Kanto Gets Loud
(Pokemon X Loud House Story)
Chapter 3: Beginning Remorse
Back in Royal Woods,
Albert had made his way back to the Loud House to drop off the package to his daughter's family. Truth be told, even Albert was curious as to what it was, but he figured once he got inside, they would figure it out. He pulled up to the curb, package in hand, and proceeded up to the front door. He then rung the doorbell. In moments, the door opened to reveal both Loud Parents,, who were surprised to see him so soon, "Albert? What brings you here today?" Lynn Sr. asked.
"Well, I already dropped off Lincoln to Professor Oak, who gave me this to give to all of you," Albert replied, handing off the package to his son in-law, before being invited inside.
"Did the Professor say what it was exactly?" Rita asked.
"No, he and I took off from one another before he could explain it," Albert replied. It was then that he noticed how quiet the house was, "Are the girls all out somewhere?" he asked.
"Yeah, there's apparently a bunch of sales at the mall," Lynn Sr. replied.
"Hmm, that might actually be a good thing in this case. The less interruptions we have, the better. Now, let's get this dealt with," Albert said, as he proceeded to open the package. Inside was some kind of strange computer like device with a phone built into it, "Ah, this must be one of those video phone things that ol' Samuel talked about during our chats," he commented.
"So, how does it work?" Rita asked.
"Basically the same way the program we used to call the Professor worked, except the phone and the camera are all one item, instead of being two separate attachments," Albert replied to the best of his knowledge. Lynn Sr. then looked at the instructions.
"Hmm, says here it can be linked up to our home phone number, and installation is fairly simple," he said, reading the instructions.
"Ok, so where should we set it up?" Albert questioned. Rita thought hard about this.
"Hmm, if we leave it in the open, the girls will no doubt fight over it, what with Lori wanting to use it to call her boyfriend as an example, or Lisa trying to disassemble it," she stated.
"True. We need to put it someplace that the girl's can't easily get to," Lynn Sr. replied. Albert then got an idea.
"How about in your room?" he suggested, catching the attention of both parents, "Think about it; If it's in your room, then the two of you can make the rules about how the girls are to use it. On that note, you should be making rules for the ENTIRE house altogether," he further explained.
"Well, it is true that the girls aren't allowed in our bedroom without an acceptable reason, so I guess it would make more sense to do that," Lynn Sr. replied, as he picked up the videophone and brought it into the master bedroom, and placed it on a bare spot on the dresser. The three of them proceeded to install the videophone, following the instructions to sync it up to their home phone number.
"Alright, that should do it. Before I go, I want to see that you two have in fact unsealed your son's door," Albert said, heading up the stairs. Peering down at the end of the hall, he saw that, while the door was unsealed, it was closed shut. He then proceeded to open the door, and saw that all of Lincoln's stuff was put back exactly as it was found, "Hmm, good. As it should be," he declared, exiting the room, and descending the stairs.
"Well, the girls still won't go near it, since it's still tainted with bad luck," Lynn Sr. pointed out.
"Lynn, I'm going to be blunt with you; Your son only lied about being bad luck to get some free time. All that talk about bad luck that you and your daughter's believe in is nothing more than Junior's ego speaking. The next time I come over for a visit, I expect this bad luck garbage to be done with," Albert sternly said.
"That's all well and good, but unless his sisters say he isn't bad luck, then I'm inclined to believe that it's true," Lynn Sr. replied.
"Lynn, has it ever occurred to you to use a little thing we call 'common sense'?!" Albert yelled, causing both parents to flinch, "Back in the way, I never once relied on luck to pull through each battle. The good luck that me and my army buddies had to survive each and every skirmish was purely up to chance!" he explained.
"I know that, but," Lynn Sr. was cut off.
"'But' nothing! I want you both to deal with your daughter's asinine belief in luck by the time I visit again!" Albert yelled again, as he exited the house. Unbeknownst to any of them, they were being spied on by a certain genius.
At the Mall,
Lisa was watching the whole exchange between Albert and her parents through a tablet device. As she listened in on the conversation between the three adults, she slowly began to realize that maybe she made a terrible mistake in conducting this experiment, "I need to do whatever it takes to earn Lincoln's forgiveness," she decided.
"You too, huh?" Lisa jumped as Lucy appeared behind her.
"I wish you would stop doing that," Lisa grumbled.
"It's just how I move through the universe, but that's not important right now. We both made terrible choices because of Lynn's superstitious beliefs that Lincoln suffered for. And to think, this is how I repaid him after something he did for me," Lucy replied. Anyone else wouldn't be able to tell that Lucy was full of regret for her part in Lincoln's mistreatment, but Lisa could easily see her remorse.
"And by something he did for you, that was covering for you for clogging the toilet with that Princess Pony book?" Lisa asked. Lucy quickly covered the young genius' mouth.
"Not so loudly!" Lucy seethed, clearly not wanting unwanted ears hearing her secret, "How do you know about that?!" she questioned.
"Please, it's plainly obvious that Lincoln doesn't partake in Princess Pony shenanigans, plus I saw the poster you have hidden in your room. That, and I have security footage from the night in question," Lisa replied.
"You knew all along?" Lucy questioned.
"Of course. I chose not to, as many would say, spill the beans about your childish secret, on account that I have no interest in joining in such childish behavior," Lisa replied.
"Ok, first of all, you may want to disengage the camera you have in the bathroom. That's just plain creepy, even on my standards," Lucy suggested.
"I will consider it," Lisa replied.
"Secondly, how should we go about getting Lincoln to at least consider forgiving us?" Lucy wondered. Truthfully, Lisa was stumped as to how to answer that. She knew a simple "I'm sorry" wasn't going to cut it. Whatever they did to prove to Lincoln that they truly do regret their poor choices had to be sincere and meaningful.
"I hate to say it, but even I don't know what we should do, aside from admitting to Lincoln that we were foolish in taking Lynn's side in this whole circus act, and vowing that we'll be better sisters to him," Lisa replied.
"Maybe there's something we CAN do to help him out with whatever this researcher friend of Pop-Pop's wants him to do. Speaking of which, what do you know about him?" Lucy asked.
"I did a search on Professor Samuel Oak and his field of study. Apparently, he studies something called 'Pokemon'. And, from the surveillance footage I got from when Pop-Pop and them called him, he plans to help our brother become something called a 'Pokemon Trainer'. I'm not too sure about it myself," Lisa replied.
"Hmm, what about those 'Pokemon' things? Were you able to find anything about them?" Lucy asked.
"Again, I'm afraid not. It would appear that whatever information there is about these creatures, the American government is keeping a tight lid on it," Lisa replied. Lucy was now more curious than ever, as was Lisa.
"Well, what can we do about the house?" Lucy asked. Lisa pondered for a moment.
"Hmm, it would probably be in our best interest to convince our parental units to have the video phone they received from Pop-Pop and Professor Oak moved into my bedroom," Lisa replied.
"Why your room?" Lucy asked.
"It wouldn't be a good idea for it to be put into your room, since Lynn would no doubt try and destroy it, barring us from having any sort of contact with Lincoln. It's also a bad idea for it to be in either Lori and Leni's room or the twin's room, because we both can predict how that will end up," Lisa explained.
"Fair point," Lucy replied.
"That, and my room has a security system in place to help keep any unwanted distractions from my experiments out. I can re-purpose them to keep out any unwanted interruptions whilst those of us who Lincoln does forgive can have a conversation with him," Lisa added.
"Hmm, I guess I can see where you're coming from all this," Lucy replied.
"Indeed. But for now, we need to keep it under wraps from the rest of our sisters. Lynn is the major obstacle, as she would no doubt try to impede our progress. Lori, Luan, and Lola are the same, but to a lesser extent. And I don't foresee Leni, Luna, or Lana causing any trouble, and Lily is probably the only one in the house that Lincoln probably doesn't hold a grudge against," Lisa stated.
"Lucy, Lisa! Come on, we're heading home!" Lori called out.
"Well, we can discuss this more in private when we get home," Lisa stated, as the two of them made their way to the front of the mall.
Later that day, at the Loud House,
Rita was sitting on the sofa, watching some TV, when Lucy and Lisa approached, "Mother Unit?" Lisa asked, catching their mother's attention.
"Yes, girls?" Rita asked.
"We wish to talk to you in regards to the device that Pop-Pop dropped off earlier today," Lisa replied. Rita immediately knew what Lisa was talking about, and pulled both daughters into her room.
"How do you know about the video phone?" Rita questioned, arms crossed, looking down at both girls.
"I have security cameras installed in secret in all rooms in the house. It pays to keep not only my research safe, but also the rest of the family," Lisa replied.
"We're going to have words about this later, young lady, but for now, let's focus on what you wanted to talk about," Rita replied.
"Ah, yes. * Ahem * I would strongly recommend and request that the Video Phone be moved into my room," Lisa stated.
"And why, pray tell, should we do that?" Rita asked.
"You see, I had installed a security system around my door and the windows for held prevent any unwanted intrusions," Lisa explained. Rita kept her arms crossed.
"Ok, but I'm asking why we should move it into YOUR room? You realize that if we agree to it, then you are to promise NOT to try and dismantle it or do any experiments with it, right?" Rita asked.
"I am fully prepared to accept those terms, wholeheartedly. My reasons include the following; One: If it's in my room, then, with the security system, we won't have to worry about Lynn or anyone else attempting to undermine our attempts to make amends with Lincoln," Lisa explained. Rita now looked very surprised. Two of her daughters were admitting they were wrong on their own accord?
"You genuinely want to apologize to your brother for your part in this whole mess?" Rita asked.
"Yes. During one of my spirit calling sessions with Great Grandma Harriet, she expressed her disappointment with all of us, and that we need to make things right with Lincoln before things get worse beyond repair," Lucy replied.
"And as a woman of science, it is my great sin to have even conceived the idea of conducting this experiment based on a ridiculous superstition," Lisa added.
"Well, I suppose those are good a reasons as any. But did you have any other reasons why you wanted to have the Video Phone moved in with you, Lisa?" Rita asked.
"Yes. I'm quite curious about this Professor Oak character that Pop-Pop told us about, as well as his field of study," Lisa replied.
"Well, he did show one of the animals that Lincoln's bound to encounter while he's over there. Although, I'd say 'animal' may be a bit of a stretch for that creature," Rita commented.
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.
"The creature he showed us when he explained his field of study looked like a living rock with arms. It had eyes and a mouth, and moved around on it's own," Rita replied.
"A living rock? That does sound peculiar, and almost impossible to believe. Could I check the call log on the computer later?" Lisa asked.
"Um, sure. But before we do that, and before we move the Video Phone into your room, I want to see this security system myself," Rita replied.
"Fair enough," Lisa replied, as she led her mother and sister out of the master bedroom.
A few days later, at Professor Oak's Lab, in Lincoln's temporary bedroom, night time
Lincoln was carefully going over the notes he had taken during his teaching sessions with Professor Oak during the past few days, "Ok, so Pokemon can come in either one or two types of attributes. Those types being Normal, Grass, Fire, Water, Bug, Electric, Rock, Ground, Fighting, Flying, Poison, Ice, Dark, Steel, Fairy, Psychic, Dragon, and Ghost. Each type has a different compatibility based on the opposing Pokemon's Type. Fire Pokemon are strong against Grass, Bug, Steel,and Ice types, but struggle against Rock, Water, and Ground Types, and Fire Type moves are a poor choice against Rock, Water, and Dragon Types," Lincoln muttered, as he continued to studiously go over the notes. Just then, some knocking came from the door. Lincoln got up to answer it. Opening it revealed Professor Oak.
"Hard at work studying for your exam, I see," Professor Oak commented, seeing how studious Lincoln was being.
"Yes. I want to be able to do good on the qualification test so I can begin my adventure," Lincoln replied.
"Hmm, very good. Your test will be tomorrow afternoon. That way, you'll have a little more time to prepare," Professor Oak replied.
"Ok. Thank you for letting me use this room all this time," Lincoln said.
"It's no trouble at all, Mr. Loud. But it's getting late, so you may want to think about getting to bed sooner, rather than later," Professor Oak said.
"Ok. I'll see you in the morning," Lincoln said, as he closed the door after the professor took off. Lincoln switched into his pajamas, before crawling into bed, "I wonder which Pokemon I'll choose as my starter," Lincoln pondered, as images of three different creatures he met during the week popped into his head. One was a small, green frog like creature with a bulb on it's back, "Bulbasaur, from what the Professor told me, is fairly easy to raise," he quietly murmured, as an image of a small, blue turtle creature came up next, "Then there's Squirtle. A Water Type can be versatile," last, but not least, the last creature he thought of was an orange lizard with a fire at the tip of it's tail, "But Charmander evolves into Charizard, which I'm almost certain is one of the Pokemon I saw in my dream," Lincoln contemplated, as he began to drift away into slumber.