gonna see one of those guys in black and white that look for clues ?" chirped Leni.

"That's a detective, Leni." explained Lana. "But be lookout for clues."

"Got it !"

And with that said, the Louds left the room to join the next.

…

It wasn't hard to say that the next room looked... eerily familiar to the group of humans. And that was understandable, since it looked exactly the same ! Same columns, same levers, and a writing on the wall on their right.

"Did that room go all Forest of Illusions on us ?" said Lincoln, earning weirded glances from his sisters. He knew that a little explanation was in order. "It's a reference about a puzzle that's been done many times in games. Basically, if you fail it, some sort of curse sends you back to the beginning, over and over until you get the answer right." The girls 'oooohed' in understanding.

"There's a name for that kind of curse : Life. Only there is no right answer." recited Lucy, sending cold chills down Lola's back, who replied with a flick on the little goth's nose. "Ow." she stated.

"I think you might be misled, dear brethern." Lisa interrupted the Louds' chit-chat. "The clue in the last corridor indicated that there is only similarity in those rooms. We are indeed progressing, even if it does not look that way."

"So what ? The guy who handled this place just gave up at some point ?" chided Lynn, more than a little disappointed. Amongst the things she couldn't stomach, giving up made it pretty high on the list.

"Eh, maybe they were just not feelin' it. Even the best rockers have their low notes" quipped Luna wisely.

"Even Mick ?" Lola raised an eyebrow.

"1992-94, dudette. Dark times for the man, dark times." she nodded grimly.

"Well, at least it's good that we know that detail." rationalized Luan, her grin widening. "Otherwise, we would've thought we were litteraly running in circles, hahaha !"

"Okay, that one was easy, even from you." groaned Lincoln.

This little mystery and bad pun cleared out, the kids headed to the writing on the wall. While doing so, they noticed that there was indeed one difference in the room. The spike platforms at the end of the room were activated, blocking the way. Nontheless, they read the message, who proved to be different.

"Press the blue one."

"Wow, that's kinda direct." said Lola, clearly disappointed by the underwhelmingly straightforward clue.

"Yeah, where's the mystery ?" her messy twin backed up, just as upset.

Leni, however, was nothing but thankful for the help provided to her. "Oooh, thank you sign, I know exactly what to do !"

And she zipped away from her sibs, who instantly reacted with fear. This might be a simple puzzle, but it was still Leni that they were talking about. And if she dared to press the wrong one, who knows of the consequences ? They certainly didn't want to know !

"LENI, NOOOOO !" they all yelled to stop whatever she was about to do. But the pretty blonde did not listen as she pushed the lever.

The blue lever that is.

The spikes lowered, and Leni made a little clap of joy. When she turned back to her siblings, she found them looking completely befuddled. And knowing exactly why, she put her hands on her hips and frowned.

"Uh, hello ? I'm a fashionista. If there's one thing I do remember, it's colours." she reproached them. She knew she wasn't exactly super smart, or even average, but she hated being treated like she was a completely brainless vegetable. The other Louds chuckled and smiled apologetically. And Leni, unable to hold a grudge for long, accepted it wholeheartedly. "Well ? Let's go you guys ! Like, there's dessert waiting for us !"

Reminded of their succulent objective, the Louds were off.

---

The next room was, unsurprisingly, an exact replica of the room before, down to the spikes being activated. The only noticeable change was a small tweak in the room's clue, if you could call it that.

"Press the red one."

"Easy peasy." said Lynn as she pulled on the correct lever, and opened the way to the next room.

"Looks like we've gone the green light to go ! Get it ?" cracked Luan.

Lincoln sighed, and looked at the camera. "Gotta fill this gap somehow, right ?"

---

Coming in the next room, it was again the exact same one. Only this time, the sign indicated :

"Press the green one."

"Okay, is it me, or is this puzzle in serious need of improvement ?" said Lori, pushing said green lever to open the way to the next room.

"Yeah, where's the difficulty ? Even Lily's toys are harder than that !" complained Lynn. "No offense Lily."

"Hmm... perhaps that post-scriptum in the clue held importance after all." mulled Lisa over.

"Post, wha ?" derped both Lola and Lana.

"A little note was added to the clue at the beginning, telling us that the Point of View mattered for this puzzle to work. I suppose, in that case, that if we had a somehow fixed and unmoving point of view, then certain levers could be hidden behind the pillars, thus triggering a memory game of some sorts." she explained arduously. "Though why the puzzle got constructed in the first place is beyond me."

"Maybe an error in the sketches." shrugged Lincoln.

"Or a change in media." added Lucy. Lincoln glanced at Lucy, at the camera, then back at Lucy. Should he... no, better not get too invested in this, he had other things to worry about.

"Hey, check it, there's some dodgy stuff marked on that pillar !" pointed out Luna. The Louds approached to see that there was indeed a strange sort of writing imprinted on the stone structure. The purple rocker tilted her head. "Think it's some kind of monster language ?"

"They've been writing and speaking English all this time, why would they suddenly change ?" replied Lynn.

"Because this place makes zero sense, and half of the monsters we've seen don't even have hands to begin with ?" answered Luan earnestly.

"Ah, touché."

"Weird... kinda looks like Charles' claw marks on the couch." observed the little animal-lover with a red cap.

But as they pondered over the nature of this strange transcription, the Louds suddenly got their answer from, apparently, the 11th and a half member of their little troup.

*"The whole thing is written in strange dog scratches. Rough translation, 'Note : Puzzle complaints understood, will get on it... after nap and belly rubs. Signed : the good (boy) architect, T.F.'"

A moment of silence, then...

"Welp Luan, you win this round." deadpanned Lynn, eyes on the ceiling.

"I guess, but c'mon, he was nice enough to leave a note. Throw him a bone here, hehehe !"

"Dogs can become architects." Lisa rubbed her brow very... tiredly. "I can't believe those words are mine but... I need a nap."

"Well according to Toriel, we aren't too far now, so you might get your wish pretty soon." said Lori, getting quite tired herself.

"I wonder what her house looks like. Must be totes warm and cozy like her !" giggled Leni, along with Lily in her arms who wasn't against the prospect of a nap.

Lincoln approved wholeheartedly, and began to walk forward. "Okey dokes, then let's just-"

"Hey ! Not another step !"

"Yeah, stay where you are !"

The kids unconciously obeyed, startled by the sudden inerjection of the two irritable voices. They turned around, and quickly spotted the sources. They sported an uncanny resemblance to a certain little green monster from an animated movie about monsters that Lana loved. The two identical red-skinned monsters were about Lucy-size, looking like little cyclops with their unique eyes making up most of their heads and barely any body under their mouth full of pointy teeth. Each creature's eye was black with a bright yellow pupil, they had two little horns on top of their heads, a pair of scrawny arms and a pair of scrawny legs, both ending with long claws.

The Louds had to admit, these two looked more monster-ish than most of the monsters they had encountered thus far. And it didn't help that they looked quite angry for some reason.

"Uh, hi. Is there a problem ?" saluted Lincoln, a bit nervous.

"Ha ! Don't go playing all nice and polite with us." said the monster on the left, squinting his huge eye.

"Yeah, we know who you troublemakers are ! We've heard, and we see !" said the monster on the right, pointing to his own eyeball. "You can't cheat this peeper !"

"Eww, gross !" recoiled Leni, remembering the word used to describe those jerks hiding in the girl showers that one time.

"Wait, what do you mean by 'troublemakers' exactly ?" air-quoted Lynn, not really fond of being accused without any solid proof.

"I think they're taking us for dummies, bro." spoke Left monster.

"You're right bro, they think they're being so smart right now." approved Right monster.

"Actually, we're just really confused of your spite against us right now." said Lisa stoïcally.

"Oooh, confused are you ?" mocked Left monster. "You know what you've done ! Making poor Whimsuns faint for fun ! Threatening defenseless ghosts ! And pushing around rocks just because you feel like it !"

Lincoln nervously scratched the back of his head. "Well yeah, we did do those things, but-"

"No excuse !" interrupted Right monster, sending a glare in the boy's direction. "Especially not from you ! Yeah, we know you're their ring leader !"

Lincoln blinked, confused. "Me ?"

"HIM ?!" shouted Lori heatedly. They were SO NOT saying what she thought they were saying. The monsters kept going though, unimpressed.

"That's right, we've heard of the 'white-haired one', the one who selects options, gives tips, and makes all the decisions when in battle. Obviously, he's your leader." stipulated Left monster.

Lori's face began to turn lobster-red, her breathing becoming ragged. The siblings took some steps away from her, looking at their big sister with worried faces. "He's not the leader..." the young adult hissed.

The monsters appeared surprised. "Wait, really ?" they said in unison.

"Positive." growled the blonde, her nose producing steam like a bull ready to charge.

The two little cyclops looked at eachother, looking hopelessly confused, before turning back to the kids. "Um... then is your leader the little one with the glasses ? We've heard she's pretty smart and-"

"IT'S ME !" roared Lori, her hands taking the form of claws and fire erupting in her eyes. "I'm the oldest ! I'm the tallest ! I'm the more mature ! Therefore, I AM THE LEADER ! ME, MYSELF, I, MOI, YO, IO, Мэн, ME !" she bellowed like a storm.

"Lori ?" croaked Leni meekly, thoroughly terrified of how her big sister was acting, just like all her own little siblings and the two monsters, the latter glued to the wall both in terror and by the power of Lori's storm of emotions.

Lori, still panting like a wild animal, looked at the scared expressions of her sisters and brother, and began to realize what she was doing. Not setting the exemple of a leader for one. So she slowly relaxed her body and stance, then took a big gulp of air, and exhaled it serenely. She took another shaky breath, and tried again. "I am the eldest of the group, and their leader. Get that right, okay ?" The two monsters quickly nodded. The siblings, on the other hand, came back to their 'chief' with worried expressions.

"You alright love ?" asked Luna as she put a friendly hand on her shoulder.

"Is there something you want to talk about ?" said Lola in great concern.

'Great, now I'm making them feel worried for me.' thought Lori, chatising herself. Not desiring any pity or even worry from them, she tried to reassure them, "I'm fine guys, just wanted to make sure they understood who is the leader here." Lori said, her teeth clenching a little on the last string of words.

Lana pursed her lips, not quite convinced. "You're looking a little tense though."

Lori approached her head until she was nose to nose with Lana. "And praytell how's that a problem ?"

"Um, it's not ?" answered Lana nervously.

"I thought so." said Lori, backing up while doing an "I'm-watching-you" motion.

"So, you're the leader. Guess it adds up when you think about it." nodded one of the horned monsters.

"Thank you." uttered Lori with content relief and a calm grin. About time someone other than Toriel acknowledged it.

"I mean, you're the loudest and meanest, makes sense that you'd be the boss of the bullies." sneered the other monster.

Lori's façade broke as fast as it had appeared, leaving her with a twitching eye. "...Say what ?" she slowly articulated.

The monster shook his head with a little 'tsk'. "Yeah, snappy and mean. You're the big bad bully in chief, and the others follow. Classic bully gang system."

The thought of lunging at the duo, knocking every tooth out of their mouths, and offering them to Bobby as a superb necklace did cross Lori's mind for an instant, she had to admit it. But she knew what that would imply, so the eldest blonde instead tried to simmer down by massaging her temples. "They're only misunderstood and very nice on the inside Lori, you've said it yourself." she repeated like a mantra.

"Look, you've got it all wrong. We're just heading for Toriel's house, and you guys keep attacking us for no good reason." quipped Lynn, wanting this whole misunderstanding to just move along. But just like every conflict here, it would prove easier said than done.

"It's not enough you're getting all over our turf, you're on your way to harass old lady Toriel, huh ? You guys are even sicker than we thought." spat the monster on the right.

"You are clearly misinterpreting our words and twisting them to your own ideals." said Lisa in a slightly annoyed tone. "If youd simply put your unfocused and misled thoughts aside, we could tell you that-"

"Oh, so now we're bad guys ?! And stupid too ?!" one of the monsters rudely interrupted, prompting Lisa to facepalm. "That tears it ! Bro ?"

"Yeah bro." replied the other one, as the two turned towards eachother, nodded, and flashed a dual aggressive glare towards the humans. "Let's teach those flesh bags some manners !"

A glint appeared in the obsidian of their eyes, and the Louds once again felt their SOULs responding to the call.

Fight engaged !

*"A pair of Loox decide they want to pick on you."

Luan snorted inadvertently. "Sorry, came out of nowhere."

"Well, here we go again." huffed Lola, sorting her compact mirror. "I'm gonna lose my porcelain complexion if this keeps going on."

"Yeah, Lola's right. Let's just speed this up and be on our way." Lincoln approved, choosing the same first option he chose during all their battles.

The answer however got a strange... additional info.

*"Loox. ATK 6, DEF 6. They may look rough, but they actually hate bullies and confrontations. Also, family name... Eyewalker."

Lincoln's eyes widened, his brain stopped sending signals for an instant. A snigger came out of his throat, followed by a snort, a chuckle, and finally a big laugh rivaling the ones of his clown-loving sister. "Hahahahaha, oh my gosh ! It has to be on purpose, it just- bwahahaha !"

The sisters were perplexed of their brother's attitude, observing him rolling on the floor with weirded out stares. "Lincoln, why are you litteraly busting a gut here ?" asked Lori.

Lincoln shakily rose, still snickering. "It's just, heh, just their name. Their family name, Eyewalker."

"Well I get the joke here, and it's pretty funny. So I know this is the whoopie cushion calling the rubber chicken overused, but you're overreacting." argued the buck-toothed comedian.

"No, *wheeze*, you gotta pronounce it whole. Holy mother of Ace Savvy..."

"Dude, what's so funny about Loox Eyewalk-" Luna questionned, before suddenly stopping herself. Her eyes exploded open, as did her sisters', even Leni and (perhaps) Lucy. An instant of silence...

Then their cheeks collectively puffed, tears of hilarity accumulated to their eyes, and it all got released into a big and loud guffaw.

"BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ! OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO !" they all boomed with laughter, with Lincoln joining right back in.

"Hahaha ! Lincoln is so right, someone must have done that on purpose !" said Lana, holding her stomach to get her chuckles under control.

"I'm not sure why we're laughing, but it's acually so funny, I don't even need to get it !" cracked up Leni, banging her fist on the tiled floor. But not too hard, manicure was hard work after all.

The pair of Looxes however, were not amused. "Bro, are they mocking us ? Mocking the name Mom proudly gave us ?" asked the Loox on the left, squinting his eye.

"This just got personnal bro." said the adjacent Loox with a cool tone, cracking his scrawny knuckles. "Let's beam'em good."

The Loox's sentence made sense as soon as their turn began. Out of the two monsters' eyes appeared little hoop-shaped laser beams. The white circles aimed themselves towards the children, who didn't even notice them. Strangely enough though, by rolling on the floor with mirthful laughter, the Louds actually managed to avoid them. Even by bouncing on the walls, none of the attacks managed to connect.

The monsters were silent. Then one spoke, "Bro, we missed."

"I know bro."

"They're still laughing bro."

"Not for long..." sneered the one-eyed ball of rising anger.

After five more seconds of guffaw, the kids began to calm down. They rose on their feet, still shaking with snorts and chuckles.

"We're... so sorry." said Lincoln, trying his hardest to fully cool down.

"Y-Yes, it was *pff* very uncouth and disrespectful of us." backed up Lisa with a nod, still giddily smiling.

"I totally agree." approved Luan... still on her knees. The comedian hadn't risen up, and her already big smile just kept growing. "In fact..."

"Luan, oh my gosh." chortled Lana.

"...the better way to say it would be..."

"She wouldn't dare..." said Lola with levity.

"Heck yeah, she's gonna do it." preached Lincoln, already barely able to contain herself.

Luan knew this was a bad idea. She just knew that cracking this joke would only allow more bad blood to rise. But bigger forces were at work here, comedy itself was calling out to her. She had to embrace it, for her own good, for the logic reasoning of this world.

The joke was simply too strong in her.

Luan rose her hands to her ears, shaping them to make them look like big long ears, and parted her lips for the punchline, talking in a little old man voice...

"...very disrespectful to you, we were."

Pin Dropping 2 : The Silencing...

"BAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !" the Louds doubled over with hilarity.

"Hahaha, I regret absolutely nothing !" proclaimed Luan. "After all, I'm not one to chewie my own words, hahaha !"

And as if the display of open mockery could not get any clearer to the two diminutive cyclops, Lincoln pushed it even further when instead of banging on the floor, his fist collided with the ACT button, then the Loox, and finally the freshly arrived Ridicule.

*"You mock Loox and Loox even further. It is bad, and you should feel bad for it."

"Lincoln, you *wheeze* idiot !" said Lori, trying to chide Lincoln, but her sides were aching too much to focus.

"I'm so sorry, I just can't see with those tears in my eyes !" apologized Lincoln.

But as the hilarity stood high and mighty with the Louds, ire was the only thing the monsters were feeling. Their red skins were turning more scarlet by the second, and they were gnashing their teeth like no tomorrow, thinking about making sure there won't be a tomorrow for those humans.

"I think it's time we lay the real stuff on them bro." said a Loox seethingly.

"Ya bro, let's see if they're still laughing after they get a load of this." growled the other Loox, his eye radiating with magic.

The monsters attacked, liberating more beams out of their eyes, but with two key differences. First, instead of being just singular hoops, each attack was composed of three hoops in a serpentine form, big on in front, medium in the middle, and a small one for the tail. Second, the attacks were much faster and much more numerous. They immediately found their targets, and whizzed towards them.

And they hit. All Louds felt the attack inflicted to them, with Lily being the only one who escaped spotless, encased in Leni's protective hug. They collectively yelped, the impact feeling like an electric shock accompanied with a mighty push. Three HP disappeared from their life bars, but although they still had some more to share, they still reeled from the assault and were shaken right out of their laughing fit.

"Ow, that hurt like a birdhouse !" hissed Lynn, only having 14 HP left now.

"My leg's got a big bump now !" whined Lola, holding her bruised right knee.

"I feel the pain." said Lucy Loud in a not so convincing voice.

"Yeah, that's what you get !" cried out left Loox. "Not so fun anymore, huh ?!"

"Ow, ow ow ow..." Lincoln massaged his left arm. The boy now realized how upset the monsters were, if the daggers they were glaring at them were any hint. "N-No, we were not laughing at you, honest ! We're sorry !"

The Looxes were deaf to his pleading. "Lies ! You're not sorry at all !" accused right Loox heatedly, before gaining a cold edge in his voice. "But we're going to make you..."

The growling monsters were suddenly looking quite menacing. Lana and Lola closed in for a mutual hug, Lisa took a cautious step back, and Lily hid her face in Leni's chest with a whimper. This agressivity thrown towards her younger siblings did not sit well with a certain guitar-shredder.

"Okay, time out everybody !" called Luna making a T with her hands. "Dudes, we gotta talk, for real."

"And we'd wanna listen why ?" asked the monster, his eye throbbing with anger towards the human.

"Because I pressed the big magic button, that means you gotta sit and learn." she replied, hitting the ACT button and choosing the Talk option. The monsters relented, she had the floor. "Loox dudes, my bro ain't lying, we weren't mocking you, your name just reminded us of something we have back on the surface."

"What, a clown act ?"

Luna shook her head. "No, an epic space battle, with laser swords and awesome soundtrack !"

The Looxes' tension began to dimminish. "Really ?" said one of them, not entirely convinced.

"Swear it on my dedicated Mick Swagger album !" grinned Luna, crossing her heart.

"You better hold her on that, she adores that album." chuckled Lincoln, remembering the near heart attack Luna had experienced when she thought the precious album had disappeared, when in fact it was only their mother who had borrowed it for a Book Club session. The meaning of turning the house upside-down went to a whole new level that day...

With a calm smile, Luna approached the two small cyclops, who eyed her approach with some angry reclutance, but let her do so anyway. She kneeled to their level, and spoke in her natural chill voice.

"Listen chaps, we're mighty sorry of laughing like that, making you think we were insulting you. It was super uncool of us. But I've gotta ask, is it really all you've heard about us ? Being bullies ?"

The two bros looked at eachother and began to sweat. "Well, there might've been a thing or two about you being kinda helpful. Nursing Whimsun back to conciousness, making Froggits feel better about themselves, stuff like that."

"And by one or two, you mean..?" Luna arched an eyebrow, a bit of reproach lacing her voice.

The Looxes bowed their heads, shameful. "One or two dozens..." they admitted bashfully.

"We were just really worried you'd pick on us first, like that aggressive one did to Blooks." piped one of them. "She's got that mean spirit in that glare of hers."

"Hey, that's my normal stare !" said an insulted Lynn. Lucy gently patted the pouting jock's back.

Luna's face went into complete deadpan mode as she elaborated, "So, you chose to ignore the good stuff, only focusing on the bad stuff, attacking us for it, and doing it so to a bunch of children, some of them not even over eight years old. What do you think that makes you two ?"

Shock exploded upon the two monsters' faces, as they realized they had become what they despised the most. "Aw man, we ARE the bullies !" gasped the duo in unison. Luna nodded her head sternly, as right Loox began to apologize. "Geez, we didn't mean to sound mean, we just thought you'd bully us because, well, you're humans, and we're monsters." he tried to explain.

"Brah, we don't judge, not monsters anyway. I mean, if you're looking for weird, just pass at our Casa Loud on Friday night, and you'll see bizarre amped up to eleven." she chuckled, which got a smile out of the monsters. "We ain't looking for a fight, we're just looking for a way back home, up there. And if on the way we can meet some chill dudes, all the better. So whaddya say we just forget about this whole bully junk, and try it again ?"

Luna advanced a friendly hand, her face glowing with a respectful smile. The Looxes looked at eachother, then back to the friendly rocker... and smiled. They grasped the peach-coloured hand, and shook it with their own scarlet clawed ones.

*"Through Luna's swift words and attitude, the Looxes are looking forward to talk to you again."

The Louds cheered, and Lincoln immediately aimed for the Spare.

*YOU WON ! You've gained 0 EXP and 10 Gold.

Fight over.

"You know, maybe we got you humans all wrong." said a Loox, grinning. "I mean, they can't be all that bad if they have cool gals like you."

"Ah shucks, afraid I'm not looking for a boyfriend, mate." jested Luna. "But I ain't that cool you know, I don't even have badass laser beams."

The three laughed at this, and they knew it was time to part ways. "Welp, it was actually great running into you, um..."

"Luna. Luna Loud, don't wear it out." she winked.

"Oh. Then see ya, Luna Loud." said Loox, as the three exchanged a round of high-fives. "We wish you good luck to you and your friends."

"Me and my sibs actually." corrected Luna, chuckling at the duo's dumbfounded faces. "Yep, we get that reaction a lot. And see ya too mates, spread the good word. The Louds are here for friends, not for foes."

With that said, the two monsters exchanged good-byes with the children and hurried out of the room, taking the way they had appeared from and leaving only ten golden coins to the purple-clad rock chick. Said rocker was immediately swarmed by her relieved siblings.

"That was amazing Luna, you calmed them down in a snap !" praised Lincoln giddily. He knew Luna excelled in peace-making, having herself stopped many fights between him and Lynn back in the days, and greatly influencing him in how to handle his own brawling younger siblings.

"Ah, they were good guys. Just on the defensive, is all. Trust me, compared to what you can find amongst Mick Swagger fans, those guys were angels." said Luna with a chuckle.

"But you were still awesome !" whooped Lana.

Luna grinned slyly, looking at her nails. "Well, I am pretty great."

The children giggled and cheered for their sister... save for one blonde, who still stood away from the joyful crowd, and watched it with a sullen expression. It's not that Lori wasn't impressed or proud of what her little sister had done, she really was. With so many siblings to take care of, the house needed someone cool and collected like Luna to balance the chaos of the siblings' general sheninigans.

Normally, Lori would be simply happy knowing that Luna possessed that skill. Now though, all she could think about was how little of that skill she possessed. Not to mention how the two Loox didn't think for a second about her being the leader of her siblings.

I-It was not just because she was the oldest that she had the reigns... right ? After all she was... she was...

"Lori ? Yoo-hoo, is this mike plugged ?" said Luna, giving a light knock on Lori's skull. It effectively snapped Lori out of her trance, and she saw that all of her sibs were around her, looking at her with mixed expressions.

"Whu, wha ?" blubbered the kinda phone addict.

"Just here to pass you the loot." simply said Luna, handing her the Gold left by the two monsters. Her expression grew concerned. "Are you sure everything's okay, love ?"

"I'm fine !" yelled Lori, then quickly slapped a hand on her mouth. She took another breather, and tried again while she stuffed the money in her pockets. "I'm fine, just a bit tired. I haven't texted Bobby for hours, so I'm just a little cranky, nothing to worry about." She knew it was bad to lie after chatising Lincoln for attempting it, but the last thing Lori wanted was for her siblings to think that she was weak and unreliable.

If they even needed that reassurance...

The children once again decided to let it slide, but kept a close eye on their sistriarch. Lily looked especially distressed, as she insisted to be given back to Lori for some comforting snuggles. And now that the way was open and obstacle-less, the Louds moved forward.

---

Going the other way, the Looxes reflected on their encounter.

"Hey bro ?" nudged one of them.

"Yeah bro ?"

"Think we should've told them for what other reason we attacked them ?"

The second Loox took a little moment to reply. "If they wanna go home, they'll go to the king's castle. Either they'll already know when they get to it, or they'll learn it there."

The first Loox twiddled his thumbs, his huge eye gaining a whole lot of sadness. "I feel bad for them. They were really nice, especially that rad girl, Luna."

The second Loox appeared sad for a second, but mulling it over, a small smile appeared across his face, full of confidence.

"You know what ? I think they're gonna be just fine. They've got determination to go around..."

---

The next room was a kinda large crossroad, one way on the left, and one way straight ahead. The entrance and exit straight ahead had green ivy on them, while the larger path on the left had a bunch of red leaves, kinda shaped like an arrow.

"I think we're getting a hint here." joked Luan.

"Indeed, but of course, we must first quench our youthful curiosity. And for that, we must proceed down this track 0° North from our current position." Lisa pointed out.

"Yeah, more exploring !" cheered Lana, always up for digging in obscure and dusty places. Or maybe that was more of Lucy's répertoire...

Either way, the Louds quickly approved that motion, and went along. They arrived to a turn on the left leading to a doorway, and a Froggit contently sitting on the side. Naturally, their first instinct was to consult the white amphibian monster.

"Ribbit. Psst, are you the humans Toriel is taking care of ?" said the Froggit in a hushed voice.

"Well we didn't see any other humans on the way, so yeah." replied Lincoln with a shrug.

The frog monster nodded, "I see, then you might want to go back a little, her house is actually right through the other path, ribbit."

Leni let out a cheer upon hearing this. "Yay, that means we're almost done !"

"Eeee, almost at Goat Mom's house ! And right on time for a snack !" squealed Lola with excitement.

"Actually, it's only about 2 pm." remarked Lisa as she looked at the watch she invented herself, voice logging and GPS included.

"Snack time doesn't have to bother itself with clocks."

"A convincing argument, I must yield." the little genius bowed, much to the pleasure of the mini pink regent.

"Hey mister frog, what's over there ? Should we hop to it, or just froget about it ?" joked the Queen of gags as the pointed to the mysterious entrance. She received two quick hits from Lana's hat in the knees, but she was still pleased with her joke.

"Ribbit. This leads to the entrance of Home." croaked the monster casually.

"The... home of the Froggits ?" attempted Lynn.

"FROGS !" Lana exclaimed excitedly. She tried rushing for the door, but was stopped by Lynn taking a solid hold on her overalls, leaving the six year-old to trying to run forward on all four, yet not advancing a millimiter.

The Froggit shook his head, indicating their error. "The Froggits do indeed live beyond this door, but so do the other monsters. When I was saying Home, I meant the name of the city that holds the Ruins." explained the batrachian.

Lincoln's eyes suddenly grew wide and shining with childlike curiosity. "A city of monsters ? This place just got even cooler !"

"Wait, is 'Home' a special monster word or something ?" asked Lori, this part not quite making sense to her.

Froggit blinked. "Home... means somewhere you live, a place you inhabit." he explained, taking a pensive stance. "I was not aware humans had another word for it, ribbit."

"No we actually use that meaning, we were just confused of why you'd use it to name an entire city." clarified Lucy who was a bit curious herself.

"Quite simple, ribbit. Our King is just really bad at naming things." answered the monster even more casually, as if it was common knowledge.

Lincoln arched an eyebrow, a single word resonating in his mind, and a strange feeling of nostalgic regret washing over him. 'King ?'

"Well, that's an answer as good as any." deadpanned Lori. She wasn't really sure what else she was expecting at this point, seeing as most monsters apparently taking their species as names. "But I guess we can litteraly give this whole city thing a small peek before heading to Toriel's."

"Poo-poo !" proclaimed Lily, closing the case for good. With that said, the Louds waved good-bye to the Froggit, and entered the next room.

Now alone, the Froggit couldn't help but mumble to themselves. "Some of them are quite young, no wonder that Toriel would allow them inside her home." They shivered a little. "Not that anyone would have the courage to talk her out of it..."

---

Lincoln was in utter awe to the share spectacle he was witnessing. His pupils were wide and sparkly again, though not as much as the moment he had discovered the cave that had started this whole adventure. Still, he could not help but be short of breath to what he was seeing.

"Okay, the guys of this place might still have a problem with paint other than purple, but this was so worth the detour." said Lola with childlike wonder.

The overview of a city was what greeted the Louds upon their entrance on a small balcony that connected to the city through a long staircase. The purple city definitely looked like it had seen better days, with some of its buildings having cracks running along them and most of them showing clear signs of being abandonned. Still, they could see a few lights and some shapes moving among the monster homes, going on with their businesses. And the kids couldn't exactly say why, but there was something grand about this city, something whimsical yet not entirely. And despite the lack of sunlight, the few pearls of light in the city kept the whole scenery superb and mysterious.

"Friggin' majestic..." breathed Luna with a hand on her heart. "I'm so getting another rad idea for my album cover."

"Those walls contain so much history. But how long before they fail the city ?" recited Lucy as she felt her inspiration rise up as well, thanks to the darkness provided by the sunless ceiling.

"I agree on the first verse, who knows how long ago this city was created ?" quipped Lisa, unable to hide her enthusiasm at the prospect of more studying on a part of history she didn't know anything about two hours ago.

"Oooh, aaah..." was all Leni said.

Lori was just as impressed, though she felt a little creeped out for some reason. The city was huge, so it had to be built for many monsters to inhabit. Yet now, barely a fifth of the houses looked occupied. So the big question was, did the monsters go anywhere else ? And if so, where ?

Her thoughts were interrupted however when she felt a weird feeling in her chest. She looked down to see her cyan SOUL fading in with a weird transparent effect. The little heart seemed to be reacting to something, so Lori naturally began to look around her. And then she spotted it.

On her left, right on the ground, was a small item she recognized all too well from her cooking lessons with Lincoln and her mom. Yet as she squinted her eyes to take a better look, she realized that the knife she was looking at didn't exactly seem authentic. It had a black handle like some knives could have, but its blade simply looked weird. Eventually, Lori simply decided to look for herself, handing Lily to Luan. She picked up the small knife, and found out why it looked weird. It was made of plastic ! The thing was basically a toy, the blade easily swaying like rubber when she gave it a flick. And yet, despite its benign appearance, Lori felt oddly drawn to it, a certain sense of power taking a hold on her.

She was so focused on the small weapon that she didn't notice the eerie glow that it shared with her SOUL for a moment...

"What's that ?" crowed Lucy, shaking her sister out of her trance with a terrified shout.

"Okay, for your next birthday, I am buying you a bell." hissed Lori as she tried to get her heartbeat speed below the one of a jokari held by Lynn on a sugar rush.

"Thanks, but that's not answering my question." replied the unfazed goth dryly.

The siblings began to circle their sister, trying to geet a little peek at the new item in her possession.

"Man, only a plastic one ? Kinda lame compared to Dad's emergency Swiss army knife." observed the little fix-it girl with a pout.

"Hmm, there's certainly some age and refinement to it." analyzed Lisa as she passed a finger on it, collecting some dust on her fingertip. "This knife has seen things for sure."

"Well I don't see any eye, but I'm sure he must have a sharp one ! Hehe, get it ?" said Luan, making the others groan.

"You think someone's lost it ?" asked Lynn, scratching her head.

"Well, if they want it back, they'll simply ask. But until then, it's finders keepers." simply announced Lori smugly as she twirled it in her hand.

Suddenly, Lincoln felt the voice taking over, again with glowing red irises :

*"You've equipped the Toy Knife. ATK increases of 3. Its plastic composition makes it a rarity. You should be careful where you wave this thing around."

Lori was a little taken aback by this description. "Wait, ATK as in Attack ? That thing's a weapon ?" she said in disbelief, shaking it to prove how flabby it was.

"Well, if Lincoln's possible double personality says so, who are we to contradict them ?" shrugged loony Luan with a grin.

"Makes sense to me !" quipped Leni in her happy-go-lucky tone.

"But wait, I thought we weren't supposed to Fight ? What's the use of a weapon then ?" Luna popped the big question.

All eyes turned to the blonde wielder, who simply put the weapon aside in her shorts, and gave a light shrug. "Well, I'm still gonna hang onto it. You know, just in case. Plus, maybe we can sell it for some more Gold, thus more sweet donuts !"

The sweet prospect of more treats, even made of spiders, was enough to put the Louds' suspicions to rest. After all...

What damage could a child's toy honestly do ?

---

The Loud Group backtracked, and took the other path. When they entered the next room, they saw a tree. Lonely, its bark pitch-black, and leafless, but an actual tree nontheless. Around it were more of those scarlet leaves.

*"No matter how many leaves this tree grows, they always fall right off."

"Wow, this got dark all of a sudden." commented Lincoln about his own speech.

Of course, Lucy flashed a thumbs up, feeling the urge to approve.

"So the leaves all come from this tree ?" realized Lana as she took a fistful of them.

"Problem solved." quipped Lisa.

The handygirl wasn't quite finished. "But how did they go all the way from here to all the rooms we've been in ?"

Lisa looked like she could care less. "Hey, one existential question at a time, I'm in the dire need of a nap here."

"So are we closing in to Goat Mom's house ?" questionned Luna. The answer didn't come quite the way she had expected it to do.

"Oh dear me, it certainly took more time than I expected. I hope the monsters didn't bother them too much."

The Louds immediately perked up at the sound of the worried, motherly voice they all recognized, the one that belonged to the person they've been searching for. Coming around the tree was none other than Toriel herself.

"Mayhaps I should call them first." said the lady monster as she sorted out her phone from her robes. She chose the number and began to call, but was surprised to hear the ringing sounding oddly close. Curious, she turned around a bit, and was met with a startling sight. "Oh my !" she gasped.

"HI TORIEL !" happily waved the children to their Guardian, who quickly hurried to them.

"Children, you're here already ? I apologize for my lateness, and- oh dear !" she suddenly exclaimed upon looking at the bruises on the kids' bodies. "Children, you're hurt !"

"Yeah, some monsters nicked us by accident, but we got them to stop. Peacefully of course." said Lincoln with a bit of pride.

Toriel still checked them over, looking for any permanent damage. She sighed in relief when she found none. "Do not fret children, I shall heal you immediately." Green flames appeared along Toriel's hands, and she waved it above the Loud siblings.

"Heehee, it tickles." giggled Lola, embracing the warm and nursing feeling, her wounds and woes all but disappearing, as did the ones of her brother and sisters.

Toriel smiled warmly at her work. "There, all better. I am sorry I left you alone like that and let you get hurt."

"Ah come on, we totally had this. We talked them right out of battle, and they paid us for it !" Lynn gloated a little.

"And I got to make a new friend." said Lucy, strangely not startling Toriel.

"That is wonderful news my child !" exclaimed Toriel as she brought her fuzzy paw on Lucy's head, making her smile and blush a little. "I'm proud of all of you. Managing to cross all those puzzles and making peace with all those monsters all by yourselves. A marvelous achievement." she said, shedding a little tear while the Louds were beaming with the pride of having pleased her. Mother Goat's smile got a little cheekier as she approached Lily. "And I see you've managed to perfectly protect a certain little tyke as well. Hello sweetie, did you have a fun time on the way here ?"

Lily cooed joyfully, and immediately caught the fluffy toy that was Toriel's right ear with her chubby hands. The monster let her do so, and watched in amusement to the toddler eerily nuzzling it, and sucking on it.

"I do believe that's a yes." chuckled Toriel. Her voice then turned a bit apologetic. "Though sweetie, I'm afraid I have to take my ear back for a moment." Lily gave a greedy glare, not ready to let go of her fluffy Blanky replacement. "C'mon honey, I need it to walk around for an instant. I promise you that there shall be more cuddle times afterwards, alright ?"

Lily pursued her lips, still not completely sure. But upon seeing the woman's kind eyes, the happy little baby knew what she had to do, and parted with the fuzzy ear, already longing its departure.

"Hehe, thank you Lily." commended Toriel. She gave the baby a little tummy tickle, making her giggle. Then, she turned back to the pack of children, who were all more or less smiling at her. "Again, I must apologize. You succeeded this 'Independent test' hands down, but it was a silly idea to begin with. It may've been to surprise you, but it was still irresp-" she cut herself off as she realized what she had just said.

"Surprise ?!" picked up the Louds in unison, broad grins full of interest plastered on their faces.

Toriel slightly blushed, feeling a bit stupid to have ruined such a nice surprise so close to the goal. But since the cat was out of the bag, she knew she had to roll with it now. "Oh well, I suppose I can't hide it any longer. It is nothing grand, but I am sure that it will greatly please you."

"Is it a cake ?!" asked Lola excitedly, her mouth watering at the prospect of her favourite dessert.

"You will see." mused Toriel, turning over. "Follow me children."

As she departed, she was quickly tailed by the children, but they stopped when they saw what doorway Toriel had passed. It was the entrance of what looked like a small house, with two windows. Above the doorway was some writing, but its words were hidden behind a thick veil of dust. A carpet of leaves bordered the house walls, and on it floated a familiar little star.

"Hey, it's another one of those Save points." said Luna. The siblings hurried up to the mysterious entity, and Lincoln grazed it with his hand.

*"Seeing this cute little house, knowing that you'll be safe in it... It fills you with Determination."

LOUDS – Ruins Home

LV1 – 2:20

File saved successfully !

"And we still have no idea what any of this means, do we ?" asked Lynn with heavy sarcasm.

"Safety first, competitive sister of mine. Safety first." professed Lisa.

"Like, enough chit-chat you guys, there is cake waiting for us !" exclaimed Leni with a small squeal.

"For cake !" chanted Luan, followed by an approving chorus from her siblings. And since Snack Time wasn't to be waited for, the siblings entered Toriel's house, giggling and light-hearted. Truly, they would be safe and sound here.

Even from the blur of yellow that quickly disappeared behind the dark tree...

---

After crossing a little corridor, the Louds entered the hall of the house. The colour pattern of the room was already surprising, as the walls, for the first time since they've been following Toriel, were NOT purple ("About time !" exclaimed Lola), but instead made of a light beige. Right in front of them was a quite large staircase, probably going down to a basement. There were a couple of pieces of furniture on its sides, and a couple of things on the wall in front of them as well.

But more than the room's physical contents, the general feeling of the house was what took the Louds by surprise, though they sort of expected it. The air felt warm, crispy, and it made the whole room scream coziness. It was as if the feeling of safety Toriel could provide had marked the walls, ceiling, and ground of her house.

And welcoming them was of course Toriel, her warm smile ready to greet them. "Welcome to my little home, children. I trust you'll find it most pleasant and comfortable." Her smile got a little wider. "Do you smell that ?"

The Louds sniffed the air, and a delicate smell invaded their nostrils. The spiced aroma of cinnamon, mixed with the sugary scent of Butterscotch. Their mouths instantly began to water again.

"What's that nifty smell ?" asked Luna, greedily licking her lips.

"Hmm, it's like chocolate, but it's not." said Leni, too enamoured with the smell to make any sense.

Toriel decided she could not contain herself any longer, and announced, "Surprise ! A Butterscotch-Cinnamon Pie, specially made for your arrival." The kids whooped and cheered with delighted shouts, much to her enjoyement.

"The combination of exhaustion and self-pride took for managing to meet all objectives of our quest shall make this dessert most rewarding." smirked Lisa as she pushed the bridge of her glasses.

Luan's smile gained a little deviousness. "Well of course you'd like it, being the scientific that you are. It is Pie after all !" she said, releasing her signature laugh.

Lisa's form twitched, then slumped in defeat. "I mostly blame myself for walking into that one."

Toriel stiffled a giggle from the questionable pun, and pursued her announcement. "But that's not all. Come this way please."

She quickly went down the hallway on the right, and the siblings followed. The beige of the hall turned into a warm yellow, with a couple of plants and some furniture in it. The kids quickly spotted three doors on their left, and one on their right.

Huh ? What do you mean, what door on the right ? Well the bathroom's door of course ! Sheesh, it's like you never saw it or something...

Toriel stopped in front of the first white door on the left. "Here it is children, a room of your very own ! I'm sure you'll like it." she said with a big grin. It faltered however when she saw the confused stares plastered on their faces. "Children, is something wrong ?" she began to fret.

Lincoln nervously scratched his ear, trying to find the right words to not upset Toriel. "Well, it's not against you, but... we don't usually sleep together in one big bedroom." explained the white-haired boy.

"We kinda have an age-based system." Lori carried on. "All girls sleep by pairs : me and Leni, Luna and Luan, Lynn and Lucy, and so on. Lincoln's the only one who sleeps alone, gender privacy and all."

"The limits of that privacy were tested, with very mixed results." said Lincoln with a slightly deadpan tone, with Lynn whistling innocently and Lucy growing very interested in the wall that wasn't her brother.

"Oh." simply said the motherly monster. Now that she thought about it, with all those colourful personalities, perhaps she should've seen it coming. "I see. I'm afraid my home wasn't truly built to welcome so many people at once. But !", her tone warmed back up with maternal resolve. "That shall not stop us to find you a place to sleep. We shall make arangements, that is all."

"Well, shouldn't be too hard." quipped Lynn with a shrug. "It's not like we never slept together before. It's been a while though, maybe before Lily."

Suddenly, something caught the attention of Lana, as she sniffed the air again. "Uh, Goat Mom ? Is your pie still in the oven ?"

Toriel tilted her head, and smelled the air too. There was a strange odour mixed to the sugary scent, almost like something was... burning ?! "Um, make yourself at home children, I'll be back in an instant." she quickly blurted out, zooming down the hallway and disappearing in what the Louds assumed was the kitchen.

"Well, let's check it out." said Lori.

"I hope there is a dusty corner. Those always have their share of stories, tragic most of the time." quipped Lucy in her usual spooky tone.

The sisters were quick to enter their new quarters, but Lincoln fell a bit behind. He felt compelled to explore the corridor a bit, his trainee sleuth instincts kicking in. He walked down the carpeted floor, passing the doors. The bathroom door had a tag on it, so he easily recognized it, and he could only guess that the door on his left was Toriel's room.

He was intrigued the most by the third door, which sported a sign that said 'Room under renovations'. Pushed by his curiosity he tried to open it, but found it locked. He let go of the handle, a little bit disappointed, but it quickly evaporated when he looked at the mirror right next to him. It was a rather pretty mirror, spotless as can be. The only mirror he'd bother to look into most of the time back home was the bathroom mirror, and it was hard to not notice the faded but nontheless present fingerprints all over its surface.

Lincoln looked at his reflection, and took it in. It was the same white-haired boy, with the same orange shirt and blue jeans, and travelling with the same zany but ultimately loving sisters. What was different however ? The scenery, the context. He was in a land of monsters, real monsters. A land where monsters didn't want to feast on human flesh, but still wanted to capture his SOUL, yet almost always turned out to be nice guys in the end.

Lincoln had always dreamed of being confronted to real supernatural, but now he was scared, worried, and most of all, confused. So many questions were arising in such small time. Were all the legends true ? Did the other six children fall down like them ? And if so, where were they now ? What was Flowey's deal ? Where was the exit ? Was there an exit ? Lincoln's worry only increased with each question, his breathing getting faster and pearls of sweat cascading down his brow.

But as he looked into the mirror again, his bright crimson SOUL came out, beating with a gentle tempo, and the voice in his head spoke two simple words.

*It's you.

Lincoln blinked. It was him ? It was him. It... was him. His eyes gained a glimmer of hope. He was there, same old Lincoln Loud. Alive, and certainly not alone. He had every one of his sisters he knew he could count on. Even Lola, when things got tough. His lips slowly bent upwards through those thoughts. They were resourceful, full of skills. Already they had made friends with many monsters, nothing was impossible.

Toriel had given them the keys to survive, and Flowey's little act didn't scare them ! Well, not so much anyways. They'd find a darn exit, or they'd dig their way out if needed to. And most of all, his sisters and him would be together until the very end, ready to tackle on whatever this world had in store for them. Music, scientific facts, kindness, tough talk, they had it all. Lincoln looked down at his hands, that he clenched into fists, and gazed again at his reflection with a broad smile, and...

His irises were glowing red, as was his SOUL. Glowing with Determination !

"Linky ?" called out Leni as she passed her way through the doorway.

The trance of Lincoln stopped, and he looked at his ditzy big sister with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, got a little curious. I'm coming." he said, immediately doing so.

As he passed the door though, Leni couldn't help but notice something in his demanour, having a certain attention for details at times. For some reason, he seemed to walk a bit straighter, almost with pride in his step.

Leni smiled a bit to herself. She kinda liked him better this way.

The bedroom brought by Toriel was also quite monochrome in its colour pattern, only it was as red as Lana's cap this time. The room had many things a child's bedroom would normally have. A bedside lamp, a small set of shelves, a box full of toys that Lily was currently enjoying, and a single childsize bed, which Lana and Lola were gleefully bouncing upon.

"Nice stuff she's got going on here." whistled Luna, looking at a flower drawing on the wall. "'Bit childish, but still pretty neat and cozy."

"Yeah, she even got us shoes !" exclaimed Luan, opening a chest containing a variety of shoes, every pair of a different size. "How nice of her to leg them to us, it'll help us fit in, hahaha !"

Lynn raised an eyebrow, a bit confused. "She managed to get all of that ? Man, Goat Mom's fast." She grinned, "I respect that."

"Monsters do seem to have a certain affection for a sole choice of palette." judged Lisa, obviously referring to the different shades of red reflected around the room. Even the furniture was red for some reason. But that didn't stop Lisa to keep measuring the room with her pocket measuring tape.

In the midst of the idle chit-chat, Lori noticed a photo frame laying around. She carefully picked it up to get a better look. It was very dusty, and the photo in it was all smudged. In fact, Lucy quickly noted that the top left corner was slightly burned out. Even so, she could make out a white form kinda looking like Toriel, with a larger form behind her. And in front of them were two smaller beings, both holding something yellow...

Lori tilted her head, making her blonde hair bounce a little. Was that Toriel on the photo, and if yes, who were those people with her ? She mulled it over a bit, then put the frame down. If Toriel wanted to talk about it, she'd just ask later on.

As Lucy was taking her place in her dusty corner and Leni was busy thinking if stripes were going to make a come-back after looking inside the closet, a gentle knock on the door made the Louds freeze in their activities. Lincoln opened the door, and Toriel entered the room with a warm grin.

"Hello again children." the woman greeted. She took a seat on the bed, and the Louds sat in a semi-circle before her, with the exception of the Twins who took places at her sides. "Are you liking your room so far ? I'm not sure if the proportions are alright though..."

"Unfortunately, they are not." interrupted Lisa with a slightly apologetic tone, showing her notes to Toriel. "By calculating the general girth of humans present here and the area this room can provide, I'm afraid I've come to the conclusion that it is simply impossible for all of us to reside in the same room without having to sleep on eachother, no matter how many blankets you can provide."

Toriel scratched her furry chin, then got an idea. "Then perhaps some of you can sleep with me. My room has plenty of space for some of you to sleep upon." she kindly proposed, and was met with approval from the siblings. She chuckled, "Alright, then who shall it be ?"

"Dibs for Toriel's room !" called Lori, milliseconds before the others, but ultimately signing the eldest Loud's victory. If there was an action that could overrule every priviliege of the Loud House, it was the 'Dibs vote'. Lori smirked at her siblings' disappointed faces. "And I'm taking Lily with me, for safekeeping." she declared, making a goofy face for the toddler to enjoy.

"No fair, I wanna come too !" complained Leni with an adorable pout.

"I also might suggest for a place in Toriel's resting space." uttered Lisa, curiously tugging on her turtleneck's collar. "I am a tad ashamed to admit it... but my napping functions decrease dramatically without the company of Lily." This prompted light chuckles and 'awws' from the others, making light pigments of pink appearing along Lisa's face, who crossed her arms and looked the other way, her ego slightly bruised. Lily waddled to her, and gave her youngest big sister a happy hug, highering the number of awws, especially from Goat Mom herself. "You're not helping in that matter." grumbled Lisa, though she patted Lily's small scalp.

Toriel could not shake the adorableness of this situation, and how familiar it felt to her. The laugh of children, their innocent joy, the light their spirits and SOULs brought to her life... She put a hand on her chest and gently squeezed it, feeling the joy and hope her own SOUL was experimenting at that moment. Gosh, she had missed that so much.

Positively beaming, the Goat Woman clapped her hands to get their attention once again. "Alright, I'd say those room arrangements are done. So before we head for some welcoming pie, I'd like to share with you how glad I am that you are here." She looked at each of the children's wide eyes, and let her smile dimminish a bit. "Life has been a tad lonely for me lately, and to see all rassembled here... it means a lot to me. Thank you for being here."

The kids felt their hearts swell ten times bigger at Toriel's praise, and moved closer to give her their famous family hug. "Ah shucks girl, you're getting some liquid pride outta me." said Lynn, explicitely NOT shedding a tear.

"Yeah, we're also glad to be with you." pursued Lincoln, his chipped tooth proeminent in his big toothy smile. "For protecting us from Flowey, and for just being so nice to us. Thanks Goat Mom."

It took all of Toriel's will to not just melt on the spot under this showering of affection, but she knew she had to stay strong, resolved. So as the big hug ended, she spoke again, "I promise you, children, that your stay shall not be bland. I have so many things I want to share with you, like my collection of books." Lucy perked up, the ghost of a grin rearing its form on her face. "I want to show you my favourite bug-hunting spot." Lana gasped in pure delight. "And I have also prepared a curriculum for some education that you might need." Lisa nodded her head with approval, and Toriel's smile widened a little more. "You know, it may come as a surprise to you... but I've always wanted to be a teacher, and create my own school for children to properly learn while still enjoying themselves." The Louds exchanged glances, and began to giggle, much to Toriel's confusion. "What ? Was it something I said ?" she asked.

"No offense, but I think we already guessed and learned that on our own." chuckled Luan, giving Toriel a knowing elbow nudge.

Toriel blinked, then gave a slightly embarassed chuckle of her own. "Yes, perhaps it is not that surprising." Her face scrunched up for an instant. "Still. I shall make your stay as enjoyable as possible." She excitedly brought her hands together. "Now, let's go enjoy some freshly baked pie."

The Louds answered with a loud "YAY !", and were ready to go join the feast, when suddenly...

*Prrrt!*

There was silence in the room, but the Louds knew this gassy sound all too well. Instinctively, they all turned to their youngest sister, and saw that her nappy had doubled in volume.

"Poo-poo !" called Lily, confirming the siblings' suspicions as a foul smell began to invade the room.

"Aw man, we've got a code toxic green !" said Lincoln, pinching his nose to avoid fainting.

"Well to be fair, she's been holding it in since we fell down." pointed out Lana, also pinching her nose. She loved gross things, but Lily's stinky nappies were on a whole other level.

"We litterally need an express change right now !" ordered Lori, though she did not how her order would be carried on.

But a Goat Woman knew ! Immediately, Toriel stood up, took a hold of Lily, and rushed out of the door. "This way children, hurry !" she called hurriedly. The siblings immediately followed through.

Toriel threw the bathroom door open, revealing a tidy little aquamarine room, with a large bathtub, a sink, a lavatory, and most importantly at the moment, a baby-changing table, that looked a bit old despite its paint job.

Lily was immediately, but carefully, laid on the table, obliviously kicking her little legs in the air. Toriel removed the straps of the nappy, and had to protect her nose for the horrid odour that escaped it. "Oh... my." she simpy said, too aghast to say anything else.

"Yeah, that was a great idea you had Lana." grumbled Lola to her twin, launching herself into a mock imitation. "'Hey guys, what if we fed Lily some good ol' beans ? I'm sure nothing bad will come out of it !'" Her scowl hardened towards her sheepish twin. "Well look what's coming out right now."

"I thought it'd be funny !" Lana tried to defend herself, though not doing a very good job at it.

But though Toriel felt disgusted at the putrid scent, she knew something more important was at stake here. So she took the cursed object from under Lily's bottom, and got rid of it the most efficient way she could think of. By burning it with her magic ! In a matter of seconds, only ashes remained.

"Rad..." breathed Luna, impressed by Toriel's fire magic expertise.

Toriel then turned Lily over, grabbed the talc, applied with lightning speed, then took a freshly bought nappy, and in a flash, gave Lily decency again. The baby cooed joyfully, clapping for a mission well done. Only then Toriel allowed herself to wipe her brow.

"That was... awesome !" exclaimed Leni, followed by an excited chorus from the others. Toriel of course did not hold the 'World's Fastest Nappy Changing' title, that belonging to their own ultra-experienced Rita Loud. But still, Toriel's efficiency was something to be reckoned with.

But the Goat Woman wasn't of the competitive spirit on that matter. She simply took Lily in her arms, beaming with kindness. "There you go honey, all clean and beautiful." she said, giving her a little kiss on the nose, and prompting Lily to do the same. She turned to the door and began to walk out, Lily still in her large and fuzzy protective arms. "Now children, let us go truly enjoy that pie."

The Louds did not need to be told twice, and hurried out after her.

---

Later on...

After savouring perfectly even slices of Cinammon-Butterscotch goodness, the Louds were up for a little relaxation time in the beige living room. Lisa and Lucy were already hitting the books from the room's bookshelves, with Lisa going over some Monster history and Lucy looking at a collection of poems from an unknown author. There was a place for the name, but it's as if it had vanished right off the cover...

How could the spooky eight-year-old not want to read it after noticing that ?

Lana and Lola were playing a little further away, and Lynn was bouncing a ball Toriel had offered her, at the condition that she didn't attempt anything rash inside the house. Luna was busy humming a little tune to herself, drumming her fingers on the table. As for Lori, Leni, Luan, Lincoln, and Lily, they were all around Toriel by the fireplace. The woman herself was in her big brown arm chair, balancing the Loud toddler on her robbed knees, as she listened to the tales of the excited teens and pre-teen before her.

"And then, as veggies began bouncing everywhere, Lynn saw the odd one of the bunch, jumped trampoline-style with Luan and Luna's help, and caught it right in mid-air." counted Lincoln, making big movements with his arms to add 'context'.

"Pssh, compared to handball tryouts, it was a piece of cake." gloated Lynn, spinning the yellow ball on her finger like a pro.

"Of carrot cake, hahaha !" cracked Luan, prompting groans from her siblings and muffled laughter from Toriel. "Aw come on, that joke wasn't that hard to digest, don't let me be planted here, like this joke is only good for the garbage bean. Hehe, get it ?" The un-radish storm of puns left the Louds to loudly moan, and for a couple of them to burry their faces in the armchair.

"Hohoho, those were some fruitful jokes indeed, Luan." chuckled Toriel. The young comedian was overjoyed to hear this, but was interrupted before she could pursue her Pun-bo.

"We also found a spider bake sale on the way here !" interjected Lori.

"Oh yeah, they were, like, super scary at first, but then they got us those yummy donuts !" chirped Leni, remembering the strange but tasty filling of the pastries.

"Oh ?" Toriel blinked. "I didn't know if you'd like them or not. I always give a little something for their cause, and their donuts are quite good. The only thing that bothers me is that I'm eating... um..."

She stopped herself when all the siblings, sans Leni and Lily, began to make various frantic gestures in Leni's back that had one clear message : Not another word. Leni, on the other hand, simply tilted her head. "Eating what ?" she innocently asked. The siblings got even more urgent with their signals, practically screaming for Toriel to abort the thought.

A couple of sweatdrops appeared on Toriel's head. She hated lying to a youngster, but if her sisters and brother were getting so worked up over it, perhas a little white lie was a better option. "J-Jam, yes ! I am not a jam person, so it just feels a little weird each time I eat it, even if it's really good." she explained, trying to keep the nervosity of her voice hidden.

Thankfully, Leni remained blissfully unaware as she did most of the time. "I totes understand ! I prefer smoothies for breakfast. And lunch. And sometimes dinner." Her face scrunched up a bit. "Dinner's the one in the evening, right ?"

The siblings let out a loud sigh of relief, and immediately disbanded when Leni turned around. Toriel chuckled again, what peculiar children they were.

As the discussion resumed with Goat Mom, a certain pair of twins was once again thrown into one of their conflicts, although it was clear this time who was starting it.

"Lana, don't you get near me !" yelled Lola threateningly as she backed up. "I don't want your filthy hands on me while I'm fixing my makeup !"

"But sis, that's the point." Lana laughed deviously, her arms arched for a forceful hug. "I'm gonna help you add some powder for your nose."

"You've been rubbing your arms in the dirt for two full minutes, I saw you !"

Lana's smile got even more mischevious. "And that makes a difference how ?"

Lola shrieked and ran for her cleanliness. Lana dropped on all fours and began to chase her. Toriel was a tad surprised, but saw that the siblings were unaffected by it, so she passed it as a simple game between the two.

But just like any game, an accident can happen so quickly. As the girls were taking a turn, one of Lana's laces got untied. She of course immediately tripped on it, sending her flying into her twin, and resulting into a blue and pink roly-poly, which nailed the bookshelf. On top of said bookshelf, was a sparkly blue vase. Or rather had been, because as the piece of furniture shook under the impact...

*Crash !*

...the vase fell off it and shattered on the wooden floor, leaving only night blue fragments of it.

The siblings gasped at this, and all activity froze. With a nervous tone, Lola began to scold Lana. "Look at what you've done !"

"I-It's not my fault, those stupid laces just can't hold on !" replied Lana.

As the squabble began to intensify, the nine other humans turned their looks towards Toriel, who had tilted her head a tad downward, and was making a strange veil of obscurity shade her eyes. Her mouth was in a straight line, completely neutral, and even the warm fire of the fireplace seemed to become quiet. Swiftly, Toriel removed Lily from her knees, handed her to Lori, and stood up. She slowly approached the two culprits, as the other siblings quickly cleared the track, and watched in apprehension.

At that moment, the two girls truly felt small, with Toriel's large form looming over them, her face still impossible to read. The only thing peeking out of her face's shadows was a glint of red, which didn't ease the twins' feelings. The poor girls began to tremble out of fear.

"I-It was an accident, honest, we didn't mean to." said Lana, tears beginning to pinprick from the corners of her eyes.

"Y-Yeah, so... please don't be mad at us." squeaked Lola, her eyes also moisterising out of rare fear.

Toriel made no comment at first, and simply deployed her arms. The six-year-old duo winced and closed their eyes, terrified of what Toriel was about to do to them. Maybe throw fireballs at them like she did to Flowey, and then she'd throw them out of her house, and then, and then...

But instead of the fiery reception, the pair felt Toriel's large paws grasping their shoulders. They opened their eyes, and shakily looked at Toriel's face. Here, they did not find any anger, simply understanding. "Children." Toriel softly began. "There is no reason to be afraid of me. I said it before, I mean you no harm."

"B-B-But we broke your vase..." sniffled Lola, letting a couple of regretfultears run down her cheeks.

"Oh sweetie, it's just a vase. It breaks, it... always does, eventually." she spoke with a subtle hint of melancholia, but it quickly vanished. "What matters is that you two are alright, and understood what you did wrong. I trust you'll play a little safer inside the house from now on, will you not ?"

"Uh-huh..." meekly said Lana, rubbing her eyes. Toriel nodded, and helped wiping their tears away with her sleeves.

"Okay, now simply help me clean up, and this whole thing will be behind us, alright ?" proposed Toriel, which the twins immediately accepted, and went for a hug with their recently titled Goat Mom. The siblings smiled, fondly watching the scene and feeling relieved that all was well that ended well.

After a dozen more seconds or two, the hug ended, Toriel applied a light rub on their heads just in case, and got up. She looked at the clock on the wall opposite to the kitchen, and softly gasped. "Oh my, this late already ? It's almost time to make dinner." She began to head to the kitchen to fetch some cleaning tools for the twins, and left the kids with one rather unexpected question. "I wonder if I have all the ingredients for my Snail Pie tonight ?"

"SNAIL PIE ?!" exclaimed the siblings all at once, holding an excited/disgusted/curious/shocked/indifferent tone. Nothing in that day was going to be normal, was it ?

---

The Underground dwellers, and especially the ones from the Ruins, had little sunlight and the absence of a sky, but they still could tell the difference between day and night. Now that the sky had darkened, so had the Underground, ever so slightly, but noticeable enough to know it was time to hit the sack.

Toriel's house showed that by closing the shutters on the windows and a wall of magic to be erected where a front door could have been built, yet for a strange reason had not been. Inside the house, every light had been switched off, the fireplace held no fire, and everything was quiet. Then, coming up the stairs in the middle of the entrance hall, was Toriel herself. Her right hand was producing a small flame to light her way, and her left hand was over her mouth, trying to stiffle the laughter threatening to explode out of her lungs.

No body won the Skeleton Beauty Contest. How was he coming up with that stuff ?

But Toriel did her best not to laugh, as she did not want to wake up her new guests. She carefully tiptoed her way through the hallway, and went to take a peek in the red room.

The seven Loud kids had managed to spread on the floor, in the bed, and on it too. On the far left of the room, Lucy and Lynn had paired up, with Lucy sleeping with her arms crossed over her chest, and Lynn taking as much place as she could, stretching her limbs. Perhaps the most surprising was how despite their major personality differences, they both loudly snored, a small trickle of drool escaping their mouths in perfect balance.

Luna, Luan and Lincoln were also on the floor, sharing a common thin matress and fluffy cover. Luan's snoring was close to the sound of a motorboat, making Toriel understand why the rocker and the 'man with a plan' had requested earplugs after making the room arrangements. Lincoln was in the middle, had one hand in Luan's left hand, and the other in Luna's right hand. Both of the sisters were unconciously gently squeezing their hands, as if sending their brother comfort, and frankly, that was just adorable in Toriel's book.

Lola had taken possession of the bed, but Lana had insisted to share it with her. So while both didn't want to be next to the other, as it never resulted in anything good ever, they found a compromise they both agreed on. Lola was under the covers, perfectly tucked in and with a frilly sleep mask on her eyes, and Lana slept on the covers, having arranged herself like a dozing puppy and with a cover she had thrown over herself.

Seeing that everyone was currently in the land of dreams, Toriel gently closed the door, and quietly reached her own room. There on the ground were the two oldest and two youngest sisters, also sleeping in pairs. Leni was sporting a frilly sleeping mask, and was smiling as she held onto the small form of Lisa, who despite denying it with all the proofs her immensly active cortex could provide, was in fact sucking on her thumb during her sleep. And as for Lori and Lily, the oldest sister was carefully hugging the little bundle of joy, who was contently sucking on her dummy.

An inaudible 'aww' escaped Toriel's lips, and the woman was quick to reach her own bed, being careful not to step on anyone. She tucked herself in, already in her pajamas, and took a moment to reflect on the day she had lived through today. Last night, it was only her in here. Now, there were eleven youths, all of different ages, and some of the sweetest humans she had the pleasure to encounter. It had been so long since the last human had departed from her little home, about fifteen years or so. And then they... just like the others...

But now, she would be alone no longer. She would not let any harm come to those children, she would care for them with all her SOUL, and most importantly, she would not let HIM get to them.

She would protect them. No matter what, she would protect them. And it shall stay that way for as long as possible.

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Author's Note : So yeah, this chapter got quite humongous in no time, 57 pages. And even then, I think I made some parts a little too short...

But don't worry, because if you have played the game (which kinda must be a fact if you're here), you know that this is not the last time we see our favourite ghost. The Princess of Darkness shall see her morose companion again, I promise you that. Also, LucyxRocky shippers, at least keep me alive until I'm done with the story.

Now though, the Louds are at the end of the Ruins. Their place in Toriel's house is secured, all seems nice and good. But you know what truly comes at the end of this arc. You know what's coming next...

And yet, you're only half-right.

But anyway, I hope you enjoyed that chapter. Don't hesitate to leave a sweet Cinnamon-Butterscotch Review, and I hope to get the next chapter done sooner, with more fluff, more intrigue, and more less fluffy-stuff...

In the meantime, this is Superdimentio77, wishing you millions of pie slices ! Which will get delivered as soon as I find that secret genielamp. To the Dunce-mobile ! (*60's Batman cutaway*)