Hell is Better Loud!(The Loud House X Helluva Boss X Hazbin Hotel)

\WELCOME TO THE NEU HOUSE/

"Welcome to the Neu House!" Franklin Neu welcomed his youngest inside. "We just finished breakfast, Kai should be back down in a minute."

"Thank you, Mr. Neu." Lincoln thanked the grown man, offering a handshake.

"Franklin is good enough." He happily accepted.

When the touched hands, a feeling of unease hit both of them. They didn't say anything, but both felt strangely odd. Franklin Neu was a tall man with remarkable brawn; he wore a white shirt, brown pants with dark shoes, but there was nothing unsettling about him. Lincoln pulled back his hand and saw Franklin's looked like they were discolored. Without realizing, Franklin saw what the boy was looking at.

"Oh, my hands? Don't worry, this happened a long time back when I was a sailor." He brushed it off.

"What a coincidence! My grandfather used to be in the Navy." The boy looked around as he walked in. "Do only you, Kai, and her three sisters live here?"

"Not at all. In fact, my wife and our oldest are do the dishes right now." Franklin took the boy to introduce them.

Just as the bearded man said, a woman about his age was doing dishes with a teenage girl with dark hair. The mother had long, silver hair that looked like it sparkled with tiny stars; her clothing was a little odd, but the most intriguing aspect about her was her grey eyes and the tiny mark under her right eye. The oldest daughter carried herself with neutral professionalism. She looked like she'd be about Lori's age but could easily pass herself off as young adult. Truth be told, when he caught sight of her, it was like some latent survival instinct told him to put up his guard.

"Hi Dear, this is the friend Kai and the others told us about."

"I remember. Your the child whose father moved him to the new bee sanctuary. Lincoln Spade, correct?" The silver-haired woman guessed. "I'm Allison Neu, and this is out oldest little gift, Merida Neu."

Gracefully, the aforementioned girl gave a gentle bow; and without realizing what he was doing, Lincoln dropped to a dogeza position. "Welcome to out home, Mr. Spade."

Confusing the three members of the Neu family, Lincoln remained on the floor for a moment. "... Thank you, it's a great honor to meet the family of Kai." He rose to his feet. "I'm here because I want to apologize for how disrespectful I behaved last night. There was a small emergency I needed to confront... for my father."

"That won't be necessary." Franklin brushed off.

"He's right. These things happen. How about you go upstairs? I think Kai is helping the others with something." Allison offered.

Moving to the second floor, Lincoln followed the sounds of voices to one of the bedrooms when he saw Taylor and another teenage girl are talking while Sophia and Olivia look at a small reptilian creature with wings. Wanting to be polite, he knocked before entering.

"Lincoln! We're happy you're here, it seems our sister's pet accidently swallowed this last night." Taylor presented the missing pill bottle.

"My medicine!" The boy rushed to grab the bottle. "Your... little friend didn't digest any?"

"No, Quizy regurg-i-ated them after we brought him home." Olivia explained. "I'm sorry, Linky."

"You did nothing wrong, Olivia." He put the little girl's worries to rest. "It's really my fault for leaving them unattended."

"Thanks, Linky!" The green robe twin hugged the older boy. "Oh, have you met Arie!?"

"G'day." The blonde teen greeted. Arie Neu had dirty blonde hair with brown eyes; her attire was a black crop top, a light purple hoodie with white sleeves tied around her waist, blue pants, cool shoes, and a pair of stylish sunglasses on her crown. Curiously, she also had a small paw print mark under her right eye.

"Hello, I'm Lincoln Spade. Nice to meet you, Arie, but I need to go speak with Kai."

"No probs, she and the other girls are at the dock." The teen pointed out the window. "Good luck, Little Dude."

Briskly, Link hurried down stairs and out the back door in the kitchen to reach Kai. Seeing her in the distance, she and two other girls were loading a canoe onto the lake. Running down the dock, he called her name.

"Kai!" The boy smiled and waved. "Kai!"

"Lincoln?" She wore a different outfit from last night; she now wore a teal, cold-shoulder top with long sleeves, a white above-knee skirt, and black converse shoes with white socks.

"Yeah, I know it's pretty early, but I came to apologize for leaving so suddenly at the carnival. Also, I apparently caused some concern with your pet."

"Quizy? He's okay, but I am sorry he took your pills. I know they must be important." She saw them in his hand.

"They are." He put them away. "I really, really don't like what happens when I don't take them." Lincoln looked at the canoe. "Were you going on the lake?"

Kai giggled. "We were, we actually were heading your way." The blonde girl reached into the canoe and pulled out the stuffed narwhal Lincoln won at the carnival. "I thought you'd want this back."

"Oh... sorry, I was in such a hurry." Lincoln held it in his hands for a bit. "You know... you can have it if you want. I don't really keep stuffed animals anymore."

Take back, Kai covered her mouth. "Are you sure?"

"Yes... I want you to have it." Generously, he presented it to her. "Think of it as... a gift between friends."

Blushing, she accepted. "Thank you, Lincoln. If you want, you can take the canoe back." She looked at her older sister. "Is that alright, Magi?"

The teen with the brown hair and blue eyeshadow grinned. "Go right ahead! You two can use it to commute."

Everything forgiven, both Lincoln and Kai reaffirm the other that they see each other a friend. Lincoln accepted Magi's offer and took the canoe back to the sanctuary, waving at Kai and her sisters as he rowed away. As he left, the last of the Neu sisters appeared, Sony.

"Sony! You just missed Kai's new friend." Magi pointed to the boy in the distance.

The black-haired girl with a spade mark under her right eye say him. "He looks suspicious."

"Sony, you never met him before." Kai argued.

"You've only known him for a day." The younger sister argued back. "There's something mysterious about him."

"I won't say you're wrong." Pondering, K'lynn looked at Lincoln on the lake. "It's kind of weird to won your train and station. Plus, I don't he spoke of anyone else living with him; has he, Kai?"

Kai Neu shook her head. "We all have our stories. If he has one to tell us, it has to be when he's ready." She looked at Sony. "And besides, he reminds me of you in a way."

"Funny... that's the reason why I find him suspicious."

Although none of them remember how they first met Lincoln, and the boy didn't remember how he first met the rest of the Neu family, their paths still converged. Where it leads to? Only time can answer.

\Chess Masters/

"I CAN'T BELIEVE WE'RE IN THE SEWER AGAIN!" Octavia screamed.

Some time passed since the night Lincoln lost control and Alastor had to stop him. Needing guidance, he went to New York City while IMP took some down time for Millie to recover. Worried about losing him again, Loona and Octavia left check on him under the pretense of their fathers' request. Because the Mad Dogs were the only people they knew who Lincoln would see in the Big Apple, they went to them for answers. Unfortunately, the white-haired kid gave them a protection enchantment that keeps Hellish portals from opening in their home, and the girls forgot how to reach their base the clean way.

"I can't believe we're back in this literal shit hole!" The Goetia complained continuously. "Why couldn't he be like normal kids? Throwing rocks at cars, playing video games, setting the help on fire?" She caught Loona giving her a disgusted look. "Not fully, just a little to see how they react."

"All I know is that after we bring him home, he owes me a saloon treatment." The hellhound checked herself in her pocket mirror. "Shit, and after I spent two hours waiting just to get my hair styled!"

Catching her older peer concerned with her appearance, Octavia had a laugh. "This wouldn't have to do with a certain tall, broad-shouldered turtle would it?"

WHA- No, I'm just... want my money's worth!" Loona got defensive.

"Yeah, keeping telling yourself that, Puppy." Via looked around and recalled this spot. "I think we're in Donatello's video feed. Hey! DONNIE, IT'S VIA AND LOONA!"

[I see you.] Donatello spoke through an intercom. [Go forward for 27.4 feet, turn left at a 45 degree angle before continuing down the tunnel directly in front of you; then, climb down the maintenance stairs to your right and go down the pipeline nearest to you. I'll send Mickey down to show you the rest of the way.]

"Alright!" Loona gave a thump up, then the middle finger. "You couldn't think to put signs down here!?"

"Let's go, we better hope Lincoln is better off than we are."

"That kid is like a cat." The older girl responded. "He gets let out, he'll end up finding someone to give him a saucer. I bet right now he's playing Mario Kart while eating pizza and doing target practice on soda bottles. I bet he's having the time of his life!"

The storm raged relentlessly.

Days, weeks, or months, time made no difference for the boy. The mountain ascended miles up with weather that changed suddenly and lasted for hours. Rain like bullets, baseball sized hail, windstorms, blizzards, oppressive heat, even low oxygen could occur at any moment. At any moment there could be an attack by savage predators or carnivorous plant life. He carried no weapons, tools, supplies, and his only clothing was a martial arts gi left ravaged by his journey. After much tribulation, he had reached the summit.

"Finally, my journey has reached its end." Lincoln spoke as he reached his destination.

At the summit was an arena floor in the exact shape and design of a chessboard. On opposite sides were giant stone pieces representing each of the pieces in a chess game. However, there were no kings. Lincoln approached the summit and the rain stopped, showing a beautiful sun hoisted overhead. The moment his foot touched the arena, another being mirrored his action on the opposite side. Moving further in, it was clear that what Lincoln was looking at was a being composed of pure shadows wearing the same gakuran he wore after he failed to take his medicine.

"It's you..." Lincoln didn't like what he saw.

"And you don't sound happy to see me." The shadow spoke.

"Since the moment you manifested, I've been trying to keep you suppressed with pills and medication." Closed eyes, he continued. "Even before I was sent to Hell I never considered myself a religious person; but when you came along, I pray. I drop to my knees every morning and pray to God, 'Please, Lord, don't let the other me come out'; and when I realize it's too late, I pray, 'Please, Lord, don't let the other me do anything to evil'; and when I regain myself, I pray, 'Please, Lord, don't let the other me come out again'."

"Pray to God? Would this be the same God who sent you to Hell? The same one who lets the world be controlled by corrupt politicians and businessmen working for their own self interest? You pray to them to keep me contained? No wonder I'm still around."

"You aren't wrong, the world is corrupt. But if I can keep someone like you out of it, then maybe it can become a better place?"

The shadow scuffed. "So self-righteous… is this because I killed some random nobody? Let's be real, the odds were 1 in 5 that delivery boy would have been killed at some point delivering pizza. What difference would it make it was us or some junkie who wanted the pocket change in the poor guy had to make change?"

"He still had a life. People who loved and cared about him... and we took him away from the world."

"Maybe you're right." He said, sarcastically. "We should turn ourselves in, go to juvie before being sent to real prison for twenty years. That is, before we buy our way out of consequences; we are rich as fuck man. Or, alternatively, they'll send us to some government or private research facility and turn us into a killer for hire."

Lincoln didn't have a response. "The world isn't perfect. People aren't perfect, but that doesn't mean they can't be saved. They're lives are worth protecting."

"Only an idiot will look at the Earth and call what the bald apes going about their meager existence as 'lives'. Remember, 'we' are the same person." The shadow moved in closer. "The one difference is that I don't waste my time with bullshit like 'morals' or 'limits'."

"No, you're only half right." Link argued. "We are the same person, but the difference between you and me is that I try to be better than my base desires. You, you see the world the as a playground, and everyone in it is just a toy to do with as you please." He raised his fists. "The only thing you are is desires. You don't have conscience, or purpose, loyalty, or satisfaction. You're just a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum when things don't go your way."

The shadow pulled his hands out. "Even if you, by some miracle, get rid of me, you'll just be pouring water out of a cup that keeps refilling. It could be in two days or two years, I'll reappear. I would just save your prayers for the new guy, he may not be as reasonable as me."

The fighters were ready. Now was the time for a great battle between a great power, and his inner darkness.

"Okay, Todd's place should be right up ahead." Donnie checked his wrist pad, driving Loona and Octavia to where Lincoln was.

"I can't believe we get to meet Earth hounds." Octavia was strangely exited at the prospect. "In Hell, all our animals are... well, you've seen Loona."

The aforementioned hound snarled. "We're going to a dog shelter... excuse me if I don't share the thrill." Loona recalled her past. "All shelters are the same for hounds. Kept in cramp, concrete cells with no sunlight. Feed leftover slope from some rich dickhead's table. Then, being paraded before degenerate fucks who want a cute little pet. Be prepared, Princess; when you see the horrific, shit-filled..." She caught sight of the destination. "Holy Fuck! Does this place have a carnival ride!?"

Before they knew it, the little group reached Todd Capybara's Cuddle Cakes Puppy Rescue in Long Island Woods. To the girls' surprise, it was a beautiful little shelter. The demons and Donnie exited the Turtle tank and were immediately surrounded by excited puppies. Uncomfortable by the excessive displays of affection, Via and Donnie tried to move the small animals out the way. With the other two distracted, Loona snuck around the van and looked at the puppies before.

"Aren't you just so damn cute~" Quietly, she cuddled with a few of the puppies where she thought nobody would see her.

"Hello!" Appearing beside the hellhound, Todd welcomed his guests. "It's always nice to have new faces! Welcome To Cuddle Cakes Puppy Rescue!"

"I wasn't cuddling!" Loona quickly denied. "I mean, get these weak ass little bastards out of my face!" Then, she gently placed them on the ground.

"Hey Todd, these are Lincoln's... I want to say sisters?" The turtle guessed.

"I'm his coworker." Loona corrected. "Princess... she's just bored."

"Says the secretary that spends the majority of her day drunk scrolling social media." Via countered. "Anyway, is Lincoln here?"

"Oh, he's on top of the mountain." Todd pointed to the fake mountain on his property; and there the kid was, sitting like a monk. "Been up there for hours. Said he needed to take care of some business while Raphael worked with the others."

"RAPH!" Adjusting the sidemirror, Loona checked her appearance. "Shit, those puppies ruined my eyeshadow. I look like a crack whore."

"Don't say that about yourself, Darlin'." Said the humanoid capybara. "You look just like my mother. A marvelous lady. She used to have me sleep in a wardrobe while she and my uncle would practice for their amateur wrestling league; I swear, growing up I must have meet all eighty of my uncles, some I never saw again after one night. She was also a science enthusiast, she found away to take medicine by heating it in a glass pipe and inhaling the fumes. I tell ya, it was said when she went; the only attendants were me and our landlord, Daddy Fresh. I wonder what happened to all my uncles that they couldn't attend."

The three younger non-humans shared a look, letting Donatello respond. "I hope one day I can have misty, watercooler memories like those."

"Who said there are no perfect parents?" Speaking rhetorically, Via agreed with Donnie.

Strangely against breaking the man's spirit, Loona went along. "I wish my mom could have raised me like that."

"Thank you, Donatello, these friends of yours are so nice! Why don't you three come inside and I'll fix you a glass of my famous lemonade."

"Wow, I'm sure it'll be so life changing." The hellhound accepted, sarcastically.

Moving inside, the three sat at Todd's table and was each served a glass of his famous lemonade. Never trying it before, the demon girls' responses were completely genuine.

"Wow, that was really life changing!" Loona stared into space, processing what entered her mouth.

"It tastes like safety and warm hugs." Octavia wiped away a tear. "Is this what it's like to drink a mother's love?"

As they finished their lemonade, Raphael entered the house drying off with a towel. Seeing the tall turtle enter, Loona did a spit take as he chugged a glass of lemonade, the hound girl blushing at the sight of his sweat covered muscles. Catching on Loona's awkward behavior, Donnie and Via shared a smile.

"Hey Raph, how's training going?" Donatello asked his brother.

"Wicked! Those Pawns are next level!" Raph fist pumped. "You remember our training with Pops and Gram-Gram? I wouldn't be surprised by the time Link wakes up, they'll be too much of a challenge for us!" He noticed the girls. "Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there! How have you been?"

"Fine...I MEAN GOOD!" Looney caught herself. "We were just looking in on him! Because we just love him soooo MUCH! He's like the brother we never had!"

"Nice to here that." Raphael complimented, then got shook by a huge rumble. "What was that!?"

Everyone ran outside to see what was happening. There, at the top of the fake mountain, Lincoln was bathed in a rainbow of lights as orange chains formed around the woods that led to the boy.

"Can't that kid go one day without raising literal Hell?" Loona shook her head. "What is he even doing? Raising the dead? Calling Cthulhu?"

"S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N! Get us a bird's eye view!" Sending his AI drone mecha shell, Donnie put out a hologram screen display from his wrist. "There he is!"

On the mountain in meditation, orange chains manifested around the boy's white gakuran. Lincoln remained calm and disconnected from the outside world. More and more, the rain bow lights that surrounded the boy became more vibrant until the particles of light unified into the figure of a person. The faceless entity levitated in front of the boy, observing the chains that continued to constrain around the boy like hungry pythons. Gripping on the chains with both hands, it ripped them off Lincoln's body and caused the restrained to disappear. Lincoln opened his eyes and the unknown entity placed a hand on the child's shoulder before it merged with him.

What came next bewildered those watching Lincoln. The boy stood up, clenched his fists, and tucked his arms in to puff out his chest. Releasing a thunderous roar, he illuminated pure light and began his transformation.

"What is happening to him!?" Donnie tried to make sense of it. "His energy readings are astronomical!"

"Full Demon." Octavia spoke. "Sinners with enough power can switch to a more monstrous form to reflect their inner selves. We call that the 'Full Demon'."

"Are you sayin' the boy is monstering out!?" Raphael questioned. "How can we stop him!?"

"You can't." She looked up. "We can only wait for him to turn back."

Lincoln's Full Demon form was a sight. Instead of taking on more features, his body became a blank, white form of his Sinner self. The only clothing he had on was his jacket and hat, but was alright because he displayed no sexual characteristics and his feet lacked toes. On his face was a black, venetian eye mask; and surrounding him like a floating entourage was several other masks of varying designs. One by one, he inspected the masks with a claw like finger until he settled on one that looked like a bearded man. Being selected, the mask produced a parade of multicolored cards that formed a deck in Lincoln's hand. When the last card settled, Lincoln turned back to his human form and jumped off the mountain.

"Sweet Shit." Loona marveled. "What the Hell was that!?"

Catching sight of his friends, Lincoln waved. "Hey!" He rushed over. "First off, I killed my dark self in a 'Highlander-esque' death match. Second, I can now make these!"

The group looked at the deck of cards in his hand. "Oh, I used to play something like these as a kid." Todd felt nostalgic.

Lincoln pulled out a card, showing both its chessboard design back with the letters 'C' and 'M' in orange. "I call it, Chess Masters! It's set up like regular chess, but with additional factors that enhance the game! Pieces can be exchanged for summoning monsters, there are numerical expressions for attack and defense, you can customize your deck or play by a common theme-"

"Hold the phone!" The purple mask turtle interrupted. "Are you telling me, you just created a collectible card game!?" Donnie went fanboy.

"Sure did, I only have this one deck now, but I plan to mass produce!"

"FUCK!" Shocking everyone, Octavia screamed. "I am so fucking down with this, how do you play!?"

The Chess Masters creator gave a detailed rundown of the game. After making sure everyone was clear on the rules of game play, Donnie and Via had a short match.

"I offer three pawns to summon Galaxy Bishop: Sister of Dreams." Octavia removed three pawns to play a bishop. "Sister of Dreams, attack Donnie's King!"

Unlike in regular chess, Chess Masters' King piece represents the player and represents the Life Force, or LF, meaning you have to completely deplete your opponent's LF to win. Doing math, Octavia calculated how many points the turtle had left.

"If I'm right, you only have 300 LF." The bird demon gloated.

"Au contraire, mon ami! I still have one last card to play." Confident, Donnie played a spell card. "Failsafe! If I play this card, and have no other cards left at my disposal, I can undo the last attack at my Life Force and redirect it to another player!" He smirked. "And if my math is correct, you no longer have any Life Force!"

Checking the rules, Octavia saw she had lost. "I demand rematch!"

Seeing the royal lose her cool, Loona laughed while eating chips next to Lincoln and Raphael. As the white-haired boy, hellhound, and mutated alligator turtle congratulated Donatello on his victory, Todd gave Octavia another glass of lemonade and pat on the back. Just as the game had came to an end, the Pawns arrived carrying their rucksacks and covered in dirt.

"Look out, it's the Single White Female Brigade!" Mocking the Pawns for there camo training clothes, Loona makes their presence known. "You girls look like you just escaped Castro's private rape room in Guantanamo Bay."

"You look like a starved cayote that got adopted by Ozzie Osborne." Jill Mayberry retorted before addressing Lincoln. "The newbies have gotten acclimated. Well, as much as possible."

"That's good news." The boy congratulated before collecting his cards with magic. "Tell the ladies to take the night and tomorrow off. I promised a friend I would visit for dinner."

Ever since he was pulled away from his family and Roya Woods, visiting Kai and the Neu family made Lincoln nostalgic of the old days. It wasn't so much a sad feeling, but the feeling of joy so strong that it was almost painful to remember. After dinner, he and his friend went to the lakeshore so he could show her his latest masterpiece.

"Like I said before, it's still in the development stage, but once the beta testing is done, the Spade Conglomerate hopes to see release by June. Or, at the latest, in Late November to Early December." He explained; he would continue but he saw Kai giggling. "What's so funny?"

"The way you talk about this game, Chess Masters? I can't help but thin about how K'lynn and Magi would react when it comes out." She continued laughing.

He laughed, too. "I wish I had sisters who I could talk about card games, or video games, or just talk to."

"I thought you said you had ten sisters?" Kai recalled an earlier conversation, but lost her humor when she saw how downcast it made Lincoln. "I'm sorry, I know it's a sore subject for you."

"You did nothing wrong. I've just been away from them for so long... it's hard sometimes, I know where they are but I never talk to them. I'm too afraid."

"Afraid? You always spoke of them fondly, even when you said they could drive you crazy."

Link snickered. "Not of them, I'm afraid of what will happen if I saw them again... and how many parents would react if they saw how different I am now." He pulled out his medicine, and took only two pills. "I have more good news, I'm taking less pills now. At first, I had to take three kids after every meal; now I only need to take two, after dinner."

Kai wanted to say more, but she wasn't sure of what to say. "You know... you're always welcome to visit. I know we haven't been friends long, but my family really likes having you around."

"All of them?" This surprised him. "I didn't think Merry, Sophia, or Sony liked me."

"Those two can seem distant, but I can tell they're always cheery... by their standards, when you visit. A lot of people don't see their true feelings."

"I have the opposite problem with my Uncle Alastor." Lincoln found himself opening up about his great uncle. "He used to be a... radio personality, he said he was real famous for a time, so he always presents himself as this lively, social butterfly. Yet, sometimes I find it hard to tell what he really feels." The boy put felt his hidden throat dial.

"I'm sure Alastor loves you." Kai comforted. "I know what it's like to have family you can't see, and family you worry for. Even if things are complicated now, we should always have hope."

"Thank you, Kai. Maybe the next time I visit, you could tell me more about your birth family?"

"That would be nice; and maybe next time, we could have both you and your Uncle for dinner?"

Lincoln thought about the offer and Alastor's tastes, giggling a bit. "No offense for Sophia's cooking, but I feel Alastor would like us to have your family for dinner."

Kai didn't pick up the entendre. "Either way's fine."