"Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change"- Stephen Hawking.

Lincoln was awoken by the sweet smell of bacon. His two sisters were sleeping on either side of him, their arms wrapped around him. He got up, and looked out of his window.

The winter storm was still going at full force; a thick layer of ice had formed on the outside of the window.

"well" he thought "this window ain't opening anytime soon." In fact that layer of ice was so thick it would likely remain until, well into spring.

Lincoln walked downstairs, and was greeted by Lori making breakfast for the family.

He saw Luan sitting at the table, an uncomfortable look on her face.

"Luan, you okay?" Lincoln asked

"I'm fine" Luan answered. "I made myself a sandwich last night, but I think the ham was spoiled or something, it tasted funny. I think I got some food poisoning or something."

He felt someone staring at him from behind. He figured it was Lucy, she had a habit of popping out of nowhere and scaring him.

He turned around, and was surprised to find Lola standing just a few feet behind him, her face expressionless.

"Uh, morning Lola" Lincoln greeted his younger sibling.

"Morning" Lola said in a monotone voice more akin to Lucy, than Lola. What was extra weird was that it didn't sound like Lola was even greeting Lincoln, more like she was mimicking his words. He figured she just didn't get enough sleep last night. He walked over to her, and patted her on the head.

Soon all the sisters had come down stairs and the usual hustle and bustle of The Loud House had seemed to return.

Lincoln got his breakfast and sat down at the kiddy table.

The kiddy table was a lot more calm than usual. Most days you'd see Lola and Lana arguing, and Lisa and Lucy debating science vs the supernatural.

But today was different, Lisa and Lana were where quietly, but very excitedly discussing something. Lincoln couldn't make out everything they were saying, all he heard was something about Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Lucy, with no one to talk to, just decided to play with Lilly, Lilly was the youngest at only a few months old.

Lola was just staring off into space. She was eating in an odd manner too. Lola was a very girly girl, so she usually used a fork to eat with she was usually a very clean eater. But today she was just grabbing her food by the handful and slowly shoving it in her mouth.

"Are you ok?" Lincoln asked Lola.

"Oh I'm fine, just... didn't get a lot of sleep last night is all" Lola calmly answered. "You know with the, um, events of yesterday, I had a lot of bad dreams."

Lincoln took pity on his little sister, he knew what it was like to lose sleep out of fear.

"aw" He said "I'm sorry to hear that sis" he got up and gave Lola a comforting hug. As he sat back down he looked at her and smiled "At least it's all over now"

Lola looked down at her plate, shifted her eyes toward Lincoln, and gave a mischievous smile "Yes Lincoln" She said in a low voice "It's all over now"

Lincoln raised an eyebrow "yeah" he said awkwardly.

"Should we tell them?" Lana said to Lisa with great excitement.

"I think the time is right, yes" Lisa responded.

Lisa and Lana walked into the kitchen

"Can I have everyone's attention?" Lisa said

"HEY LISTEN UP" Lana yelled. The whole house went quiet.

Lisa, with great excitement, explained everything she learned about the creature. Lisa used a lot of big words Lincoln didn't understand, but the bottom line was that they have discovered an alien.

"Wow" Said Luan, "That news is out of this world"

After saying that, Luna just looked at Luan and gave her a warm smile, as Lisa and Lana started to geek out about how famous they were going to be.

After breakfast, all the kids went off to do their own things. Lori headed upstairs to her room. Once she got in her room, she found Leni, sitting on her bed, deep in thought.

"Hey Leni, What's up?" Lori asked.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Leni asked in a sorrowful voice.

"What?"

"You all try to hide it, but I know what you think of me"

Lori sat next to Leni "What are you talking about?"

"You all think I'm stupid and useless, and you're right?!?!" Leni snapped, her eyes filling with tears. "Everyone in the family is good at something, Lynn's good at sports, Lucy has her poems, Lola has her beauty pageants, Lisa is insanely smart, and she's fucking 4! Now even Lana's going to be famous for discovering an alien. A FREAKING ALIEN, how does that even happen?!?!"

"Well, I know I didn't see that one coming"

"Everyone in this family is going to be going off to do great things, and I'm not even going to graduate high school"

"Leni, is this about the..."

"I've been feeling this way for a long time Lori! For as long as I can remember I've been just the butt of everyone's jokes!"

It was at this moment that Lori noticed the bottle of pills Leni was holding. "Leni? What are you doing with those?"

Leni didn't say a word.

Lori took the bottle away from Leni. "Leni you're not useless"

Leni held her knees to her chest.

"Remember that time I asked you to 'make my bed'?"

"Yeah, I couldn't even get that right"

"Leni! You expertly carved a fancy king sized bed frame, from scratch! All in a matter of minutes! Most people would take years to do what you did that day!"

Leni looked up at Lori.

"And remember last Christmas when you made an outfit from practically everything in the house?" Lori reminded her. "You have talents many of us can only dream of. And even if you didn't, we still love you, you're family Leni. And we'll get you whatever support you need. We're here for you, I'm here for you. Do you really think the Loud house would be any better without you? Because it won't! Leni Loud, you bring so much joy, and love to the world! Without you, it just wouldn't be The Loud House."

Leni quickly wrapped her arms around her older sister, and started violently sobbing into her shoulder. Lori ran her hands through Leni's long blond hair. They both lay down in the bed, and dozed off.

Lori opened her eyes some 20 minutes later. Leni was sleeping cuddled up next to her. Lori was reminded of a time when they were both much younger, a simpler time when they hadn't a care in the world.

Lori turned her gaze to the foot end of the bed. She was startled to see Lola standing at the end of her bed, completely motionless.

"Lola, is something wrong?" Lori asked.

Lola was big into competing in beauty pageants; because of this her face was usually very expressive. Whether it be happy, sad, angry, or anything in between, Lola's face always showed some sort of emotion. But now her face was showing nothing. She wasn't happy, sad, angry, worried, or anything at all. Her face was just blank, devoid of all emotion, as she seemingly stared into Lori's soul.

"Are you ok?" Lori asked.

Lola just simply, almost robotically turned and walked out the door.

"Okay, that was weird"

"W-what's going on?" Leni started to stir.

"I haven't the faintest idea"

Lola had told Lincoln that her strange behavior was because she couldn't sleep from being scared. At first Lincoln believed her, and even felt sorry for her.

But the way she had said "Yes Lincoln, It's all over now" had sent shivers down his spine. He knew something was up, and was determined to find out what. However he was going to need some help.

Usually in a time like this, he would call on his best friend Clyde, but he couldn't reach him on his radio, because of the storm. So he had to look elsewhere.

"Lynn" He said walking up to his slightly older sister. "What do you say you and I go on a little mission"

"What kind of mission" Lynn asked, intrigued.

"Lola's been acting weird today, so I figured we should go under cover, gather some clues, and find out what's going on with Lola"

"So you wanna go on a stake out? Sounds fun, I'm in"

"Great!" Lincoln handed her a walkie talkie. "Time to put operation fallow Lola around to see why she's acting so weird, and also think of a shorter name for this operation, into action"

Lola walked down the stairs, and walked into the kitchen. Lincoln hid behind the entry way leading from the living room to the kitchen.

"I've got eyes on the target" He said into his walkie talkie

"Copy that" Said Lynn, Hiding in the dining room, making sure she too had eyes on Lola.

Lola looked around the kitchen, to see if anyone was looking. She opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bag of sliced ham.

"she's just making herself a sandwich" Said Lynn "Nothing weird about that"

"Well it is almost lunch time" Said Lincoln

Lola opened the bag, and dumped ALL the ham into her mouth, and swallowed it without chewing.

Lincoln's Jaw dropped.

"Maybe she was just like, REALLY hungry" Lynn suggested.

Then Lola took out a roasted chicken, and shoved the entire thing in her mouth. She swallowed it, bones and all.

Lincoln and Lynn just stared at her in amazement, and shock.

Lola then took out a package of hot dogs, and dumped them all down her throat. She continued eating all the meat in the fridge.
How could so much food, fit inside such a tiny little girl?

"Ok, now she's just being rude" Lynn complained "What are the rest of us supposed eat? Broccoli?"

Lynn walked over to Lola. "Hey Lola, you gonna save some food for the rest of us?"

Lynn put her hand on Lola's should. Lola quickly grabbed Lynn's hand and twisted it.

"What the..." Lynn looked confused, and shocked.

With a surprising amount of strength, Lola pushed Lynn into the dining room table, breaking one of the chairs, and then walked away without saying anything.

Lincoln walked over to Lynn, who was lying on the ground. "You don't really get this whole stake out thing do you?" He said.

Later in Lincoln's room, he and Lynn were pacing back and forth trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"Since when does Lola know moves like that?" Lynn asked

"And why was she eating like that?" Said Lincoln, "She didn't even chew anything! She even ate the bones!"

"Man I'm really starting to get worried Linc, what if something's seriously wrong with her"

Lincoln looked out into the hallway. "Maybe we can find some clues in her room"

The two snuck into the twin's room, and searched it.

"You see anything" Lincoln asked, looking under Lola's bed.

"I found her diary" Lynn answered.

"Anything, you know weird in it?" Lincoln asked, "Like maybe some recent drama that could be causing her weird behavior"

"No" Said Lynn "seems like just a normal little girl's diary, kind of boring actually" She threw the book over her shoulder.

Having found no clues in Lola's room, the duo headed downstairs. There they saw the whole family sitting in the living room, each doing what they usually did on a Saturday afternoon. All aside from Lola, who was sitting in a chair away from the group, sipping a cup of tea, she was just staring at everyone else, almost as if she was studying them.

Lynn turned to Lincoln and whispered "You know, maybe we should just talk to her"

Lincoln agreed.

The two approached Lola. "hey Lola, how's it going" Said Lincoln in a soft voice.

"Well, well, well" Said Lola, stirring her cup of tea. "If it isn't Sherlock Holms and his little bitch Watson" She took a sip of her tea "Lynn's Sherlock"

"LOLA!" Lynn exclaimed, with heavy shock in her voice.

"Lola why would you say something like that" Lincoln asked.

"I know you two have been fallowing me" Lola replied.

Lincoln knelt down to look Lola in the eye "Lola look, you've been acting kind of strange lately, and we're worried about you" He said, with a kind and reassuring voice "You know that if there's anything wrong, anything at all you can talk to us right"

"Yeah Lola" Said Lynn "That's what families are for"

Lola then grabbed Lincoln by the collar of his orange t-shirt, and yanked him toward her face. "You listen, and you listen good, You two better just back off and mind your own damn business! There are some rabbit holes you do NOT want to go down Lincoln Loud!" She shoved the terrified white haired boy to the ground.

"Hey Lana!" Lola said, getting up and walking over to her twin "Can I talk to you, in private" She angrily glared at Lincoln, then the twins walked upstairs.

Lincoln and Lynn quickly ran into the kitchen.

"Ok, something is definitely up!" Lincoln said, with panic in his voice, running his hand through his white hair. "It's like she's a whole different person"

Lynn started to giggle.

"What" Lincoln asked.

"She called you my bitch" Lynn was trying hard not to burst out laughing.

"Well something must be very wrong with her then, I mean clearly YOU'RE the sidekick" Lincoln jokingly responded.

"She didn't say sidekick" Lynn was cupping her hand on her mouth, her face turning red.

"You know" Lincoln said "I think she also called you a dude"

Lynn immediately stopped laughing, and her face grew more and more angry "Well that little... SIDEKICK!"

They both burst out laughing, and rolling on the floor.

Just then Lynn noticed something sticking out from under the closet door in the kitchen. "hey wait a minute" she said getting up and walking over to the closet.

She opened the door.

"Oh my god!" She said. She pulled out what looked like one of Lola's dresses, but it was torn up and covered in blood.

"Lincoln, do you remember what Lisa said this morning, about that creature being able to imitate its prey or whatever"

"Y-Yeah"

"Lincoln, I... who we just talked to... I... I don't think that was Lola!"

"So what did you want to talk about sis?" Lana asked as she entered her room.

Lola fallowed her into the room, and locked the door behind her. Without Lana noticing, Lola put the key in her mouth and swallowed it.

"Oh, I just wanted to personally congratulate you on your... discovery" Lola calmly said.

"Oh thanks but..." Lana said.

"But what?" Lola cocked her head to the side

"I don't know. I thought the possibility of being famous would make me feel better, but" Lana started. "I... I still... It won't bring them back"

"Bring who back?"

"Charles, Hops, Lizzy. My pet's Lola!" Lana's eyes started to water "They were my only friends and they're gone now!" Tears were now rolling down her face

"Huh?"

"I know you guys just saw them as animals, but they were more than that to me" Lana was sobbing now "I... know it s-sounds w-weird but, I loved then like they were my children. I... Played with them, fed them, and took them for walks. I loved them and now they're gone and nobody cares but me." She continued "I'm trying to keep a straight face, but I can't. Yeah it'll be cool to talk with all those famous smart guys about the alien, but I'm no genius, most of what they'll say will just go over my head! But at least I have you right?"

Lola walked over to Lana. She used her finger to wipe some tears from her face. She looked at the clear fluid on her finger she looked up as her eyes too began to fill with tears.

Lola hugged Lana "I'm so sorry"

Lana hugged her back "It's fine, it's not your fault, it's mine"

"You're such a sweet girl Lana" Lola said, "You took me in when you didn't even know a thing about me"

"Yeah I... Wait what!?!?"

"You trusted me alone with your pets, you even offered to feed me"

"Uhhhh... Lola? What are you talking about?"

"You know I've never felt this way with anyone before" Lola squeezed Lana tighter "I've never felt... I've never felt human emotions before, sorrow, remorse, love" tears started flowing down Lola's face "It's beautiful"

Lana quickly broke away from Lola's grasp in a panic "What... what are you?"

Lola slowly walked toward Lana, as Lana backed away

"I'm so sorry I killed your pets" Lola said with a sympathetic, yet somehow creepy voice "Your, children as you put it. Odd that a species like you could view another species as their own family, it really is quite sweet. And Lana, I mean this from the very depth of my heart, but I'm really sorry... that I have to kill you"

"WHAT?!?!"

"Believe me I really don't want too, and that's saying a lot because I love killing"

"No, no, no no no no. This, this can't be happening"

"Lana you don't deserve to die, but you have to I'm really sorry, you know too much. Plus, I'm really hungry, I'm always hungry"

"Hungry? Oh no man, y-you don't wanna eat me, I'm all skin and bones!"

"As much as I really don't want to kill you, part of me is going to enjoy watching you die. I do love killing, and the thrill of the hunt"

Lana pushed Lola aside and ran for the door. She tried to open it but it was locked.

Lana turned back to see the creature that was disguised as her sister.

"Goodbye Lana" Lola said, "I'm sure you'll be remembered fondly"

Just then Lola threw back her head, her chest ripped open to reveal a gaping maw, filled with sharp teeth.

A barrage of blood-red tendrils shot out of the creature, and wrapped around Lana's leg, and pulled her to the ground. Lana dug her nails into the carpet to try to crawl free from the creature, but instead her nails peeled off from the friction, causing her little fingers to bleed. "HHHEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPP!" she yelled.

Lincoln and Lynn rushed to the twin's room to warn Lana about what had become of Lola. They tried to open the door, but it was locked.

"What's going on?" Lucy had appeared next to them.

"Uh Lucy" Lincoln said, not knowing how to break the news to her "We think that Lola could be well uhh..."

"LOLA'S AN ALIEN!!!!" Lynn interrupted.

"What" Lucy asked.

Just then they heard a scream from inside.

"Okay we need to bust this door down!" Said Lynn, she ran into her room and came out with an axe.

Lincoln remembered the last time they saw the creature, and how they thought they had killed it. He ran into Lisa's room and grabbed her flame thrower.

"Ok let's do this" He said

Lynn swung the axe and smashed it into the door, again and again. Eventually she was able to break the door open.

In the far end of the room was what they had thought was Lola earlier that day. The creature's chest and stomach had ripped open, revealing an endless and dark hole, filled with razor sharp teeth, and tendrils leading from the creature, to the front of the room, where they had wrapped around Lana's leg, as the creature attempted to pull her to its hungry mouth.

Lincoln and Lynn each grabbed one of Lana's hands, and tried to free her from the thing's grasp. Unfortunately the Thing was too strong and Lana's tiny little hands slipped from their grip.

The thing pulled Lana toward it, but Lana managed to grab onto the leg of one of the beds in the room, and held on for dear life.

Lynn lunged at the Thing, axe held high "Get away from her you BITCH!" She screamed.

A tentacle swiped at Lynn, and she jumped clear over it. Another shot right at her, but she cut it clean in half with her axe. She jumped onto one of the beds. A couple of tentacles came at her she cut each of them apart, splattering blood on the walls behind her.

She got off the bed, and again ran toward the creature. It shot a large tentacle in her direction, she bent over backwards to dodge it, she swiped at it, cutting it in half.

A rather large tentacle smacked Lynn into the air, in mid air she regained her balance (I tell you, all those sports, exercise and training really paid off) and slid down the tentacle with her feet, her cleats ripping through the tentacle as she slid.

She jumped off the tentacle, her axe raised above her head she swung it as she landed on the Thing.

Her axe struck the part of the Thing that resembled Lola's head.

The Thing turned and looked at Lynn with rage in its eyes, as the huge gash in its face healed in a matter of seconds.

"Dang it" Lynn exclaimed.

One of the creatures arms, morphed into a long tentacle with sharp bony spikes running along it. The tentacle wrapped around Lynn's arm. Lynn screamed as the spikes dug into the bones of her arm. The Thing then swung Lynn all over the room, smashing her into every wall floor ceiling and piece of furniture.

Meanwhile Lincoln was using the flamethrower to keep the tentacles from getting to him. He kept trying to shoot the flamethrower at the creature in the center of the mess, but every time he could get a clear shot, one of the tentacles flew toward him. Plus he didn't want to risk hurting Lana, or Lynn.

Lucy had gotten a dagger and was slashing at each of the tentacles as they approached her.

Soon the other sisters had heard the noise, and came upstairs. They were shocked to see the creature once again, but this time, they decided to fight.

As the tentacles started to reach out into the hallway, Luna started swinging at them with her guitar. Lori found a baseball bat and fought the tentacles with that. Luan used one of her comedy props to fight them. Lisa had another flamethrower.

Lilly was just a baby so she couldn't do anything. Eventually Leni picked Lilly up, and brought her into her room and closed the door. "it's OK Lilly you'll be safe in here" Leni tried to calm her crying baby sister "I won't let anything happen to you"

Leni frantically searched her room for something to use as a weapon. She decided to unscrew the post from her bed and use that. "I'll be right back sweetie, don't worry everything is going to be fine" She assured her, before she left the room to help her sisters, closing the door behind her.

Lynn was being hurled through the air, by an alien tentacle that was holding onto her with sharp bony spikes that dug deep into her arm to even pierce her bones. Eventually the g-force was to strong, and the spikes ripped out of Lynn's arm, tearing out strands of muscle tissue and blood, sending Lynn flying. Her back hit a wall with a loud thud.

She slid down the wall onto the floor, and just sat there. Her ears were ringing, and her vision blurred, her legs hurt too much for her to stand, and her left arm was ripped open. She looked at her blood soaked arm and could see bone. She moaned in pain.

Lana was starting to lose her grip on the bed. She looked back at the creature, and then at her sisters and brother.

She closed her eyes, tears flowed down her face. She knew this was the end of her life.

She opened her eyes again. All her siblings were fighting the creature, fighting to save her life. It all seemed to be in slow motion, her sisters were all swinging various objects at the creature's tentacles. But the image that stuck out to her the most was Lincoln. He must have gotten the flamethrower from Lisa's room. He was swinging like a mad man flames bellowing out as he kept pulling the trigger creating a wall of flames that engulfed anything that came near him. His eyes were full of a fury Lana had never seen in any of her siblings, not even Lynn, who was usually the bad ass of the family.

Lincoln was always a bit of a dork. Though Lana still loved him, and looked up to him.

But in this moment, Lincoln Loud looked like a total bad ass, and Lana had never been more proud and in awe of her older brother, than at that moment.

The thing's tendrils had wrapped tighter around Lana's body, and she was only holding onto the bed by her bloody fingertips. She knew, no matter how hard her siblings fought to save her, she had only seconds left. She looked at Lincoln one last time.

She wanted to get his attention, and say some final words to him, but she was afraid that if she distracted him, the creature could kill him.

With tear filled eyes Lana just simply said "I love you" Doubting he heard her, but hoping he did. She let go of the bed, she flew through the air as the creature pulled her into its gaping maw. She collided with the creature with a splat. She screamed in pain as one of the Thing's spikes jammed into her back, and came out her stomach. Her grey-blue overalls became stained red with her blood. The part of the Thing that had been Lola's head grew insect-like mandibles that grabbed the back of Lana's head, and dug into Lana's ears, piercing her eardrums.

Lana couldn't hear her own blood curdling cries of pain. Blood started purring out of her mouth as the thing started to rip into her intestines, and pull them out to fall on the floor with a plop. She looked down to see her stomach and intestines spilling out of her body. Two longer mandibles with long sharp spikes at the end grew out of the creatures head, they moved past Lana's head, and curled inward to face her eyes. The mandibles slowly sunk themselves into her pupils, and her whole world went black.

Lincoln watched in horror as the Thing violently tore Lana's eyes out, spraying blood on the wall in front of them. Somehow Lana was still alive, twitching, and taking short panicked breaths. However by then, her eyes were torn out, ears cut out, guts ripped out, and limbs getting crushed, what she was experiencing could not be called life.

Lincoln aimed the flame thrower at Lana and the creature, and pulled the trigger. Searing hot flames once again engulfed the creature, turning it, and what was left of poor little Lana into ashes.

With what was left of the creature weekend, Lincoln and Lisa were able to destroy whatever was left of it, with their flamethrowers.

The next few moments for Lincoln went by in slow motion. Lisa came in with a fire extinguisher to put out the flames so the house didn't burn down. He could see Lynn in the corner, screaming in pain, as she was holding her arm. Her arm was torn apart, it was dripping blood, and strands of muscle tissue and skin hung down from it.

He looked back at the charred remains of the creature... and of Lana.

At first what Lincoln felt, was great sorrow, he just saw someone he cares about, someone he loves, die horrifically. As tears fell from his eyes to the floor, he started to get a new feeling; this feeling was something different than anything he had felt before. It burned him on the inside; it felt full of hatred and rage, it felt dark, it felt evil. Something in him was changing.                      

Yep, things do change, and not just the shapeshifting alien.