On with the story (need I say more?)

The next morning, as the sun rose, Tommy was the first one up.

He woke with a stretch and a yawn. Upon hopping out of bed, he stumbled upon his backpack that contained RobotBoy.

"Oh, right. That reminds me."

Tommy then rubbed Lincoln while he was sleeping, which managed to wake him up.

"Oh, morning Tommy."

"Hey, Lincoln? Where do you keep your batteries?"

"Downstairs in the kitchen," he pointed. "In the drawer next to the sink."

"Thanks."

Tommy ran down the stairs to the kitchen while Lincoln made his way to the bathroom.

But unbeknownst to either of them, one of the girls, Lola, also woke up, when she saw the deactivated robot through the doorway of Lincoln's room. And it gave her a sneaky idea.

Meanwhile, Tommy was still in the kitchen looking for the batteries, which he managed to find.

"Double A, long-lasting, rechargeable, good for all uses and more. This should do it."

He made his way back up the stairs, but when he reached the top, he saw something that shocked him.

Lola was holding RobotBoy in her hand. "Hey everyone! Look what I got! A cute little robot doll!"

Tommy didn't like what he was seeing. "Hey! That's mine! Give it back!"

"Oh, is it yours? If you want it, you gotta catch it!"

Lola tossed RobotBoy into the air and Luan caught it. Tommy tried to get him, but Luan tossed it to Lana, who tossed it to Lynn and so on.

"Stop it!" Tommy demanded. "He's not a toy!"

The girls continued tossing RobotBoy back and forth amongst each other like a hot potato. Tommy kept trying to catch him, but they just wouldn't stop. Suddenly, all the laughter and teasing was getting to him. He could feel his anger boiling up inside all over again to the point where he was about to blow.

Until finally, he did.

"GIVE HIM BACK, YOU JERK!!!"

And everyone suddenly stopped.

Tommy immediately covers his mouth after what he just said. The Louds were also shocked at Tommy's sudden outburst.

Especially Lola. "Wow! That was the Loudest outburst I ever heard. And I thought me and Luna were the loudest in the family."

"Geez, Tommy. Take it easy," consoled Lana.

Tommy was still shaken up. "I-I-I'm sorry guys. I don't know what came over me."

"It's cool, Tom," Luna said, patting his head.

"Yeah, we were just goofing around," Luan stated.

"I know. It's just that that robot toy is really special to me and I don't like anyone messing with it."

"I can see that. Here, Tommy." Lana went over and offered RobotBoy back to Tommy. The boy was a bit hesitant. "Don't worry, my hands are clean," she assured. "Well mostly, anyway."

Regardless, Tommy took it back. "Thanks. Sorry I yelled."

"It's okay. I get it. It means a lot to you. We all have favorite things, like my best friend, Hops." The aforementioned frog hopped onto her head. "Sorry about pressing your buttons like that."

"It's okay. You didn't mean it."

Then Lisa took a closer look at the robot. "I must say, that is a very impressive piece of machinery. In fact, it looks far too advanced to be a mere toy."

"Wait! Are you saying that that thing is an actual robot?" Lincoln asked.

"Lincoln, I'm a mother of science. I know high tech advanced robotics when I witness it. And this, here, is certainly one of those."

Tommy got a bit nervous.

"Cool! An actual little robot!" Lana said excitedly. "Let's see what he does!"

"Uhh……I don't—."

"I bet he can kick butt!" Said Lynn.

"Guys, I really—!"

"Come on, Tommy!" Leni begged. "Show us!"

The girls all got up in Tommy's face, making him overwhelmed.

Ultimately, he gave in. "Alright. Alright! If I show you what it is, will you all calm down?"

"Yes! Yes!" Leni shouted excitedly. "We promise!"

"Okay! Geez Louise. Just let me change the batteries first at least."

Tommy took the Louds to the dining room to show them the robot.

"Okay, listen. This, here, is a high tech robot fighting machine. I call him RobotBoy."

The Louds looked at RobotBoy, but were not all that impressed at first.

"Hate to say it, pal," Lola said cockily, "but this doesn't look like much to me."

"That's because he's in his dormant state. Watch this." Tommy presses the button on his watch, causing RobotBoy to activate.

Once he was, he began to look around the dining room and towards the Loud siblings, startling him a bit.

"Ah! Who you? Where me?" The robot turned towards Tommy. "Tommy, what with them?"

"It's okay, Ro. They're cool," Tommy says. "These guys are my friends, the Louds."

Lola scoffed. "I wouldn't exactly use the word 'friends' just yet."

"They're letting me stay here with them. Guys, I'd like you to meet RobotBoy."

"Hi RobotBoy," Lincoln greeted. "I'm Lincoln and these are my sisters. Welcome to Royal Woods."

RobotBoy just stood there looking confused.

"Was it something I said?" Lincoln wondered.

Lisa cleared her throat. "Ahem. What my brother unit has stated is that we would like to welcome you to our humble household as well as your human guardian in hand."

The bot was even more confused. "RobotBoy, no understand."

"I've been saying that for years to her," Lucy sighed.

"Oh, can I try?" Leni asks excitedly.

"Eh, knock yourself out, sis," Luna says sarcastically.

Leni then approaches RobotBoy and speaks. "Hello. My name Leni. This our home, these kids, my sisters and brother. We like to welcome you here."

"Oh! RobotBoy get it. Nice, meet you."

The two of them share a handshake.

The others were absolutely stunned.

"H-how did you do that?" Luan asked.

"Oh that's easy," Leni answered. "Linky used to talk like that when he was learning to say words."

"I don't remember that," Lincoln says.

"You were only two years old back then, bro," Luna stated.

"Seriously though," Luan said. "That is one amazing robot!"

"Indeed," Lisa agreed. "Very impressive machinery."

"Well I'm not too wild about the name though," Lana said. "I mean 'RobotBoy'? Sounds a bit generic. Do you seriously call him that all the time?"

"Well not all the time," Tommy answered. "I often call him 'Ro' for short. And by the way, I didn't name him. He came with the name."

"So you didn't actually build him yourself?" Lincoln questioned.

"Not exactly. I mean I do help with his routine maintenance, but he's not exactly my invention. Someone else built him to be a strong fighter, but he gave him to me so he could learn how to be human."

"RobotBoy, want be real boy."

"So he's like your little brother?" Lynn asked. "A Ro-Bro?"

Tommy shrugged. "I guess you could say that. But look, we can't let anyone know about him. Not even your parents. Understand?"

"If I may ask, why?" Lola asked suspiciously.

"It would take more time for me to explain that than you may have. Just promise me you won't tell!"

"No worries, pal," Luna assured. "Your secret is safe with us."

"Besides, we already have a sister that's both a scientist and robotic expert," Lincoln confirmed. "It's not like we'd be in any trouble if anybody found out."

Tommy chuckled nervously. "Yeah. Sure. Anyway, what do you think?"

"Eh, he's okay," Lynn says with a shrug. "He's got nice structure, but his speech could use some improvement."

"Well I think he's absolutely adorable," Leni stated.

"Yeah," Lana agreed. "I really like the shade of blue. It matches my overalls." The others stared at her surprisingly. "What? I can have a fashion sense too, you know."

RobotBoy giggled. "RobotBoy, think Louds funny."

"He's amazing!" Said Lincoln. "You sure are lucky, Tommy."

Tommy chuckled uneasily. "Hehe, yeah…….real lucky."

That night, as everyone in the Loud House slept, Tommy began tossing and turning in Lincoln's bed.

After a moment, he opened his eyes and found himself back in the Bay Area right in front of his house.

Tommy was confused. "Huh? How'd I wind up here? Oh well. I guess it was bound to happen eventually."

Tommy made his way up the stairs to the front door and went inside.

"Hey everybody. I'm home."

His mother immediately ran to him and hugged and kissed him. "Tommy! You're home! Oh, my special little guy! We were so worried!"

Then his dad came in. "Oh it's great to have you back, kiddo! We thought we'd lost you!"

"Tommy, isn't there something you'd like to say?"

"Okay, I'm sorry about what happened."

Then everything got dark. "No, no, no! That won't do at all!"

"Yeah boy!" His father demanded. "Get down on your knees and BEG for forgiveness!"

Then Donnie joined in. "Yeah! Beg them, dipwad! Beg them!"

So Tommy got down on his knees and clasped his hands together. "Mom! Dad! I beg of you! Please forgive me!"

He was then surrounded by many of his friends, family and colleagues who were all laughing at him demeaningly.

"Now we can blame him for everything!" His mother's voice roared, as did everyone else's.

First was Donnie. "It's your fault I'm BALD!"

"I'm sorry!"

Then Gus. "It's your fault I'm FAT!"

"I'm sorry!"

And RobotBoy. "It's your fault I'm a ROBOT!"

"I'm sorry!"

And finally Professor Moshimo. "It's your fault the planet is in jeopardy!"

"I'm sorry!"

"It's all your fault! It's all your fault! It's all your fault!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

It went back and forth between each continuously.

Tommy kept tossing and turning, until it became too much and he woke up with a scream.

"AAAAAAAAAARRGGHHHH!!!!!!"

Unfortunately, the scream also woke up Lincoln, and he wasn't too pleased about it.

"Tommy! I'm trying to get some sleep!"

Tommy panted. "Sorry Lincoln. I had a nightmare."

"Well try to keep it down, okay. I'm tired."

"Alright."

The two went back to sleep, but Tommy's nightmares didn't stop.

Oh, no. They kept on going on in his head, making him struggle emotionally.

And that's how it went through the rest of the night.

The very next morning, the Louds all sat on the couch watching television.

However, the only two boys in the house were both very tired and grumpy.

Lincoln groaned rather loudly.

"Bro, could you please keep it down?" Lynn asked. "We're trying to watch the show."

"Yeah Lincoln," Luan agreed. "I get that 'loud' is our last name, but that doesn't have to apply 24/7."

"Well sorry!" Lincoln said, rolling his eyes. "But a certain someone kept me up all night with his outbursts!"

Lincoln then gave a glare to Tommy, who was sitting on the armrest.

"I said I was sorry. Sheesh!" Tommy barked back. "You don't have to shove it in my face!"

"Whatever!" Lincoln was still grumpy, but was also too tired to argue. "Look, why don't you just go get a drink or something?"

"Fine, Señior Cranky Boy!"

Tommy got up and walked towards the kitchen.

Lincoln crossed his arms and pouted. "You know, I'm starting to have second thoughts about letting Tommy stay here with us."

Luna patted his head. "Try to calm down for a bit, baby bro. We'll figure something out later. For now, let's just watch some TV."

And so they turned back to the television, when some unexpected static came up on their screen.

The next thing that was brought up was a news report.

"We interrupt this program to bring you this news bulletin. We have confirmed reports of a missing child!"

The Louds all got shocked and immediately listened.

On the TV, Katherine Mulligan began to speak.

"The child in question is described as a young blonde boy from San Francisco, California. He was last seen in his bedroom a couple nights ago and then disappeared the next morning. We go now to some interview footage of the boy's parents in the Bay Area."

The screen showed footage of Mr and Mrs Turnbull being interviewed.

"I have no idea what happened," Deb answered. "I sent him to his room one night and took his breakfast up the next morning. Then when I opened the door, he was gone. He's been missing for 3 days!"

"Care to describe his appearance?" The reporter asked.

"Why yes!" Answered Dwight. "He happens to be a small, scrawny 10 year old blonde boy. Not too strong, I would say, but has an oversized square head. You can't mistake it."

By this time, Tommy had already started to enter the living room when he heard the news.

"You heard it here, folks. 10 year old Tommy Turnbull has been missing for 3 days, and is currently being searched for as we speak. If anyone has any information on this missing boy's whereabouts, please contact the number listed below."

Tommy gulped.

"We now return you to your regularly scheduled program."

And the report went back to the previous show.

Tommy didn't see (nor hear) the part with his parents being interviewed, but the rest of the news began to make him nervous. He tried to sneak away, but……

"Tommy!"

He found the Louds all surrounding him sternly.

"Oh, hey guys," Tommy chuckled nervously. "What's up?"

"Is there something you'd like to share with us?" Luna asked sternly.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb with us," Lynn accused.

"Yeah!" Luan agreed. "That's Leni's job."

"Yeah!" Leni then realized what was said before. "Hey, wait a minute!"

"We know what you're hiding, you clod!" Lola accused.

"What?" Tommy was still trying to find a way out, but it wasn't working.

"You lied to us!" Lily pointed.

"No I didn't."

"Oh, really?" Lisa rolled her eyes. "Because we just so happened to witness a report of a missing child from the Bay Area. That wouldn't happen to be you, would it?"

"Well that couldn't possibly be me. As far as I know, it could be any child."

"Any child who happens to be a scrawny, square-headed boy named Tommy Turnbull?" Lynn said, raising a brow.

"Hey! I'm not scrawny!" Tommy immediately covered his mouth after saying that. "Drat!"

"Ha!" Lola accused. "So you admit it was you!"

"Okay! Okay! I'll talk! It's true. I lied. I'm not lost. Well I did get lost, but I ran away from home."

"Well why didn't you just tell us?" Luna demanded.

"I didn't think you'd let me stay if I did," Tommy answered. "I was afraid if I told you the truth, you'd probably want to send me back."

"He's not too far off," said Lola.

"Look, I know it looks bad, but I don't want to go back! I came here to get away! You can't tell anybody I'm here!"

"Uh…..I don't know," Lincoln said. "I mean someone's going to know you're here sooner or later, so……."

Tommy began feeling let down. "Okay. I knew it was a long shot. I figured I finally found a family that's humble and they don't trust me. I thought you'd understand."

He then began to head out the front door, with a sad expression on his face.

"It's fine. I get it. You don't want me here. I can take a hint. C'mon RobotBoy."

"Coming Tommy."

RobotBoy started following behind Tommy as they both headed out the door.

At that point, the Louds began to feel guilty.

"Tommy, wait!"

The two boys stopped and turned around.

"Give us a minute." Lincoln brought his sisters over to the side and they all huddled together.

"What are we going to do about Tommy?" Lori asked.

"What do you mean 'we'?" Lynn asked sarcastically. "Lincoln's the one who brought him here in the first place."

"I didn't bring him here. He followed me."

"Well you were still involved," Lola argued.

"Why don't we just let him stay here?" Leni asked.

"Leni, are you literally crazy?" Lori retorted.

"I'm serious. Didn't you see how sad he looked? It's like he was hurt or something. Shouldn't we try to help him?"

"Leni, I think your logic has run away from you," Lisa criticized. "As if it ever lived with you."

"No, Leni's right," Lincoln proclaimed. "Look, obviously Tommy's going through some rough stuff right now. The best we can do is try to be supportive. We can let him stay for a while, and when he's ready to go home, we'll figure something out."

The rest of the girls looked towards each other, still feeling hesitant. But ultimately, they nodded, agreeing to the decision.

Finally they all turned towards Tommy.

Lincoln was the first to speak. "Tommy, we've made a decision. We'll let you stay for a little longer."

"You will?"

Then Lori spoke up. "But only one condition: no more lying to us."

"Okay, I promise I won't lie anymore. Thanks guys."

"And to ensure that guarantee," Lisa said, adjusting her glasses, "we request that you reiterate every bit of detail regarding whatever traumatic event you have endured."

"Say what now?"

"We want to hear the whole story from you," Lincoln clarified.

Tommy looked to his robot friend, who gave him a nod. Tommy then sighed, realizing he had no other choice. "Okay. I'll tell you."