Note: This is the second version I've done of this story. The original was written and uploaded in early 2024. This is a version written to include updates to the franchise as of Spring 2024, including all the things "The Casagrandes Movie" added to the Loudverse.

For those of you who aren't familiar with my previous works, it is probably worth your while to go and read some of them first (most especially, my previous story "Inside the Loud House" which is a direct predecessor to this). This story will contain some heavy continuity, not only in relation to what has happened in the canon series, but also many of the events of my own previous stories. It's not mandatory, of course, but it is advised.


The Loud's Finest Hour (v2)

Prologue: Battle for Godhood


The ancient deities, Sisiki and Chipiri, were in the midst of battle. They were fighting together, defending the Mask of Many Faces, which had now been returned to its original realm, atop the peak of the purple rock where Punguari had once swiped it hundreds of years in the past.

Around them in the dark water were the remains of several android enemies; an assortment of scrap metal parts from the metallic minions that the two deities had made short work of. But their master was still holding his own against them.

The two fought side-by-side, armed with their respective staff, and yet… they looked a little tense, perhaps even slightly nervous. They appeared to be fighting a particularly dangerous foe.

They looked on with angry expressions and engaged in their battle stances as they stared off against this fearsome enemy… he was a tall, muscular man wearing a sophisticated mechanical suit of armor, with a bulletproof glass helmet that left his face visible. It appeared the suit was able to grant the wearer with abilities great enough to enable him to hold his own against full-fledged gods.

"Let's take him down together!" Sisiki then said as the two charged at him.

But he quickly managed to dodge their charge attack, showing off impressive speed and reflexes in the process.

"You're going to regret coming here, mortal!" Chipiri then warned him as he used his staff to blast a fiery laser beam.

After the man dodged his strike, Chipiri followed that by generating several fireballs from his hands and throwing them at him. However, he also managed to avoid all of these.

"Go back to where you came from! You shouldn't be here!" Sisiki said sternly as she then levitated in the air and raised her hands. This caused the surrounding water to rise with her. She then created a whirlpool out of the water and directed it at her opponent.

However, he simply used the jet boots on his suit to fly into the air, avoiding the whirlpool. Despite fighting against two deities, he appeared to be in control of the battle.

He then looked down at them and issued an ultimatum. "Your defeat is certain if you continue to deny me my place among the Gods. Surrender the Mask to me, and I may spare your lives." He said it with absolute confidence, enough to annoy them, especially Chipiri.

"We will never let you take the mask!" he shouted before throwing more fireballs at him.

As Chipiri tried to hit the suited man a few more times, Punguari entered the realm through the gate, just as she had done many years beforehand. She was now holding a moon-themed staff of her own, which her parents had given her now that she was closer than ever to being ready to become a full god in their eyes.

She immediately reacted with a shocked expression as she saw her parents battling it out with a mysterious adversary.

After the man avoided a few more of Chipiri's fireballs, Sisiki finally managed to land a blow on him, as she carefully but accurately aimed a laser beam from her staff, stunning him slightly. She then fired a few more shots while he was still stunned, with some of them landing solidly, dealing a little damage to his power suit.

Chipiri took advantage of this and quickly lunged at him, delivering a hard punch to the face that shattered right through his bulletproof glass, and hurting him enough to send him plummeting down to the ground hard.

Proud of her parents for displaying such impressive battle prowess right in front of her, the excited Punguari let out a loud and triumphant "YEAH!"

This alerted her parents to the fact that she was now present in the realm alongside them.

"Punguari!?" a surprised Sisiki asked.

"What are you doing here?" Chipiri questioned.

"I've been looking everywhere for you." she answered.

"Well, we're just taking care of this intruder!" Chipiri said confidently as he could feel the battle turning in his favour.

The man in the suit then made his way back to his feet. Sisiki sternly warned him. "Leave now, or suffer divine consequences!"

"Yeah… I don't think so." he replied, still confident that he could regain the advantage.

"Who is this guy, anyway?" Punguari asked.

"I am Lord Viribus, and I've come to take what's mine."

"Ha, you've got to be kidding! You're just a human in a suit, and we're three gods! You don't stand a chance against us!" Punguari then bragged.

But Viribus then turned to face her and delivered a harsh, condescending smirk her way. "Oh, but I know all about you. You're actually two gods and a demi-god, right?" he then asked her. "And worse than that, you're just a bratty little child. No wonder you still haven't graduated to full godhood." he said disrespectfully, touching a nerve in the 12,000-year-old girl.

"Ugh!" Punguari reacted angrily, as she always hated being talked down to like that.

"Punguari, stay back!" Sisiki told her.

"But Mom, I can help you kick this guy's butt!"

"It's okay, Punguari! This battle is over, anyway!" Chipiri insisted as he then swooped down at his enemy and prepared to finish him off.

But Viribus let out a sinister grin, as it appeared he was planning on Chipiri approaching him closely.

"You're right about that!" he then said as he grabbed Chipiri by the throat just as he approached him, using the suit's strength-enhancing capabilities to hold the burly deity tightly in his clutches.

Just as Chipiri tried to power his way out of the hold, he realised something disastrous… his power was being drained.

His godly aura began to flicker and fade away as his powers were being absorbed by Viribus's power suit.

Sisiki shot a blast from her staff at Viribus, but he was becoming too powerful for it to affect him as he snatched the essence of Chipiri for himself.

"Stupid so-called god! Did you really think I wouldn't come prepared for a confrontation like this? My power suit is able to absorb all kinds of raw power… even that from deities like yourself. I must say, my friend Doctor Linnaeus outdid herself with this invention."

"Chipiri! NO!" Sisiki yelled as she then charged at Viribus in an effort to free her husband and fellow deity from his grasp.

"Mom?!" Punguari shouted in fear and concern.

Sisiki approached to desperately try to rescue Chipiri, but this backfired as Viribus also grabbed her by the throat with his other hand. He then began draining her of her godly powers, too.

"NO!" Punguari shouted as she witnessed her mother and father get drained of everything that made them the grand, divine entities they were.

"Finally… Godhood is mine!" Viribus said to himself excitedly, as it seemed his goal to become the supreme being of all things was closer to fruition now than ever before. The minor damages inflicted on his suit were repaired by the absorbed energy of the two gods, as was his shattered helmet. The suit used the power to regenerate itself.

*SMACK*

Suddenly, Viribus was taken by surprise by a thunderous kick from the side. It was Punguari in her blue coyote form. However, because she was only a demigod, it was only a small coyote.

"Why you little…!" Viribus reacted angrily, only for his helmet to then get pecked by Punguari, who had now transformed into her owl form.

She then transformed back into her regular form, so she could try and punch through his helmet and sock him in the jaw. However, Viribus was able to block or evade her series of strikes with ease.

Quickly figuring out this wasn't going to work, Punguari then generated a ball of white energy in her hands. Viribus looked on and prepared for battle as it appeared she was going to try and throw it at him. But then…

"Heads up!" she said as she instead threw the ball up into the air. It then exploded and created a bright shining light in front of Viribus.

He placed his hands in front of his face to block out the light. However, this distraction tactic worked as it allowed Punguari to come out of nowhere and land another kick on him with her Coyote form, with enough force to knock him to the ground.

Punguari then smiled brashly as she felt like she was actually going to beat him. She then used her coyote form to pounce on him, only for him to smack her away. She then turned back into her human form and slid underneath him, before resorting to the simple but surprisingly effective tactic of throwing a handful of water on his helmet, slightly blurring his vision.

As Viribus wiped the water away, Punguari leaped at him one more time as she went to throw another punch while he was still restoring his clear vision.

However…

…given that he had now absorbed the essence of two full gods, all that power, combined with the abilities his suit already gave him, made him too powerful for Punguari to defeat with only her natural abilities.

As she advanced at him, he caught her fist with his hand. She then threw a punch with her spare hand, but he did the same thing again. Now with both hands trapped and being overpowered by the strength of this mighty foe, Punguari was forced down to her knees.

Remembering what she had said to him a minute earlier, Viribus took the opportunity to gloat to his failing opponent. "You call yourself a god? Ha, the privilege of being a deity is wasted on you!" he said judgementally.

"What are you talking about?!" she asked.

Viribus then raised his voice and angrily told her, "One God rules this world! It is Lord Viribus! It is I! YOUR GOD EMPEROR!"

She could then feel his suit begin trying to drain her of her power. At that point, Punguari used her remaining strength to teleport herself away, out of his grasp. She transported herself right to the top of the rocky peak, right where the Mask of Many Faces was floating.

Viribus turned to see that Punguari had now grabbed the mask and was about to put it on.

The drained but still conscious Sisiki could only faintly call out the name of her daughter. "Punguari…"

Knowing that her only chance against this enhanced version of Viribus was with the powers of the mask, Punguari put it on and allowed herself to transform into a full God. However, Viribus did not look worried by this turn of events…

…in fact, it looked like he was waiting for Punguari to approach him with the mask as he sported an eager and hungry look on his face.

"Go on, little girl. Do it, give me the chance to take all the power." he said to himself, waiting for Punguari to approach him.

However, Punguari saw the look on his face, and figured out his tactics. Knowing that she couldn't risk letting any more power fall into his hands, she instead used the mask's power to foil his plans.

Viribus looked on, a little confused, as Punguari was raising her hands and emitting a bright white glowing aura from her body. Suddenly, the drained bodies of her parents, Chipiri and Sisiki, vanished, and then Punguari and the mask disappeared with them.

Punguari had used the mask to teleport herself and her parents away, preventing Viribus from taking any further godly power for himself.

Though he was a little annoyed, he maintained his composure. He smirked as he realised he had still obtained what he needed. He then said to himself with complete conviction…

"Punguari has only delayed my triumph. With the godly essence of both her parents, I will have the power source needed for our multiversal device to work. Soon I will have a grand empire under my command, and there will be nothing anyone can do to get in my way!"


Author's Footnote:

While this has been a new, completely original prologue chapter to the story, the rest of it will be relatively unchanged… well, there will be some changes, especially as we get closer to the end. But you'll have to wait and see what they are. XD

But yeah, as soon as I watched "The Casagrandes Movie", I knew I'd have to do something like this. After all, Viribus is a character who has aspirations of becoming a God, so the comparisons between him and Punguari are actually quite significant. Also, since he is a villainous threat, it is only natural that he would end up finding a way to combat deities in an effort to obtain all their power for himself. The power-up he was given in the original version of the story just needed a tweak so that could be capable of posing a threat to them, by taking their powers for himself, so I made his power suit capable of absorbing godly energy.

But of course, the gods won't take this lying down. They will be playing a role in the final battle against Viribus, for sure. I will be re-writing that quite part of the narrative significantly.

The rest of the updated version of the story will be online very soon.