I really hope this doesn't become another filler arc. XD


At the Loud House backyard, Lincoln and Rosie walked towards the grassfield as the latter explained:

"On the Edge is the ultimate technique of the Edgelord Cliche: a power up that allows the user to power their body to its absolute limit, giving them enhanced attributes like super speed, super strength, and so on."

"What's the catch?" Lincoln asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The power up only lasts a short while, and once it's over, you'll be left exhausted," Rosie rubbed her hands together. "Fortunately, the short while can be extended with enough practice, which is more than enough reason to get started on this training arc!"

"Okay, sounds good so far," Lincoln folded his arms. "I'm guessing the first thing we need to do is unlock On the Edge, right?"

Rosie nodded. "You know how ultimate techniques go: you can never have them from the start, you have to pull some loops to get them. In my case, I only discovered mine when I was about to be overwhelmed by Trainerbots."

Lincoln paused for a moment. "Okay, so, you found it thanks to a stressful situation. You think I'll get it the same way?"

"Well, yeah, I didn't really have time to find out if there were other ways to get it before the whole apocalypse happened," Rosie smiled. "So, since that's the only way I know how to get it, I'm gonna have you fight a little someone that'll push you to the limits."

Suddenly, a purple flash landed nearby, the ground shaking as the smoke dissipated away, revealing the figure to be none other than Luna, who stretched as Lincoln turned to his future daughter and exclaimed:

"You're gonna have me fight Luna?!"

"I discovered my power up during a moment of great stress and fear, and having you fight Aunt Luna sounds like a good enough counterpart to it!"

"SHE CAN SPLIT ME IN HALF WITH EASE!"

"Even more reason this'll work!"

"Don't worry, Link, I'm gonna hold back a little," Luna replied with a cocky smile. "I don't need to go full power to take you to your limits, after all."

Hearing that didn't help Lincoln's worries in the slightest, especially when Luna's eyes glowed right before she unleashed a pair of eye beams, which he narrowly dodged before the spot they struck exploded, sending both father and daughter flying away.

"See? I'm holding back!" the superhero chuckled. "If I was being serious, I would've released those eye beams instantly!"

Lincoln and Rosie for a moment before stopping, the guy standing up and dusting himself while the lovechild chuckled nervously. "Whoa, that's... that's something alright."

"Why are you surprised?" Lincoln asked calmly as he helped the girl stand up. "Wasn't the Luna from your timeline this strong?"

"Not at all! She couldn't shoot eye lasers, for starters!" Rosie turned back to Luna, who stretched for a bit. "I asked her to help us under the impression she wasn't that stronger than my Luna, but damn..."

"Well, it's too late to back down now," Lincoln stated. "If we tell Luna to cancel the fight, she'll have to go back to Space Watch, and that'll put her in a bad mood. And an angry Luna is the worst kind of Luna."

Lincoln took a couple steps forward, white electricity surging through him.

"I'll just have to do my best to survive..."

And all the while, a shadowy figure watched them both, hiding behind the tree...


Back at Sue Industries, Clyde, Cristina, Ronnie Anne, Carlota and the Trainerbot walked through the abandoned buildings, with sparks coming out of the broken machinery as the lights flickered on and off, which got Carlota's attention.

"You know, for a place that's been abandoned for who knows how long, the fact it still has electricity feels a bit suspicious," the teenager remarked. "Anyhow, why would the Trainerbot take us here?"

"Technically, it took us here," Ronnie Anne clarified. "We brought you along because we needed a ride, both to get here and to go back home."

"Eh, details. My question still stands."

"Well, you know how abandoned locations work in stories; they always hold some dark, deep secret within that could at the very least turn the tides on the heroes' favor," Clyde explained as he adjusted his glasses. "If the Trainerbot took us here, it must be for that reason."

"Clyde, we're not in a fictional story, we're in reality," Cristina pointed out. "A reality that feels like one of those very generic, very messy power fantasy stories, but still a reality. Maybe the Trainerbot got the coordinates wrong?"

"Let's not jump to conclusions just yet," Clyde replied. "Let's look around first, see if we can find anything."

And so, the group split; Clyde and Ronnie Anne walked together with the Trainerbot, while Cristina and Carlota looked around in another section of the industries. One filled with busted machinery with sparks coming out of it.

"So, you're the girl who Ronalda says is crazy for her childhood friend," Carlota blurted. "How did that happen?"

"We're all childhood friends; Ronnie Anne, Clyde, Lincoln, me, we've been friends since childhood," Cristina replied calmly. "Lincoln's not just Ronnie Anne's childhood friend."

"She also said you were pretty jealous, so that seems to check out."

Cristina pouted. "Just focus on finding something we-"

But then, the duo noticed something. An unlabeled room with a slightly open door, creaking as it tempted them to head in.

"Shouldn't... shouldn't the door be closed?" Cristina asked nervously.

Carlota, not nearly as concerned, walked towards the door and fully opened it, revealing something disturbing within: several shelves stood filled with capsules, each containing glowing orbs with designation underneath.

"Multiplication", "Succubus", "Crystal Ball", "Time Traveler", and one that sent shivers down Cristina's spine: "Virgin Sacrifice".

"Are these..." Carlota's eyes widened. "Harvested Cliches?!"


Back with Clyde and Ronnie Anne, they and the Trainerbot reached a big room with a massive computer, the object looking like it still had power.

"This must be the central hub," Clyde hummed. "If we can find a way to turn it on and access the files, we might be able to figure out what happened here. At least, it's better than there being nothing of worth here."

"So we need to crack into a potentially max-secured database?" Ronnie Anne sighed. "Where's a Hacker when you need one?"

The Trainerbot, as if on cue, walked up to the machine and injected a jack into a port, the robot's eyes glowing as it charged into the computer and-

"CLYDE! RONNIE ANNE!"

Cristina's voice echoed as she and Carlota ran into the room. Cristina wobbled a bit before dropping to her knees, tears streaming down her eyes.

"WE HAVE TO LEAVE! RIGHT NOW!"

"Whoa, Cristina, calm down!" Ronnie Anne said as she helped the redhead stand up. "Why are you running? What did you find?"

"C-Capsules... Cliches... Harvesting..."

Ronnie Anne turned to Carlota, but the teenager looked elsewhere, clearly equally troubled.

"It's to be expected."

Everybody turned around to see the familiar voice of Lisa had come from the Trainerbot, who turned to them as it kept speaking:

"Sue Industries was a place filled with constant controversies until it shutdown some odd years ago. The Index System allowed them to get away with a lot of things, but one thing done by a certain woman convinced them that enough was enough."

The screen finally turned on, first showing an image of a plump brunette woman wearing a nurse outfit.

"This is the original owner of this conglomerate: Nurse Sue."

"Nurse was her actual first name?" Ronnie Anne asked, and the Trainerbot calmly nodded.

"I read about her once," Clyde remarked. "Something about her being a very ambitious woman who wanted to take Cliches to the next level. Also something about her being the former Head of Development before the current one."

"What happened to her?" Cristina asked.

"It doesn't say," Clyde answered before looking deeper into the machine. "In fact, any information about her is inaccessible and labeled "REDACTED", as if her existence had been removed from the system."

"I already have a bad feeling about this woman," Carlota remarked. "I mean, knowing the shady characters in the Index System, you must be pretty damn terrible to be outright expunged from it. What did she do?"

"We'll find out soon enough."

The screen turned to static before playing a video, this one showing a younger Mrs. Shrinivas. And by younger, we mean she had her hair down.

"Log Date 567. This is Mrs. Shrinivas speaking."

"No first name?" Clyde asked.

"I've been working with Sue Industries for a couple years now. Haven't moved out of my initial position as a research assistant, but that's perfectly okay by me. I'm just interested in finding new ways to help the Index System."

"More like new ways to topple it," Lisa's voice escaped from the Trainerbot.

"And to help me with this endeavor, I'm here with Miss Marianne Sue. Or as people better know her, Nurse Sue."

The camera turned to the woman in question, who excitedly giggled while sporting eye bags and a look that made it clear she hadn't slept in... forever.

"Greetings, universe! As you may have heard, we've been researching the past history of the world. Well, after years of fruitless expeditions, it finally happened. We discovered a great discovery!"

"Wow, imagine that," Ronnie Anne rolled her eyes.

Suddenly, the screen changed, now showing what looked like a war among Cliche users.

"Centuries ago, back when the world was sent to chaos by the arrival of Cliches. Some call it the Originality Wars, others call it the Generic Genesis. Whether the name, it's generally agreed that the war was fought until the Index System was established, bringing order to the utter chaos in the world... but our discovery makes things more complicated."

Then, it changed again, this time depicting a sole humanoid sitting on a throne, on top of the bodies of countless Cliche users.

"Before the Index System, there was another system in place. One that was led by a singular person, with a single Cliche. But this Cliche was the most powerful of them all, for it made the person practically invincible."

The screen zoomed, eventually revealing the figure had rainbow hair.

"They could use all powers imaginable, derived from all Cliches, past, present, and future. They could not be killed by normal means. They could empower others. But most importantly, they ruled the entire world as the ultimate life form. The pinnacle of creation, even."

The team felt shivers go down their spines as the image, once close enough, showed the figure opening their eyes, revealing they too were rainbow colored.

"They became so feared, their very existence was wiped clean, any mention of their name or relatives removed from history, for anybody who came to learn about them would feel absolute terror for the rest of their lives. But we've found the name of this mysterious individual. The former ruler of the world..."

Finally, in a move that shocked everyone, the figure on the screen smirked, narrowing their eyes with malicious intent.

"Mary Sue."