Kanto Gets Loud
Chapter 29: The Second Progress Report
Royal Woods, Lisa and Lily's Room, Morning,
Today was the third day the first of Lincoln's Pokemon would be staying, but Lisa didn't mind too much. After all, she was able to get lots of valuable research done one each of them in just one day, "Oh, this whole week has been wonderful, at least as far as research goes. We're going to have proceed very carefully going forward with making amends with Lincoln, especially after how Lynn jeopardized things with her big mouth," Lisa said, casting a glare at the door, "And I think I might have an idea on how to do so," she said, grabbing her tool kit, and heading towards the door, just as the Videophone pinged, "Hmm? What could this be?" she questioned, returning to her desk, and checking the Videophone. She saw that it was a message from Professor Oak titled "Second Progress Report", "Ah, so he's got the next report done. This works out perfectly. I'll have to message Lincoln's friends later. For now, safeguarding my room from those Neanderthals takes priority," she said, as she returned to her door to begin working on it.
Meanwhile, down in the Loud House Living Room,
While Lisa was working on her door, the rest of the Loud Family (apart from Rita, Leni, Lucy, Lisa, and Lily), were all sitting around the living room, watching some TV, and they looked like they've seen better days.
Lori, after regaining consciousness had learned that she had landed headfirst into the toilet. Upon realizing this, Lori was forced to shave her head bald to get most of the contaminants off of her head, which led to her being forced to cancel her date with Bobby, where she would explain her side of the whole story to make sure Bobby was on the family's side.
Luna, after being attack by a swarm of angry wasps, was covered from head to toe in swollen welts. This, of course, ruined her plans to confess her feelings to her crush, Sam Sharp. That being said, her misfortune didn't end there. While she was rocking out with her guitar, it had snapped.
Luan wasn't fairing any better either. She had scratch marks all over her face, her tooth was noticeably chipped, and her entire front half was covered in dried mud. And her bad luck didn't end there. Some more bad luck manifested when she went to visit her friend, Maggie. Upon finding out what had happened to the up-and-coming comedian, Maggie did the one thing that Luan never thought she would do: she laughed at her. While Luan did enjoy getting laughs from people, the way Maggie was laughing was the kind she could live without. While returning home from her visit, Luan found herself at the mercy of a fairly small group of alley cats, who apparently didn't take too kindly to her walking through their territory, and proceeded to attack her. Luan, of course, ran away, and was able to evade them, but not before she fell face first into a mud puddle.
The twins were also having their own streak of misfortune, having bruises all over their bodies from the morning prior. Lola was forced to borrow some of Lana's clothes after Charles had 'marked' Lola's favorite dress. Needless to say, Lola was very uncomfortable in Lana's clothes. Speaking of which, Lana wasn't fairing to better, as she was forced to use one of Lola's sashes as a cast after her wrist was broken during her collision with Lynn. The sash itself was super itchy, and the color hurt Lana's eyes just to look at it.
As for their father, he had encountered several problems upon learning Lana's wrist was broken and had to be taken to the hospital. First, the AC stopped working in Vanzilla, then the radio got stuck on a station that was playing what sounded like elevator music, and top it all off, he nearly crashed three different times. To add insult to injury, the egg smell still hadn't gone away, no matter what he tried, whether it be doing laundry, taking showers, using his wife and daughter's perfumes, and even using tomato juice. The smell was so foul, his wife had made him sleep on the couch until it went away. What he couldn't figure out is why the smell seemed to worsen rather than improve.
While the Louds were all dealing with their own troubles, none had it worse than the younger of the Lynns, who had yet another black eye, another missing tooth, several new bruises, and a horrible ringing in her head that wouldn't go away, not to mention the numbness in certain parts of her body, curtesy of Riolu's Thunder Punch. And that was only the tip of the iceberg. After sneaking out of the house to go to softball practice, (despite being banned and the getting the Squirrel's disqualified for the next three seasons, as well as being grounded by her mother), Lynn had tried to force her teammates to come to practice, which only resulted in each of their parents phoning Lynn's parents to take her away, which they did, which also led to Lynn's grounding being extended even further.
'It doesn't make sense. How can our luck be even worse than ever? Sending Stinkcoln away should've eliminated all of the bad luck that was plaguing us!' she pondered, as Riolu came running through with Poliwag and Zubat, 'It has to be those dumb animals he sent over! Yeah, and his room too! The combined bad luck they all have must be making things worse for us!' she thought, as she turned to her father, "Dad, can I ask a favor?"
"What is it, Junior? And before you say anything, don't bother asking to have your grounding lifted. You brought that all on yourself by disobeying your mother," Lynn Sr. stated.
"No, it's not that. I was going to ask if we could reseal Lincoln's room again." The request caused Lynn Sr. to look at his daughter in bewilderment.
"Why do you want to reseal his room?!"
"Because things haven't been going downhill for us until you chose to unseal it! There might be some bad luck still lingering around in there," Lynn explained.
"You seriously think your brother's room is cursing us?"
"I don't think, I know it. Not only that, we should put a ban on having Lincoln send any more of those animals here. They have to be making things worse," Lynn replied, only for Riolu to bounce off of her head, and for Poliwag to blast her in the face with Water Gun, "See what I mean?"
"Oh, come off it, Lynn! You're blowing this whole superstitious thing way out of proportion!" Luna said with a disapproving frown on her face.
"Oh, really? Then how come things have been getting worse for US since that rotten jinx left for Kanto? We're the ones who are supposed to benefit from him being far away from us, not him! You can't just say that unsealing his room, and his dumb animals being sent over have nothing to do with our recent streak of bad luck!" Lynn argued.
"Keep it down, Junior! You know your mother will only extend your grounding if you keep badmouthing your brother," Lynn Sr. warned.
"So what? After the way she and the others had betrayed us, she and those other three are no longer part of the family as far as I'm concerned!" Lynn stated.
"You know if you keep disowning people who are just trying to make things right with Lincoln, you're just going to wind up all alone in the world," Luna said.
"A temporary price to pay. Once you guys see that I'm right, they'll come crawling back begging for forgiveness. Unlike that rotten jinx, I will at least attempt to forgive them," Lynn replied.
"Well, Lynn's idea does have merit, as far as an experiment goes, but there's one thing she's not taking into account," Lori pointed out.
"Like what?" Lynn asked, irritated at Lori's commented.
"Even if you no longer respect Mom, there's no way she'll allow any of us to reseal his room. If you do, then it will only end up with an even longer grounding," Lori explained.
"Pssh, she'll lift my punishment once she sees I was right all along," Lynn dismissed.
"Well, it beats doing nothing, and we have to do something about what's happening to us. I can't keep wearing Lana's smelly clothes forever!" Lola complained.
"Hey, what's wrong with my clothes?" Lana asked, sounding offended.
"You mean besides the fact that they smell like garbage?" Lola asked.
"That's because I was wearing those duds when I was playing in the trash here the other day," Lana replied. Lola looked at the clothes she was wearing in disbelief and disgust.
"Daddy, please at least try to convince Mom to let us reseal Lincoln's room!" Lola pleaded.
"Now Lola, I…" Lynn Sr. then looked around to see his daughters all looking at him with expectant looks in their eyes, 'Good god, is this how Lincoln feels when put on the spot?'
"Well Dad, what's your verdict?" Lori asked, crossing her arms.
"Alright. I'll talk it over with your mother, but I can't make any guarantees," Lynn Sr. replied. While the younger Lynn wasn't completely satisfied as the others were, she figured she might as well respect her father's wishes, as she and the others went back up to their rooms. Lynn Sr. sighed in exasperation, "Cursed room or not, you can't say you didn't get yourself into this mess, Lynn."
In the Santiago Residence, Living Room,
Ronnie Anne was showing her family the footage from the USB stick that Lisa had given her, most notably the Sister Fight Protocol incident. Needless to say, everyone in that room was disgusted by how cruel the Loud Sisters were behaving, especially towards Lincoln, "And to think, Lori seemed like such a nice girl," Hector commented.
"I can't believe I actually had some level of respect for her!" Carlota spat.
"I don't get why they're fighting over the house, but is it really necessary to take control of the entire house?" C.J questioned.
"Most likely they needed as much space as possible to resolve their squabble. Although, since it is a dress, this does seem like overkill," Carlos explained.
"The more I watch these videos, the more I'm having second thoughts against uploading them to the internet," Ronnie Anne replied.
"So, why don't you?" Carlino asked.
"Because despite how they've treated Lincoln with the recent bad luck incident, he's still willing to give them a second chance. So far, only his mom, Leni, Lucy, and Lisa have earned his forgiveness. Lily's the wild card for obvious reasons," Ronnie Anne replied.
"I just can't believe that the girl I've been dating for several months is willing to treat her family this badly," Bobby commented, still overwhelmed by the revelation.
"I still say you should upload these videos. The world should know about how awful these girls really are," Carlino said.
"I would, but I want to respect Lincoln's wishes, and let them have their chance to earn his forgiveness, even though Lynn and Lori don't deserve it," Ronnie Anne replied. Just then the phone started ringing. Maria got up to answer.
"Hello, Santiago Residence," she said. Some garbling was heard on the other end, "It's for you, mija," she said, handing the phone to Ronnie Anne.
"Hello?"
"Hello Ronnie Anne. I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time," Lisa's voice said over the line.
"Uh, not really busy at the moment. So, what are you calling for, Lisa?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"Professor Oak has sent a recording of Lincoln's second progress report, and I figured you and the others would want to come and watch?" Lisa offered.
"A recording? So, he isn't actually talking to us directly?"
"Afraid not, given the time-zones. But once we're done watching the recording, we can make a little recording compilation of what we can ask him if there are any questions."
"Hmm, well, that does sound a bit more productive. I'll call up the others and let them know."
"Please do. I would message them myself, but I'm working on something to help keep Lynn out of my room to prevent a repeat of last time."
"Good call. We'll come over as soon as we can," Ronnie Anne said, hanging up.
"Is everything alright, Mija?" Hector asked.
"Yeah. Since I learned that she's one of the few sisters to make it up to Lincoln, Lisa and I have been hanging out a bit more as of late. She invited me and the others over," Ronnie Anne replied.
"Do you need me to drive you over?" Maria offered.
"Thanks, but it'll take some time for the others to show up, and I need to contact each of them and let them know," Ronnie Anne politely declined.
"Well, if you're sure, but I figured I would offer, because I'd like to give Mr. and Mrs. Loud a piece of my mind, even if Lincoln already forgave his mom," Maria replied, still peeved at what her daughter had told her the night before.
"Well, you can at least give some leeway to Mrs. Loud, since she did earn his forgiveness. As for his dad, I say just let loose. But that can all happen at a later date," Ronnie Anne said.
"Well, I suppose it would be better than trying to go in blindly making a scene with no proof," Maria said.
"Alright. I'm going to get my things and head over," Ronnie Anne said, as she retrieved the USB, and made her way to her room.
"Hey, wait! Aren't you going to post those videos?" Carlino asked.
"No. If anything, I've already gotten the proof I needed to get out to the people who I think need it the most," Ronnie Anne replied, as she disappeared into the room.
"Just let it go, Carlino. Ronnie Anne knows what she's doing," CJ urged, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder. Within a few minutes, Ronnie Anne reemerges with her skateboard in hand.
"I've just texted the others, so I'll be back a little later," she said, exiting the house.
"So, Roberto, what do you intend to do now?" Rosa asked.
"I don't know, Abuela, but one things for certain, I have to make Lori realize that her family has to come first before anything else, including me," Bobby replied.
"Whatever you decide to do, know that we're behind you all the way," Carlota replied.
Meanwhile, with Ronnie Anne,
After leaving her house, Ronnie Anne was skating towards the Loud House. She was looking forward to listening to the recording to see how Lincoln's doing in Kanto since they last spoke. She saw that she was nearing the house in question, just as Clyde, Rusty, Liam, and Zach were, "Hey guys, glad you could make it so quickly," Ronnie Anne said.
"Ah had ta take the bus, but it's worth it to hear the report," Liam replied, just as a limo pulled up to the curb. The driver stepped out, walked around to the curb and opened the door, allowing Girl Jordan and Stella to step out.
"Thank you, Jefferson," Girl Jordan said.
"My pleasure, young miss. Shall I keep the motor running?" the driver asked.
"No. I foresee this taking quite a bit of time," Girl Jordan replied.
"Very well," Jefferson replied.
"Hey guys, are we late?" Stella asked.
"Nope. If anything, we're right on time," Ronnie Anne replied, as they approached the front door.
Inside the Dining Room,
Rita was sitting at the table, spoon feeding Lily some food, while Leni was nearby, working on her latest fashion design. Lily was happily clapping as Rita was spooning her some more food, but Rita's thoughts were elsewhere, 'What could Lynn even be thinking, sealing off Lincoln's room again?' she thought as her thoughts returned to a conversation that she had with her husband about half an hour ago.
Flashback, half an hour ago,
Rita was sitting at her desk in the master bedroom, writing her latest novel based on Lincoln's travels in Kanto, 'This might be one of the best novels I've ever worked on yet!' she thought, as her thoughts returned to what had happened during the most recent call from Lincoln, 'Doesn't Junior know her actions have consequences? She's going to be in for the rudest awakening ever when she realizes how the world actually works.' Her thoughts were then interrupted by the sound of knocking at the door, "It's open!" she called. The door creaked open, revealing Lynn Sr.
"Uh, hey honey," he greeted.
"Is there something you need, Lynn? I'm kind of busy at the moment."
"Well, I have something I need to discuss with you. Can I come in?"
"Depends. Do you still smell like a garbage dump?" Lynn Sr. sniffed himself, gagging at the rancid stench emanating from him.
"Well, yes, but…"
"Then you are to stay right there. Whatever you have to ask me, you can say from the doorframe."
"Fair enough. What I want to discuss with you is in regards to Lincoln's room."
"Yes? What about it?"
"The girls and I are wondering if you'd be alright with us sealing it back up. After the sort of unlucky day we had yesterday, we think there might still be some residual bad luck still in there." Lynn Sr. finally spat out. Rita then got up from her chair, and stared at her husband with a seemingly soulless stare. This greatly unnerved the Loud Patriarch.
"Lynn, I say this in all honesty and seriousness. If you or any of the girls even THINK of trying to reseal Lincoln's bedroom or even try bringing up the subject again, then I will NOT hesitate to do to you what we did to Lincoln."
"W-Wait, you don't mean…!?"
"Yes, I do. You won't be sleeping in this house any more until Lincoln comes home, AND I will sell some, if not ALL, of your stuff like we did with his furniture. This goes for the girls as well."
"Rita, please, those are our daughter's we're talking about here!"
"And I think it's high time they learned a little lesson about empathy by walking a mile in Lincoln's shoes. Now that that's all settled, leave." Rita said, narrowing her eyes.
"W-what?"
"You heard me. LEAVE. Unless you want to experience sleeping on the lawn like Lincoln did." Lynn Sr. wasted no time in getting out of there, not wanting to rouse any more anger from his wife.
End of Flashback,
'He's just letting more of this bad luck nonsense getting into his head. I'm starting to wonder if he's just ashamed of what kind of a person Lincoln is and favors our daughters in response to that,' Rita thought. Just then, her thoughts were interrupted by a slight tugging on her sleeve. She looked up to see Lily looking rather worried, "Oh, sorry about that. I was just thinking about something your father said. I don't care if the others are having a bad day, Lincoln's room is staying unsealed."
"Bad?" Lily tilted her head curiously.
"Yes sweetie, that's very bad. Especially after we promised both Lincoln and Pop-Pop that we would leave it open. Besides, with how selfishly Junior's behaving, Lucy won't have anywhere else to sleep," Rita replied.
"Inkcoln! Op-Op!" Lily squealed happily at the mention of her brother and grandfather.
"Yes, I know you want to see your brother, but at the moment, he's not here right now," Rita said.
"Inky bye-bye?" Lily asked, sounding a bit sad.
"I'm afraid so, precious. Just to satisfy Junior's wishes, we had to agree to send him to the other side of the world," Rita replied.
"But on the plus side, Lincoln's sure to have tons of stories about his travels. About the places he's been to, the people he's met, all kinds of stories," Leni chimed in, sewing some sequins into her latest creation. Lily only giggled at the thought of hearing Lincoln's stories.
"Yes, we're all looking forward to hearing more of Lincoln's stories, Lily. Though I wish I could speak for everyone. The others still seem bent on the whole bad luck nonsense," Rita said, casting a glance towards the living room.
"Ba 'uck!" Lily blew a raspberry at the mention of the cause of all the tension in the house.
"Heh, glad to hear that you're on our side, Lily," Rita replied.
"Thankfully, he has his friends with him to help him out every step of the way," Leni added.
"Fwens?" Lily asked.
"Yes, he's made quite a few friends during his stay in Kanto. There's that Raigo boy he met on his first day as a trainer, as well as that Brock fellow and that Misty girl," Rita replied, with a sly grin on her face, "I think there was also some talk about two slightly older girls he met in… I think it was 'Viridian City' who've taken a fancy to Lincoln."
"Kissy-kissy?" Lily asked, making smooching noises. Rita and Leni could only giggle.
"Yes, Lily, if things go right for him, there's bound to be a lot more kissy-kissy in Lincoln's future," Rita replied.
"Well, there is something you're forgetting, despite the fact that I too am looking forward to hearing about Lincoln's budding romance life," Lisa said, as she entered the room.
"What's that then, Lisa?" Rita asked, as everyone in that room turned their attention to her.
"Remember how Professor Oak said that Lincoln is legally considered an adult, right? Well, there's nothing actually stopping him from doing more than engaging in mucosal contact," Lisa explained, only to get confused looks from the others, "Lincoln can do more than kissy-kissy if he so chooses, including more… 'adult activities' with a female companion," she clarified. Almost immediately, Rita and Leni's faces turned bright red, while Lily was trying to figure out what was going on.
"Apart from putting such a disturbing image in our heads, was there something you needed, Lisa?" Rita asked.
"Two things, actually. First, Professor Oak has sent a recorded message containing Lincoln's second progress report, and I've invited his peers over to hear it," Lisa replied.
"A recorded video report? That's convenient. And the other thing?" Rita asked.
"I've finished rerigging the electrical device in my door so that the current runs through the doorknob, as to avoid a repeat of last time," Lisa replied.
"As long as our electricity bill doesn't go through the roof," Rita grimaced at the thought of the next billing.
"You needn't worry. I have my own, private generator in my room that the current is running from. And don't bother asking me to hook it up to the house. It isn't big enough, and I don't have the parts necessary to build a larger one," Lisa replied.
"Fair enough," Rita replied. Just then, some knocking came from the door, "That must be Lincoln's friends. Could you go and answer it, Lisa? I need to finish feeding Lily."
"I'll be up in a few minutes too. I just have to stitch this last section together," Leni added.
"Very well then. Once I escort Lincoln's peers to my room, I'll go and look for Lucy. Any idea where she could be?"
"I thought I saw her going up into the attic. You should check there," Leni replied. With a nod, Lisa went to answer the door, where Lincoln's friends were waiting behind.
"Hey Lisa, hope we're not too early," Clyde said.
"On the contrary, you guys are right on time. We're all getting ready to listen to the Professor's latest progress report," Lisa replied.
"Great! So, can we come in?" Stella asked.
"You may. My room is upstairs. You know where it is," Lisa said, stepping aside to let the older kids in. They made their way upstairs, followed closely by Lisa. Rusty was the last to enter Lisa's room, just as Luna exited her own bedroom, "Goodness, what happened to you?!"
"I had a bad run in with some wasps yesterday. You wouldn't happen to have anything to help with these welts, do you?" Luna asked.
"At the moment, I do not. But I will see about concocting something later today that can at the very least help with the itching. But in return, I would like for you to deliver a message to the others," Lisa replied.
"A message? What kind of message?" Luna asked, perplexed.
"Along with our mother, Leni, Lucy, and Lincoln's peer group, I am going to be listening to a recorded video that Professor Oak was kind enough to send over regarding Lincoln's second progress report. Considering what happened the last time he called, I made some measures to keep any unwanted company out, including you, our father, and our sisters, especially Lynn," Lisa said icily, pulling out a remote, "Do you know what this remote is for?"
"Can't say I do," Luna replied.
"Then allow me to refresh your memory. I used this remote to keep you all inside of my room during the first report," Lisa replied.
"That was when…" Luna then remembered about the electric current, "You wouldn't!"
"If it means keeping you and the others from interfering, then I will. Now, before you go and tell the others, would you be kind enough to lower the attic ladder? I need to find Lucy," Lisa requested. Luna, unnerved by the young genius' icy words, did as she was asked, and lowered the ladder, "Thank you," she said, as she climbed up into the attic.
In the Attic,
Lucy was sitting in the darkest part of the attic with her bust of Edwin, a look of wicked glee on her face, "I can't believe the Karmic Misfortune curse actually worked, Edwin. It even exceeded my own expectations. And things are bound to get even worse for them the longer they hold off on apologizing to Lincoln," she said gleefully.
"So that explains the unusual circumstances befalling our family as of late," Lucy jumped upon hearing Lisa's voice, "Hmm, now I see why you do that to us so much. That was rather amusing," the toddler said, as she approached the goth girl.
"Oh, uh, Lisa! What brings you here?" Lucy asked, calming down.
"I just came to let you know that Professor Oak sent a recorded message containing Lincoln's second Progress Report, and along with Mom and Leni, Lincoln's friends will be joining us," Lisa replied.
"Ok, I'll be down in a few minutes," Lucy replied, before her demeanor suddenly turned nervous, "Uh, you won't… tell anyone about the curse, will you?"
"You needn't worry. This could be just what they need to get their heads out of the gutter. But in all seriousness, this curse isn't fatal, is it? While I do believe they had it coming, I have to draw the line at something that could potentially kill them," Lisa said, her tone turning serious. Lucy then looked through the spell in question.
"It doesn't look like it. If anything, the curse will keep them alive, since they need to pay back their karmic dues in order to break the spell. And you and I both know that doing so is impossible if you're dead," Lucy replied, before turning her attention the attic's entrance, "Though, based on what we've seen, I bet that they wish it was fatal."
"Am I ever glad that the four of us were able to earn Lincoln's forgiveness when we did. I shudder to think about what we would've gone through if we hadn't," Lisa said, shuddering at the thought of being forced into a similar scenario as the others did. Lucy shuddered as well.
"Well, how about we don't dwell on this, and go and listen to the report?" she asked, trying to change the subject.
"Good call," Lisa replied, as they exited the attic.
"By the way, do you have any way of preventing the others from interrupting?"
"I just finished a little bit ago. With a flip of this switch, the doorknob will be electrified, and we won't have any concerns about the others ruining things like Lynn did," Lisa replied, showing Lucy the remote.
"That's good to know," Lucy replied, as they entered the toddler's bedroom, where the others were waiting.
"Is everyone here?" Lisa asked.
"All present and accounted for," Rita replied, as she placed Lily in her crib. Lisa then shut the door.
"Good. Now, before we begin," she said, as she flipped the switch, "There. That's ought to keep out any unwanted intruders."
"What exactly did you do?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"To put it simply, there's an electric current running through the doorknob. I reworked my room's security system after Lincoln's last call so that any intrusions would not be possible by anyone, especially Lynn. The current is only strong enough to keep them from barging in," Lisa explained.
"Smart thinking," Rusty commented.
"Alright, now then, I'll just open the video, and we'll be good to go," Lisa said, as she got onto the computer to boot up the video. However, no one noticed it, but Lily had taken the remote Lisa had set on the nearby dresser. Her attention immediately went to the "Voltage Control" dial. She giggled happily, as she spun the dial upward, which seemed to cause the doorknob to glow, with sparks coming off of it.
Meanwhile, downstairs,
"So, you're saying that the Professor sent a video with another one of those bogus reports of his about Lincoln's adventures, and Lisa told you to warn the rest of us not to interfere, saying that she's using the same device to keep us in her room the last time he called about a report. Do I understand that all right?" Lori asked, upon being told by Luna about Lisa's warning.
"Yeah, you got everything right, right down to the part about her doorknob. I saw bloody sparks coming off of that thing!" Luna exclaimed, pointing to the staircase. Lola only scoffed.
"Yeah right. Even if that were true, Mom and Dad would NEVER allow her to keep something like that."
"Dad, maybe, but Mom may be a whole other story. Besides, the warning was addressed to Dad too," Luna replied, turning to the man in question, "Speaking of which, were able to talk to Mom about… 'that'?"
"Well, I did bring it up to her, but… she wasn't as open to the idea as the rest of you are," Lynn Sr. replied.
"WHAT?! Doesn't Mom know that OUR safety is at stake here!?" Lori exclaimed.
"That's why I told you guys that we don't need HER permission to do it! She's favoriting Lincoln for whatever stupid reason!" Lynn snarled, as she got up.
"Where are you going?" Luna questioned.
"I'm heading up to seal up that cursed room myself! That woman is not an authority in this house as far as I'm concerned!" Lynn replied, as she stomped upstairs.
"Uh, Junior, there's more!" Lynn Sr. warned, which was able to stop the younger Lynn in her tracks, "She also said that if any of us were to bring up the subject again or attempt to seal off his room again, then she'll make us experience everything we did to your brother."
"You mean, she would force us to sleep out on the lawn, like animals?!" Lola blanched at the very thought.
"Well, I don't see too much of an issue with that," Lana said, as she got up herself, "I'll go and take care of resealing the room myself if I have to."
"Actually, there's more to it than that," Lynn Sr. warned, catching the little grease monkey's attention, "She also vowed to sell off our belongings." Needless to say, apart from Lynn, each of the Loud Father's daughters were horrified at the consequences that their mother had set forth.
"So, we either deal with the bad luck Lincoln's room is causing us, or we seal it off and risk having our stuff sold off and being forced to sleep outside. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place," Lori groaned.
"This is all your fault, Lynn!" Lola accused.
"My fault?! It's not my fault that rotten ex-brother of ours decided to ruin MY championship game with his bad luck! Everything we've been dealing with has been Lincoln's fault, not mine!" Lynn snapped.
"Well, maybe if you hadn't threatened him to come to your stupid game, then maybe none of this would be happening! Besides, Lincoln is the only one in this house whose attendance to our events is mandatory. He would've come either way," Lori stated.
"Yeah? Well, no one exactly told you guys to get on the whole 'Lincoln's Bad Luck' bandwagon in the first place! You guys did that yourselves!" Lynn said, pointing at each of them.
"Actually, Lori's right. You started this whole mess by spouting off all your superstitious mumbo-jumbo," Luan commented, nodding her head.
"Yeah? Well, then what about after I warned Leni about his bad luck? He went around the house that day telling us about it himself! He even proved it himself by smashing Lori's dumb golf clubs!" Lynn argued. Luna then had a look of contemplation on her face.
'That's the morning Lincoln went around telling everyone he was bad luck,' Luna thought, 'But why would he do something so stupid? It was almost like…' a look of shocked realization worked its way onto her face while everyone was arguing with Lynn, 'He was trying to convince everyone not to bring him to their activities. Kind of makes sense in hindsight. Lynn tried to warn Leni about Lincoln's bad luck, then he gets the idea to go along with it just so he can stay home.'
"To hell with this! I'm sealing off the room, and I'm not about to let that woman or anyone else stop me from protecting us!" Lynn declared, as she continued stomping upstairs.
"You know she's going to say no, right?" Lori asked, eyebrow raised.
"Like I give a crap!" Lynn yelled back.
"But what about the doorknob?" Lana asked.
"That's just a bluff! Lisa would never be allowed to do something like that!" Lynn yelled.
"I'd better get up there and stop her from doing something stupid," Lynn Sr. declared, getting up from the couch, and making his way upstairs.
"I don't get why he's trying to save her sorry butt. She doesn't even deserve it," Lola grumbled, before turning to the others, "So, what now?"
"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I intend to keep watching our show. If Mom gets mad at Lynn for her stupidity again, then that's on Lynn," Lori stated, as she continued to watch The Dream Boat. Luan, Lana, and Lola decided that was for the best, and joined her.
"You going to join us, Lunes?" Luan asked her older sister/roommate.
"Uh, I don't think so. I've got some stuff to think about, so I'll just…" the sound of a loud zapping, followed by the lights flickering, and two people screaming was heard from upstairs, "The bloody hell?!"
"Guess Lisa wasn't bluffing about the doorknob after all," Lola commented.
"Lynn must be pretty 'shocked' right about now," Luan laughed, before becoming concerned, "Uh, think we should go help them?"
"No way, that's on Lynn. She had a chance to heed Lisa's warning, and she blew it. She's not getting any sympathy from any of us, so now we can…" it was then that Lori noticed that the TV screen was completely black, "Oh, you have got to be kidding me," she said, as she got up to investigate. She then saw that the power cable had shot out of the socket, and looked to be all melted. She went to plug it back in, but upon touching the wire, she immediately dropped it, "YEOWCH, that's hot!"
Lana then checked out the TV itself, "Hmm, looks like the TV itself has shorted out. I doubt it'll ever work again," she declared.
"Ugh, as if this bad luck streak wasn't bad enough already!" Lola groaned.
"Well, seeing as how it is shot, we should at least go and check to see if Dad's alright," Lori declared, as they made their way upstairs. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, they saw both Lynns on the floor, twitching and smoking from the electricity on the doorknob.
"Ouch, ok, that hurt," Lynn Sr. commented.
"Are you going to be alright, Dad?" Lori asked, as she and Luna helped him to his feet.
"Y-yeah, I'll be alright. What about you, Junior?" Lynn Sr. asked.
"I'd be better if I wasn't all smoking and numb right now. Thanks for checking on me, by the way," Lynn said to her sisters, sounding irritated.
"We're just up here to check on Dad. You brought this on yourself by choosing to be stupid," Lori stated harshly.
Feeling to tired and numb from getting zapped, Lynn just got up herself, "Whatever. I'm going to go back to watching TV."
"Can't. That surge of electricity fried the TV," Lana replied.
"WHAT?! You have got to be joking!" Lynn groaned.
"This is just ANOTHER thing your stupidity is responsible for, Lynn!" Lola said, giving the athlete a nasty glare, only to get a shaky middle finger in response.
"So now what? The TV is toast, and we can't go out looking like we do now," Lori questioned.
"Well, we can always listen to the progress report," Luan suggested.
"How do we do that? The doorknob's booby trapped, and Lisa and probably Mom won't take too kindly to us bashing down the door," Luna questioned.
"Well, I have cameras all over the house, so I never miss any bit of footage," Luan replied.
"Really? Do your cameras pick up sound too?" Lori asked.
"Yep. And if I recall, I think Lisa's room has five cameras in it," Luan replied. She then got weird looks from the others, "What? I like getting footage from every possible angle."
"Well, it's not like we got anything better to do," Lori commented, as they made their way to Luna and Luan's room.
Meanwhile, in the Town on Route 25, nighttime,
"Alright guys, I'll be back a little later," Lincoln said, as he was getting ready for his date with Joy and Jenny.
"Don't do anything we wouldn't do," Misty said. Lincoln simply rolled his eyes, as he exited their room, and made his way to the lobby. There, his two dates were waiting for him. Joy was wearing what could be described as a powder blue sundress, while Jenny was wearing what looked to be a Chinese styled dress.
"You both look beautiful," Lincoln complimented.
"Why thank you, Lincoln. You're looking quite handsome yourself," Joy replied. Lincoln didn't really have any fancier clothes than the ones he's been wearing so far, so that's pretty much what he was wearing.
"Alright, you three have fun. Oh, and Lincoln?" the older Jenny asked.
"Yes?"
"Don't take either of them to any sleazy hotels," the older Jenny said, her tone being icily serious, which greatly unnerved Lincoln.
"Come on, Aunt Jenny, Lincoln's not that type of guy," Jenny defended.
"That goes for the two of you as well!" the older Joy stated, causing both girls to flinch.
"Yes ma'am," Joy replied.
"Well, shall we then?" Lincoln asked.
"Yes, lets!" Jenny said, as she and Joy walked with Lincoln out of the Pokemon Center.
"Be sure to have them back by curfew!" the older Jenny called out.
"Ok, so where should we go first?" Lincoln asked.
"Well, I know the theater in town is showing a wide variety of classic movies. How about something from there?" Jenny suggested.
"That sounds wonderful! I hope they're showing one of Ms. Diantha's films!" Joy commented.
"Sorry, I've only been in Kanto for less than a month. Who exactly is Ms. Diantha?" Lincoln asked.
"She's a world-famous actress and movie star, as well as the Kalos Region Champion," Jenny replied.
"I've never known her to have ever lost a battle, especially with her partner Pokemon, Gardevoir," Joy added.
"A Gardevoir, huh?" Lincoln questioned, 'That's what Kirlia will evolve into. I wonder.'
"Something wrong, Lincoln?" Jenny asked.
"Hmm? Oh, it's nothing. I was just thinking about something," Lincoln replied, as they continued to the theater.
Elsewhere in Kanto,
"Alright, Rockruff, use Rock Throw!" James instructed. Rockruff began hurling rocks at a fuzzy, purple bug Pokemon with big red eyes, causing it to slam into a tree, "Alright, you're mine, now!" he said, throwing a Pokeball at the weakened Pokemon, sucking it inside. A few seconds of shaking passed before the ball snapped shut, "Excellent. Now I've got three more Pokemon for Wonder Trading."
"Easy for you to say. I was only able to add two to my roster," Jessie complained, as she and Meowth rejoined the blue haired man.
"Well, that just comes with the rules of the Pokeball system. Only six Pokemon can be on a single trainer's team at a time," Meowth replied.
"Meowth has a valid point. But look at it this way; whatever Pokemon we get from Wonder Trading can potentially be the pick of the Pokemon crop," James added.
"Yeah, I guess you have a point," Jessie replied. Just then, a ringing sound could be heard. James pulled out a cellphone like device with a big red "R" on the back of it. He pressed a button to activate it.
"Jessie? James? Where have you idiots been?!" a man's voice yelled from the other end. Both of them blanched at the voice of one of Team Rocket's executive members, and the boss' right hand man, Proton.
"Oh, uh… Proton, sir! We meant to call earlier, but we were…" Jessie was cut off.
"I don't care about your excuses! Giovanni is growing impatient with the lack of progress you two have made. I mean, it's not a difficult task! Just monitor one brat!"
"W-Well, the brat in question has been giving us a bit of trouble as of late, so we decided to bolster our ranks a little bit," James replied.
"Hmm, well, I can at the very least respect the fact that you're doing something to help make your assignment easier, however, the boss is expecting a report sometime soon. And you both know how little patience he has."
"Right. We'll get back on it as soon as we can, sir!" Jessie said.
"See that you do, or you're out of the job!" Proton said, as he hung up.
"Yikes, and here I thought the boss had a nasty temper," Meowth commented.
"Believe me, Meowth, that kind of a chew out is NOTHING compared to what Giovanni can do when he's really mad," James replied, shuddering at the thought of their boss' temper.
"Well, in any case, we should get back to work. That brat should be somewhere close to Cerulean Cape by now," Jessie said, as they made their way back to their balloon.