Some time shortly after the aggressive altercation between the two siblings, Viribus was confronted by a regretful and doubtful Lynn in his hideout, who had a few queries to address...
"Hey." she greeted him.
"Hi." he replied. "You don't look too happy." He then pointed out.
"Yeah. The thing is, I had a falling out with my bro."
"Why?"
"I was just trying to teach him the same things that you taught me, but he doesn't want to know." she said.
"I see."
"It's just that... ugh! My brother, he's like the kindest, nicest, most decent guy you could ever meet..." she began to explain.
"But that's what you're worried about?" he immediately deducted.
"Well, yeah! He's not ready for the real world, I'm worried that somebody will prey on him for that!" she said.
"And you should be. It's like I told you. Whether you like it or not, the world is like a big jungle. Either you adapt, and grow stronger, and become the alpha predator that all others live to fear and follow, or you become a helpless prey and get metaphorically eaten alive. I learned that the hard way, and so did you." he reminded her.
"That's what I said to him!" she insisted. "But he just thought I was nuts. I then tried to force him to do it, but *sigh* we ended up in a fight... and I hurt him." she said with an element of regret in her voice.
"Lynn, those who have never suffered at the hands of others like we have don't understand our way of thinking. Our need to beat others, our need to dominate, our urge to rise up above everyone else and establish ourselves as elite beings!" he began to rant, before immediately calming himself back down again. "Ahem, what I'm trying to say, Lynn, is that he may need to learn the hard way, like we did, before he is willing to accept our help. After all, if I came to you before you started middle school and told you what I have, what do you think your reaction would have been then?" he asked her.
"Well, when you put it like that..." she said, still a little unsure in her own mind about everything she had just recently been told.
He walked over to her and quietly said, "Just know this... I'm looking out for you. I know you feel a little uncertain about everything I've told you, but it's the right way of thinking. People are evil, selfish, hateful creatures. One day I hope to enhance our species so its worst traits are removed forever. But until then, the only way to ensure that you don't become their next target is to become stronger than them all. That's the only effective way of protecting yourself. Maybe you were a little harsh on your brother, but you were only looking out for him. Isn't that what a big sister should do for her brother?" he then tried to rationalize her behaviour. "Sometimes tough love is the best love you can give someone."
He then walked away, believing his manipulation of Lynn had been maintained. However, Lynn still remained weary of his words... she was beginning to wonder if aligning herself with this man was her best option.
The Loud's Finest Hour
Chapter Five: Ensnared
The Loud family entered the resort and found themselves in what appeared to be an empty reception room.
"So, where is everybody?" Lola asked.
"This is weird." said Lana.
"I don't know, dudes." Luna said as she looked around the room, before noticing a bell on the front desk. "Hey, maybe we just need to get their attention." she then said as she rang it.
*Ding Ding*
"Hello, anybody home?! We want a room for thirteen!" Lola shouted loudly.
Finally, someone showed up. It was a middle-aged man wearing a fancy tuxedo. He had greying hair and a grey mustache. "Hello, fine ladies and gentlemen. My name is Mr Jeffries. Welcome to Ensnared."
"Look sir, I'm gonna be blunt. Does this place have a top-of-the-range spa room like advertised?" Lola came out and asked him.
"Yeah, and does that spa have a mud pool?" Lana questioned.
"Oh, I assure you, you'll get everything that's coming to you in this place. We offer everything advertised in the brochure and then some. Trust me, you'll be positively 'enthralled' by the end of the night."
Lisa then spoke up. "Actually, referring to what is advertised in your pamphlet, I'd like to raise a query concerning your slogan. It's in very small print on the back page. I have to say… it's a peculiar choice of words."
She held up the back page and drew his attention to the slogan in question: "A resort that will get you so hooked, you'll feel like you can't leave."
"What? We thought it stood out. We want to raise eyebrows and get curious customers coming down to our resort. Besides, our aim here is to please all our guests so that they feel like they can't leave this place because it's too good!" Mr Jeffries enthusiastically explained. "Anyway, don't worry about all that. Let me give you a tour of the place. I'm sure you'll be most impressed with what we have to offer."
Mr Jeffries then lured the Loud family out of the reception and into a hallway...
"Oh, by the way, we have a few pets back in the van. Does this resort have room for animals?" Lynn Sr asked the man.
"Of course. We accommodate customers with all different needs. We'll be sure to take care of your animal companions once we've helped you 'settle in'." Mr Jeffries assured him. "So, how long do you plan on staying?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe about a week." Rita said.
"Or maybe two." Luan stated.
"I'm not sure. It really depends on how long we need to lay low." Lincoln said.
"Oh, is there something wrong?" Mr Jeffries asked with an ever-so-innocent tone.
"Well, we don't want to bore you with all the details..." Lori nervously replied.
"But to put it bluntly, we're walking targets. There's a faction of devious characters out for our blood." Lisa then stated.
"LISA!" the other Louds told her off.
Rita then awkwardly tried to downplay her claim. "Oh, little Lisa here always exaggerates these things." she said as she playfully ruffled her daughter's messy hair. "I assure you, sir, we're in no such danger."
But Mr Jeffries, to their surprise, replied with a calm "Oh, it's no matter. If you need a place to lay low because of people coming after you, you've come to the right place. After all, we have very good security in here. I promise you that no one either gets in or out of this place without our say-so." he then said with an affable tone.
"What security, dude?" Luna asked.
"Yeah, we just walked in here." Lori said.
"Oh, they're certainly around. Don't worry about that." Mr Jeffries assured them.
"Wow, this is so generous of you, sir. Thank you!" Lynn Sr congratulated him.
"Yeah, call me impressed that you'd still have us even after we told you that." Lincoln stated.
"Hey! Where's the spa?! All I'm seeing here are tons of hallways with lots of boring rooms!" Lola blurted out as she continued to walk and observed her surprisingly mundane and clinical surroundings.
"Pfft. Speak for yourself, sister. Some of these rooms contain quite fascinating inclusions for those with a more scientific mindset. Say, is that a planetary atmospheric terraforming prototype ray in there?" Lisa asked in awe.
A clueless Mr Jeffries then replied, "Erm, yeah, I think so. We do have a science facility in this place, too. Like I said, we accommodate customers with all kinds of needs and hobbies."
"Well, I'm just hoping that the rock band is on tonight. I'm in the mood to start jammin'!" an excited Luna said aloud.
"So, where is our room?" Lynn Sr asked.
"Oh, you'll each get your own room." the man replied. "In fact, we'll be keeping a close eye on you meddling brats all night!" he then said with a much more blatantly menacing tone as he suddenly removed his disguise and revealed himself to be Jeff Miller.
The Louds gasped in shock while Lincoln shouted, "Dang it! Not again!"
The Loud family was then suddenly surrounded by all its enemies. They were trapped in a confined space, with hostile adversaries staring them down. As one could expect for such a headstrong and naturally aggressive group, the Louds raised their fists and prepared to defend themselves... but it was useless, as their enemies were carrying weaponry.
"Eat phosphine gas, lame-o's!" Hank said as he and the rest of the villainous alliance blasted diluted gas at the Loud family. While the concentration was too weak to be fatal, it was enough to quickly cause them to pass out. The villains stepped away after blasting it to avoid being affected themselves.
Lincoln was the last to fall asleep from the dosage. His eyes slowly shut as the last sight he saw was of his parents and siblings lying motionless on the floor as a hazy mist surrounded them all.
Doctor Linnaeus, ALT-Albert, and Viribus then joined their underlings moments after the attack. "Well, it looks like you've managed to do something right. Well done, everyone. Now help Doctor Linnaeus place them into the machines while they're still unconscious."
Lincoln soon woke up, but he was surrounded by an empty void of utter blackness. He looked around, scared as he believed something would jump out of the darkness and strike him down. He eventually summoned up the courage to ask, "Where am I? What's going on?"
He initially heard no response, but after a few seconds, he began to hear a very faint sound. It sounded like... laughter.
"Erm, who's there?" he asked nervously.
The rest of his family were also all going through the same experience. Each of them was surrounded by unending darkness as they stood alone in their own separate voids. However, eventually shadows and figures started to emerge from their dark surroundings. For example, Lori was confronted with a vision of herself from the past. Specifically, from a time when she was much harsher on her siblings, complete with the drill sergeant outfit she used to wear when she was left in charge during her mom and dad's absence.
"Wait... is that?" Lori asked as her past self sternly approached her.
"You worthless failure!" the vision of herself harshly told her.
"What?"
"You, Lori Loud, are an absolute disgrace!" the drill sergeant Lori then started talking her down. The oldest Loud sibling could tell she was in for a verbal bashing from her own past self.
Leni was confronted by visions of her best friends, Miguel and Fiona, as well as her employer, Ms Carmichael. None of them looked too pleased with her.
"Erm... hello?" Leni waved awkwardly at them.
But the trio did not wave back. Instead, they surrounded her and angrily stared her down. She could tell they did not intend to be friendly with her.
"Leni, I'm afraid because of your limited capacities as an employee of Reininger's, we're going to have to let you go." the boss said ever so coldly.
"What?! But why?" an upset Leni asked to know.
Luna encountered a vision of her bandmate and girlfriend, Sam Sharp. Sam had an upset and teary facial expression as she approached Luna.
"Hey Sam, what's up?" a concerned Luna walked over and softly asked her, placing her hand on her shoulder as if to try and comfort her.
But Sam then spoke up and said the most dreadful words Luna could ever hear. "I'm sorry. You and me... we're over."
"WHAT!?"
Luan was approached by her boyfriend, who was wearing his Burpin' Burger work uniform. He was also accompanied by their manager, Andre, and a still wheelchair-bound Otis. "Hi, Benny." she cheerfully greeted him. "Boy, aren't you a sight for sore eyes." she then said, but her happy exterior quickly diminished when she noticed they weren't happy with her. "Erm... Benny?"
But Benny folded his arms and harshly replied, "What a joke!"
"Huh?" a confused Luan muttered.
"You, Luan! He means you!" Andre told her.
"I actually convinced Andre to let you work with us at the restaurant. What was I thinking?! Actually, scratch that... what was I thinking when I decided to become YOUR boyfriend?!" Benny then harshly told her, causing a tear to form in the little comedian's eye.
Lynn Junior was greeted not by one of her friends, coaches, or family members, but by... a mirror.
Initially, the mirror functioned as a normal mirror would. As she waved her hands around, it reflected her movements. However, after a moment, the reflected image of herself began to speak. "Sup?" her reflection nonchalantly asked her.
"Woah, what?!" Lynn blurted out in shock.
"Surprised to see me?" the reflection then asked her as its clothes began to turn darker and her eyes began to develop black circles around them... similar to how she would look when entering her 'packing day' mode.
"Wha...? NO!" a terrified Lynn shouted as she saw her own inner demons emerge before her very eyes. Much like Lori, it appeared Lynn's biggest mental challenge was overcoming her own personal shortcomings, but could she do it?
Lucy was confronted by a crying and distraught Haiku, as well as a zombie version of Haiku's recently departed grandmother, Preta.
"Preta?! How are you even alive? Haiku, how is your grandmother..." a surprised and shocked Lucy went to ask, but was abruptly cut off.
"Lucy, what are we?" Haiku asked her.
"What?"
"Why do we worship this gory, grim stuff? Look at her, Lucy. Is this really the kind of thing you believe deserves our praise?" Haiku then questioned her as Lucy continued to gaze at the unearthly corpse of the deceased Preta that stood before her.
In Lana's inner psyche, it wasn't anyone familiar that emerged from the black void in front of her... it was a complete stranger. A middle-aged woman wearing a medical outfit.
"Hello, young lady. My name is Doctor Queasie. I'm afraid I have some rather alarming news for you." she said with such a cold and clinical vocal tone.
"What is it?" a now slightly worried Lana asked her.
"It's your health. It's taking a turn for the worse."
"What?! But why?"
The doctor then explained her condition. "You see, your family informed me of all your activities. The disgusting eating habits, the defecating in the woods, all the playing you do in the mud, your unusual fondness of filtering through trash... my diagnosis dictates you have every single poor hygiene-related disease in the book. Tinea pedis, body lice, dental caries, lymphatic filariasis, otitis externa, pseudomonas dermatitis, pinworms..."
"Again with the pinworm stuff! What has everybody got against worms?!" Lana yelled in frustration.
Meanwhile, her twin was greeted by some familiar faces. Her pageant peers Chinah, Jackie, Claudette, and even the international legend Cricket Van Doren all walked towards her with smug, condescending looks on their faces.
"Well well well..." Cricket said.
"If it isn't little Miss Lola Loud?" Chinah then followed.
"Oh, I'm sorry, who again?" Claudette then asked.
"No matter. She's just a lowly 'local' competitor." Jackie said.
"Oh, right. The rank amateur." Cricket then said with a degree of arrogance in her voice, which was rather uncharacteristic for her.
"Hey! Cut it out!" Lola angrily told them off, but to no avail. The four girls all pointed and laughed at her, which made her angry, but also very upset. She hated being verbally preyed on by her own friends like this.
Lisa saw visions of her friends, Darcy and David, who came up to her for a discussion. Darcy had a sad look on her face, while David was sporting a more annoyed expression. "Erm, hello friends. What are you both doing here? And why in Einstein are we in this seemingly endless black void?" Lisa greeted them. "Hmm, let me think. The last thing I can remember before waking up here was..." Lisa tried to deduct, but she was interrupted...
"Lisa, why do you never play horsie with me?" Darcy spoke up.
"I'm sorry?"
"What she's really asking is why do you never play or hang out with any of us?!" David aggressively interrogated her.
"Yeah, you never want to spend time with me! I thought you were my friend!" Darcy then suddenly got angrier and verbally lashed out.
"I... erm, it's just that my lifestyle and field of work doesn't normally allow me that much leisure time. I do try to spend social bonding time windows with you when possible. It's just that..."
"What?! Your studies matter more than the people in your life?! Is that it?!" David questioned, to which Lisa was unable to provide an immediate answer.
"Miss Lily, you are a very bad girl!" the youngest sister heard from the darkness as she also observed her dark and empty surroundings.
"Who's there?" Lily asked out loud with her limited speech capability.
It was Aidan, the well-behaved and mannered young boy whom she had met a few times before.
"Well Miss Lily, I have to say that you take after your siblings, alright! You are foul-tempered, aggressive, and absolutely chaotic! Your family is out of control, and you are following in their footsteps!" Aidan harshly said to her.
"Hey! You leave them alone!" Lily tried to argue back.
"Oh, don't deny the truth, little girl." Aidan smugly replied.
A worried Lynn Sr quickly began to ask where the most important people in his life were. "Honey? Kids? Where the heck are you guys?!"
"So, Loud? Having fun being the worst father of the year?" suddenly spoke a familiar voice.
"Huh?" he blurted out in surprise and confusion.
Suddenly, he was greeted by his neighbour and most frequent critic, Bud Grouse.
"Oh, hey Mr Grouse." he said politely. "By any chance, do you happen to know where in the ding dang world we are?"
"Yeah... you're in a world of deep trouble, that's where!" Grouse bluntly replied.
Rita was going through a similar experience to her husband, though the one confronting her in the imaginary void was actually her boss, Jesse.
"Honestly, Rita. Now I know where you get all your ideas for your books from." she said as she walked over and spat at her.
"Erm, where?" Rita asked her.
"From your bizarre home life!" Jesse told her. "Your children are so wild and untamed! Clearly, the fault lies with the parent. Obviously, you and your husband have been doing a pretty subpar job raising them. How does it feel to be the mother of eleven wild little hellraisers?"
"Hey, Jesse! You may be my boss, but if you speak that way about my children again, you're gonna feel this mother's wrath!" Rita then aggressively threatened her as she raised her fist.
"Oh, that's it, isn't it? THAT'S where they get their wild fire from, right? They all get it from you!" Jesse venomously spat at the Loud mother, causing her to feel a little guilty and insecure as she believed her harsh boss may actually have a valid point.
The villains' waited around in one of the hallways, observing the Louds in their different rooms via various cameras that had been placed all around the complex. They had to keep an eye on them, though they were also watching partly just because they wanted to see the Louds suffer. Watching their unconscious bodies squeal and squirm whilst connected to their hallucination machines brought the villains a sense of pleasure that they weren't ashamed to embrace.
"Well, looks like little Miss Luna Loud got exactly what was coming to her." Doug said as he observed Luna's suffering on screen.
"Yes. It feels good to get even with these brats." Michelle said.
"Yeah, especially her!" Taylor added.
"What? You know Luna Loud, too?" Michelle asked.
"Yeah, me and her used to hang out in middle school, but then she moved to high school and I stayed behind after I flunked the eighth grade. Ever since then, she thought she was too good for me. That pixie-haired dork deserves this!"
"Yeah, and her lame sisters, too!" Anderson said. "Especially that little pint-size Lynn, always strutting around the hallways in school, thinking she's so tough!" he then continued as he glanced over at Lynn's room. "It was so nice when she stopped taking the bus. It gave us a chance to run things in there for a while."
"Until that jerk Lincoln and his friends ruined it for us!" Pablo added. "Except Gurdle, I guess he's okay."
"Yeah, he's alright." Taylor agreed.
"You always were a complete lame-o, Lincoln. Honestly, it's pretty fun watching you squirm like this." Chandler said to himself as he observed his rival through the screen.
Ryan then approached him and asked, "What's your beef with him, anyway?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, me and my family hate him because he stopped us from destroying all the cherries in Michigan. You?"
"Eh... I just think he's lame." Chandler answered.
A surprised and somewhat disappointed Ryan simply replied, "What, that's it?"
"Yeah. I mean, he's always been kind of pathetic. The first time I really talked to him was when he tried to get an invitation to my birthday party. Ha, he's always been so desperate." Chandler recalled.
"So, why does that make you hate his guts so much?"
"Well, sometime after that, we had a little business at a haunted house, and Lincoln kinda became cool with me and my friends. But then I just couldn't get over how much of a lame dork he really was. I mean, he appeared at a soap box derby with his sister in a bathtub with wheels that they had the nerve to call a homemade car. Ha ha ha ha, what an idiot." he began to rant. "But then all my friends, other than Trent, started thinking I was a jerk just for picking on him, since they thought he was 'okay' all of a sudden. Ever since middle school, people have been hanging around with me a lot less... and it's all that stupid Lincoln Lame's fault!" he finished rambling as an angry vocal tone became apparent at the end of his last sentence.
"Oh, right." Hank sarcastically replied.
"And I guess everyone figuring out that you're a bratty, arrogant, big-headed punk had nothing to do with it, huh?" Anderson also teased, making it clear that even the other school bullies thought very little of him.
A now angry Chandler reacted more bravely and aggressively than he would normally. "Screw you, jerk!" he said as he violently shoved Anderson.
However, Chandler's anger quickly transformed into fear once he realized he had just ticked off a much bigger, tougher kid. Anderson went to punch him in the face, but Chandler ducked in time, causing Anderson to hit Hank instead.
"Why you?!" Hank shouted as he pounced towards Anderson and the two began fighting. Their friends then joined in the scuffle as Taylor and Pablo started grappling with Hawk, while Chandler, the cause of the altercation, stepped back and tried to avoid being sucked into the brawl himself.
Their adult colleagues did not look too impressed with this immature display. Vic just facepalmed himself while Guy said, "You know, this stuff is fun to watch on TV, but here it's just embarrassing."
"I can't believe I'm associating myself with these little fools!" Joyce said to Morag, who just sighed in disgust and replied, "Don't I know it."
"I was President of the Tour Guide Association for the White House, and now I'm here, watching THIS?!" The Bulldog asked himself in frustration.
Doug and Michelle just decided to turn around, ignore the altercation, and begin gossiping amongst themselves instead.
"I'm sure glad you're more mature than that, son." Jeff said to Ryan as the Miller family also expressed annoyance with the immaturity of their new allies.
"Subject 927, split those cretins up." Linnaeus ordered Babs with a slightly irritated, otherwise deadpan tone as she left the hallway.
"Okay, chumps! Break it up!" Babs shouted as she ran over to deal with the fighting teenagers.
Doctor Linnaeus walked into one of her lab rooms, where she was joined by ALT-Albert. She just covered her face with her palm and asked, "Why did we even bother with any of this? We surely could have dealt with the Louds without the need of aligning ourselves with those dolts." she said.
"Eh, maybe so, but who cares? At least together, we've finally beaten that family of meddling brats!" he reminded her.
Slightly cheered up by those words, Linnaeus turned to face ALT-Albert and said, "You know, what you're seeing in this room... these are some of my most innovative and advanced inventions?"
"Really?"
"Yes." she confirmed as she started walking around and briefing him on each of them. "This here is my 'infinite oxygen tank'. Put it on and you can breathe almost endlessly in outer space."
"How so?" he asked, intrigued.
"Well, empty space is essentially a vacuum, which means there is no air. But there are tiny gas and dust particles floating around. This technology converts that into nitrogen and oxygen that enables the user to continue breathing indefinitely."
"If that is true, that's quite remarkable. I can't begin to imagine how you created that."
"Then we have this invention here. This is one I'm really proud of. I call it the 'viral terraformer'. It's exactly what it says on the tin. Hypothetically, since I've never had the chance to actually test it on another planet, if one were to bring it to, say, Mars, and activate it, the machine would emit a 'virus', for lack of a better term, that would spread around the planet's atmosphere and convert whatever it was made of into a composed mixture that replicates the atmosphere found here on earth."
"Wait, really?! How come no one has ever officially tested this, then?! If people gave you more attention doc, the humans of your world could probably become a Type III civilization within the next hundred years!" ALT-Albert openly expressed his impressed thoughts.
"Yes, I know..." Linnaeus agreed through gritted teeth. "But all those snobs in the scientific community shunned me out because my methods were too 'inhuman'. Bah, this is science! There's no room for all that nonsense in the field of science!"
"Yeah, I know the feeling..." the old man remarked, also knowing what it was like to have his methods and achievements get rejected by the world due to unethical implications.
"Dr J, Dr Alvarez... all of them! They all phased me out of the community simply for being more unorthodox with my methods. Imbeciles! My genius exceeded all of theirs tenfold, but they still thought they were too good for me! They rejected me!" she then vented, before turning on a monitor that contained live footage of Lisa Loud's room. "But not her. They all think the world of Lisa Loud, the young prodigy!" she said as her words reeked of jealousy.
"What? You mean my granddaughter from this universe?"
"The very same. I bet she thinks she's so smart! Constantly getting so much praise at such an early age! But no matter... that brings me to my greatest invention." she then said as she pointed at a large machine that had two seats and two pieces of headwear equipment that were positioned opposite each other.
"What is it?" ALT-Albert asked.
"This is my Mind Battle machine. It takes two combatants and places them against each other. It takes all their intelligence and brain power and converts it into raw energy. The one with the superior energy overpowers and exhausts the other into submission. In short... the greater genius always wins." Linnaeus menacingly declared.
"Well, that's pretty impressive, too."
"You know? Part of me hopes that Lisa actually makes it through the hallucination process in one piece. Before this is all over, and Viribus has won, I'd like to settle the score with young Lisa, and prove to her that I possess the superior intellect, once and for all!"
Back in the hallway, the fighting had stopped thanks to Babs, and the group of villains had calmed down just in time for Viribus to come and speak with them.
"Well, it looks like things are going just as we planned." he said.
"That's right! Now those Louds are history!" Morag bragged.
"Good. Then I'll leave them in your capable hands." Viribus suddenly announced.
"Wait, what?" a surprised Chandler asked.
"You all know what we're really trying to achieve here. I have a couple of quick meetings to attend to. Then Carol, Albert, and I will be departing for Royal Woods. We intend to be there in the morning when we make our move."
"So, what? You want us to stay here all night?" Taylor questioned.
"Yeah, it's getting late. I have to be home soon!" Hawk said as Hank nodded.
Viribus sighed to himself before telling them, "Look, kids. Just tell your parents you're staying at a friend's house for a sleepover or something, I don't really care. The queries of your juvenile lives honestly couldn't concern me less." he told the young members of the faction, before redirecting his attention back to the group as a whole. "You all wanted revenge on the Louds. Now you have it. Surely, it's worth staying up and waiting through one single night to finally see it through. Besides, that was part of this whole arrangement. I need you to keep an eye on them. If somehow they break out of the hallucination machines, you can all be here to make sure they don't leave this place tonight! I need them out of the way until our plan is in motion! After that... it'll be too late for them to stop us anyway."
"Meaning?" Joyce asked.
"Let's just say... tomorrow will be the start of a brand new world." he ominously replied.
Viribus then walked out and left the other villains to continue observing the Louds as they suffered through their own individual psychological nightmares.
While all this was happening to the Loud family, Ronnie Anne had gathered her family back in her apartment. It was getting late, but there would be no bedtime for this family as Ronnie Anne had some very critical information to share with her loved ones.
"I spoke with Punguari earlier today. She somehow hacked into my phone and talked to me. She says we need to help her."
"Wait, you mean the Demi-God we met back in Mexico?" Carl questioned.
"I was starting to think all that was just a crazy dream I had." Hector remarked.
"No, it was real, and so is this." Ronnie Anne then said as she turned on the television, which immediately showed Punguari on it.
"Ronnie Anne!" Punguari said to her sadly, with tears in her eyes.
"Punguari, what's wrong?" a concerned Ronnie Anne asked.
"We have to act fast! It's my mom and dad!" she said as she showed the Casagrande family her two parents, still lying on the grass, looking more frail and weak than ever.
As a result of losing all their godly essence, Chipiri and Sisiki now looked old. They were aging rapidly as a result of effectively becoming mortal.
"My parents aren't going to last that much longer if we don't find this Viribus guy and get back their godly powers right now!"
"But how do we find him?" Carlos Sr pondered.
"The guy liked to talk, a lot. I expect when he's ready to make his move, he'll make it public." Punguari claimed.
"And in the meantime, we'll get the help of everyone we know. There are quite a few people both in this city and back in Royal Woods who owe us a few favours." Ronnie Anne said.
"Everyone in this city, rallied together?" Maria entertained the idea.
"Wow, I'd hate to be this Viribus character right now." Rosa said confidently as she and the others knew just how much of a force the people of Great Lakes City could be when gathered together.
"So, we just need to go and knock on everyone's door and get them ready to fight with us." Carl said.
"Well, we're sure going to be popular tonight." Hector sarcastically remarked as he knew some of their neighbours wouldn't appreciate being disturbed late at night… but then again, an emergency like this dictated it was a necessity.
Just like the Louds, the Casagrandes were not a family that just rolled over and gave in. But they would have to act fast, even in the depths of the night, to be able to counter the plans of this fearsome foe.
Author's Footnote:
Not much else to say for now. Hopefully, you're all still enjoying the slightly tweaked version of this story. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on v2 so far.