Proofreader's Headnote: This cold opening is the last cold opening that is a flashback.

One day at school during recess, four boys ganged up and picked on one poor kid, surrounding him from all sides.

"Go away!" the lone boy cried as they all pushed and shoved him in every direction.

After a brief moment, one of them shoved him hard enough to send him flying to the ground, where he landed in a murky puddle of water.

As a tear formed in the boy's eye, the four kids above him laughed and pointed; all the other children in the area just stood there and watched, and some even joined in the laughter.

"Look at baby Jake, ha ha ha!" one of the boys teased to him.

The bullied boy was none other than Jake Kelly, a quiet and timid child who just tried to keep to himself at school. Unfortunately, that wasn't always enough, as sometimes other mean children just loved to go over and take the time to pick on him anyway.

As the bullies laughed at and teased him, the deflated and slightly wet Jake developed a sense of anger and resentment. He was being bullied, but no one was coming to help him. It wasn't his first time in one of these situations, either. The way he saw it, if he lashed out now and hurt them, he would have every right to do so.

Jake suddenly sprung back to his feet, approached one of the four boys, and dealt him a swift blow to the face. To their surprise, he managed to hit him with enough force to make him stumble over and fall on his butt.

And sure enough, just as he did that, a teacher walked over and observed the situation. Seeing the boy on the floor and a dominant-looking Jake Kelly standing above him, her assumption, while understandable, was entirely incorrect.

"You! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

Jake looked at the teacher and paused. Before he could even say anything, she walked over and grabbed his hand. "You're coming with me! You're in serious trouble!"

"But..." he tried to protest.

"Shut up, I won't hear it!" she told him off.

And so, his resentment was amplified because he had stood up for himself but was being punished for it. But despite the situation not ending all that well for him, one good thing had come from it. After he knocked the bully to the ground, just for the tiniest moments, he felt strong… powerful… safe.

The feeling that he could crush everyone who stood in his way or could just swat away anyone who potentially posed a threat to him... it was good. If only he had the might to do that all the time, he thought in his mind...

Despite being taken away by the teacher to serve an unfairly dealt punishment, he surprisingly wore a satisfied grin as he was lured away from the playground.


The Louds' Finest Hour

Chapter Ten: Louds Never Quit


Back in Royal Woods, Mayor Davis and the townsfolk were surrounded by an army of invading robotic soldiers, the number growing by the second as more and more emerged from all the portals. A dominant and victorious Viribus stood before them, tall and proud, as he prepared to gloat about his success.

"On your knees, mankind! Today marks the beginning of a new era of history! Today is the day I become the master of the multiverse!"

"You whack job! We'll never kneel to a loser like you!" Mr Bolhofner protested as his pet Rocket also hissed at him.

"Just do as he says!" Mayor Davis commanded.

"What?!" Mr Grouse questioned.

"I won't have anyone die on my watch. Just do as he says and kneel!" Davis insisted as she got down and prompted everyone else to do the same.

"Any offenders against our army will be dealt with extreme force!" Viribus threatened. "You would do well to follow the advice of your fallen mayor."


Back in the villains' hideout, the Loud family's enemies had been freed from their entrapment, though they were still under the watchful eye of the Loud family and their war-hardened counterparts.

"Don't even think about trying anything funny!" Luan-Prime threatened the Millers.

"Yeah, dudes, don't think we won't give you another good thrashing!" Luna-Prime warned Taylor's gang.

"Pfft. You just got lucky!" Taylor objected.

"Yeah, you were lucky!" Pablo followed.

"Stop repeating everything we say just to fit in, Pablo!" Anderson told his more petite friend off.

Lincoln-Prime walked up to the trio. "Guys, can I ask you something? What is your deal?"

"Our deal?" Anderson questioned.

"Yeah. I mean, Zach told me you were cool after the whole detention thing. Apparently, you didn't have it in you to prank the teachers or something," Lincoln-Prime pointed out.

"Yeah, so what?!" Taylor barked.

"So, what my little bro is saying is maybe you're not as bad as you think you are. Maybe you're just acting the part," Luna-Prime pointed out to her.

"Pfft, whatever," Taylor brushed her off.

Luna's expression softened as she tried to have a heart-to-heart with her former friend. "I actually did miss you, y'know? When I went to high school without you, I mean."

Taylor's expression also softened as she heard those words from her childhood bestie. "You did?" she asked.

"Yeah. I was sad to move on without you. I always said you should have tried a little harder in class, even if it's just enough to get you through the eighth grade," she recollected. "Because I didn't want us to split."

Taylor sighed in regret. "To be honest, I always did kinda regret that. Maybe that really is why Anderson and I pick on all the younger kids. Because we're kinda jealous of them."

"Pfft, please!" Anderson denied as he folded his arms.

"Admit it, Anderson! You're not fooling anyone!" Taylor told him off.

"Well, if what Zach said about you was true, then maybe there's a redeemable side to you all. Help us fight these robots and save Royal Woods!" Lincoln-Prime reasoned.

"Yeah, dudes! And the same goes for the rest of you!" Luna-Prime ordered the other antagonistic kids present, being Chandler, Hank, Hawk, and Ryan.

"Hmpf! Yeah, right! Once this is over, my family and I are back to destroying all cherries!" Ryan told them.

"Wow, what an amazing life goal," Lori-Prime replied sarcastically.

Asherah interjected as she knew time was of the essence. "There is no time for this! Enough time has passed since I last used my portal device to bring my universe's Louds here. It is now fully recharged, which means I can open a portal to take you back to Royal Woods, but only briefly, so you must all go now."

Asherah pressed a button on the base of her crystal ball device, and a purple portal opened in the room. "Quickly!" she urged. "This thing has a minute, maybe two at maximum!"

"Hold on, just one more thing," Lisa-1 paused as she pressed a button on her tech-watch.

Suddenly, a large laser pistol materialised in the hands of each member of the Loud family and the villains.

"Woah, dude!" Luna-Prime awed.

"Sweet!" Lynn-Prime exclaimed.

"After the crisis on our world was averted, I spent some time working on weapons that could neutralise these robotic life forms... along with a few other errands," Lisa-1 informed. "That's how we were able to handle that trio of them so easily upon our arrival."

"You will all require these weapons if you hope to combat these mechanical monsters. They are designed to short-circuit their machinery instantaneously," Asherah informed them.

"Okay, everyone, let's move out!" Lincoln-Prime commanded as he and his counterpart made their way through the portal, with everyone in the room following behind them.

The two Lenis were the last to approach the portal, but they turned back to see the Lisas still standing there. "Lisa? Aren't you coming?" Leni-Prime asked.

"My alternate timeline counterpart and I have decided to remain here in the lab where our talents are most suited," Lisa-Prime explained.

"From here, we can help Asherah build a device that could potentially reverse the effects of Viribus's strategy and send his armies back to their original timelines," Lisa-1 added.

"Huh?" the two Lenis muttered together in confusion.

"Just go, we'll be fine here," Lisa-Prime told them.

The Lenis went through the portal just before it closed, leaving the two Lisas and Asherah to combine their brainpower to defeat Viribus's armies.


The two groups of Louds, Babs, Maxie, and the reluctant villains all arrived back in Royal Woods.

"Ah, home sweet home," Lola-Prime chirped, glad to be out of the villains' hideout.

"Now's not the time for celebration, Lols," Lana-Prime reminded her.

"Yes. Now we have to find Viribus," Lucy-Prime added.

"Well, I think I have a pretty good idea where he might be..." Lincoln-Prime fretted as he pointed at the sky and saw many robots flying above them.

His alternate counterpart, who still remembered the horrific events of the battle that settled the fate of his own world, worryingly stated, "I had hoped I'd never see this sight again."

"Well, I'd say it's pretty clear where he is since all those robots are coming from that point over there," Maxie said as he pointed in the direction they were travelling from.

"Then we'd better get there fast!" Luan-1 prompted.

"Let's hope this thing comes in handy again," Lola-1 said as she pulled out her trusted diamond arrow—the very thing that destroyed the Viribus of her timeline.

"Woah woah woah, we can't just go and rush straight at Viribus!" Lynn-1 argued.

"She's probably right, guys. Those robo-dudes up there are surely gonna start shooting at us way before we reach him!" Luna-Prime warned.

"So? We've got these blasters. We'll be fine," Anderson asserted.

"All it takes is one of those things to get a good shot at you, brah," Luna-Prime warned him.

"Luna's right. We can't just charge up to Viribus and his robots and hope for the best. We need a strategy," Rita persuaded.

"Then maybe we need to use stealth," Lincoln-Prime tapped into his David Steele way of thinking, motioning to a manhole in the middle of the road.

His counterpart quickly caught onto what he was suggesting. "Good thinking, erm... me."

The two Lincolns opened the manhole and descended into the sewers. "Come on, this way!" Lincoln-1 directed.

"Ugh! Gross!" Lola-Prime protested.

"Come on, Lola. We have to do it," Lori-Prime told her.

However, Lola-Prime wasn't the only group member who wasn't too fond of this stealth tactic. Some of the villains also wanted to avoid such an offputting experience just to help—of all people—the Loud family.

"Ugh! I still can't believe I agreed to do this!" Vic complained.

"You're telling me," Joyce snarked.

"Is it too late to switch back?" Morag asked.

"We can hear you!" Luan-Prime shouted back at them.

"Let's go, guys!" Lana-Prime ordered as the villains followed them down.


"We have to work fast! Every moment we waste, the more likely some of your loved ones won't make it through this!" Asherah exclaimed as she frantically rushed around, trying to construct a machine that would undo Viribus's plan as quickly as possible.

"There must be something we can do from here to help them fight off Viribus's forces!" Lisa-1 piped.

"Like what?" Lisa-Prime asked her.

But then Lisa-1 had a eureka moment. "Oh, for the love of gravity, of course! Do you recognise this?" she exclaimed as she pulled a remote out of her pocket.

"Yes, that looks an awful lot like my family distress activation remote," the Lisa-Prime figured out. "It's unfortunate that I don't have mine with me. Doctor Linnaeus must have snatched it upon my capture."

"Well, let's just hope that my remote works in your world's timeline," Lisa-1 hoped.


That hope, fortunately, was confirmed. The exact moment Lisa-1 pushed the button from miles away inside the villain's lair, the robotic creations of the prime Lisa Loud began to activate.

While Todd was already active, Dare-Bot, Mr. Reinforced Titanium Alloy Arms, FriendBot 100, GravyBot, and Touchdown Bot activated and prepared for battle. "Our master has activated the family distress signal. We must depart for the centre of town," Todd instructed them.

"Very well. It's time to kick some bot," Dare-Bot declared as the metal warriors exited Lisa's bunker and tracked down the Louds.


As the Louds and company made their way through the sewers, Lynn-Prime took the chance to ask her counterpart a couple of questions. "So, I take it things didn't turn out too well for the Maxie of your world?"

"That's putting it lightly," Lynn-1 replied. "If it wasn't for that Viribus guy, he'd still be with us. Then again, if it wasn't for what he did, I probably never would have even met Maxie in my world."

But Lynn-Prime noticed that her counterpart didn't seem to know her world's Viribus particularly well, based on how she had just mentioned him. "Huh? Didn't you know your world's Viribus?" she asked.

"Well, only as the chump who screwed up our world!" Lynn-1 clarified.

"But isn't he also the guy who made you tough and aggressive?"

"No, not really."

"So, what? You weren't bullied on your first day at middle school?" Lynn-Prime asked her.

"Oh, I was. And I did learn to be tougher after that, but it wasn't Viribus who taught me. Actually, it was a guy named Terry."

Babs overheard their conversation and replied, "Hey, that's the name of my old mentor!"

"Heh, kinda makes sense. You two are so much alike," Maxie joked to Babs and the two Lynns.

"Look who's talking," Babs lightheartedly returned.

But Lynn-Prime unfortunately realised something. So, no matter what, even without Viribus, I'd still have ended up all mean and aggressive? Maybe Viribus was right; maybe all he did was nurture what was already there," she sadly reflected on her own nature.

Lynn-1 and Lincoln, who also overheard their discussion, looked on at her sympathetically. They could see she still felt very guilty and insecure about her own character flaws. But they didn't have time for a pep talk, as Lincoln-Prime noticed the destination ahead. "We're almost there, guys!"

"How do you know the sewers so well anyway, Lincoln?" Lola-Prime asked.

"I've spent time down here when solving mysteries as David Steele and Ace Savvy," he replied. "I told you those skills would come in handy someday."


Shortly thereafter, the Louds and company climbed out of the sewers and arrived just outside the town mall's parking lot—right at the centre of the action.

Viribus, now feeling more powerful than ever, turned around to see Lincoln-Prime and his family approaching him, along with some other familiar faces.

"So, let me get this straight. First, you lost to the Loud family? No surprises there, as we've established," he condemned the other villains. "But not only did you fail, but now you're actually on their side? Wow, that is pathetic," he mockingly told them.

"Yeah? Well, we may not like the Louds..." Ryan replied.

"But we sure as heck aren't gonna let you win!" Jeff vowed.

"Yeah! Besides, if anyone's going to bring down those pesky Louds, it will be one of us!" Vic declared.

Lola-Prime just scoffed in response to Vic's statement.

"Ha! I should have expected this kind of thing from you cretins. You always lacked the vision and intellect to see the brilliance of our plan," Doctor Linnaeus retorted.

"She's right! Besides, your usefulness in all this is over!" ALT-Albert berated the other villains.

"Yes, my armies are already here, as are my alternate selves, and they're all taking care of your world's militaries right now as we speak," Viribus boldly declared.


And sure enough, the armies of Viribus were dealing with the militaries of Earth right at that very moment. Multiple fighter planes emerged to combat the mechanical soldiers, but many of them were shot down quite quickly by the formidable firepower of these menacing robots. Most of the pilots could escape their planes before they exploded, though the robots managed to achieve some casualties. However, some aerial fighters were skilled enough to keep the robots busy for a while.

Earth's militaries also fired many missiles at the robots. While the robots managed to destroy most of them before reaching their targets, a few rockets got by the robots' defences and took them out.

But while Earth's forces held their own for the time being, more mechanical monsters emerged from the vast amount of active portals. Earth's armies only had so many soldiers and weapons at their disposal, in contrast to the seemingly bottomless combined might of a multiverse full of different cyber-converted armies of Lord Viribus. Hundreds more sinister metal men joined the fight in favour of the enemy every second. Indeed, Viribus's confidence was not misplaced.

"Keep shooting at them!" one pilot communicated with another.

"But there's too many of them! They just keep coming!" the second pilot responded, and he wasn't wrong.


"Face it, there is nothing any of you low-life human vermin can do to stop me now. This is one fight you cannot win!" Viribus gloated towards his current audience.

And yet, despite all the power he held in this situation, no one was kneeling down or surrendering to him. The Louds, their counterparts, the villains, and even the other townsfolk present... none of them would yield.

"We won't back down to you!" Lincoln-Prime maintained bravely to the madman.

"Then you and the rest of this town shall perish before the might of my multiversal empire!" Viribus ruthlessly declared as he signalled his robotic minions to prepare for the attack.

"Oh yeah? Well, don't think we're going down without a fight!" Lola-Prime shouted back.

"That's right!" called a familiar voice.

"POP-POP?!" all the Louds asked in unison.

"What are you doing here?" a surprised Rita asked him.

"I saw what was going on in the news," he replied. "There was no way I was gonna just sit back in the retirement home and not help my family when they're in need!" he declared. "Besides, with all the robots here, the police were too busy to make sure I stayed indoors."

Myrtle was also there with him. "I guess this old agent's got one last mission in her!" she declared, determined to help her family.

"So, we meet again, Agent 28…" Fifi growled with squinted eyes as she stared intensely at her arch nemesis.

Myrtle returned the gesture, "Fifi Dufus? I didn't expect to see you here!"

"This is a temporary truce. Once we're done with this Viribus guy, we're enemies again!" Fifi insisted.

"Same goes for us!" many of the rest of the villains also affirmed in unison.

"We're here to help, too!" hollered another familiar voice.

The Louds glanced over to their right and saw Lance, Sharon, and the three cousins, also ready to stand beside them.

"Lance?" Lynn Sr asked.

"It's okay, brother! We'll help you kick some tin can today!" Lance vowed.

"Yeah, it's time we take it to this scum!" Mr Bolhofner announced, riling up the rest of the townsfolk as they all stood against Viribus and his army.

"Yeah, go back to where you came from, you dumb trash cans!" Mr Grouse yelled at one of the robots as he threw a tin can at it, only for it to bounce off the metal monster's head.

"Even with all your friends, Louds, you're still no match for me now!" Viribus told them.

"But they have even more friends than that!" yet another familiar voice suddenly shouted.

It was Ronnie Anne and her family—accompanied by all the people of Great Lakes City.

"Oh, now what?!" an annoyed Viribus asked aloud.

"Ronnie Anne?!" Lincoln-Prime asked in shock.

"We knew what was happening, so we gathered up the people in our city and made our way down here," Ronnie Anne confirmed.

"But how did you know about all this?" Luna-Prime asked.

"Let's just say a certain friend of mine warned me all about this guy," she answered as she stared down Viribus.

But the arrogant Viribus still refused to acknowledge this gathering of adversaries as a threat. "It doesn't matter how many of you worthless human insects stand against me! I have defeated GODS in my quest to obtain ultimate power! This will still be nothing more than stepping on an ant hill," he ridiculed as he prepared to fight against the Louds and company.

Meanwhile, amongst all the arrivals, Doctor Linnaeus noticed someone within the Loud family in particular was missing, someone who could pose a significant threat to their plans if unchecked.

Before the carnage commenced, Linnaeus pressed a button on her wristwatch and opened an orange portal.

"Where are you going?" ALT-Albert asked as he noticed her step into the portal.

"I have something personal to take care of," she answered before departing through the portal.

And so, the Loud family stood together, surrounded by their extended family, their greatest adversaries, and all the people of Royal Woods and Great Lakes City as they prepared to engage in the final battle against their most formidable foe.

"You can spew out all the guff you want, Viribus!" Luna-Prime lashed.

"But there's one thing all your little buddies didn't make clear to you about us, bucko!" Lynn Sr continued.

"And what's that?" Viribus smugly asked them.

Lincoln-Prime and his sisters all shouted at once, "LOUDS NEVER QUIT!"

The Loud family led the charge, with all the people of Royal Woods and Great Lakes City, and even their greatest enemies, behind them as they prepared to battle it out with the armies of Lord Viribus.

Viribus directed a swarm of robots to fly down and engage with the charging mass as all hell broke loose.


But as calamity ensued in Royal Woods, Punguari was flying across the lava-soaked underground cave, trying to find the all-important weapon her father had told her about.

She began to hear the chilling voice of the robotic God once again, calling out to her, telling her to stop…

"Why do you try to stop me? Your efforts are futile."

"Shut up! You're not going to stop me from helping them!"

"You act in vain, child! Why don't you give up?"

"I'll never give up, and I'm not a child!" Punguari replied as she resisted the voice.

"You think you can save those humans, but creatures like them will never be safe! They are full of corruption, lust, selfishness, and greed! That is the way of such fickle creatures! The humans will always be beings of destruction; they will always be beings of anger and sickness! That is their nature, after all. Your efforts to preserve them are pointless!"

"That's not true! I know humans who are better than you could ever be!"

"Go ahead, keep fighting, even though it will not matter! Soon, you and all the humans will no longer be free to act against me! Soon, you will all be instruments of my grand and glorious empire! Soon, you will all exist to serve my supreme vision for a greater universe!"

But Punguari did her best to block out the voice and keep searching. She finally saw something glowing in the distance…

"AH-HA!"

It was a majestic-looking staff that emitted a bright blue aura. It was floating in the air, and Punguari gasped in excitement and awe over its presented power and beauty. It looked so divine that even her godly hands were unworthy of touching it… but she knew she had to anyway.

She quickly flew over and grabbed the staff. She lifted it up, but at that exact moment, a series of visions quickly flashed inside her head…

There was a brief vision of a much younger version of her parents fighting against Ucumu in ancient times, long before her own birth. This time, Ucumu was disposed of much more easily… by Chipiri using the staff to power up Sisiki and fire her directly into Ucumu's chest, disintegrating him and sending him plummeting down into the underworld.

There was a brief vision of what was presumably even further back when an ancient deity that was above even her parents was informing them of the staff's powers. The deity appeared in the form of a bright white light, with a young Chipiri and Sikiki, accompanied by a few other presumably long-gone deities from many millennia ago, kneeling before it. "This weapon is to be used when the situation threatens that of the world or of even greater scope, and no other options are effective. The staff contains near-limitless power and capability, and it can stop even the mightiest of evil entities. But to prevent it from being used by the wrong hands, I have designed it to only work when the one who needs to use it most… uses it."

She then saw a vision from a far more recent time, just after she and Ronnie Anne's family worked together to defeat Ucumu. Sisiki and Chipiri had just been freed from the clutches of Ucumu, and Sisiki sighed to her partner, "If only the whole incident with Punguari and Ucumu didn't happen so fast back then, we could have obtained the staff and prevented this great tragedy."

Chipiri followed with, "Or we could have used it this time to give Punguari and her new friends an easier job. Still, at least they didn't need it… this time."

"But what if a far more powerful threat arises one day?" Sisiki then asked ominously.

Upon seeing these visions, Punguari grinned in satisfaction as she now felt she had the power to defeat the most fearsome, cunning, and dangerous foes… which was precisely what she and her friends were going up against.

However, as she held the staff in her hand, it began to glow even more intensely, as a familiar voice began to emit from the object…

"Punguari, if you are hearing this message, then Chipiri and I are either dead, or we are otherwise rendered incapable of defending you and the people of this mortal realm."

"Mom? Is that you?" Punguari asked in shock, weirded out by the message coming from the staff.

"If you have been sent to retrieve this divine creation of the First Gods, the people of Earth must be facing a grave threat stronger than it has ever seen before. Be assured, they need you now. You must give the staff to a close ally of yours and instruct them to use it on you."

"Huh?" Punguari muttered in confusion.

"The staff operates as a device capable of powering someone up so much that they can defeat any force of evil, no matter how mighty. However, the staff's power can only be harnessed by a God, as we are the only ones strong enough to withstand the strain of its power. Go and save the world, Punguari! We trust you!"

Punguari nodded with determination as if her mother was actually there beside her. "I won't let you down!"


Back in the villains' hideout, Lisa-Prime journeyed through the fortress corridors, searching for Carol's laboratory chamber. Though alone, she began brainstorming verbally. "We need more apparatus if we're going to build this thing in good time! Luckily, I remember seeing a room with the greatest inventions of the quack. Hopefully, something in her inventory will be able to help us."

"Eureka!" she shouted excitedly as she found the room she was looking for. "Now to take what I need so we can—"

"I see you're quite amazed by my feats of science, Lisa," a familiar but sinister voice suddenly spoke.

Lisa turned around to find Doctor Linnaeus herself standing before her, pointing a laser blaster in her direction.

"So, you decided to stay in my laboratory, hoping to use my own technology against me. How desperate of you, Lisa. Not to mention predictable. Honestly, I expected better strategic thinking from the likes of you," Linnaeus gibed.

"And I expected you to possess better cognitive faculties!" Lisa snapped back. "Honestly, don't you realise what you're doing, working for Viribus?!"

"Yes, he's helping bring about a better world, with a better species to boot!"

"What?! By replacing the human race with a vast number of soulless, mindless slave robots?"

"Bah! Humanity is overrated if you ask me, Lisa. It's humanity's own limitations in both capacity and willpower that prevent the true achievements of science from happening. I should know, the scientific community berated and excluded me because my methods were too 'inhuman'. In all truthfulness, I think Viribus converting our feeble species into mechanical beings is the best thing for us!"

"As if I needed any more evidence to support my conclusion that you're an insane quack!"

Linnaeus just sighed, annoyed, before replying, "You think you're so much better than me, don't you, Lisa? After all, everyone loves singing your praises as the great child prodigy of science in Michigan! You're not the only prodigy in town, you know? I graduated with a PhD at the age of six!"

"Really? What took you so long? I obtained my PhD at age four," Lisa gloated, knowing it would get under the mad doctor's skin.

"You know something, Lisa? I've waited a long time to do this..." Carol ominously stated before walking towards her most cherished invention. "This device here is what I call the 'Mind Battle' machine. It takes the intellect and brain power of its two combatants and converts it into raw energy. The battle continues until the participant with the greater mind overpowers and overwhelms their inferior opponent."

"What? And you want us to partake in one of these mind battles?" Lisa asked.

"It's not the first time I've used this. After she rejected my practices, I challenged your esteemed colleague Dr J to one of these contests. Let's just say her brain was frazzled for days after I was through with her!" Carol gloated.

Lisa knew Dr. J was an exceptionally well-accomplished and intelligent scientist, so if Carol's claim of besting her in a battle of intellects was true, she would be in for a tough match-up. "I have more important matters to be concerning myself with right now," she tried to argue.

"Well, if you don't want to compete, there's always the alternative... I could just shoot you where you stand!" Linnaeus reminded her as she pointed the blaster right in the young girl's face. "Come on, Lisa. Indulge me. You want this opportunity to prove your intellect as much as I do! And at least this way, you're in with a chance... an admittedly slim one, but still."

Realising that her enemy wouldn't take no for an answer and that it was the best choice available, Lisa grew a determined but confident grin. "Not as slim as you think, lady!"


Back in Royal Woods, chaos ensued as the humans and robots duked it out for the fate of all humanity. Every corner of the town was filled with skirmishes, left, right, and centre.

Even the kids bravely stepped up to battle the mechanical soldiers. Lola, Carl, and Adelaide all teamed up and used their martial arts skills to battle the robots. Lola-Prime kicked one of the androids in the face with power impressive enough to knock it off balance. Adelaide took advantage of this and executed a swift leg sweep, taking the droid to the ground.

"HI-YAH!" Carl shouted as he performed a Karate chop on the robot's torso…

…only to hurt his hand, dealing precisely zero damage.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" he screamed as he held his red, swollen hand in pain.


Girl Jordan and her friend Rachel were cowering in fear inside an empty corner store as one of the robots approached it. But just in the nick of time, it was distracted by a shadow coming from behind.

It turned around to see the one and only La Tormenta, ready to pounce from a mailbox as if it were a top turnbuckle. "Today's forecast... PAIN!" she yelled as she performed an elbow drop on the robot, and given her strength and the momentum of the leap, it was enough to knock the droid to the ground thunderously.

*THUD*

"Go, kids! I'll handle this tin toy!" La Tormenta told Jordan and Rachel as she stood between the two girls and the killer robot.


Meanwhile, many of the physically strongest members of the Louds' human army had their own approach to battling the robots. Danny Puga, Lance Loud, Stan Stancko, Coach Packowski, the Meat Mountain, and even Stern Fern were all lifting large rocks and throwing them at the robots with enough force to knock them off their feet, which then allowed some of their allies to attack them while they were down.

Their efforts were impressive, but the pint-sized powerhouse Lynn Jr put them all to shame as she lifted an even larger boulder than all of them, and threw it with enough power to actually completely destroy a robot upon impact.

*SMASH*

The big, burly adults stood in awe, as well as a hint of jealousy, over the strength of the mighty Lynn Loud.

"Ha, I could have thrown one bigger!" Ham Hand snarkily replied.

"You don't even have both your hands, dude," Lynn-Prime objected.

"Doesn't matter!" Ham Hand argued, only for a robot to blast him from behind. "Woah!" he cried as he narrowly avoided the shot, only for the edge of the projectile to catch and burn off a small portion of his hair.

He gasped in horror. "ARGH! MY HAIR!"

Enraged, Ham Hand charged at the robot responsible and knocked it down with his mighty hammer.

*WHAM*

Some more robots aggressively stomped their way down the street towards the burly adults, ready to fire, but then some backup came in the form of a large gang of felines...

"Look! It's the alley cats!" Frida exclaimed as she pointed in their direction.

"Ronnie Anne actually got them to follow us here!?" a surprised Hector gasped.

"That's my sister!" Bobby proudly remarked.

The cats used their combined might to their advantage as they swarmed towards the group of robots, knocking some of them down in the process.

"YES!" Bobby shouted.

Mr Bolhofner and Rocket also saw the cats, and Rocket tugged on his master's trouser leg and pointed at them…

"What's that, Rocket? You want to join them?" Bolhofner guessed, to which his pet nodded in confirmation.

"Alright! Go and join your comrades!" he encouraged as his Bobcat jumped into the alley cat swarm and added to its might, turning it into an even stronger collective unit.


Babs Bestie also joined in the fight against the armies of Viribus. "You chumps are gonna regret making me your mindless servant! Nobody punks out Babs Bestie!" she stormed before charging at one of the robots.

Thanks to her wearing the power vest Doctor Linnaeus had provided her, Babs was strong enough to successfully clothesline the robot and take its head right off.

"Booyah!" she whooped, clenching her fist in victory.

But she quickly had to regain her focus as this gained her the attention of several more of the metal minions. "Okay, let's dance!" she smirked, preparing to lay into some metal mesh.


Some of the Loud sisters banded together as they used the laser weapons Lisa-1 gave them. "Okay, everyone, let them have it!" Lori-Prime ordered as they began firing away.

However, they had to pick their shots, as the robots were quick to fire back at them from both ground and air. The sisters used some of the surrounding objects, such as broken-down cars, trash cans, street lights, and even corners of buildings, to take cover from the shots fired back at them by the robots.

Luan-Prime focused on one of the androids hovering in the air, hoping to gain an easy shot on it. However, this meant that she was unaware of another robot standing behind, about a hundred yards or so away from her. It prepared to blast her as she crouched down in position and in the line of fire.

However...

"Nuh-uh, dude!" Luna-Prime mocked as she shot down the robot first.

BLAST

Much like when they were at Dairyland the other day, Luna saved Luan from being shot—though this time, it was a much more "real" situation. Thankfully, Lisa-1's claim that her weaponry could neutralise the robots proved correct at that very moment.

"Thanks, Luna," Luan-Prime praised.

"Don't mention it, dude," Luna-Prime casually replied.

However, Luna-Prime herself was then saved, as a robot was about to shoot at her from above, only to get blasted from behind.

"Huh?" Luna-Prime muttered as she heard the robot fall from the sky and crash from her back.

She then saw the one responsible for saving her was her old friend, Taylor, who just grinned and gave her a thumbs up. Luna-Prime threw her the goats in gratitude.


Lincoln-Prime tried his best to contribute to the battle, but he wasn't exactly the highest-trained warrior. As he made his way through the streets of Royal Woods, which had now been turned into a battleground, he quite literally bumped into Clyde.

"Oof! Clyde?!"

"Lincoln?!"

"Quick, we have to keep moving!" Lincoln-Prime insisted.

But then Clyde had a suggestion. "Wait, make me mad! I might be able to help!"

"Erm..." Lincoln's train of thought was suddenly disrupted as he quickly dodged a laser blast from one of the robots. "ARRHHH! Sorry buddy, I can't think of anything with all these dang robots firing at us!"

"I understand," Clyde replied.

"Can you think of anything to make me mad?" Lincoln-Prime suggested, remembering that he, too, had a similar condition, though one that was generated by more specific circumstances.

"Don't you only go full beast mode—ARRHHH!" Clyde yelled as he ducked under a blast from one of the androids. "...when one of your sisters gets hurt?"

Lincoln-Prime sighed before saying, "Yeah, that's true. I guess we'll just have to do our best without our inner rage modes."

"What about that thing?" Clyde then asked as he noticed Lincoln-Prime holding a weapon.

"Oh, this? This is something that Lisa gave me. It's supposed to work against these things. Here it goes!" he explained as he fired at one of the robots, and sure enough, the blast caused the robot to deactivate and fall to the ground.

"Can I get one of those?" Clyde jokingly asked.

"Yeah, us too!" Rusty added as he, Zach, Stella, and Liam all approached them.

"Sorry, guys. Lisa only had enough for me and my sisters," Lincoln-Prime told them.

"Aw, nuts!" Rusty moaned.

"It won't matter, anyway! I'm telling you guys, this is the end! This is the apocalypse!" Zach told them.

"Zach, now really isn't the time for one of your weird conspiracy theories!" Stella huffed.

But just then, the entire group was surrounded by a group of robots that descended from the sky and began to target them.

"Uh-oh," Clyde muttered nervously as the droids pointed their lasers right at them.

Lincoln-Prime still had his weapon, but it wouldn't do them much good, as he was standing off against no less than five of the mechs.

"I guess this is it..." he shuddered fearfully, bracing himself for the end and shutting his eyes.

Instead of meeting the afterlife, he heard the sound of large swooping wings... and an enthusiastic Scottish man.

"LET'S TAKE 'EM, GIRL!"

The five robots saw what was coming and immediately redirected their attention. They flew up to confront the approaching creature.

"NOW!" Angus ordered as Lela blew a hot blast of fire at the droids, though it had no effect, given they were made of durable metal.

"Dang it! Okay, let's try something else," Angus grumbled as Lela charged at them.

Before one of the robots could shoot her, Lela spun around and whacked her tail into it, knocking it back into the other four robots and causing a destructive explosion.

SMASH

"It's Angus and Lela!" Lincoln-Prime shouted excitedly. "And they're kicking butt!" he proudly stated.

"Who?" Liam asked.

"Remember that time my family and I went to Scotland?"

"Yeah?" Rusty asked.

"Well, I didn't tell you guys everything that happened there. I didn't think you'd believe me."

"Alright, Lincoln?" Angus shouted from above.

"I'm okay, Angus, thanks to you."

"It's my pleasure, son," he replied. "Now, girl, it's time we lay waste to these overgrown dustbins!" The dragon flew across the sky, ready for battle.

But while the Louds and friends were being greeted by powerful reinforcements, the odds still weren't in their favour. They were in for the fight of their lives as the armies of Viribus continued to descend on Earth.

But the people of Royal Woods and Great Lakes City had an even more powerful ally due to enter the battle. Would she be enough to turn the tide of the fight?


Author's Footnote:

And so, we're at the final battle. Things will get pretty crazy in the next two chapters, even more than they did in v1. So, I suggest you all buckle up for a BIG climax.

Also, to answer the proofreader's query below, I respect his opinion, especially since he has helped me considerably with completing the second part of this project for a relatively small sum (I hate proofreading XD). But technically, the Louds did discuss alternatives in chapter 4 of this version of the story, and the option of going to the Casagrandes' apartment is mentioned in the discussion. However, they opt against going to stay with any friends or relatives on the logic that doing so would put them in danger, too. No, Viribus is never mentioned having anything against the people of Great Lakes City in this story, but their presence alone would add a sense of danger to the Casagrandes and other people there. Not to mention, going to anywhere that friends or relatives of the Loud family are would be very obvious places for them to hide and lay low, and if the Louds are trying to remain under the radar and hidden away from all their enemies, then it would make sense for them to go somewhere that, firstly, doesn't put anyone they know and care deeply about in danger, and secondly, isn't somewhere obvious.

But hey, feel free to disagree if you want to.

Anyway, I'm hoping to get the final two chapters done very soon, so you've all got those to look forward to.

In the meantime, any and all feedback on the new version of the story is welcome.


Proofreader's Note: This is the first chapter I have reviewed in the Grammarly app, which allowed me to catch many more errors than in Google Docs. Thus, this chapter should have much more of a squeaky-clean shine than the previous ones. However, while I do some small rewrites, I'm not willing to try to be a miracle worker. The part where the Louds' cousins and Casagrandes join the battle really could be condensed, but that would require a major rework of that section; I'm only a proofreader, not a rewriter.

My 22nd birthday on August 17 is also coming up fast, and I even created a plan for the cake for my party. I've used the leftover $14, plus the accrued $10, some of my own money, and help from a friend, to pay for another Alejindio commission for my birthday. It's done, but will only be posted to Alejindio's DeviantArt on my birthday. Stay tuned!

I will complain, though, that the Louds going to Ensnared was entirely avoidable, and the author did not do the due diligence for alternatives or discussions he said he did (though he may answer me in his author's note). Going to the Casagrandes, while painted as a risk to them, is actually valid. Viribus never mentioned anything against going to Great Lakes City, nor do the Louds know he would try to pursue them after his threat to drive them out of town. All he said was they have to leave town, no strings attached, meaning that as far as the Louds can become aware, the Casagrandes is an excellent option. This is something critical that Lincoln should have mentioned.

The Louds also have experience with being the marks of a scam hotel, as seen in Doom Service. (This is especially poignant, as the author pointed out that the episode, released after V1, resembles the Ensnared portion of TLFH. The Louds are on alert for a place they know is safe, and given their situation, they would just keep driving instead of checking into a hotel that is throwing red flags like it's some sort of Swiss celebration. Too many red flags means too many red flags, and no amount of discussion will change that.

If a V3 becomes developed, I see a highway ambush as a better option, as Viribus would definitely consider a plan B. From there, the Louds are captured and brought to Ensnared. However, given the Louds would likely be going a completely different direction to the way Viribus planned them to go (throwing a wrench in his Batman Gambit*), it would not be easy to catch up to them in the first place.

Another complaint, though smaller, has to do with formatting in the previous chapter. Every instance of a double hyphen (-), which was meant to emulate a dash (—), was replaced with a single hyphen (-). While this generally wasn't a problem, as three of the four dashes were quote interruptions, the first dash resulted in an improper hyphenation of two words (to-was). I find this improperly confusing, and I tried to alert the author, but I wasn't listened to.

Lastly, let me end this off with a tip. If you're following any fanfiction (that is, you have specifically ticked the "Follow Story" box in Fanfiction's favourite/follow menu) and you get an alert for it, but you can't see the new chapter in the story's page, change the internal chapter number in the URL bar to the new chapter. (As an example, if you were trying to view this chapter, you would change the number to 11, as this chapter is internally Chapter 11, not Chapter 10, as that is part of the chapter name.)