! PROOFREADER'S WARNING: Cold openings (the part before the title) will no longer carry flashbacks. Do not skip them anymore if you were, as you will miss out on more important events. !
Several robotic entities stepped out of the portal, clearly hostile and ready to attack the Loud family.
"What in the heck are those things?!" Luan shouted.
"GET BACK!" Asherah warned them.
Just then, one of the robots fired the laser cannon on its arm at Lincoln.
"Woah!" he yelled as he just barely dodged the blast in time.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Fifi exclaimed as she hid under the table.
The Loud family then heeded Asherah's instructions and tried to avoid the robots' fire.
"We're trapped in here!" Rita yelled frantically as she tried to open the door to no avail.
"Do something!" Vic told them.
"Yeah, I don't wanna die…" Hawk whimpered.
"I know we don't really get along... BUT PLEASE SAVE US!" Joyce desperately shouted.
But while the bundle of captured villains pleaded for their lives, the Louds could only duck and hide away from the robots while Asherah ran across the room, searching in all the drawers and under all the tables and surfaces for something.
"Asherah, get down!" Lisa told her.
But Asherah was too busy searching the lab room's cupboards for something she needed. "Not in here, dang it!" she muttered to herself.
At that point, one of the three robots turned to face the group of tied-up, defenseless villains. They knew they were goners as their alliance with their master, Viribus, was no longer required. They were now just more humans for it to eradicate.
"Screw those villainous clowns! I say we make a break for it!" Lola exclaimed as she made her way to the door, only for one of the robots to use its rocket boosters to quickly block the doorway before anyone could get out. Lola gulped nervously as she realised there was no escape.
"What now, dudes?!" a terrified Luna shrieked.
Lynn and Maxie jumped off a table and executed a double dropkick on one of the robots to knock it off balance. Babs then used the enhanced strength she had from her power vest to physically lift it and toss it into a wall. Catching on to this success, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lana, and Lola used their combined strength to floor another robot. The twins then high-fived each other, confident they stood a chance against these androids.
However, the robots quickly crushed such confidence by firing with more gusto than before, forcing everyone to retreat to the nearest cover in the room.
However, just as their chances of survival seemed nonexistent…
"Eureka! I've got it!" Asherah then shouted ecstatically as she found her most precious invention.
"A crystal ball?" Lucy asked.
"What good is a prop going to do-GAHHH!" Lori quickly dived under an oncoming laser blast.
"Don't worry, everyone! Viribus may have friends from beyond your reality... but so do I!" Asherah asserted as she used her crystal ball device and opened a blue portal of her own.
Everyone in the room stared in anticipation for someone or something to step out. Even the robots ceased fire and aimed their blasters at the portal…
The Loud's Finest Hour
Chapter Nine: Universal Unity
! PROOFREADER'S WARNING: The cold opening, or part before the title, was NOT a flashback this time, and this will be the case for the rest of the story. !
"CHARGE!" Familiar voices rang out from the other side of the portal… wherever that was.
"Wait!" Lincoln gasped.
"Is that...?" Lynn tried to ask before fierce battle cries echoed again through the portal, cutting her off.
One boy, ten girls, and two adults, all armed to the teeth, dove through the portal, and it quickly became clear. The help Asherah referred to-was none other than the Loud family members themselves.
The Louds stood back and watched in awe as these battle-ready versions of themselves took it to the monstrous metal demons.
"Woah!" Lana and Lola marvelled as they saw their alternate counterparts approach the robot guarding the door for a showdown. ALT-Lola used her archery skills to fire her signature diamond arrow right into the metal monster's chest, causing it to shut down and collapse.
"Yeah!" the alternate Lana crowed as she and Lola high-fived each other.
The second robot turned away from the villains and approached ALT-Lynn, who was using crutches to walk. However, this version of Lynn was not as vulnerable as she appeared. She picked up one of her crutches and pointed the bottom at the robot. The bottom of the crutch opened and fired a small dart at the robot's torso.
BOOM
At the moment of impact, the dart exploded, critically damaging the robot's mid-section and leaving the robot good only for the scrap heap.
Sensing it was overwhelmed by the new opponents, the third robot backed away from Babs and began firing rapidly around the room, forcing the Louds and their counterparts to duck for cover. ALT-Lincoln, however, demonstrated his skill and bravery by diving out from an upturned table and using his physical prowess to dodge the robot's projectiles. He rolled, dived, and slid across the room to avoid the shots before getting close enough to strike it down. He then pulled out his enhanced laser sword, which cleanly demonstrated its power by cutting through the metallic titan like a loaf of bread.
SLASH
After being sliced clean in half, the robot's remains fell to the ground, leaving the white-haired boy in shining armour standing tall.
"Wow," Lincoln breathed in awe of his counterpart.
While they had done that, the other siblings used their weaponry to finish the rest of the robots fluently. Finally, the main Loud family and their enemies were safe from harm.
"Loud siblings..." Asherah then stepped forward. "I'd like you to meet… yourselves."
The two groups of siblings then approached each other, and they all felt a little weirded out for a moment. The two Lincolns stood before one another in amazement as they reached over and touched each others' hands to check that their eyes weren't deceiving them and that it wasn't a mirror. "Wow, erm... hi," Lincoln puzzled awkwardly as he waved his armoured counterpart hello.
"Nice to meet you," ALT-Lincoln replied. "Heh, you'd think after I spent months fighting evil killer robots and zombies that I wouldn't be this spooked out from meeting my other self, huh?"
The sisters did virtually the same thing as they tried to understand they were interacting with alternate versions of themselves.
"Ugh! Now we're stuck in this room with two lots of brats!" Morag sneered; she and the others looked quite fed up with the new situation.
"Look, for the sake of simplicity, perhaps going forward, we should refer to the Louds of this universal timeline as 'Lincoln-Prime' and so on since this is their home world," Asherah suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Luan-Prime agreed.
"Meanwhile, the Louds from my timeline can referred to as 'Lincoln-1' and such."
"Well, that makes sense," Luna-1 replied.
"Okay, but we still need to find a way out of this place and get back to Royal Woods. Can you use your crystal-ball-portal-thing to teleport us back there?" Lori-Prime asked.
"I'm afraid not," Asherah denied. "It had only enough power to create one portal. It'll need a good 30 minutes to recharge."
"It's fortunate that you have an entire laboratory worth of power supply at your disposal, then," Lisa-1 observed.
"Indeed," Asherah replied.
"Well, maybe we could get to know a little bit more about our other selves while we wait," Lincoln-Prime suggested.
"Yeah, like why do I-erm, you have to walk with crutches?" Lynn-Prime asked her counterpart.
"Long story. Let's just say that I broke my back saving my brother," Lynn-1 answered.
"Yeah, she literally stood between me and a killer robot," Lincoln-1 added.
"But I was happy to do it. I mean, I was stuck in a wheelchair for months. But now I'm at least back on my feet again. The doctor says another six weeks and I might be back to normal," Lynn-1 hoped.
"Wow, it sounds like you guys went through some pretty horrible things," Lori-Prime said.
"Yeah, we did," Luan-1 lamented.
"Well, not us," Lori-1 then mentioned.
"Yes. Viribus used a machine that erased everyone aged 16 and over from existence," Rita-1 explained.
"That means Mom, Dad, Leni, and I vanished instantly. We didn't actually experience any of what happened, just the aftermath," Lori-1 clarified.
"Still, it was pretty shocking, everything being normal one minute and then the streets being on fire the next," Leni-1 said.
"And it was pretty grim for the rest of us who lived through it," Lucy-1 stated.
"Yeah, I can imagine," Lincoln-Prime replied.
"And we lost some people along the way..." Lynn-1 then remembered. "But at least we're..." She interrupted herself when she suddenly noticed a familiar-looking blonde boy standing behind her counterpart.
She went quiet as her mouth opened and her eyes fixated on the boy. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was someone very close to her that had passed on a long while ago, someone she thought was gone forever.
A weirded-out Maxie, oblivious to what the crippled jock was thinking, just asked, "Hey, what's with you?"
Suddenly, Lynn-1 forgot that her body hadn't fully healed yet and dropped her crutches as she raced towards the boy and hugged him tightly, wholly absorbed in the moment of reunion.
"Woah!" he yelled as Lynn-1 embraced him.
"I thought I'd never see you again," she cried as tears began to run down her face. But they were tears of happiness. She was elated to finally see Maxie again after what happened to the version of him from her world.
The others then understood what she meant a moment ago when she mentioned they had lost some people they cared about along the way. Lynn-Prime awkwardly muttered, "Oh," as it all began to click for her.
At this point, the Loud family understood how much of a threat Lord Viribus was to their world. They knew they had to put a stop to his schemes and all the resulting damage they could cause to the people they love.
Meanwhile, Fifi and the tied-up villains just grumbled, groaned, and rolled their eyes, still clearly unhappy with being stuck in a room with two lots of Louds.
"Ugh! Just our luck to get stuck in here with double the trouble!" Fifi remarked.
"You're telling me. Two lots of Louds? It's my worst nightmare come true," Morag replied with a deadpan tone.
Meanwhile, Mayor Davis stood on a stage in the Royal Woods Mall parking lot and spoke to the townspeople about her knowledge of the threat...
"I regret to inform you all that the Loud family have fled Royal Woods under fear of attack! I know some of you may have less than favourable opinions of them, but the Louds were still a strong presence within our community, and they have told me that there is a plot being conspired right under our very noses!" she declared, which caused a lot of loud chatter amongst the townsfolk.
"So what are ya gonna do about it, missy?!" Scoots bluntly asked.
"Yeah! We've all got people to protect!" Bolhofner added as he held his precious pet bobcat Rocket.
But as all the townspeople rambled amongst themselves, Lincoln's friends quietly spoke about what the farm boy knew.
"See? This is what I was telling y'all about," Liam confirmed.
"I didn't believe it when you said Lincoln was brought to your farm by a whole bunch of supervillains and thugs, but now it turns out you were right," the surprised Stella perplexed.
"Oh, I can believe it! Lincoln's my best friend, but dang, don't I know he's made plenty of enemies in his time. I've even fought some of them with him!" Clyde added.
Finally, Mayor Davis did her best to regain control of the situation. "Listen, everyone! I accept this is very distressing news, but I need you all to remain calm as we try to figure out-"
"Remain calm? Oh, I don't think now is the time for restraint," Viribus interrupted as he stood on stage before the mayor and her guards.
"Who are you?! Are you the ones Lincoln spoke about?!" Mayor Davis demanded to know.
"Yes, yes we are," Viribus replied.
"And you?! I remember you, too! You tried to ruin the Astonishing Quest!" Davis pointed at Doctor Linnaeus in recollection.
"Yes, and I would have succeeded if it wasn't for that family of meddling brats!" Linnaeus bitterly remarked. "But this time, they're out of the picture, and no one is left to stop us!"
"Guess again!" Mayor Davis boldly declared before setting her two guards on them.
The two suited men opened fire on Viribus, but the bullets ricocheted uselessly against his power suit. He then clenched his fist and pointed it in the direction of the guards, generating a powerful shockwave blast that sent them flying several feet in the air before landing hard on the ground, losing their grip on their guns in the process.
"Your technology is truly impressive, doctor. Let's see what else it can do," Viribus complimented as he activated the jet boots in his suit. He began to fly in the air so that all the townsfolk could see him in plain sight.
"What do you want?!" Mr Grouse angrily asked him.
"To rule and conquer. This world is mine. Actually, scratch that... every world is mine!" he replied with a sinister vocal tone.
"What are you talking about, you demented madman?!" Mayor Davis questioned.
"Oh, I think a demonstration is the best way to explain it," Viribus smugly replied as he enabled something.
That something immediately made itself known to the people of Royal Woods. They looked around in terror and fear as they saw an obscene number of red portals spawn in all different directions. An ominous sound of metallic footsteps began stomping toward them, closer and closer; the source revealed itself soon after to be mechanical beasts that walked through them.
"In so many other timelines, my plan succeeded! Now they have all come here to transform this world and its worthless human population into a perfect paradise!" Viribus declared.
Mayor Davis glanced over at one of the store windows in the area and saw a television playing a breaking news report with the headline "Portals Open Across Earth!"
"Oh my stars!" she muttered in shock and fear.
And that's precisely what was happening. Thousands of portals had just opened all across the planet. Every corner of humanity was being invaded at once. The skies and streets of planet Earth were being filled with mechanical conquerors.
From Michigan to Scotland... although Loch Loud was safe for the time being.
Angus happened to be watching a similar news report at home in his castle. The Scottish report also happened to mention that the Loud family had been forced to flee their hometown under threat of attack. Knowing that the Loud family was in danger and somehow connected to this catastrophe, Angus knew what he had to do.
He turned to face the ancestral ghosts of the Loud family, who all nodded as they made heads of his intentions. They stood by and prepared to defend the town of Loch Loud in case any robots made their way there. But Angus had other plans. He whistled to his scaled ally, Lela the Dragon. "Come on, girl. We've got work to do!" he commanded with a determined expression as he prepared to fly his way to Michigan.
Great Lakes City was less lucky, however. Some of its citizens gazed out of their windows to see portals open in the sky, with robotic legions pouring their way out of them. They gasped in shock as they knew they were in deep trouble. The fact that the robots seemed content flying through the sky was a cold comfort since they could descend and attack the populace without warning.
But most of the city's people already knew what was happening, thanks to the message spread by the brave Casagrande family. Their many allies and acquaintances all stood outside the Casagrandes' building, gathered together as a force of resistance against the evil that had just arrived in their world.
"Okay, everyone. You all know the drill!" Ronnie Anne as she rammed her fist into her other hand.
"It's time to kick some butt!" Carl shouted.
"YEAH!" the people of Great Lakes City all shouted in unison.
Just then, a loud, echoing voice could be heard…
"Ronnie Anne, are you there?"
"Punguari? Is that you?" Ronnie Anne asked aloud.
"Yes. Have you assembled all the allies you can?"
"Yep. Almost everyone in Great Lakes City is here, and we're all ready!" she confirmed.
"Good!"
Just then, a large teal portal opened up in front of Ronnie Anne and the resistance group.
"Uh oh! It's more robots!" Carl shouted in fear.
"No, I opened this portal. This will take you straight to Royal Woods. Go, now!" Punguari explained.
"Won't you be joining us?" Sid then asked her.
"Not yet. First, I must retrieve something that will help me beat Viribus for good!"
"What is it?" CJ asked.
"The most powerful godly weapon of all. With that, I'll be able to stop that madman and get my parents's powers back, once and for all!"
"Well, good luck." Ronnie Anne prayed.
"You, too."
And with that, Ronnie Anne, her family, and the people of Great Lakes City all made their way to Royal Woods…
Back at the now-defeated villains' hideout, while Asherah recharged her portal device, the Loud families took a moment to talk amongst themselves...
"You know? Ever since that whole thing happened, Lincoln and the others feel so much more grown up, more independent, and stronger... it's like I'm not really needed anymore," Lori-1 lamented.
"But isn't that a good thing? That they're growing up?" Lori-Prime pointed out.
"I guess so. It's just that it's so weird. One minute, they were just my normal little sisters and brother. Now most of them are survivors and, well… pretty much war heroes."
"Yeah, but I guess that just shows how great they really are," Lori-Prime reassured. "Besides, it's probably a good thing that you don't have to be as dominating or controlling with them anymore. Let's be honest: we can be a little bossy and mean when we're like that."
"Oh, don't I know it," Lori-1 light-heartedly joked. "But really, they're all so 'adult' now. After I left for Fairway, Leni didn't even have to cover for me."
"Really?" Leni-Prime asked.
"No. It's probably for the best, anyway. I don't think I would have been able to handle it," Leni-1 bewailed with a distinct lack of confidence.
"Why do you say that? I mean, you're able to handle customers at Reininger's, right? So why not at home?" Leni-Prime pointed out.
"What do you mean? I don't work at Reininger's. Like I'd ever be able to land a job there."
Leni then gasped in surprise as she realised her alternate self had never been through the trials to prove herself a responsible leader, manager, or guardian. "O-M-Gosh! You should totally get a job there! Ms Carmichael is such a nice boss, and Fiona and Miguel who work there are such great friends of mine!"
"But, do you think I could handle it?" an unconvinced Leni-1 asked her.
In that moment, Leni realized how capable she was now that she was interacting with a version of herself that was less confident and less accomplished. She placed her hand on her counterpart's shoulder and consoled, "I know you think you're stupid, but you're a lot brighter and more capable than you think. Take it from someone who knows." The two Lenis smiled at each other as the two Loris looked on proudly.
"You know? In spite of everything that happened in our world, I think things are starting to look good for us now," Lori-1 breathed. "I'm glad to see things worked out a lot better in your world."
"And I'm thankful that you and your family are willing to help us fight to keep things that way," Lori-Prime thanked.
"Some people say I'm incapable of taking things seriously, and sometimes I worry they're right," Luan-Prime told her counterpart.
"Oh, I don't know? You take your Funny Business and your rules about comedy pretty seriously," Luan-1 replied. "Besides, I know that you can be serious when you need to be... because I'm you, and I was forced to do just that."
"Oh, right. The thing's this Asherah girl has been saying about you guys. Is it all true?"
"It is," Luan-1 confirmed. "All the adults in our world vanished from reality and we had to stay behind and survive. It wasn't always easy. I was the oldest of us left for a while. As you can imagine, I got pretty overprotective. Just ask Asherah."
Asherah happened to overhear the conversation. "She's not joking," she replied as she rubbed the back of her neck, remembering when things got heated between them.
"The point is, while I did try to hang onto my fun-loving comedic spirit, I did have to grow up quite a lot during those months. Only some of us were left, and getting chased out of our house and split up didn't help. Many of us lost our childhood innocence when it all happened," Luan-1 explained.
"Wow, that sounds pretty dreary," Luan-Prime moaned.
"It was a living nightmare," Luan-1 clarified. "That's why we're here. We want to stop your world from going through the same thing if we can. But the point is, I was capable of suppressing my comedic nature and doing what needed doing for the sake of my family."
"Well, I guess that puts my worries to rest," Luan-Prime remarked, though also acknowledging that her own worries and insecurities were ultimately nothing compared to what her family's counterparts had to endure in their time.
"You're probably thinking this is the part where I tell you that you need to grow up and stop acting like such a goofball..." Luan-1 placed her hand on her counterpart's shoulder. "But I'm not going to do that. I'm actually going to tell you to keep embracing your childlike nature. After all, we're only kids once. With any luck, you won't be forced to throw it all away early like we were."
The two Luans then shared a soft, tender smile as Luan-Prime heard some very comforting and reassuring words from the one person who really understood her.
Luna also shared a few words with her counterpart. "So, you were the oldest one left in your world, huh?" Luna-Prime asked.
"Yeah, but only for a few weeks, dude. Then I vanished, too," Luna-1 corrected.
"Well, it looks like you prepared them well. They look rockin' tough."
"Thanks," Luna-1 said. "I did my best by them. I even had to say goodbye to my relationship with Sam so I could take care of them as long as I was around."
"Wait, what?!" a shocked Luna-Prime asked her.
"Yeah, it hurt, but I had to do it, bruh. Family comes first, and all that. But I'm not gonna lie, dude. Those weeks I spent without Sam felt awful. Part of me wishes I had gone with her when she asked me. I mean, at the time I thought I'd never see her again, and the thought of me never getting to..." Luna-1 began to say before pausing mid-sentence.
"To what?" Luna-Prime asked her.
"Nevermind."
"Boy... and to think, I was all worried about how my relationship was going with Sam."
"What do you mean? Are you having problems with your Sam?"
"Well, not really. It's just that... we've never really had that much in common besides our tastes in music."
Luna-1 then chuckled a little before saying, "Dude, that's normal. Honestly, you don't wanna tarnish a perfectly good love with silly little worries like that, brah. Sam's the one for you; we both know that, and that's all that really matters. You don't wanna cut things off with a girl as awesome as her... take that from me," she then told Luna-Prime, who felt a lot better about her relationship status with her girlfriend as a result of Luna-1's words.
"Besides, I'm sure you'll work things out after a while. You're bound to have some other things in common besides music. It's just that sometimes they're a little harder to figure out, that's all," Luna-1 then encouragingly told her.
"Have you ever worried about our lack of hygiene?" Lana-Prime asked her counterpart.
"What do you mean?" Lana-1 asked, a little confused.
"You know? All the mud, and the bugs, and the trash and stuff... do you ever worry that it might screw up our health?"
Lana-1 then laughed before telling her, "Come on, me, you know better than to think that. Besides, we're all just animals at the end of the day. We're built for the wild outdoors."
"Well, I guess that's true," Lana-Prime admitted.
"When all the grown-ups went poof in our world, we were forced to hang out in some campsite on a hill out in the middle of nowhere, and let me tell ya... hygienic really wasn't the word," her counterpart then joked.
"She's not kidding!" Lola-1 then interjected. "She actually tried to get me to eat worms and bugs! I mean, have any of you even met me? I'm Lola Loud. I do not dine with dirt and dung beetles!"
"Yeah, well, sometimes life demands you get a little down n' dirty, Lols," Lana-1 replied.
"Yeah, I guess I was just worrying about nothing. Those stupid jerks, making me all anxious about myself!" Lana-Prime then angrily remarked before glaring over at all the villains, who were still tied up in the corner of the room.
"Still, you could learn just a little bit of etiquette, Lana," Lola-Prime argued.
"Eh, etiquette's not really my thing," her twin stated before letting out a loud belch.
Lola-Prime covered her nose and swiped away the odour, before turning to her own counterpart. "So, how did you cope with having no house and no parents?"
"Oh, it wasn't easy..." Lola-1 responded. "But no situation is too much for Lola Loud to handle."
"What part did you play in the defeat of this Viribus guy in your world?" her prime counterpart then curiously asked her.
"Oh, I'm the one who put this diamond-tipped arrow right through his heart," she boasted.
"Wait, I was-er, I mean, 'you' were the one who brought that monster down?"
"Yes. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy, and everyone else helped make it all possible... but I guess I can take the credit for delivering the killing blow," Lola-1 then somewhat modestly explained.
"Wow," Lola-Prime said in awe of her counterpart. "So, in your world, I'm kind of a hero?"
"I guess you could say that," Lola-1 replied.
"Wow... maybe I'm not such a little brat after all," Lola-Prime remarked.
"No, of course not. You're Lola Loud! Okay, maybe we can be a little... 'bratty' sometimes. But our hearts are made of gold. When it really matters, we come through for people. I sure did, and I'm certain you would, too," Lola-1 reassured her.
"Hmm, I'm not so sure about that," an insecure Lola-Prime claimed.
"Don't beat yourself up, Lols," her twin told her. "Sure, you can be a real pain in the rear sometimes."
"Jee, thanks," Lola-Prime sarcastically responded.
"But I know you mean well. You're my twin sister, and not only that, you're my friend, too. Even if we are as different as apples and oranges," Lana-Prime reassured as she picked her nose, slightly grossing her twin out.
"Well, I can't argue with any of that. We are different, but you are my twin sister, and I love you." Lola-Prime then comforted as the two twins shared a brief but tender hug. Their counterparts also watched on and thought their display of affection was cute.
"Do you ever wonder if there's something wrong with us? I mean, most people would call our interests 'morbid' or 'creepy,'" Lucy-Prime noted to her other self.
"When Lincoln and I fled the house, we stayed with the Mortician's Club underneath a graveyard outside Royal Woods. We had to fight hordes of zombies all the time."
"Wicked," Lucy-Prime said in envy of her counterpart's experiences.
"Not really. They were some of the most terrifying experiences of my life. But I guess being so used to the concept of death did make it a little easier to deal with these undead creatures hunting me down every day. In fact, we renamed the Mortician's Club to the Mortician's Guard, as we were the only ones who had any idea of how to hold off all those undead horrors from unleashing destruction on Royal Woods for so long. If it wasn't for us... and my brother, Royal Woods might not have survived long enough to still be there after we beat Viribus and brought back all the world's grown-ups."
"Yes, I noticed your Lincoln is quite 'different' from mine," Lucy-Prime acknowledged.
"Our Lincoln felt he had let us down after we were chased out of the house under his leadership. It wasn't his fault, but he wouldn't hear that. He felt he needed to toughen up to protect us from monsters and hostile characters, so he picked up a sword and started training hard."
"Wow, Lincoln, a zombie slayer? That's a sight I thought I'd never see."
"Those months without adults changed us, Lucy," Lucy-1 told her counterpart. "We came here so we could hopefully spare your world of all the horrors and traumas that we had to go through. I admit, death and ghouls aren't as glamorous as we like to think they are sometimes… but in all fairness, our knowledge of all things morbid did give us some strong advantages at a time when we really needed them."
Lucy-Prime smiled in agreement with her counterpart's reassuring point. Once again, it was proved that having an interest in the macabre was not necessarily bad.
"So, the Viribus of your world put you in a wheelchair, huh?" Lynn-Prime asked her injured counterpart.
"Yeah, I thought I'd never walk again," Lynn-1 answered.
"But you know Lynn. She's too stubborn to give up," Lincoln-1 then remarked.
"I'm almost completely healed now. When I last spoke to the doctor, he said another two months and I'd be able to walk again without the aid of these stupid things. That was four weeks ago," Lynn-1 mentioned in relation to her crutches. "Still, now I guess I know how Paula feels. That leg of hers never seems to get better."
"Yeah, same for the Paula in my world," Lynn-Prime mentioned.
"But I was glad to do it. If I didn't jump in and take the bullet for my bro here, that Viribus jerk probably would have ended him," Lynn-1 said.
Finally, after hearing so much chatter between the two groups of Louds, the villains spoke up about their annoyance with the situation. "Not that it hasn't been fun listening to you brats talk about your petty little problems..." Morag sarcastically quipped.
"But this is getting grating to listen to!" Vic followed.
"Yeah, like I wanna hear a bunch of little girls gripe about their emotional problems!" Guy Grazer complained.
"Oh, I'm sorry, and what are your problems?" Like the fact that you're all about to be sent down for life because of what you've done!?" Rita then sassily responded.
"That's right! When this is over, we're taking you all down to the ding-dang FBI!" Lynn Sr condemned.
"No, don't get us sent down! This pretty face of mine won't last a day on the inside!" the now-revived Ham Hand quavered.
"Well, maybe you all should have thought of that before choosing to side with an evil dictator!" Luan shot.
"We didn't want to start an invasion or anything! He forced all that on us!" Joyce griped.
"Yeah, we just wanted revenge on you jerks for screwing us over!" Vic then argued.
"You screwed yourselves over, dudes!" Luna argued back.
"Oh look, it's little Miss Luna, getting all high and mighty again!" Taylor remarked.
"You looking for round two, bruh?!" Luna then angrily clenched her fist and threatened the other girl.
"ENOUGH!" Asherah suddenly raised her voice, ceasing the pointless bickering between the Louds and the villains.
She sighed heavily before saying, "As much as I hate to suggest it, Louds, I'm afraid justice might have to wait. We may need your enemies on board for the conflict that is about to ensue."
"WHAT?!" the Louds and villains both blurted out in surprise and confusion.
"I've seen many corners of reality, and I can tell you, what we're about to deal with is nothing short of a multiversal catastrophe. Lord Viribus is a foe to be reckoned with in many timelines. All in all, I'd say he's your greatest nemesis and one you can't take lightly. And no offence to the various individuals tied up in this room right now... but Viribus is a more dangerous threat than all of them combined! We will need every last ounce of help we can get today, and I fear that extends to them, too."
"Ha! There's no way I'm helping you wretched Louds! I'd rather let Viribus win!" Morag harshly declared.
Fifi then spoke up to the other villains. "Listen, I hate these Loud brats as much as all of you, maybe even more, but the truth is that we need to work with each other! There is no other way to survive this! Besides, once that nutcase Viribus is gone, we can all try to get our own revenge on the Louds! Especially Myrtle!"
"Who the heck is Myrtle?" Vic asked.
"My mortal enemy! And the kids' new step-grandmother," Fifi answered.
"I don't care about her! I just want to get even with these little plonkers!" Morag argued.
"Well, you won't get a chance to do anything if you're all dead or turned into robots!" Asherah reminded her.
"And that is what will happen if this Viribus guy doesn't go down!" Rita stated.
"Yeah, so what's it gonna be, guys?" Lincoln then folded his arms and asked the other villains as the Loud family looked down at them smugly.
"Dang it! We're going to have to help them, aren't we?" Joyce asked with an annoyed tone.
No one liked it, but everyone in that room, regardless of alignment, knew that things were getting hectic. Viribus was a threat to the entire world, and if there was going to be any hope of bringing him down, everyone would need to put aside their differences and band together.
But while the Louds and company formed a plan of action to combat this new threat to the world, the deities of old were doing the same elsewhere…
Punguari was still taking care of her parents. As a result of becoming mortal and losing their godly power, they had physically aged to the point where they looked like ancient, elderly beings. Their hair was light grey, their faces were wrinkled, and they could barely move their faces or bodies anymore.
Chipiri was now unconscious, and Sisiki had been for quite some time. However, she only briefly came to just as her daughter planned to leave.
"Mother, are you awake?" Punguari asked her as she noticed a little movement. She then knelt down to speak with her weary and exhausted parent.
"Punguari…" her daughter's name was all she could barely muster out of her mouth.
"Mother, I'm going to put this right. Dad told me about the Staff of the First Gods. With it, I can stop Viribus and give you and Dad your power back. Ronnie Anne and her family have gathered an army together to fight that Viribus guy, and I will use the staff and the Mask of Many Faces to help them!"
Punguari held her mother's hand as she tried to comfort her. "Mom, I know that you're going to say I'm being reckless and that I shouldn't be taking a risk like this, but I…"
"Punguari…" Sisiki faintly called out again, seemingly wanting to tell her something. Punguari awaited her response. She then continued… "Kick his butt." Sisiki then finished with a smirk on her face, which then faded as she fell unconscious again.
Tears filled the "young" demigod's eyes as her mother closed hers. She hated seeing her parents be reduced to near-lifeless husks.
Punguari then stood up. Her face was radiating many emotions at this point. Anger, vengeance, determination… and there were still tears in her eyes. She was saddened to see her parents being reduced to this, but that only motivated her even more as she prepared for the final battle against evil.
She then opened a portal and traveled to the location of the Staff of the First Gods… a deep underground cave located underneath what was once Mount Punguari.
As she ventured through the portal, an eerie, sinister voice began speaking to her. She had a vision. A scary, eerie vision of a giant mechanical godly being that was speaking down to her…
"You cannot win."
"We'll see about that!" she answered the vision, still determined to save her parents and her mortal allies.
Author's Footnote: Up until this point, the changes have been relatively small between this and v1, which was kind of the point, as v2 is basically just an updated version of the same story but with some added characters. However, the final battle will play out quite differently. There will be some similarities between the v1 and v2 climaxes, but as you can surely tell by now, the additions of this version of the story will contribute to some big changes in how the final confrontation between good and evil will play out.
Also, the addition of Punguari helped me with a plot hole that existed in v1. In this version, the Casagrandes gathering the help of the rest of Great Lakes City is actually properly built up to, and Punguari opening a portal for them to travel through helps better explain how they all manage to get to Royal Woods so quickly between chapters 9 and 10. lol
All I will say is... get ready for the mother of all battles in the final 3 chapters. XD
Proofreader's Note: I'll admit, I did initially think I was going to get $25 per chapter, though I soon wised up and realized it was one-time, stating that in a DeviantArt status update. However, the author struck a new deal with me upon seeing that: Another $25 would be sent to Alejindio for finishing the story. I altered the deal into $5 per additional chapter (from Chapter 8 onward), which would still mean a $25 payment total.
I was also contemplating a quick-reference guide for "It's A Kid's World" to answer some basic questions in this proofreader's note, but I ultimately decided against it.
I also don't fix most of the errors within dialogue that Grammarly points out, as I figure their original forms better reflect how a character speaks.
Also, here's a little inside scoop. I am now telling the author about what I call stop errors. They're details I can't confidently make heads or tails of, and proofreading cannot complete if they're present. (I might be able to skip it, but I will not give the author a proofread I am not happy with.) Thus, I need the author's advice on stop errors so I can make them more clear. My notes are in blue boxes, common mistakes in yellow, warnings in red, and stop errors in black with red text.
Lastly, the author is British, but I'm American. While for the most part I'll try to use British English whenever I can, there may be some instances where American English appears in this story. This is because Grammarly allows for choice between the different types of English, and I never set mine out of American English. (I should reiterate that I am a bit of a free spirit for punctuation edge cases.) This also means there is a time difference between the two of us, but for my privacy, I will not disclose how much of a time difference that is.
...
Psst! "It's A Kid's World" spoiler warning for this point, but Lynn implies she was much more successful in defending Lincoln than she actually was. Infinitely more, in fact, as her efforts contributed to no progress in protection whatsoever; the cyborg Viribus simply slammed her against his knee with practically no effort. But don't tell Lynn-1 I said this, OK?