I do not own The Loud House. All rights belong to Nickelodeon.

Chapter 11

Lynn's dream

Lynn shivered inside the shed as the rain was coming down with the howling wind blowing. Lynn already had her sweater and coat on, but that wasn't enough as she was still freezing. She wrapped herself with bags and tarps to try to keep herself warm. The shed creaked, making Lynn worried that it would fall on her.

By some miracle, she managed to get some sleep. However, when she woke up, she noticed a mobile trailer with a construction company logo on the edge of the woods. There were two guys in hard hats setting up a sign. When Lynn looked closely at it, she saw it was a sign for an upcoming apartment complex. Her heart sank.

It didn't take long for the landscapers to clear out the woods. Lynn gathered what she could carry and had to leave everything else. The worst thing about losing a place is trying to find a new one; sometimes, there's no guarantee that you will.

Even after twelve years of being homeless, there were things that Lynn never got used to, like walking on the sidewalk and people would stare at you. They could tell right away that you're homeless, a stray, a down-and-out bum . . . a loser. Another thing that Lynn never got used to was food. When you're out in the real world surviving, it always comes down to finding food, especially if you have little to no money. People don't realize the luxury of money and jobs because you can do a lot with them. Getting food is easy for them, but it's much more difficult for people like Lynn. Often, Lynn would go searching through the garbage to find something decent enough to eat and pray that she wouldn't get sick, either throw it up or have diarrhea. Sometimes, whenever Lynn passed by a restaurant or a bakery, she'd just stare at the food for a few minutes before forcing herself to move on. Hygiene is another problem with homelessness: no running water, shower, or soap. Most days, Lynn's body and hair would get greasy and dirty. If she were lucky, she'd find a public restroom that wasn't busy, wash what she could from the sink, and use hand soap. Thankfully, she still had most of her teeth despite them being yellow.

Luck, how she hated that word.

'Who the fuck invented luck anyway? The Irish? Thanks a lot,' Lynn thought.

A guy passing by blew a huff of smoke before tossing his cigarette down on the sidewalk. Lynn looked down and noticed it was only half finished. She picked it up and smoked the remaining. Lynn found a bridge to sleep under. As she got comfortable, she felt an aching pain in her chest. It caused her to cough. After coughing for almost a full minute, she spat what she thought was saliva out of her mouth. Due to the darkness of the night, she couldn't see that it was actually blood.

However, there was one lingering thing that Lynn thought was the worst of it all – the depression. Lynn couldn't recall a single day in the twelve years of being homeless ever being happy. Not once. As she wandered through town, she walked down a road that cut through a neighborhood. The wind blew a cold gust that sent chills throughout Lynn's weak and thin body. She shivered like the last leaf on an empty tree, looking lifeless like the many deciduous trees you see in late autumn before the freezing winter arrives. Music broke the silence, and Lynn looked over to see a house party. Most of the people were college kids, and many of them passed out drunk with trash everywhere. As Lynn was about to walk away, she noticed that there was a table with some liquor bottles. Lynn scanned the whole place before sneaking around behind the bushes. The remaining people that were awake were inside the house. Lynn carefully approached the table and snatched three glass bottles before running off. She managed to grab a half-empty whiskey, vodka that was a little more full, and a bottle of rum that only had a quarter left. Lynn put the whiskey and the vodka in her bag and finished the rum. The hard alcohol didn't give her bliss but at least numbed the pain.

A week later, Lynn was walking through town and felt the aching pain in her chest again. She leaned against the wall to cough. Some of the coughs actually hurt. When Lynn opened her eyes to look at her hand, she saw blood. This didn't surprise her, however.

Lynn sighed, "That's not good."

She sat down on a park bench before laying down on it. All she could think about was her family. She missed them all so much. Her father, Lynn. Her mother, Rita. Her older sisters, Lori, Leni, Luna, and Luan. Her younger sisters, Lucy, Lola, Lana, Lisa, and little Lily. Of course, by now, she wasn't little anymore. Most of all, she missed her brother, Lincoln. The man with the plan. The boy who took care of the family, sometimes even the parents. She missed everything about him, even the little things. Like how he read comics in his underpants, his long-titled operations always ended with 'think of a shorter name' and the little white tuff of his hair.

'I had the greatest brother in the world . . . and I lost him because of my bullshit. That's what you're good at, Lynn . . . fucking up. You fuck everything up,' Lynn thought.

A tear rolled down her cheek, adding more cold to the wet skin.

"I miss him so much," Lynn whispered.

She tried to push away all the bad memories and focus on the good ones. That was easier said than done as she tried to fall asleep on the hard bench.

End of Lynn's dream

Lynn woke up, forcing her heavy eyelids to open. She looked around to see the bedroom of her home. On the other side was Lucy's bed with her coffin opened, indicating she went downstairs for breakfast. Another dream. They keep coming, more and more . . . but are they dreams? They feel so real.

Lynn sat up on the edge of her bed and groaned as she lightly hit her head with her hand, "Get out of my head."

Lynn groaned a heavy sigh as she forced herself on her feet. When she washed her face and looked at herself in the mirror, she saw someone with little to no spirit. Lynn shook her head hard and slapped her face. She did some quick jumping jacks while raising her knees up high, getting herself pumped.

"Come on, Lynn! You ain't no quitter! Get in the game! Don't mope around and—!" Lynn stopped, and her eyes widened, "Game."

Suddenly, she realized what day it was. It was the first day of baseball season. Suddenly, Lynn saw flashbacks of Lincoln's visions of the bad luck incident. Losing the game, blaming Lincoln, the family treating him like the plague, locking him out of the house, forcing him to wear the mascot costume, Lincoln calling the cops, and everyone being separated forever as the family is ruined. Lynn could even hear the flashbacks. Lincoln's angry yelling made her flinch and give her goosebumps – all the hurtful words and hatred in his voice. Lynn shivered at it. She took several deep breaths to calm down.

Then she looked up in the mirror, "It's not gonna happen. None of that is going to happen. I won't let it. In fact, I'll kill myself before I let it happen. You can't win them all, Lynn. Win or lose, who cares? It's a stupid game. Just play it and have fun. Yeah, just do that."

Then Lynn looked down at her arm and saw her FLIBBR. She made it practically her religion to win a championship for each letter. She's won all except the two B's – basketball and baseball. At that moment, Lynn felt so stupid and even ashamed for all the dumb luck rituals she did before the games. Looking back on them, it actually amazed her how she fabricated such ludicrous superstitious nonsense.

Lynn closed her eyes as she slowly shook her head in disappointment before rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"I can't believe how I was so into that crap. I would have fit right in with the Spanish Inquisition or the Salem Witch Trials. If I'm stupid enough to believe in the rules of luck, then I'd be stupid enough to believe in witches," Lynn said to herself.

As she headed downstairs, she bumped into her brother.

"Oh, hey Lynn," Lincoln greeted.

"Lincoln! Uh, I mean, hey Link. How are you?" Lynn asked, trying to act normal.

"I'm good. I was just going to use the bathroom."

"Ah. All yours, bro."

As he headed for the bathroom, Lincoln stopped and said, "Lynn, I know what today is."

Lynn froze. Her pupils shrank down to little dots as she turned around.

"I know you're nervous, but—"

"I don't!" Lynn snapped but then calmed down, "I . . . I don't believe in luck anymore. The bad luck incident is NOT going to happen, Lincoln. I swear. I don't even care if I win or lose the game."

Lincoln turned around and looked at her. His face was somewhat serious but calm.

"I know. You swore it would never happen, and I believe you, Lynn," Lincoln assured.

"Good. You don't even have to come if you don't want to," Lynn said.

"Really? Thanks. I was going to go to the park to draw in my sketchbook."

"Anything new?"

Lincoln pulled out his sketchbook and showed some new drawings. They were incredible.

"Yeah, I've been brainstorming some ideas for new characters and stories. I got an idea of space ronins and samurai with enchanted katanas," Lincoln said.

"Sounds cool, bro," Lynn said.

Then, a crashing sound erupted, followed by breaking wood. This startled the two siblings, and they rushed over to where the noise came from. They found Lucy with Lori and Luna on the floor. When they got up, Lynn's lucky baseball bat was broken, snapped in two.

Lynn gasped, "My bat! What did you guys do?!"

"Sorry, dudes. We didn't mean to," Luna said, getting up.

"What happened?" Lincoln asked.

"Lucy needed from the top shelf of the closet. It was heavy, and we both fell. Sorry about the bat, Lynn," Lori said.

Lynn looked down and held the broken pieces of her bat with a sad expression on her face. She had mixed feelings. She was sad that her lucky bat was broken, and she used it to win games – she even scored a few home runs with this bat. However, she also hated the bat because she threatened Lincoln with this bat in Lincoln's visions of where the bad luck incident happened.

"We can get you another one," Lincoln said as he touched her shoulder.

"It's fine. The team has plenty of them. I can use any of them," Lynn replied, getting up.

As soon as she and Lincoln walked out to throw away pieces of the broken bat, Lori and Luna fist-bumped with a smile. Lucy gave a thumbs up before checking off something on a list.

Then Luan walked in, and Luna asked, "Did you get her clothes?"

Luan held up a bottle that said 'Prank Products: Itchy Powder' and gave a thumbs up with a smile, "Her shirt, pants, and hat. I got it all. It'll take a while for it to start working, but when it does, she'll be itching like crazy."

"All we got to do is mess with Lynn's focus. She loses the game and doesn't believe it was Lincoln because he's not even there," Lori said.

They nodded in agreement.

Lincoln went to the park while his sisters and mother went with Lynn to her softball game. It was a beautiful day. Lincoln's artistic skill and talent continued to grow. When he finished his drawing, he took a moment to admire everything. The blue sky, the puffy clouds, the wind blowing against the trees. He felt happy. Lincoln closed his eyes to enjoy the warmth of the sunlight and inhaled the smell of the wind.

Then something strange happened. He felt energy and power flowing through his body. He opened his eyes and saw his chest glowing in a strange light. It was white mixed with glimpses of blue and green. The energy flowed throughout the rest of his body, his arms, his legs, and his head. His whole body was glowing. As Lincoln tried to control the power, his visions narrowed in front of him and then suddenly.

POOF

In an instant, a light flashed, and Lincoln was teleported to the other side of the field. He nearly lost his balance as he was standing. He looked around and then back at the bench he was sitting at near the trees where his satchel and sketchbook were – more than fifty yards.

"What the heck?! How did I do that?" Lincoln spoke.

He looked at his glowing hands and then back at the bench. He narrowed his sight back there and then concentrated. Then the same light flashed, and Lincoln was instantly zapped back to the bench.

Lincoln gasped with an excited smile, "Did I just teleport?! Sweet! But how?"

Lincoln could only guess that his future vision powers might have something to do with it. Perhaps his powers are linked to other powers. He wasn't sure, but perhaps Lisa knows. Lincoln reached for his satchel with his hands still glowing. Then the satchel glowed a light, and in the blink of an eye, it teleported off the ground and into Lincoln's hand. Lincoln gasped again.

"I can teleport himself and objects? This is awesome!"

Lincoln practiced his new powers at the park while being careful not to be seen. He zipped and zapped around at the speed of light like David Rice from the movie Jumper. Thinking about that movie gave Lincoln an idea. He focused on his house, concentrated, and in a few seconds, Lincoln found himself just outside his home. He was getting more excited by the minute. Then he thought of another place. The rooftop of the Casagrande's building. He concentrated, and the light flashed, and in a second, he was there!

"Whoo-hoo!" Lincoln cheered with his arms raised up in victory.

Lincoln ran downstairs but stopped and thought of a better idea. He teleported to the fire escape just outside of Ronnie Anne's window. He looked inside and saw her lying in bed, reading a comic book. He tapped on the window to get her attention. She looked up, and her eyes widened with surprise.

"Lincoln?!" Ronnie Anne spoke.

"Heya," Lincoln waved with a smile.

Ronnie Anne got up to open the window, "What are you—?"

Lincoln kept his smile and then teleported to behind Ronnie Anne. She gasped a scream as she spun around. She looked back at where he was outside the window and then back at him.

"What?! Wait. How did—?! I saw—?! How did you do that?!" Ronnie Anne questioned.

"I got new powers! I can teleport!" Lincoln answered excitedly.

Lincoln explained everything and showed her. For the rest of the day, he showed off his new powers, teleporting Ronnie Anne and himself from one place to the next. Lincoln even showed Clyde and Stella. Like Ronnie Anne, they were both utterly amazed. Clyde even fainted.

Lincoln rested Clyde on the couch and showed his new drawings to his girlfriend and other best friend.

"I can't tell which is more amazing, your new powers or your drawings," Stella said while looking at her boyfriend's sketchbook.

"I'd say his powers, but these are excellent. Snowflake, you're going places and not just literally because of your powers," Ronnie Anne stated.

Lincoln smiled confidently.

Earlier

While Lincoln, Lynn, Lily, and Rita were sleeping, the sisters hosted a sibling meeting in secret.

"Okay, they're sleeping," Luan whispered as they closed the door.

"You literally better have a good reason for calling a sibling meeting this time of hour," Lori said, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, dudes. Of course I do. It's about Lynn. Tomorrow's her baseball game. You know, the one where Lincoln warned us about the Bad Luck Incident where we all turn on each on him, and that spirals out of control, and it ruins this family forever!" Luna stated.

"But it's not going to happen. We all saw the light orb change color after Lincoln told us the truth and showed us his powers," Leni said.

"That's true, but Lincoln said nothing was written in stone. He said all the visions were possible futures," Lana countered.

"So?"

"So, anything could change. What if something happens, and Lynn suddenly believes in luck again and blames it all on Lincoln? What if she uses Lincoln's future vision powers as an excuse to justify her claim that he's bad luck?" Lola argued.

Lori opened her mouth and was about to say something but stopped and then slowly glanced away, "That . . . actually is a possibility, and we all know what a poor sport Lynn is."

"Yeah, and those luck rituals she randomly makes up, like tying her shoelaces and untying them repeatedly," Luna said.

"Throwing mud over her shoulder," Lana added.

"Running around Vanzilla, certain street names that she refuses to go on," Luan listed.

"It's like a religion with her. She just made up most of them on the spot," Luna stated in an annoyed tone.

Lucy gasped, and everyone turned to her.

"FLIBBR," Lucy spoke.

"What?" Lori asked.

"Lynn's FLIBBR. Each letter stands for a sport. Football, lacrosse, ice hockey, baseball, basketball, and roller derby. She's won a championship for each one, except baseball and basketball. With each sport, she wins a championship, she fills in a letter on her arm, and the ones she hasn't won are just outlined letters," Lucy explained.

"So, she's dedicated to filling in her letters?" Luna asked.

"Yes! She'll go whatever distance to win no matter how over the top!"

The sisters were quiet for a moment as they thought.

Then Lori broke the silence, "According to Lincoln's visions, the bad luck incident happens because Lynn loses her game and blames Lincoln, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. Then that's when things spiral out of control, and you know the rest, but we're not going to let Lynn force Lincoln to sleep outside," Luan said.

"Okay, Lincoln is going to be with himself to draw, so he won't be at the game," Lori said.

"So?" Lana asked.

"So, if Lynn loses, then it's no one's fault, but what will she think if she wins? What if she thinks Lincoln is bad luck and won because he wasn't there?"

Everyone gasped with fear in their eyes.

"Oh no, we can't let that happen!" Lisa exclaimed.

"We don't want to lose our Linky!" the twins stated sorrowfully.

"We won't!" Luna stated seriously, "I won't let that happen. Mark my words, dudes."

"So, what do we do?" Lucy asked.

"We need to make sure that no matter what, Lynn loses the game," Lori stated, "But the question is how do we do that?"

Luan sighed, "I know how, but that means bringing my old pranking ways."

"Guys! Guys, wait! Are you sure all that will happen? We don't know that Lynn will win the game. Even if she does, we don't know that she'll believe all that. Don't you remember how upset she was when Lincoln showed us his powers at the hospital?" Leni asked.

Lori placed her hands on Leni's shoulders, "Of course we do. But are you really willing to risk Lincoln's well-being for Lynn's sake over a stupid game? Don't you remember how he ended up in the hospital in the first place? After he got hit by a car when he tried to run away from home?"

Leni showed conflicting emotions as she tried to speak but couldn't find the words. Then she dropped her head down with a bummed-out face.

"We can't risk Lincoln's well-being for Lynn's stupid game. He's more important than that. I know it's mean, but we have to protect Lincoln . . . even from Lynn. Do you understand, Leni?" Lori asked.

Leni stayed still for a moment before begrudgingly nodding.

"Good," Lori said.

Later

They arrived at the game, and Lynn changed into her baseball clothes. Someone shouted good luck to the girls, and that made Lynn freeze and almost have a panic attack, but she narrowly shook it off. By the second ending, that's when the itchy powder was taking effect and driving her crazy. She couldn't throw straight or catch a ball. She ran over to the drink cooler and dumped the whole five gallons of water on herself. It was pretty humiliating as everyone was laughing at her.

When Lynn was pitching, the sisters timed it to yell or make someone else shout as Lynn threw the ball. It messed her up and threw her off as she messed up the ball. Luan coated one of the balls with sticky material. When she threw the ball, it stretched out of her hand like a rubber band. Then it returned and hit her right in the face, giving her a black eye. The sisters and Rita cringed at Lynn in pain – it looked like it hurt like Hell. Her frustration and anger boiled as she stomped the stretched-out material and ripped it off her hand before getting another ball.

"Oh, man. I am so sorry, Lynn," Luan whispered.

Luna placed her hand on Luan's shoulder, "It had to be done, dude. This will all be worth it in the long run."

Luan moaned a sigh, "I guess sometimes you gotta be cruel to be kind."

Lynn threw one ball after another, making the other team walk the bases. She threw a fit when the coach called her off the field.

She wasn't any better with batting, either. She'd either strike out or hit a ball for someone to catch it. She groaned and growled. Seeing this ached Leni's heart, but she swallowed her pride, reminding herself it was all for Lincoln's safety. Lori saw her and held her hand. With each sabotage, Lucy checked them on their list in her notebook.

Lisa slipped some sleeping pills into Lynn's water bottle. It wasn't enough to make her fall asleep, but enough to make her drowsy and throw her focus and depth perception off. This caused her to trip on one of the bases, and the other threw the ball at her base before she could return, making her out.

"Last ending and Lynn's team is down by eight points. Just a little while longer," Lori said.

It was Lynn's turn to step to the plate. The bases were loaded with two outs. One more out, and the game would be over. Lynn had two strikes and three balls. One more strike, and it's all over. The sisters all held their breath and had everything crossed. It felt strange that they were wishing for their sister to lose a game.

Lynn huffed and puffed as she took her stance at the plate. She waved her bat around to loosen her arms. She was so angry that she had cracks in her eyes. The pitcher prepared as her windup. She threw the ball, and Lynn swung her . . . and missed. The umpire hollered strike three, and she was out. The other team and their families cheered. The Loud sisters let out a breath of relief, feeling that they had protected Lincoln.

Meanwhile, Lynn was sulking in defeat. She wasn't feeling bad that they lost. Well, she did, but that wasn't the main reason. She was feeling bad because she wasn't at her best, and she had a feeling that all the crap that happened to her during the game wasn't a coincidence. After she showered and changed into her regular clothes, she met her family outside.

"Hey sweetie, you feeling okay?" Rita asked.

"I'm fine," Lynn replied.

"You sure?"

"Yeah! Guys, it was just a game. It's not a big deal. I don't like losing as much as the next person, but that's life."

"Yeah, you especially don't like to lose," Lana commented, rolling her eyes.

Lynn stopped and turned to face her, "What does that mean?"

"Oh, you know full well what she means, ya sore loser," Lola jabbed.

"Lola!" Leni spoke in disbelief.

"Is there something you want to say to me?" Lynn asked.

"No, we got nothing to say. Do you?" Lucy asked.

"Okay, girls. That's enough! Everyone get into the van. We're going home," Rita ordered.

As everyone got ready to go home, they entered the van. Lynn threw her sports gear and clothes in the back, but she saw Lucy throw out a page, crumble it, and throw it in a trash bin, missing it. She'd never seen Lucy do that. Out of curiosity, Lynn went over to pick it up while they weren't looking. What she saw stunned her. It wasn't a poem. It was a checklist, and the title of the page said:

Operation: Sabotage Lynn