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

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Chapter sixteen: Strengthened Publicity

"Life is good," thought Chandler, a student at Royal Woods Elementary School, one day during recess as he sat beneath some shade, his hands resting behind his head as he leaned against a wall while sitting on the ground. The eleven-year-old boy thought that he had it made. To his credit, Chandler wasn't too far off the mark. As one of the most popular kids at school, Chandler was someone whose mere presence commanded respect; it was not wise to get on Chandler's nerves, or to otherwise be someone Chandler wasn't all that fond of.

…Still, the conceited boy knew when to pick his battles. For starters, Chandler knew better than to try and start any trouble with Ronnie Anne Santiago; anyone who messed with her would find themselves thrown head-first into the nearest garbage can within a few seconds, and a very sizable percentage (at least seventy-two percent) of the student population of RWES considered pulling a prank on Ronnie Anne to be a very effective method of suicide.

Chandler also had a less-than-favorable encounter with Larry, that white-haired boy who frequently wore orange shirts, a while ago when Larry gave him a glare so fierce, Chandler thought that he was looking into the eyes of a violent killer, poised to strike at a moment's notice. Fearing that Larry might become another Ronnie Anne, Chandler was more than happy to oblige Larry his request of staying as far away as possible.

Also, Chandler had to, for the moment of course, refrain from trying to win over the affections of Astrid Ace, the cutest girl at RWES, because Astrid's violent Viking older sister seems to be under the impression that he somehow creeps Astrid out. Chandler? Creepy? That has got to be one of the most ridiculous ideas ever conceived! But still, the conceited boy was worried that he might take a battle-axe to the forehead or something else like that if he doesn't cool it with gracing Astrid with his presence, so Chandler decided to take some time off from flirting with Astrid so he can come up with a surefire plan to make her fall head over heels for him.

There was something that Chandler had that would keep him occupied, though; in recent events, Chandler's dad, who works at the local sewage treatment plant, is competing with one of his co-workers for a new position at work. This co-worker of Chandler's dad's is the father of Francisco, a boy from Royal Woods Middle School. Chandler and Francisco have gotten into something of a rivalry, trying to one-up each other, and whenever one boy looks good (or bad), it tends to reflect on the dad of the boy in question. Luckily for Chandler, only Francisco has had any bad moments, some of which Chandler may or may not have had a hand in orchestrating.

Seeing as how his family's financial strength is tied to the deal he had going with Francisco, Chandler decided to focus on that for the time being, and focusing on that has paid off so far, in the form of not having been met with any physical violence.

…Who ever thought that Larry, of all people, would ever become as frightening as Ronnie Anne? Shrugging, Chandler supposed that anything could happen. Anywho, as he sat in the shade, Chandler was approached by his two goon-friends. "Oh, hey guys," Chandler greeted in a friendly manner as he got up, "What's up?"

"Hey Chandler," the first goon-friend said, "You know that Rusty Spokes guy?"

"Doesn't his dad work at 'Duds for Dudes'?" Chandler asked rhetorically.

"I've always been under the impression that Mr. Spokes actually owns that place," the first goon-friend remarked, "But that's beside the point. Anywho, Rusty got himself one of those fidget spinners."

"You don't say," Chandler said before he reached into the front right pocket on his pants and pulled out a fidget spinner himself. It was a gold-colored one that looked rather impressive, even though it clearly wasn't made of actual gold (it was made from the same material as any other similar toy).

"Here's the thing, though," the second goon-friend began, "Rusty's been performing all of these neat tricks with his fidget spinner. He's even managed to gather a crowd of on-lookers!"

The expression on Chandler's face changed just slightly, but it was enough to show that the conceited boy did not like the fact that someone other than him was the center of attention.

"Boys," Chandler said to his goons-friends as he casually slipped his toy back into his pocket, "It looks like we've got to put someone back in their place."

Over in another area of the playground of Royal Woods Elementary School, a group of kids had formed a crowd around Rusty Spokes as he performed a series of impressive tricks with a fidget spinner toy. In fact, two of the kids in the crowd were Clyde McBride and Zach, both of which were friends of Rusty's.

"Wow, Rusty's really good, isn't he?" Zach remarked as he and Clyde watched the tricks.

"Yeah, and there's actually some reports that those spinners are effective stress-release tools," Clyde replied. Looking back to where Rusty was performing tricks, Clyde said, "I can see how people would think that."

"Stand aside, everyone," a voice familiar to Clyde and Zach called out, although it wasn't a voice they were fond of. Suddenly, the crowd parted, allowing Chandler and his goon-friends to walk in. It had been Chandler who had called out. Pulling his own fidget spinner from his pocket, Chandler said, "Let me show you who a real pro does things."

"Oh great," Clyde whispered to Zach, "Chandler's being an oaf again."

"I wish someone would put him in his place already," Zach whispered back to Clyde, drawing a nod of agreement from the African American boy.

Scoffing in an annoyed tone, Rusty said, "What do you want now, Chandler?"

"I heard talk that you're pretty good at performing tricks with that," Chandler remarked in his casual, cocky tone while pointing to Rusty's spinner, a standard red one. Holding up his golden-colored spinner, Chandler continued with a heavy hint of overconfidence in his tone, "Let's see who's better at this, hmm?"

"You're on," Rusty replied right before taking the first move of the impromptu schoolyard duel. Gently pinching one of the circular pads on one of the outer points, Rusty then flung the spinner into the air; when it fell down, the spinner landed with it's on the middle circle on the tip of Rusty's right index finger, where Rusty proceeded to spin it like he was a pizza maker spinning and tossing pizza dough.

"Ha!" Chandler laughed, "You think that's impressive? Watch this!" Chandler flung his spinner into the air, and then held up his right pinky finger, intending to catch his spinner the way Rusty caught his on his index finger. However, Chandler's spinner landed right on his face with a smack, drawing a surprised yelp from the conceited boy. As a result of Chandler's fail, a lot of the gathered kids pointed and laughed at Chandler.

"Umm…what was that supposed to be?" Rusty asked, clearly amused to see Chandler fail like that so badly.

"Grr," Chandler growled in an annoyed tone, "This isn't over, Rusty." Chandler then proceeded to turn and walk away, his goon-friends following along behind him as always.

After Chandler and his goon-friends were gone, Clyde and Zach turned to face each other where they stood in the crowd. "Man, was that satisfying to watch!" Clyde remarked to his friend.

"You know it, dude!" Zach agreed as he and Clyde high-fived each other.


"How dare he!" Chandler fumed as he and his goon-friends sat in the school library. "How dare Rusty show me up like that," Chandler snarled angrily, "Someone ought to put him in his place!"

"Maybe we can pull a prank on him that embarrasses him in front of everyone?" the first goon-friend suggested, "I was thinking we can stuff his locker full of garbage so that when he opens it, it spills down on him, covering him. Or maybe one of us can impersonate the announcement lady on the intercom, and say over the intercom that Rusty's mom came to the school to drop off some fresh underwear for him."

"That first idea sounds like something a girl would do when bullying a boy that she likes," Chandler remarked, "As for the second idea, none of us can pull off even a halfway decent impression of the announcement lady."

"How about we frame Rusty as a bully?" the second goon-friend suggested.

An expression of piqued interest on his face, Chandler said, "Go on."

"I was thinking that we can set up a really mean prank," the second goon-friend explained, "And I mean really mean, have one of the girls here at school, the younger the better, get hit by the prank, then we tell everyone that we saw Rusty run off right after the prank took place, thereby implicating Rusty as someone who bullies girls, especially little ones."

With a look of being honestly impressed on his face, Chandler said, "…Not bad, man. Not bad at all. Okay, we'll do that. The question is what girl do we pull the prank on?"

"She'll have to be alone somewhere, so we won't get caught," the second goon-friend remarked, "Plus, the girl has to be so absorbed in some activity that she isn't aware we're around."

"I got the perfect girl in mind!" the first goon-friend said with a snap of his fingers.

Chandler and his goon-friends were peeking out from behind a wall, looking at where an eight-year-old girl was sitting alone. She had somewhat pale skin, black hair that was long enough so that her bangs covered her eyes, and she wore a black dress, black shoes, black-and-white stripped stockings and black-and-white stripped arm warmers. The girl was currently sitting on a bench, writing something in a journal she had on her lap.

"It's that weird goth girl who writes a lot of poetry," the first goon-friend said quietly, "I forget what her name is."

"It doesn't matter," Chandler whispered, "She's the perfect-"

"Uhh, Chandler," the second goon-friend interrupted in a clearly cautious tone, "I don't think that trying to set up something mean to happen to this particular girl in our bid to make Rusty look like a bully is a good idea."

Turning to face the second goon-friend, Chandler asked with a mildly confused look on his face, "What are you talking about?"

"Remember when Larry intimidated that Biff Bizowski kid into submission?" the second goon-friend began, "Well, the reason why Larry was so mad at Biff that day was because Biff punched that girl over there in the eye. I was among the crowd of students who watched as Larry made Biff back down."

"Yeah, I remember hearing how Larry intimidated that Biff kid," Chandler remarked, "But what does that have to do with us refraining from using that weird goth girl?"

"That weird goth girl is Larry's little sister," the second goon-friend said.

"That's even better," the first goon-friend remarked, "Larry is friends with Rusty, so if we make it look like Rusty bullied one of Larry's little sisters, then not only will Rusty's popularity plummet because everyone thinks he bullies little girls, but Rusty's friends will abandon him! Larry might even try to do to Rusty what that tomboyish six-year-old girl did to the three of us a while ago!"

"No, I think he's got a point," Chandler remarked while pointing to the second goon-friend, "If there is even the slightest chance that Larry finds out that we're the ones who are behind this, then what he'll do to us in retaliation will make even the worst that Ronnie Anne's ever done look like a mere slap on the wrist." With a gentle shake of his head, Chandler said, "Yeah, this isn't worth the risk, you guys. We'll have to find some other lone girl to target for our plan to frame Rusty as a bully." The two goon-friends both nodded in agreement with Chandler, and followed him away from where they had found Larry's little sister.


As it turned out, Chandler and his goon-friends failed to find any girl that would make for a suitable target in their plan to frame Rusty as a bully, so the whole 'frame Rusty as a bully' plan had to be abandoned. They instead decided to try and pull off the prank where one of them would use the intercom system, impersonate the announcement lady over the intercom, then say that Rusty's mother had come by to drop off a fresh pack of underwear for Rusty.

Surprisingly, Chandler's second goon-friend is able to pull off a rather convincing impersonation of the announcement lady, and thanks to finding a contact sheet that had Rusty's mother's handwriting on it, the boys were able to forge a note that looked like Rusty's mom wrote it, then left that note plus a packet of underwear that Chandler had bought from the store behind as the three of them made themselves scarce. The prank had worked, to Chandler's mild amazement, surprisingly well.

With Rusty humiliated, Chandler can now sit back and relax, having gotten his revenge for being humiliated himself. It was actually rather fitting that, as punishment for humiliating Chandler, that Rusty be humiliated in return. As Chandler made his way back to class, he thought of how much embarrassment Rusty must be stewing in right now.

"Life is good," Chandler thought as he walked along through one of the hallways of RWES.

The following day, Chandler and his friends were walking along through one of the hallways of RWES. "Hey Chandler, did you hear how that Francisco jerk you're competing with almost got arrested?" the second goon-friend remarked.

"Are you serious?" Chandler replied, his surprised tone clearly indicating that he found amusement in what his goon-friend had said.

Nodding a few times in the affirmative, the second goon-friend continued, "Yeah. Word has it that he tried to force some kid at Royal Woods Mall to shoplift for him, but he was caught by some high school girl who didn't like what he was trying to do to her little brother. Anywho, Francisco was able to get out of getting arrested when his father claimed that there was no way he could have been at Royal Woods Mall that day."

"Well that's lame," Chandler said in a mildly disappointed tone as he snapped his fingers, "I bet that if that jerk had gotten arrested, and the big important guy at my dad's work heard about it, then there would be no way Francisco's dad would get that promotion."

"…I bet the big important guy will still hear about Francisco's near arrest anyway," the first goon-friend pointed out, "I mean, things tend to travel surprisingly fast by word of mouth here in Royal Woods."

"Yeah," Chandler remarked in a tone of agreement, "People here in Royal Woods tend to be rather close." As the three boys walked, they turned a corner to head into another hallway, but the moment they did, they accidentally bumped into a fairly tall student of the school. If his appearance were any indication of what kind of person he was, he seemed to be trying to make himself the new king of the hill there at RWES, similar to what Biff Bizowski was trying to pull back when rumors of Ronnie Anne potentially moving started circulating.

"Hey!" the older student snapped at Chandler and his goon-friends in an aggressive tone, "Watch where you're going, turds!"

"With all due respect," Chandler began as he tried to defuse the situation through diplomacy, "You're just as guilty of bumping into my friends and I as we are of bumping into you."

"Are you trying to say that I should apologize to you?!" the older kid snapped as he raised a fist threateningly, clearly intending to strike at Chandler and his goon-friends if they didn't start sucking up to him.

"Oh yeah, sure," Chandler remarked in a calm, casual tone that carried a hint of sarcasm, "Go ahead and hit the smaller kids that didn't do anything. See how well that plays out for you when the teachers and Principal Huggins catches wind of it."

"None of them will be finding out because you won't be telling them squat!" the older kid threatened, "Do I make myself clear, brat?!"

"…Yeah, I'm only going to give you one warning," Chandler replied coolly, "You should back down and go the other way right now. If you do try to hit my friends and I, keep in mind that we outnumber you three-to-one." Shaking his head gently, Chandler continued, "Do you really think that trying to deal with odds that are that stacked against you is a good idea?" As Chandler's two goon-friends that stood behind him chuckled in self-assured tone, the older kid simply arched an eyebrow, as if he was considering the challenge that the conceited boy just presented him with.

About a minute later, Chandler and his two goon-friends were picking themselves up around near a garbage can, with the two goon-friends even having to team up to pull Chandler himself out of said garbage can, into which the conceited boy was thrown head-first. "…With all due respect, Chandler," the second good-friend said, "The three of us did team up to fight that lone first-grade girl, and we still lost to her."

"Yeah, this is going to call for some more drastic measures," Chandler remarked dryly as he flicked a snack cake wrapper off of his shoulder.

"What do you think we should do?" the first goon-friend asked.

Sighing, Chandler began to reply, "Well trying to use physical force, or at the very least implying that we'll use physical force, is not the smartest thing to do."

"How about we just go and tell Principal Huggins?" the first goon-friend offered.

"That'd only be a temporary solution at best," Chandler explained, "Remember when Biff got in trouble for beating up Astrid's little brother Argent? Biff was back to his old tricks within short order after that. Who's to say that jerk that whumped us won't be the same?"

"Yeah, and while were on the subject," the second goon-friend said, "There's something I've been wondering. I haven't seen Biff here around the school ever since Larry made him back down. What do you think happened to him?"

"I head rumor that Biff was forced to transfer schools because a lot of the students here persecuted him because he hit a girl that was much smaller than him," the first goon-friend remarked with a shrug, "And since the girl in question is Larry's little sister, I wouldn't be surprised if Biff gathered his stuff and left out of fear that Larry wanted to try and tear him limb from limb for hurting his little sister."

"…Maybe we might be able to make use of Larry's little sister after all," Chandler said, the beginnings of an idea clearly forming in the conceited boy's head.

"What you mean, Chandler?" the first goon-friend asked, a mildly confused but mostly curious look on his face.

"Think about it," Chandler began to explain to his goon-friends in a casual manner, "The student population here as a whole was simply more or less afraid of Biff prior to him punching Larry's little sister. Then Biff punched Larry's little sister. Suddenly, the student population here as a whole started jeering at Biff, treating him as a pariah who bore a scarlet letter or something else along those lines." Placing his left hand on his first goon-friend's right shoulder and his right hand on his second goon-friends left shoulder, Chandler said in a knowing tone, "Don't you think that we should inform that older kid who whumped us that Larry's little sister said some rather disparaging things about his mother?" Realizing what their friend was getting at, the two goon-friends started to chuckle to themselves.


The following school day, Chandler and his friends went to work on their plan. First thing they did was find out what the name of the older kid who beat them was. Through their investigation, they discovered that the boy's name was Chris, and that he was held back a year due to missing a lot of classes due to getting into so much trouble. Surprisingly, the marks that Chris got on his schoolwork tended to be passable; he wasn't an academically inclined student by any stretch of the imagination, but Chris would have been a problem that Royal Woods Middle School would be dealing with right now if it had not been for Chris missing so much time at school.

Chandler and his goon-friends also discovered that Chris had something of a problem with his temper, and that it was the main reason why he tended to get into so much trouble at school. That was actually a good thing for the plan that Chandler and his goon-friends were working on, given that the plan was to trick Chris into physically striking Larry's little sister, just like Biff did a while ago. After they got the information that they needed, Chandler and his goon friends began to carry out their plan to get revenge against Chris.

During recess, Chandler and his friends were looking around the playground for their target. "Look, there he is," Chandler's second goon-friend said to the others, pointing out where Chris was at on the playground. The older boy was currently leaning with his back against part of the wall that surrounded the playground, just alone and giving off an air that made the other kids on the playground give him a wide berth.

"Alright boys, follow my lead and let me do the talking," Chandler remarked before walking over to where Chris was loitering. After a few seconds, the three fifth-grade boys made their way over to where the older boy was brooding to himself. Upon noticing the arrival of Chandler and Chandler's goon-friends, Chris sneered in disgust.

"The hell do the three of you want?" Chris began in a mildly threatening tone, "You all want another beating, I take it?"

"No, no, you got us all wrong," Chandler replied, "We just heard something that we figured you'd want to know about."

"What is it?" Chris said in a tone that was one-quarter asking and three-quarters demanding.

"You know that one weird goth girl in the third grade?" Chandler began, "You know, the one with the blinding bangs and she's always seen writing in that little book of hers? Yeah, I heard that she was going to publish some sort of poem in the school newspaper that's a thinly veiled insult to you, and the poem also included a few disparaging jabs aimed at your mother."

"Are you for real?!" Chris retorted instantly, his fuse clearly having been trimmed to a very short length.

"Unfortunately, yes," Chandler replied, "I even heard the goth girl chuckle to herself in an amused tone while she was writing in her book as I walked by her earlier." Shaking his head in a disappointed manner, Chandler continued, "She must have been working on the poem she intends to put in the school newspaper to get people to make fun of you."

"Yeah, I'm going to go educate her better," Chris remarked as he got up from leaning against the wall and walked off, clearly intending to find the girl that Chandler had just described to him. When the older boy had left, Chandler and his two goon-friends turned to face each other. The conceited boy shot his goon-friends a thumbs-up and a grin, clearly amused that their plan was working well so far.

Over somewhere else on the playground, Lucy Loud was hanging out with her love interest Rocky Spokes and her and Rocky's friend Argent Ace. "…So yeah, Lucy," Argent said as he addressed the gothic Loud sibling, "Whenever your brother comes over to my family's place for his Kendo thing with my brother Aggro, Astrid tries to ask Lincoln about a friend of his. My sister isn't sure of the name of your brother's friend that she keeps trying to ask about, but from what I gathered, the friend in question wears glasses."

"That would mean either Zach or Clyde," Lucy remarked, "Out of all of Lincoln's friends, they're the only ones who wear glasses."

"Hey, speaking of brothers," Rocky began, "Remember a few days ago when that announcement over the intercom was made, telling the whole school that me and Rusty's mom came by to drop off a park of fresh underwear for him? I think that someone was actually trying to pull a prank of some kind on Rusty, mostly because I found out that the announcement lady was out sick that day, so it's impossible for her to have made that announcement that embarrassed Rusty in front of the entire school."

"You think someone was trying to prank your brother?" Argent asked in a curious tone, "Well who in their right mind would pull a prank like that?"

"If it really was a prank, then it's a rather mean-spirited one," Lucy remarked, "I mean, the first time that my sister Luan pulled a prank outside of April Fool's that could be considered mean-spirited was a prank similar to this supposed prank that was pulled on Rusty, only Luan pulled it on our sister Lori." After a few seconds of trying to remember what happened next, Lucy went on by saying, "Although since Luan pulled that mean-spirited prank in retaliation for some cruel act that Lori did towards-"

"Hey, little miss gloom and doom!" an older boy's voice called out, cutting Lucy off and making her plus Rocky and Argent look over and see Chris stomping towards them. The three third-graders could tell full well that the older boy was in a very angry mood, and that made Rocky and Argent visibly nervous, even though they were not going to leave Lucy, the older boy's obvious target since he had said 'little miss doom and gloom', to fend for herself. "You think you're some kind of jokester, little girl?" Chris said as he pointed a demanding finger at the gothic Loud sibling.

"What are you talking about?" Lucy replied, appearing far calmer than the boys who were sticking around in case she needed to be saved from this supposed bully. In truth, Lucy was actually far more frightened of this older boy than Rocky and Argent combined, although the gothic Loud sibling was also touched that Rocky, despite the great personal risk to his own well-being, was sticking around anyway. Argent was also showing a rather noble gesture by sticking around out of a feeling of duty to his friends.

"I heard that you were planning to mock me in the school newspaper, Crypt Keeper," Chris growled, "The hell makes you think that it's a good idea to mock me?"

"I don't even know who you are," Lucy replied, appearing as the textbook definition of calm even though she was far from actually being calm.

"Don't even try to play dumb, brat," Chris snapped angrily, "Unless you start apologizing and you start apologizing now, I'm going to-"

"Hey, what's going on here?" a male voice called out, prompting Lucy, Rocky, Argent and Chris to look over and see Lincoln come walking up, accompanied by his friends Clyde, Rusty, Zach and Liam. A fair number of students on the playground, their attention having been initially caught by Chris acting in a threatening manner towards the third graders, started whispering amongst themselves upon seeing Lincoln and his friends show up. Chandler and his goon-friends were among the students as they watched the unfolding confrontation.

"Great, Larry showed up before Chris did anything to the girl," the second goon-friend whispered to Chandler.

"Now hang on, this might be interesting," Chandler whispered back, "Let's watch and see what happens from here."

Over at the scene of the confrontation, Lincoln said to the older boy in a clearly unamused tone, "Seriously. Why are you threatening my little sister? Do you think it's fun to pick on girls that are smaller than you or something?"

"Hey, the brat started it by planning to put something in the school newspaper to mock me!" Chris snapped at the white-haired boy while pointing at Lucy, "If anything, this whole mess is all her fault!" Giving Lincoln a look of mild piqued interest, Chris continued, "Say, you're that kid from the football game from a while ago." With a chuckle, Chris continued, "Yeah, you put up one hell of a fight. A damn shame that one girl and her buddy Conan the Barbarian showed up before we could finish our fight, otherwise I would have whooped your sorry little ass."

"…I very much doubt that would have been the result if it hadn't been for my sister Lynn and her friend Ulfric scaring you off," Lincoln replied dryly in a cool tone, "Because unless my memory is failing me, I was winning our little confrontation."

"Your memory must be failing you then, twerp," Chris sneered, "Because no way would I ever lose to a dweeb like you one-on-one."

"…My first move from that fight we had after my sister's team won their football game says otherwise," Lincoln replied coolly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Hey, hey, hey!" an adult female voice called out, getting all of the kids to turn and see Agnes Johnson, the fifth-grade teacher, come walking over at a fairly brisk pace. "What is going on here?" Agnes demanded in a firm tone often used by teachers trying to get students to behave.

"This guy here was threatening my sister and her friends for no good reason," Lincoln explained as he pointed to Chris, "I was just trying to tell him off."

"It's true, miss," Lucy said to her older brother's teacher, "I think that he was going to hit me."

Looking to the older boy, Agnes wore a look on her face that made it clear she wasn't surprised that Chris would try and pull a stunt like that. "Alright, Chris," Agnes remarked in a resigned, disappointed tone, "You're coming with me to Principal Huggins's office. You're already on thin enough ice as it is, and yet you thought that trying to hit a younger kid was a good idea? This is not going to look good for you, young man." The older boy begrudgingly proceeded to follow the fifth-grade teacher out of the playground and into the school building, knowing that he was not going to get out of getting into trouble.

Once Chris and Agnes were gone, things started to settle down on the playground. As Lincoln and his friends started talking to Lucy, Rocky and Argent to see if they were okay, Chandler and his goon-friends came walking up. "Wow, Larry," Chandler remarked in a genuinely impressed tone, "I can't believe you stood up to that Chris jerk and got out of it without a scratch."

"What do you want this time, Chandler?" Lincoln asked, clearly annoyed at having to deal with the conceited boy again.

"Relax, man," Chandler replied, "My buds and I are here because we and everyone else here on the playground saw you staring down Chris. Seriously, that was pretty ballsy of you."

"Hey, did you really fight Chris one-on-one?" Chandler's second goon-friend asked.

"…Yeah," Lincoln said, "I met him at a football game my sister Lynn and her friend Ulfric played in. He was mad that Lynn and Ulfric's team won, and he saw me waiting outside the football field so he decided to try and start something."

"Did you win the fight?" Chandler's first goon-friend asked.

"Technically, neither of us won," Lincoln began to explain, "Lynn and Ulfric showed up part-way through the fight, saw that Chris was trying to attack me, then they both came running over, shouting at him to leave me alone. He ran away before they could catch up to him."

"Were you at least winning the fight?" Chandler's second goon-friend asked.

"I think I was," Lincoln said, "I mean, the first thing that happened in that fight was me dealing a swift kick that scored a critical hit on the older boy's hidden treasure."

"…You kicked him between the legs?" Chandler asked, looking mildly confused.

"He was an older kid that was clearly rather aggressive," Lincoln pointed out, "And I have no doubt that he would have done a lot more to me in our fight if I didn't take the initiative."

"…Yeah, that's fair," Chandler replied in a tone of agreement, "Against scary and aggressive older kids like that Chris jerk, a little bit of dirty fighting is probably the only way to avoid getting a complete and total butt-whooping." To Lincoln, Chandler said, "Anyway, it's still pretty impressive that you stood up to that Chris guy as well as you did. Not bad, Larry."

Lincoln looked mildly confused as he regarded Chandler, mostly because Lincoln could tell full well that the conceited boy was being sincere in praising him. "…Uhh, thanks," Lincoln said at length, "I guess."

"Well anyway, my buds and I will be getting out of your hair now, Larry," Chandler remarked, "Try to keep an eye out for that jerk in case he tries coming back. You may also want to keep an eye out for this one guy called Francisco."

"I'm…already familiar with Francisco," Lincoln replied, his tone sounding mildly annoyed at the mere mention of Lynn's ex-crush, "But…yeah, thanks." With that, Chandler and his goon-friends took their leave, leaving Lincoln and his friends alone with Lucy, Rocky and Argent.

"…Was Chandler actually being civil just now?" Rusty asked rhetorically, clearly not believing at all that the talk that just took place had actually taken place.

"Hey, the less trouble he gives us, the better," Lincoln remarked. Turning around to face his little sister, Lincoln continued, "But anyway, how are you doing, Lucy?"

"I'm fine, although something's bothering me," Lucy replied. Pointing in the direction that Chandler and his goon-friends took off in, Lucy asked, "Why did that one boy keep referring to you as Larry?"


The following school day, Chandler and his two goon-friends were walking through one of the hallways of RWES, intending to head on over to the library. "Wow, you guys," Chandler remarked to his goon-friends, "I think that trying to abandon my rivalry with Larry in favor of focusing more on trying to one-up Francisco is actually a good thing."

"Given that Larry can go toe-to-toe with the likes of Biff and Chris, I think that you're right," the second-goon friend agreed, "Maybe Ronnie Anne's influence is starting to rub off on him."

"Yeah, and speaking of the Queen of Pain," the first goon-friend said, "I heard talk going around the school that Ronnie Anne actually-"

"There you little turds are!" Chris's familiar voice called out, making Chandler and his goon-friends stop as they saw Chris approach them from the far end of the hallway. "You little bastards set me up," Chris said in accusing tone as he pointed an accusing finger at the three fifth-grade boys, "I know you did."

"The heck makes you say that?" Chandler asked in a defensive tone.

"You tricked me into trying to go after Loud's little sister," the older boy growled, "Then that teacher came out and dragged me to the principal's office!"

"Hey man, I wasn't trying to do anything except tell you the truth," Chandler remarked as he started to feel a little bit of fear, "It's them who are trying to trick you with lies."

"Aha! You admit that you were lying to me!" Chris exclaimed as he shoved Chandler with his hands. Annoyed more than anything else, Chandler shoved Chris back, although this had the result of Chris knocking into a student that just at that moment was turning around the corner, knocking said student over.

"OW!" a young, female voice cried out, prompting the boys to turn and see a young blonde-haired girl that looked even younger than the goth girl from yesterday laying sprawled out on the floor of the hallway. The girl was dressed as a princess, what with her pink dress, long pink gloves, pink heels, a faux pearl necklace (at least Chandler hoped it was faux pearls; what would a girl that age be doing with a necklace made of real pearls? Do you know how expensive a real pearl necklace would be?), and the girl was even wearing a tiara. Right as the boys turned to see that Chris had knocked a little girl over onto the hallway floor, said little girl started to cry.

"Dude!" Chandler exclaimed at Chris, "Why did you go and push a little girl like that for?!"

"Hey, you pushed me into her!" the older boy retaliated.

"I did no such thing, you jerk!" Chandler snapped back. As the boys all started to argue, people started coming out of nearby classrooms, mostly students, but there were two teachers, one of which was Agnes.

"What's going on out here?" Agnes asked, "I can't teach my class if there's loud arguing outside of Oh my goodness a student's been pushed to the floor!"

"Yeah, Mrs. Johnson," Chandler said as he was acting quickly, "Chris here pushed that girl, even though my friends and I were trying to stop him!"

"I didn't push her!" Chris exclaimed. Pointing at Chandler, the older boy said, "This little punk pushed me, knocking me into the girl in the process!"

"Alright, young man," Agnes said to Chris, her tone making it clear she didn't believe him, "I've had it up to here with your misbehaving in school and your bullying of other students. Come with me to the principal's office, even though I'm highly doubting Principal Huggins is in the mood to hear that you're acting up yet again." As Agnes and the other teacher who came out took the older boy to be dealt with by Principal Huggins, the students that were in the hallway were left to converse amongst themselves. The first thing that Chandler did after the two teachers and Chris left was to help the girl who was pushed to the floor back up.

"You okay?" Chandler asked the girl in a concerned tone.

Sniffling a bit, the girl said, "I guess so. But it still hurt when that-"

"Hey, Chandler!" Lincoln's voice called out, getting Chandler and his goon-friends to turn and see Lincoln come running up, accompanied by Ronnie Anne. Having reached Chandler and his goon-friends, Lincoln said to Chandler in a stern tone while pointing to the little girl, "What do you think you're doing with Lola?"

"You know this kid, Larry?" Chandler asked as he pointed to the girl that Lincoln was identifying as Lola.

"She's my little sister," Lincoln replied to Chandler as he gestured for Lola to come over to him and Ronnie Anne. The little princess obeyed her older brother immediately and without question.

"Wait a minute," Chandler's second goon-friend said with a confused look on his face, "I thought that goth girl was your little sister."

"Lincoln has multiple little sisters," Ronnie Anne pointed out, "Along with multiple older sisters. He's got a pretty big family to deal with."

"Speaking of family," Lincoln said to Chandler, "What were you doing with Lola?"

"Some bully pushed her over even though my pals and I tried to stop him," Chandler explained, "I was helping her back up when you and Ronnie Anne here came over."

"H-he's right," Lola stammered a bit as she was still crying, "He was t-trying to stop that mean boy who pushed m-me."

"Huh," Lincoln remarked as he regarded his little sister. Turning to face Chandler, Lincoln said, "I guess I should say thanks for looking after Lola."

"No problem, Larry," Chandler replied.

"My brother's name is Lincoln," Lola corrected.

"Whatever," Chandler replied right before Lincoln decided to take Lola to the nurse's office to see if she was hurt or not. After that, the gathered students began to dissipate, leaving Chandler and his goon-friends alone. "…Huh, well what do you know?" Chandler said to his goon-friends once they were alone in the hallway, "We managed to get that jerk in trouble anyway."

"Pretty sweet, dude," Chandler's first goon-friend said as he and the other two boys shared a group high-five.


The rest of the school week showed some interesting developments; similar to Biff, Chris had to transfer schools due to having the stigma of being a guy who bullied girls that were much smaller than him. With the older boy gone, a relative peace began to settle at RWES. As an added bonus to Chandler and his goon-friends, they saw their reputation get a boost because of how they tried standing up to the older boy when he pushed a first-grade girl and made her cry.

Chandler, to his surprise, also saw that Larry was showing an amicable attitude towards him now; granted, Chandler and Larry weren't friends by any stretch of the imagination, but the conceited boy could tell that Larry's temper towards him had cooled off considerably. Not wanting to try and push things with Larry, Chandler was more than glad to respectfully keep his distance from the white-haired boy, just as he knew Larry wanted. Besides, Chandler had his budding rivalry with Francisco, something of more immediate importance to the conceited boy, to worry about.

Chandler wasn't dumb; he knew to take his victories when he can get them.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Author's notes:

The character Chris that appears in this chapter is based off of a female bully character, that was named Christie, from some old Yugioh fanfics that I wrote way back in the day, years before I got started on this site. My older sisters were the only audience of those stories, and I could tell from the kick they got out of reading those stories that they weren't just being nice, they actually enjoyed what I wrote.

When converting the character Christie to this story's setting, I had to de-age her a bit and change her from being a girl to being a boy. Speaking of converting, this chapter is the converted form of the eighth one-shot from the one-shot collection that I worked/am working on. The only major differences are that in the original version Ronnie Anne doesn't show up, Chandler very nearly gets away with pulling a real jerk move, and Lincoln isn't upset with his family.

Anywho, sorry if any of you are a bit disappointed with a chapter that was more or less filler, but I've been wanting to do a bit more development when it comes to this story's setting, particularly focus more on Chandler, since he's got some important stuff he's working on in the sidelines.

As a side note, to those who were hoping to see Chandler get severely punished by Lincoln (I saw comments that would suggest that idea), I'm sorry to disappoint you. But I kind of need Chandler for some later parts in this story.