A/N: Hello, everyone. Here's the "first" actual start of the story. It can only get better from here, as my head has been brewing nearly everything else past this point. Minor edits to appearance.

Prologue: Meet the New Neighbors

Hi, I'm Lee Ping. I'm just your normal teenager with a hairstyle that only my parents believe to be natural. The summer is almost over, and I've got my Sophomore year to look forward to. But, that's not important right now. I'm working on a little something for my next-door neighbors, the Louds. And, believe me, they truly live up to that name. Heck, I remember when I first met them 10 years ago…

– –08/2002– –

"But, Dad, I wanted to stay home and watch cartoons today!" moaned a young boy with peculiar red-black hair to his bespectacled father as they walked out of the door of their home.

"I'm sorry, Lee," replied his father, "but I'm needed back at work." He then smiled, "Besides, you might make friends out of our new neighbors." Seeing that his son's frown hasn't changed, Dr. Alfred Ping sighed, "It will be just for today if things don't work out, ok?"

Lee's face morphed to a sad smile and nodded. He couldn't help but think he was letting his dad down in some way, but he just can't help being shy. The fact that a bunch of kids recently moved into the neighborhood was surreal when he used to be the only one on the block. Before Lee even realized it, they were standing at the door of the large house. It was kind of weird how this building that had been dead silent for who knows how long was now filled with noise that he could only compare to his old pre-k class.

Dr. Ping had just rung the bell, and the pandemonium suddenly stopped only to be replaced by a shrill "DAD! THE DOOR!" composed by high-pitched voices before the chaos resumed.

Lee looked up to his dad with shock in his eyes. "You didn't say that they were girls!" he cried.

"Like I said, son," Dr. Ping said to comfort his son, "it'll be for today if you're still uneasy when I come back."

Before Lee could say anything else, the door opened to reveal a man a few inches taller than his dad, wearing a pink apron and oven-mitts; this caused Lee's unwillingness to be there to be replaced with confusion at the sight. "Oh, hello, Dr. Ping," the man said with a happy, yet weary, demeanor before looking down, "And you must be Lee. That's some wicked red hair you've got, kiddo!"

Upon noticing his son's concern, Dr. Ping explained, "It means he thinks your hair looks good." He then turned to his attention back to the man. "Hello to you too, Lynn! I'm so glad that you were able to look after my boy at such short notice."

"Oh, it's no trouble. Besides, what's one more kid?" the now-named man responded before chuckling. "I kid; I kid. Little Lee here is good hands. The Mrs. and I have had a lot of practice."

"From what both of you told us, I don't doubt it!" Dr. Ping laughed, before turning back to Lee. "Son, this man is our neighbor, Mr. Loud. He and his family traveled all the way from Royal Woods to come here." The abrupt ringing of his phone cut him off, prompting the good doctor to fish it out and widen his eyes upon the displayed message. "I've got to go now! Be good for Mr. & Mrs. Loud, Lee! And have fun!" he shouted while heading off to the car parked in front of his house next door.

Lee couldn't remember the last time he saw his dad move that quickly, but his train of thought was interrupted by Mr. Loud's clearing of his throat. "Well, come on in, Lee. My wife and kids can't wait to meet you." Lee nodded and walked through the door. What greeted him inside was the sight of near-bedlam in the living room.

From what he could tell, there were four girls that were caught up in two separate tiffs. Two with long blonde hair, only distinguished by their clothing (one in a blue shirt and brown shorts; the other in a green dress and white sunglasses) appeared to be playing tug-of-war with the TV remote; Lee could see the channel changing whenever the remote shifted to closer to each sister. The latter duo of brunettes seemed to be engaged in a weird stand-up scenario where one girl with pigtails in a yellow dress was playing the role of the comedian and the other with a small ponytail in a large red jersey was meant to be the audience but was more a heckler, much to the former's unseen dismay.

'Oh, gosh,' Lee thought, 'this is even worse.' He looked back to the door just to see the car carrying his dad speeding off.

"Girls!" commanded Mr. Loud, "We have a guest!" And just like that, the girls' mayhem came to a halt as they turned their gaze to Lee's direction.

"Huh?!" they exclaimed.

"Girls, meet our neighbors' son, Lee," Mr. Loud introduced on the boy's behalf. "He'll be staying with us for the day, so make him feel welcome."

"Uh, hello," Lee timidly muttered, noting the stares he was getting from his new audience.

"Uh, Dad," the blonde in the blue shirt spoke up, "You never mentioned that his hair would look like that."

"Yeah," piped the green-clad girl, "I thought kids like us can't dye our hair." She suddenly gasped and asked, "Does this mean that I can get mine done, too?"

"Well, Lori, I thought it'd be best for you to see firsthand," answered Mr. Loud. "Also, no, you still not allowed to, Leni."

"Are we supposed to believe that's natural?" asked the pigtailed girl, "Because that means he could truly be red-faced."

"Well, my parents told me that it's been that way since I was baby," Lee nervously explained.

"Oooh," the girls cooed.

"OK, gang, I've got to finish lunch, so play safe!" And with that, Mr. Loud ran back to the kitchen, leaving Lee to be surrounded by the four sisters.

"So," Leni pondered, "What should we do now?"

"I can practice my stand-up for Lee," beamed the yellow-clad brunette.

"Boo!" shouted the jersey-wearing girl.

"Oh, shush it, Lynn."

"She has a point, Luan," Lori spoke up. "We all need to have fun, not just you." This earned her a huff from the would-be comedian.

"Let's play a game!" Lynn shouted.

"That a good idea," Lee responded, "Do you girls have any board games?"

"What? Are you that board of us?" Luan taunted, "Then again, you look stiff to me!"

"Ignore her," Lori said while massaging her forehead with her finger and thumb. "And yeah, I'll go get one."

As Lori left for the storage closet, Lee noticed that Leni was eyeing just above him, slowly realizing what she wanted. "You can touch it," he invited.

Leni let out a small squeal of delight and started running her fingers through her guest's peculiar hair, paying no attention to Lee's blushing face. "Wow, even the roots are red!"

"Now that Lee looks the part, could you two ketchup with the rest of us?" Luan alerted them to Lori's return.

"I figured that we could play one of Dad's favorites: Conglomerate," Lori announced while holding the box in question. "For the sake of Lynn, we'll stick with the kid's rules."

"Hey! I'm not dumb!" shouted the three-year-old in question.

"Anyways, I'm taking the Bowler Hat!"

"Dibs on the Dragster!" Lynn butted in.

"I call the Chihuahua Dog!" Leni piped. "It's so adorbs!"

"I'll take the Diesel," Luan stated, "but do you think we should wait for Luna."

"Who?" Lee asked.

"Oh, she's our other sister," Lori answered, "And if she wants to spend her time with Lincoln (our baby brother), it's her loss."

'There's more?' Lee thought before he was alerted by Lori's ahem. "Oh, I guess I'll take the Tugboat."

"Great! Now, let's play!" Lori announced. "Also, I'm the banker, unless anyone else here can count past 20." She smiled at the lack of volunteers before setting up the game.

After the first three rounds, Lee caught on to the girls' purchase strategies and skillfully rolled doubles to every key property that wasn't already claimed, and just managed to avoid the prison penalty. This forced the girls to make trades that seemed innocuous enough, but this would lead to him acquiring all four airports and two hotel-laden colored neighborhoods. The game finally ended when Lynn had the misfortune of landing on Lee's most expensive property.

"Cheater!" Lynn growled, barely resisting the urge to flip the board.

"What? I was playing by the rules just like the rest of you," Lee playfully taunted.

"Wow, Lynn's face and jersey beat Lee's hair in the red department," Luan chuckled.

"Sorry, girls," Lori sighed in defeat, "I don't like it either, but he won fair and square."

As Lee's prideful smile was met with glares from the four sisters (technically three as Leni just looked confused), the tension was sharply cut by a shrill cry from upstairs. The crying persisted and seemed to draw closer as it was accompanied by the sound of footsteps. That's when Lee saw the two remaining Loud siblings in the form of a panicking brunette decked in purple sweats holding a sobbing baby. "Hey, guys," the girl grunted, "care to help a sister out?"

"What went wrong, Luna?" Lori asked as she took the baby, trying to calm him down.

"I don't know!" the now identified Luna answered as Lori handed the baby to Leni. "Lil' Linc just started crying for no reason."

"Maybe he's thirsty?" Leni suggested before shifting baby Lincoln to Lynn.

"He drained his bottle minutes ago," Luna replied.

"Sleepy?" Lynn sweated while passing the house crier to Luan.

"Nah, he had his nap an hour ago."

"Does he need changing?" Luan queried.

"His diaper is bone dry," Luna groaned. "I can't figure it out."

"Hey!" Lee shouted, drawing all eyes to him. "Maybe I could help?"

"I don't think so," Lori stated flatly, not sure if she could trust him with a toddler. Lincoln made that decision for her as he started wrestling out of Luan's hold while reaching out towards Lee.

"I'd say 'Be our guest', but you already are," Luan joked before passing the fussy baby to their visitor.

Once in the hands of the friendly stranger, little Lincoln slowly calmed as he gazed up at Lee's head. Lee was just as captivated in his new charge's appearance; the baby's hair was bright white rather than just the assumed platinum blond he saw from the lighting. "Well, would you look at that," Lee smiled. "We're two of a kind." Lincoln giggled in response.

"Wow, he must really like you," Luna commented, drawing Lee's eyes towards her. "He's not really comfortable with strangers."

"Um, thank you?" Lee responded with a slight blush before turning back to Lincoln. "Hey, little guy! I'm your new neighbor, Lee."

"Ree! Ree!" Lincoln babbled with glee.

"Aww," Leni cooed, "He thinks he's a police siren." This earned simultaneous groans from her four sisters. "What?"

"Wait, did I miss a game of Conglomerate?" Luna asked, having spotted the set-up board game in question.

"Yeah, and Lee here managed to legally rob us blind," Lori answered. "Heck, Lynn was the one that got bankrupt!"

"Because beating a three-year-old makes him so cool," Lynn sarcastically growled.

"Oh, you'd be bragging for days if you won, and you know it," Lori shot back.

"Hey, kids!" came the voice of Mr. Loud. "Soup's on!"

"Alright!" the Loud sisters cheered. Lincoln chimed in with a delighted gurgle.

"You're gonna love Pops's cooking, dude!" Luna praised while grabbing Lee and dragging him along to the kitchen. "He goes all out whenever we have guests!"

Luna's words were proven right to the semi-redhead as he was presented by a pair of dishes he'd never thought could be mixed with each other: sweet potato gnocchi with alfredo sauce and sweet & sour beef (a dish Lee remembered his mom made that she called tangsuyuk). Suffice to say, this combination tasted powerful as their contrasting, yet striking flavors vied for Lee's favor. And to top it all off, Mr. Loud whipped out a decadent dessert called an English trifle at the tail-end of lunch. What also enhanced the meal was the company Lee had, as the Loud sisters were talkative and engaged in minor food-fights. The only exceptions were Luna and Lincoln; the purple-garbed girl spent her time feeding her little brother his slightly pureed version of the meal in between her bites. What captivated Lee was the girl's melodic humming throughout lunch that was lightly hypnotic.

After lunch and everyone cleaned up, the children went about their business. Lori and Lynn were playing catch in the backyard, and Luan was trying out another round of jokes with Leni (often having to explain each one the latter didn't get). As for the rest, Luna cradled a sleeping Lincoln in her arms on the sofa while Lee was lying on the floor next to them, drawing something. "And, done!" Lee announced before presenting it to his young hostess.

It was a cute portrait of the two siblings that eerily made them look like mother and child. "Wow," Luna surmised, "This is pretty good. Do you want to be an artist?"

"Well," Lee mused, "I don't know yet. Mom says that I can become anything, as long as she likes it." He let out a small sigh. "So, what about you? Are you going to be a singer? I heard you humming during lunch."

"Kinda," Luna admitted. "I just don't know what kind of sound I should stick to."

"Well, whatever you choose, I bet you'd be great."

"You mean that I'm not already?" Luna playfully chided.

"I'll never know unless I can hear more than just humming."

"Well, I do have this song that I wanted to try for a while." And with that, she gave Lee a private session. And judging from Lincoln's sleeping face having formed a smile, Lee wasn't alone in enjoying the aria.

Not long after the performance, Mom arrived to take me home. She wanted to leave right away, but the smell of Mr. Loud's leftovers drew her into making light conversation with the chef of the house. It wasn't long until Dad and Mrs. Loud returned and what started as a playdate turned into a "small" dinner party. Sure, the Louds have their quirks (more on that later), but then again so do us Pings (even if we're more subtle about it). Nowadays, they've become like the uncle, aunt, and cousins I never had. Huh… I just hope they'll like my moving anniversary present. With such a diverse family (figuratively speaking), it's hard to narrow it down. Wish me luck!

[REDACTED] Chat Log: 281407

…

C.M.: Status report on Project: Lambda/Pi.
F.M.: Subjects still haven't shown signs of significant advancement. Any visages of enhanced talents are directed towards singular pursuits instead of all-around skills.
K.M.: Perhaps we should keep our focus exclusively on the Antiquis Triangulum and if it has any connection to the events that occurred in Oregon.
C.M.: No. Until [REDACTED] decides to share that knowledge with us, we must continue observations. Please tell me that we have something.
K.M.: Subjects # 01, 06, & 11 show some signs of variety potential equal to Designations: Cobalt Hydra & Cardinal Dragon. However, I believe that Subject 10 will be just as valuable if not more so as an asset with her achievements in such a short existence.
F.M.: Of course, this all depends on whether the Subjects can develop [REDACTED] to prove Dr. [REDACTED]'s claims of their ancestry.
C.M.: Very well. We will reconvene at [REDACTED] for further discussion.

Log Ended