Crisp morning sunlight filters through the linen closet's rounded window once again, illuminating the makeshift bedroom with its soft glow. The warm rays fall upon the small room's lone occupant, a young girl by the name of Linka Loud.
The young girl's peaceful expression speaks of the hope the young girl feels, after close to a week of randomness that only the Loud boys could provide, it seems that things are finally looking up for her!
Yet, who knows what a new day will bring for our young protagonist? First chased by her brothers, then being "convinced" to help out in a play! It's not hard to wonder what is in store for her next?!
No doubt her brothers would be involved in it though.
Linka Loud rests peacefully in her cozy bed, resting peacefully for the first time in days! No fear, nervousness or regrets to stir her into a restless slumber… Of course, no one can account for her ten noisy brothers.
"Linka!" Levi shouts as he kicks her door open and runs to her side, "Get up! I need your help!" He jumps on her bed and starts shaking her in a desperate attempt to get her out of the bed.
"Ugh" The girl groans, "What's up Levi?" She tiredly opens her eyes, revealing the scientist to be wearing a green shirt and night pants, with bags under his eyes, as if he were awake the entire night.
The young scientist grabs the girl by her shoulders and shakes her, "Come on Linka! Get up! This is important if you want the dimensional goggles to ever be completed, you'll listen carefully and get out of bed!"
"Ugh, the goggles?" Linka tiredly whispers, "What goggles?"
"The goggles you asked me to make for you!" Levi's voice becomes more frustrated and desperate, "I'm on the verge of an amazing scientific discovery and you not getting out of bed isn't helping at all!"
Linka rubs her forehead in confusion, before the realization literally slaps her in the face… in the form of Levi slapping her awake, "Linka! Get up!"
Surprisingly enough, for a four-year-old Levi's slaps actually manage to get Linka to jolt awake and quickly sit up, causing Levi to fall onto the back end of her bed.
"The goggles!" She shouts in surprise, before tiredly rubbing her eyes and turning in her bed, "What about them Levi?" She continues in a calmer tone, "And did it really warrant you waking me up at…" She turns to the clock resting on her wall, "Ten O'clock on a Saturday?"
The scientist nods, before talking in his usual monotone, "Yes Linka, I'm living off an hour of sleep since I've been working on the goggles! I need to take a break, so I'm entrusting them to you for the time being." And with that, he pulls out a set of modified gaming glasses, with random connections and wires shoddily holding the darn thing together.
"Ok Levi…" Linka nervously goes, before the boy pulls back and places his hand in front of her, "There's one more thing Linka."
He takes a deep breath, "I require additional funds in order to complete these goggles. If you acquire them then I'll let you be the first to test out this invention, since you seemed so eager to get them done."
Linka tilts her head in confusion and Levi sighs in response, "I need five hundred dollars to finish the goggles."
"Oh…" the girl goes in response, "Why though? Don't you have your left over grant money?"
Levi rubs the back of his head in embarrassment, breaking his usual stoic behavior, "Let's just say, don't mix cards, a hard light system, two motorbikes and a bet." Then he stands up straight once more and adjusts his glasses, "So what do you say Linka? Will you get me the missing funds to complete the goggles?"
"Can you at least show me what you need before I agree to anything?"
Immediately, the scientist pulls out his phone and shows her the image of a silvery-blue crystal, "This is Pizzazium Infinionite. It's the only thing capable of withstanding what the goggles need to do."
Linka looks at the crystal for a short moment, "Ok then, so if I get you the money, you'll finish the goggles?"
The young boy nods.
"Ok then, so five hundred dollars right?"
He nods again, "Yes." Then he yawns, "You've got three days before the sale ends and the price quintuples, good luck Linka."
"Three days?!" She shouts in surprise, but Levi steps out of the room before she can question him further.
"Great Lincoln, if you want to see your sisters again you're going to have to find a way to make five hundred dollars in three days." Linka then turns and plops herself down on her bed, "How the heck am I going to make five hundred dollars in three days?!"
Lexx immediately rushes into the girl's room with, "Linka! Did you say you needed five hundred dollars?!"
Linka turns to her brother with a skeptical look, "Yeah Lexx, what about it."
The boy rushes out of the room and runs back in holding a flier, "There's a beauty pageant tonight sis! And if you win you get five hundred dollars and two Dairyland tickets!"
"Wow, that was convenient." Linka thinks, before turning upright on her bed, "So you want me to go to it and win?"
The actor smiles, "Yep! Come on, it'll be fun Linka!"
"Well, it's the most convenient way to make that money… Heh, it's a good thing I trained Lola and Lana." The girl smiles for a moment, before sighing, "At least it'll all be worth it after I see my sisters again." So she stands up once more and declares, "Ok Lexx, I'll do it."
The boy's smile goes wide as he declares, "Awesome Linka!" Before grabbing her hand, "Now come on! We have to get you ready!" And with that he pulls her into his room.
I wonder how that'll turn out for them.
A Few Hours Later…
The young Linka Loud calmly opens the door to her house, allowing the dimming afternoon sunlight to illuminate her frilly, pink, pageant gown as well as a large pink bag she held in her right hand. If she were in her real home he wouldn't have needed to wear it. "Note to self Lincoln, never let yourself get talked into this again… and never try to go to alternate realities." She thinks, before stepping into the open living room and dropping down on the couch, leaving her bag on the floor next to her.
Immediately, Lexx runs over and jumps to her side with an excited expression, "Well Linka?! How did it go?!"
The girl just grabs her bag and hands it to the young boy. "What the…" he whispers as he opens it and pulls out… a silver second place trophy. "Linka! What happened?!"
"I was so close!" She stands up and shouts in response, before looking away in defeat, "I lost by one single point!"
"In what Linka?" Lexx asks, unsure of why his sister had come in such a place.
"In the talent section, my hand slipped and I fumbled the baton for a moment." She calmly responds, "If it wasn't for that, I'd have one the prize!" Then she sits back down, "Sorry Lexx."
Lexx calmly sits down by his sister, "Don't worry about it sis, there'll be other pageants ya know. Plenty will be giving away Dairyland Tickets too!"
"Heh, yeah…" The girl leans back, "Heh, even in an alternate reality, I still lose to Lindsey Sugarbottom… even when I'm the young girl and they're the boy!"
"So hey, did you win anything at least?" Lexx asks, his peaking curiosity beaming in his voice.
Linka responds by pulling out an envelope, "Yeah, I won fifty dollars in cash, and an invite to come to another one if I so choose."
"Yeah, fifty bucks down, four hundred and fifty to go."
"That's awesome Link!" Lexx excitedly shouts, "You can try again later! Then you'll definitely win!"
Linka smiles in response, as if considering doing so later.
That's when Levi walks into the living room, carrying a white bag. "Greetings family units, I will be commandeering the supply of lemons until further notice."
Loki follows him, "Why Levi? Planning on making some lemonade or something?"
"No, after I took a well-needed nap, I got an idea for what I call Lemon-ades, and I need the lemons to test them!"
"Well ok then…" Loki goes, before pulling out his phone and texting his girlfriend again, "Oh and it's going to be something like ninety degrees tomorrow or something… so make sure to put the ones you don't use back when you're done."
Immediately Linka perks up, "Ninety degrees tomorrow you say?" She whispers, before snapping her fingers, "I know just how to make that five hundred dollars!" And with that, she jumps off the couch, rushes up the Loud House stairs and runs into her own room.
She wastes no time changing out of the pageant gown and into an orange polo shirt and blue pants, "Just like what I wear at home."
And with that, she rush out of her room, down the stairs and out the home… before promptly turning around and asking, "Hey Loki! Which grocery store aren't we banned from?!"
Loki takes a moment to respond, "The Barg'N Mart on Bikini Avenue still hasn't kicked us out yet."
"Thanks!" she responds, before turning and running again.
A few minutes later she runs into the treasure chest shaped store and puts her hands on her knees while taking deep breathes to calm herself down. "Huff, puff… Why was that run so hard?!" She stands up and leans against the store's outer wall, "It's like I'm not used to running in this body… I guess Lynn never bothered to help me out here or something…"
She digs into her pocket and pulls out her money, all fifty dollars worth, "Ok, I've got enough to by lemons, sugar and a pitcher." And with that she gets up, stretches a bit and steps inside the massive store.
"Wow…" She whispers in awe, "It's a good thing we're not banned from this store or else we'd never be able to get everything we'd need!"
The store is filled from side to side with its random assortment of goodies and supplies for the massive family. "Ok Lincoln." Linka whispers as she quickly looks around, before running down a nearby aisle, "I just need to get sugar, lemons and that pitcher!"
She turns and runs down the back aisle, towards the freezers, "Come on, there has to be something around here!" Linka ducks and jumps through a cart's opening, before rolling and turning down an open aisle.
"Ok, aisle ten, cooking supplies!" She declares, as she passes by rows of assorted spices and cook wear, before stopping halfway through to catch her breath. "Ok… where the heck is the sugar?!"
"Umm miss." A nearby work greets, causing the girl to look at him. The young man continues, "The sugar is right there…" he points at an almost entirely empty shelf… save for a lone bag of sugar resting by the side.
"Jackpot!" Linka thinks, before jumping up and grabbing the rather heavy bag of sugar. "Huh, I wonder why this is the last bag…" she whispers, before turning to the worker with, "Thanks!"
He nods, "No problem." Before handing Linka a basket, "Would you like to carry that in a basket miss? After all, it would make your shopping easier."
Linka thinks for a moment, before taking the object with a nod and a "thank you!"
With one ingredient in hand, she darts back down the aisle and makes a left, this time making her way towards the kitchen supplies. Unlike her short adventure searching for the sugar, finding the pitcher isn't nearly as exciting, save for the fact that Linka jumps on the carts that crowd the aisle and manages to run passed the people trying to desperately get a simple supply.
She grabs the last plastic pitcher in the aisle with a flip, before checking her handy work, "Awesome! I've managed to get sugar and a pitcher on sale! So with these, I have forty bucks to spend on the lemons!"
Then, she looks up, eagerly looking for her final target, the lemons! So she rushes up a nearby aisle and turns to the seafood section… only to find Loni standing by in a king's robe and cape as he ties balloons to random lobsters with, "Be free my subjects! Be free!"
For a moment, Linka just stands by, unsure of how to react to Loni's behavior… and then she remembers, "Oh wait, he's just like Leni… nope that still doesn't help it make sense."
So rather than try to explain his behavior, she slowly backs away into another nearby aisle, before quickly turning and running straight into a young Latino boy in a purple sweater and blue jeans.
"Hey watch where-" He goes with an annoyed tone, before his eyes catch sight of who ran into him, "Oh, hey Linka." He offers his hand to the girl."
"Hey there, Ron?"
The young boy tilts his head in confusion, "You recognize me don't you Lame-O?!" then he comes closer to her, "Come on, you're my girlfriend!"
Linka's face goes flush in realization, "If I'm dating Ronnie Anne in my own dimension… that means that I'm dating Ron in this dimension… think fast Lincoln! Your boyfriend here probably thinks that you've forgotten about him."
That's when an idea comes to her mind.
Linka's eyes dart around the aisle, before she sighs, "Ok, no one else's around Ron. We're good." She takes the boy's hand and lets him help her onto her feet, "What are you doing here?"
The boy shrugs, "I'm here with Bebe. She's trying to get a new job… for some reason. What about you? And why do you look like you've just ran a marathon?"
"I'm just trying to get some lemons for a stand tomorrow. I need to make five hundred dollars in two days!"
"I see." Ron goes as he puts his hand on his chin in thoughts, "Well, I wish you luck then Linka, you're going to have a tough time though."
"Why is that?"
Ron motions at her ingredients, "Did you notice that those were probably the last ones the store had in stock?"
Linka nods, "Yeah, what about it?"
"Everyone's planning on opening a stand tomorrow! You've got to make a plan before you decide to go open up shop!"
The girl nods, before shivering at the idea of having to deal with so much competition, "Ok Ron, thanks!" Then she looks around once more, "Do you know where the lemons are?"
"Yeah, they're on the other side of the store, where you walked in."
A beat passes.
"Oh… Ok then! Thanks Ron!" She shouts, and though she does find it a bit awkward, she pulls Ron into a hug, before running out of the aisle towards the lemons.
Ron's face goes flush in the realization of what just happened, before he smiles. "Awesome." And with that, he continues prowling along the aisles, trying to kill the time before he finally would go home with Bebe.
A few minutes later…
With supplies in hand, Linka tiredly steps into her home once again, before plopping down on the couch. "Phew, what a day."
"Welcome home Linka!" Loni goes as he steps into the room, still wearing his kingly costume. He then hands her a cinnamon bun.
"Thanks Loni." She responds, taking the treat in her hands, "By the way, why were you freeing those lobsters?"
Loni smiles, "Because they deserve to be free! After all, it's wrong to keep them held up in tanks without freedom!"
"Ok then…" Linka then stands up and yawns, "Anyways, I'm going to head to bed, goodnight Loni."
"G'night sis!"
And with that, Linka walks over to the fridge, shoves her supplies inside, before heading upstairs to her room, jumping on the bed and going to bed.
The Next Morning…
*Ruff!* Charlie the dog goes as she jumps on Linka's bed, licking her awake. "Haha!" She goes, before tiredly going, "Morning Charles… or should I say Charlie?"
"Ruff!" With a few more licks, Linka sits up in her bed, "Ok girl! Ok, it'll take you for a walk! Later though."
Charlie pouts in defeat, before jumping off the bed and walking out of her room. "Heh, what a way to start the mornin' huh." She whispers, before turning and jumping up, "Anyways, today's the day I make that five hundred dollars!"
So, she grabs her towel and loofa, before heading over to the bathroom and cleaning up a bit. Then she changes into an orange blouse with a blue skirt, before heading downstairs, recovering her supplies and rushing out the door to start her stand.
Few minutes later and she's sitting at a hastily constructed lemonade stand with several plastic cups ready and a pitcher of lemonade set up nearby, "Ok Lincoln, all you have to do is make sure that you make enough money to buy that crystal."
"Hey there." A girl, about Linka's age greets as she walks over to the girl's stand. She has brown hair and light skin, similar to a boy Linka knows very well. So she takes the risk, "Hey there Chandler, want some lemonade?"
The girl nods, "Sure. I might as well do something to beat the heat."
"That'll be twenty-five cents!" Linka declares, her excitement brewing.
"Ok then." Chandler places drops a quarter on the stand, before grabbing the cup, taking a sip, and promptly spitting it out. "Is this a joke?! What's going on?! This Lemonade sucks worse than you do!"
A beat passes.
Linka is unsure of how to respond, and begins to tear up. "Keep it together Lincoln, you don't really know this kid… but why do I have the sudden urge to cry?" Yet, Lincoln isn't in his own body, so how could he keep himself together?
"This is what I think of your stupid Lemonade!" Chandler declares as she grabs the pitcher and dumps it on the girl, the two cronies behind her laughing as she does so.
"Call me when you stop sucking. With lemonade like that, you won't make a dime!"
And with that, the girl laughs and walks off, her two cronies following her closely. With Chandler out of sight, Linka immediately breaks down in tears. Without a moment's hesitation, the ten brothers rush over to her side.
"You ok Linka?! What's wrong?! How can we help?!" They shout, their concern for their sister readily apparent.
Linka looks up at Loki, with her tear-filled eyes more than enough to get her point across.
"This is Ron's fault isn't it?" Loki whispers, and Lynn slams his fists together, "Let's get the punk!"
Levi pulls out a lemon, designed with an intergraded pin and switch system, "He will be the perfect subject to test out my new Lemonades."
Luke strums his guitar, "He's going to pay for this."
Lexx and Leif turn to each other and nod.
"No guys!" Linka desperately cries, "Don't hurt him! It wasn't him! It was another girl!"
"Oh," Lane goes in response. "Well then if you need some help, we're here for ya Linka!"
"Yeah!" Lynn helps his sister back on her feet, "If you need anything, we can do it!"
Linka thinks for a moment, before taking a deep breath, "Could you guys help me out here? I need to sell this lemonade and make five hundred dollars before the end of the day!"
For a moment the brothers look at her with skeptical expressions, before Loki looks at the brothers and says, "Remember the California Rush guys?"
"You mean the time we helped that crazy scientist and those twins fight a giant robot?" Lars asks.
"Yeah." Loki answers, "You remember what we had to do?" The boys nod in agreement, "Grab the lemons, we've got some lemonade to make!"
Immediately the boys nod, before rushing back into the house and beginning the onslaught. Loki runs to the fridge and grabs the leftover lemons, while Leif jumps up and grabs the sugar. Levi runs up to his room to grab the lemon-ades while Luke follows to grab his guitar.
The rest of the brothers stay in the kitchen and start to make a batch of Lemonade for their kid sister. And just in time too.
Because mere moments after they run inside Ron opens up shop right across the street!
"Ron! What are you doing?!" Linka asks as she walks over to the boy's lemonade stand. The boy looks at her with unconcerned eyes, "I'm trying to sell lemonade!"
"But my stand is across the street!" Linka shouts while throwing her hands in the air to emphasis her point.
"Lame-O, there's plenty of space on the this block for both of us. Don't worry."
Linka sighs in defeat, before returning to her own stand… only for Ron to reveal a set of speakers. He smiles as he shoves a disk in the drive and starts playing some soothing Jazz music, attracting some nearby people.
Immediately, Linka rushes into the home and shouts, "Luke! I need you to play your guitar! I need some lemonade selling music!"
"You've got it sis!" Luke declares, before sliding down the stairs and rushing out the door and onto the front lawn. He throws his amps out and begins strumming away on his electric guitar, attracting patrons like there's no tomorrow!
Yet, Ron doesn't give up, he pulls out a bright yellow sign that reads, "Best lemonade! New and improved formula!" in bold blue colors.
Linka counters by running to Levi and asking, "Levi! I need you to analyze this lemonade for taste!" Within minutes, Levi rushes out of the house with a better Lemonade recipe and some leftover Lemon-ades. "Ok Linka, use these only in self defense! They're unstable right now!"
Then, the moment of truth, the next customers arrive… The two kids work to get their attention, and both succeed!
A few minutes later, Linka's friend Claudia and Ron's friend Christopher pass by together, take a sip of both and immediately, "Wow, this tastes great Linka!" While Christopher declares, "This is awesome Ron!"
Within minutes, more customers arrive at the two stands, with neither getting an edge over the other. The small street of Franklin Avenue is getting more than it bargained for when it comes to selling lemonade!
Both Linka and Ron run to the ones producing the lemonade, Linka's brothers and Ron's friends, and ask, "We've got competition! We've got to beat them!"
"You got it sis!" Loki declares, before moving even faster, with the rest of the working brothers following suit.
On Ron's end, Christopher declares, "No problem Ron!" Before going all out on their lemons.
You can blame Lane and Loni for that, since they were going around town and pointing people in their direction!
After hours of production on both sides, the two stop, with every single customer used up, they both sit back in exhaustion. The Loud brothers lay unconscious on the front lawn, while Ron's friends are the same across the street.
"I'm not giving up yet Linka!" Ron declares as he pushes passed his exhaustion and jumps on his stand, "I'll make more money than you today! I will win this war!"
"Why are we even fighting, Ron?!" Linka desperately asks, as she pushes passed her exhaustion and does the same. "I just wanted to make some money to finish one of Levi's inventions!"
But, before Ron can answer, an old man in a brown coat and redshirt, appears. Next to him is a nearly identical old man in a suit. He walks up to Ron's stand, his silvery-grey hair glimmering in the afternoon light, "Hello, have you seen any anomalies around here?"
While the suited man walks over to Linka's stand and greets, "My bro and I heard of some weirdness around here, so we're looking for the source. See anything strange around here?"
Linka tiredly sits back down in her chair, "No sir, we've been fighting a lemonade war all day. Would you like some lemonade?"
"Don't mind if I do!" The old man declares, before grabbing a cup and dropping a quarter on the table. "Now that I think of it, what are you two doing? Wouldn't it be smarter to you know, have stands in different areas to stop competition?"
A beat passes, before Ron responds, "I have a perfectly legitimate reason for opening up shop here!" Then, he angrily points at Linka, while trying to make sure his face doesn't go flush, "And I will win the Lemonade War!"
The old, trench coated man rubs his chin for a moment, "This isn't much of a war." Then he pulls out a water cannon and gives it to Ron. "Now this'll be a war!"
Ron smiles, "I'll get you today Linka!"
"Oh yeah Ron! I'll still make more than you! Why the heck are you acting like this anyway?!" Linka grabs the lemon-ades, cocks them and throws them at the boy, who counters by blasting them with his water gun.
Once the water hits the lemonades, they explode, covering everyone and everything around them with lemon juice as well as sending both Ron and Linka flying back.
A moment of silence passes.
"Stan, we should leave. We'll find those anomalies later." The red-shirted man declares, while his brother responds, "I agree Ford, let's run." And immediately, they high tail it out of there.
Linka pulls herself from the puddle of lemon juice and water, before grabbing her white hair and wringing it out. "Well, that was a way to end the sales day." Then she steps over and counts her undamaged sales. "Please be enough…" She thinks, "If you'll ever want to see your sisters again Lincoln, this has to be enough!"
"Two hundred and fifty dollars…" She meekly whispers, before turning to the sight around her. The two warring stands were covered in juice, with no one left to see to. Everyone involved in making lemonade had passed out from exhaustion and most likely, the resources were out anyway.
"Dangit… I didn't even come close…" Linka begins to tear up in defeat, despite her mind not wanting to, her body can't hold back the emotions of defeat. "Dangit, I'll never see them again!" She bitterly whispers, "My sisters…"
"Linka…" Ron greets as he tiredly steps over, his soaked sweater is open, revealing a white undershirt.
"What do you want Ron?" Linka snaps, "You've caused enough problems don't you think?" Then she sits down on the grass in defeat, "I just wanted to sell lemonade! Not start a war!" Then she meekly thinks, "Now I'll never see them again…"
Ron quietly sits down next to her, "I'm sorry for what I did," he whispers as he goes into his pocket and pulls out his sales, all two-hundred and fifty dollars worth, "This is for you. It's just… I might as well give you something to cheer you up, especially after I caused some of this… and opened up shop right across the street from you…"
He then nervously adds, "I just wanted to make enough money to impress you, so I could say I helped you get whatever it is you wanted. After Chandler said your lemonade sucked… Well I thought I'd be able to ya know, help out and seem like a hero to you or something."
Linka's face goes flush as she takes the bills in her hands, "Really Ron? Thank you!" Then, she takes the boy in an embrace, before, though she does find it a bit awkward, giving him a passionate kiss on the lips.
Ron's eyes open up as Linka lets go of him, "Thank you Ron! This makes up for you being such a jerk!" then she playfully punches his shoulder, "Just next time, don't do that!" And with that, Linka quickly counts the cash, before running back into her home, with Ron holding his lips and smiling, before walking away.
Then, once out of sight of the Loud House, he shouts, "Awesome! She kissed me! She actually kissed me!"
Meanwhile Linka rushes upstairs and over to Levi's room. "Hey Levi! I've got the money! You can get the Pizzazium now!"
The four-year-old looks at his sister, *Yawn* "Good, I should have the goggles ready by tomorrow then."
"Awesome! Thanks Levi!" And with that done, she jumps down stairs and greets her exhausted brothers with, "Thanks guys! Because of you, I was able to get the money!" She smiles, before pulling all of her brothers into a claustrophobic hug, "Thanks you guys!"