Act III

After Lucy finished waving her hands around and engaging in her usual creepy theatrics, she opened her mouth as the crystal ball revealed all…

"Oh." she then suddenly muttered, sounding completely underwhelmed by what she was seeing.

"Well?" Lincoln questioned.

"What is it?" Stella also asked.

"It's saying there's nothing. No disasters. No fire or lightning, or people screaming… just nothing." the young goth girl clarified.

"Wait, really?" Lincoln questioned, sounding a little confused.

"Well, that's great news!" Stella said excitedly.

"Yeah, of course!" Lincoln agreed. "But that doesn't explain all the tea leaf readings… or Lisa's weather machine, for that matter." he then recalled, still sounding unsure.

Confused by Lucy's results, the three children made their way back into Lisa's room, where the young science prodigy was scalding her robot companion.

"I hope you're proud of yourself, Todd! Do you have any notion of how much time I've wasted on this false alarm of yours?!" Lisa shouted.

Being a robot, Todd naturally had the same neutral, still expression on his face that he always did, but Lisa could tell that underneath his stoic, metallic exterior, there was an element of amusement.

"This isn't amusing, Todd!" she told him off again, though he still seemed to disagree.

"What's going on?" Lincoln asked as he and the girls walked into the room.

"Ah. Just the trio I wanted to speak with. It turns out my W.E.L.P. was giving out false readings. Dang it, I knew those weather patterns felt implausible!" Lisa explained, annoyed with herself for not solving the conundrum earlier.

"Wait, what?" a surprised Stella muttered.

"Todd here thought it would be funny to tamper with my machine so it would give off fake weather readings. As it turns out, there are no heatwaves, hurricanes, or lightning storms due to impact Royal Woods." Lisa then clarified.

"Well, I guess that would explain why my crystal ball showed me nothing." Lucy responded.

"So, I guess my tea leaf readings were bogus, after all…?" Stella reflected, mostly positively, though with just a hint of disappointment in her voice. "Still, at least now we know Royal Woods is safe." she then said with a slightly more uplifting tone.

Lincoln then turned to the robot and angrily asked "Todd, why did you screw around with Lisa's machine? You sent us all on a wild goose chase!"

After a brief pause, Todd just replied "The Universal Rule of Funny."

"This is what I get for letting you spend time with Luan." Lisa then remarked to herself.

Now that their dilemma was resolved, Stella parted ways with the Loud siblings…

"Thanks for your help, Lucy. I know it ended up being a false alarm, but you still took the time to assist us with this." Stella said as she shook the little goth girl's hand.

"It's fine." Lucy replied, before leaning forward and encouragingly telling her "Don't let this dampen your passion for the otherworldly. Tea leaf reading is usually very reliable. I guess everything is bound to give off misleading results every now and then. Even Lisa's fancy science isn't infallible."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Stella said gratefully. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, Lincoln." she then said as she waved them both goodbye.

And so, the rest of the week continued for Lincoln's friends with relatively little eventfulness. Saturday quickly came around, and the gang went to the 'Iceferno' Dance-Off. It was a nice, presentable event. There were lots of blue and green lights in the main hall area where everyone was dancing, eating, and chatting away. It had a very strong "disco" feel to it. There were refreshments, there was loud music played by various bands and a DJ on a stage, and a designated "dance floor" where everyone could partake in the dancing contests, or just boogie around freely without any competitive urges.

Fitting with the whole "ICEferno" gimmick of the event, there was also a smaller, separate dance floor made of ice, where exceptionally skilled athletes were on ice skates, showing their stuff.

Needless to say, it was a fun time, and all the youth of Royal Woods present were enjoying themselves.

But for one little Casanova wannabe, his focus remained solely on one thing. Lincoln and the gang found Rusty, who was combing his hair, as he psyched himself up for a smooth and romantic confrontation with his crush, Gina.

"Rusty. There you are." Zach said.

"Hey, guys." he replied nonchalantly.

"What are you doing?" Stella asked.

"Oh, I'm gonna ask Gina for a dance."

"Erm, didn't she already reject you at school?" Lincoln then recollected.

"Right in front of everybody?" Liam followed.

"Yeah, that gave me bad flashbacks." Clyde added.

"I know, but once I show her all my rad moves on the dance floor, she'll be smitten by my boyish charms." Rusty bragged, earning him an eye roll from the rest of the gang.

But he was too hyped up in his head to notice. He puffed out his chest and bravely walked his way over to Gina…

"Hey, Gina. Care for a dance?" he rehearsed to himself as he walked towards her.

But he was utterly disappointed when he saw in the distance that another had already beat him to the punch…

It was Hassan, the paraplegic young boy who vaguely knew Rusty and the gang. He approached Gina in his wheelchair, and after the briefest of talks, he escorted her away, much to Rusty's disappointment.

"What?! What does HE have that the Rustman doesn't!?" he moaned. "Why is he even here, anyway?! This is a dance-off!" he then said as he folded his arms, let out an audible "hmpf" and pouted in response to what had just transpired.

His best friend Zach then grabbed him by the shoulder and softly told him "Come on, Rusty. Come with us to the dance floor and take your mind off it."

Suddenly, all the kids were alerted to an announcement made by the DJ…

"Okay, folks! We're going to give you guys a break after all that competitive dancing! You all have been doing great so far, I might add. Anyway, while you take a moment to catch your breath, to keep you all pumped up and ready for more, we're going to give you a special treat!"

The kids all looked on with surprise and intrigue. What could the DJ be referring to exactly?

Suddenly, the lights on the dance floor and all the other areas of the hall dimmed down, and all the lighting was focused on the front stage, where Luna and the Moongoats were standing with their instruments in hand.

"ARE YOU GUYS READY TO ROCK?!" Luna shouted through the microphone, to which everyone present loudly cheered.

She and her friends then played a literally "rockin'" instrumental to the sequence that was about to blow everybody's socks off…

Pyros began to light up on stage, causing all the kids and teens present to emit an audible "Oohh" in response.

Lightning strikes then went off on the sides of the stage as well, resulting in a second "Oohh".

"ARE Y'ALL PUMPED UP AND READY TO DANCE, DUDES?!" Luna yelled excitedly, resulting in a massive cheer from everyone in the hall. "COME ON, THIS IS FOR CHARITY, SO LET'S MAKE THIS AN AWESOME NIGHT!"

Luna's hype, plus the theatrics on display, were sufficient in generating a massive pop. Everyone was shouting and screaming in awe of what they were experiencing as Luna's band continued to jam hard.

"Wow, what a night!" an impressed Liam said to his friends.

And it was at that point, that Lincoln and Stella had a realisation.

"Stella, I think your tea leaves were right all along!"

"Yeah?"

"Look around! There's fire…" Lincoln said as he pointed at the Pyros. "There's lightning…" he then pointed at the lightning strikes. "And look at all the people shouting and screaming."

"So, we just got the wrong end of the stick? There was never a doomsday coming to strike Royal Woods." Stella deducted.

"Nope. Just an incredible night." Lincoln confirmed.

Stella then remembered Lucy's words from earlier that week. "Tea leaf reading is usually very reliable. I guess everything is bound to give off misleading results every now and then." She then smiled upon reflection of what all this meant. Thankfully, her assumptions of impending catastrophe were false, but her tea leaf reading wasn't completely incorrect, either.

"I guess I wasn't entirely wrong, after all." she said nonchalantly before deciding to do the best thing about it; move past the whole misunderstanding and just enjoy her evening.

She and the others then got back on the dance floor, as the main competition of the night was about to start. The kids all prepared to partake in the final dance-off.

"I don't need to read tea leaves to know that I'm gonna wipe the floor with you guys!" she then sassily told them as she engaged with her more competitive mindset.

"Pfft." Clyde replied.

"As if!" Zach responded.

"Nobody's got better moves than the Rustman!" Rusty boasted.

And so, despite all the disappointments and misunderstandings that had transpired for the gang that week, in the end, they were able to put it all aside and enjoy themselves as the "Iceferno" dance event reached its conclusion.

Author's Footnote:

I continue to try and make stories that more and more closely resemble the canon product, and I think this one has done that. I will be back up here soon with another story, that being "Trial and Terror", which will see the Loud siblings hold their own sibling meeting version of a trial after Lola has something very precious to her be stolen.

I'm on the fence as to whether or not I'll follow through with my idea for a discussion post that compares the quality between the earlier and later seasons. I'm not sure if it will be worthwhile or not. I'll think about it.

In the meantime, feel free to let me know your overall thoughts on this story, and also to share this with friends of yours within the Loud House community. After all, I want to keep the awareness and popularity for my works growing, and every little helps.