Infinity Train: Star Finder is a The Loud House and Infinity Train crossover fanfic written by DoughB101.
This story accompanies Stella Zhau who ended up boarding the train after a fight with the Loud Sisters, while she was enjoying her day in arcade after her mother went into a trip. Once inside the train, she ends up allying with a denizen called Starlow to exit this place and return home.
The original version and its side-stories were deleted, with the author announcing a complete rewrite.
Star Finder contains examples of:
Original version
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Stella appeared on Season 3 from the original show. Here, she appear on the equivalent of Season 1/2 in this AU.
- Adaptational Jerkass: More than half the original cast from The Loud House are apathetic, judgemental and condescending versions of themselves.
- Adaptational Mundanity: Zigzagged. Royal Woods lacks the supernatural elements that was later implemented on later season, being shown to be a generic small town. However, elements from other worlds affect Royal Woods, such as multiversal teleportation, weird crystals, and the titular train.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: On the other hand, some characters from The Loud House are more considerate and affable in this fanfic due to either reforming themselves or just being exceptions.
- Adaptation Distillation: The events of the show didn't happen here, with nothing exciting happening on the Louds' lives, thus meaning they are just a normal but dysfunctional family.
- Adaptation Expansion: Stella's life is shown more here. Her parents occasionally travels around the state, leaving her with her grandma.
- Adapted Out: Lily Loud is completely absent from this fanfic.
- Age Lift:
- Downplayed. Stella is 13 years old here. She was 12 years old (11 years old before Season 5) on the original show.
- Played With in relation to the Loud Children. All of them (except Lori, who is still 17 years old) are one year older than their canon selves — which is their age after Season 4 — but the AU is set during an alternate Season 1/2, making this an early age-up.
- Alternate Universe Fic: The Royal Woods' side of the story doesn't follow the show's continuity and lore. The author did this to put his own ideas and takes on the characters from the show.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: It's mentioned that some citizens from Vermilion City celebrated Chloe's death due to the chaos that she caused with the Unown.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Defied. Lincoln and Luna were ready to doubt Liberty's claims that she was on an interdimentional train, but they remember that Lisa can do equally weird stuff.
- Ascended Extra: Stella Zhau was merely a supporting character in canon. Here, she becomes the protagonist of the story.
- Breaking Old Trends: Usually in the Blossomverse, the events in the Pokémon World occur during the story and is the main focus of it. Here, the events occur before the main story, mostly serving to tell the origins of a character (Such as Goh) or to receive a minor focus (Such as Sara).
- Broad Strokes: The events of Blossoming Trail still happened in this verse but with different details. The difference is that Chloe didn't board the train and wielded the Unown instead of her younger brother Parker, Ash didn't develop his Guilt Complex, and Serena replaced Trip's presence but not his role (she isn't a former passenger).
- Canon Welding: Subverted. The events of Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail still happened on this continuity, but with many changes and into a Broad Strokes fashion. Chloe became the Unown wielder and boarded the train after the mess she caused, but she kicked the bucket during a mission with her partner Kirby.
- Central Theme: There is a question about moving on this verse, from burying your past to tying loose ends, and when your past comes back to haunt you.
- Darker and Edgier: In comparison for the original show, the fanfic is more cynical in tone, with the characters being more jaded, less cheerful and having personal issues. The dark themes is right from the start such as Stella's implied backstory, Lincoln being emotionally drained and people being disdainful towards the Louds.
- A Day in the Limelight: Occasionaly there are one-shots focused on secondary characters, serving to explain the origins or how they relate to the story.
- Deadpan Snarker: In comparison to her canon self, this Stella loves to occasionally make sarcastic quips.
- Death by Adaptation: Chloe is still alive in most stories from the Blossomverse. In this fanfic, she died two months prior to the story while on a mission with Kirby to get the Kingdom Key D.
- Deconstruction Fic: Like many stories from the Blossomverse, this story isn't afraid to deconstruct some elements from the show, this time being The Loud House, showing what will happen if some elements from the show was applied to the consequemces of real life and how it would affect them in this AU:
- Lincoln is jaded and emotionally exhausted due to the fact that he is the sole boy in a family of chaotic girls, along with the fact that his sisters never learn their lesson and cause problems around Royal Woods, making him stop caring about his family. He is also shown to have a strained mental health, his optimism long since broken and being more isolated than his canon self.
- The chaotic dynamics from the family won't lead to a happy family, it instead lead to a dysfunctional one, with none of the sisters (with some exceptions) going along well with each other due to their different personalities. Along with this, this made them be a very loathed family in Royal Woods, as shown with Cynthia.
- Demoted to Extra: Lincoln is no longer the protagonist, with this role being given to Stella. Downplayed, since he still has a big role in this story.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Rusty once tried to flirt with Stella, so she decided to toss him in a trash can, but she was suspended from school when she did this. Lampshaded by her mother when she says that tossing him in a trash can was a "disproportionate action".
- Dramedy: While the story is Darker and Edgier than the original show since the issues and the stakes against the characters are played seriously, there are also unusual moments and occasional snark from the characters to serve as a source of humor. This makes this crossover look less like a Blossomverse and The Loud House story in terms of tone but more like a Disney+ cartoon, mixing drama and comedy with a plot-driven narrative.
- Easing into the Adventure: The prologue basically serves to show what Stella likes to do in the city of Royal Woods: going to Gus Games & Grub to play on the arcade machines before returning home. However, she ended up befriending a girl called Cynthia who introduces her to Jordan, and the Loud Family arrives at the arcade. The last straw is when Stella is knocked unconscious by Lori and decides to go home after she wakes up, making the titular train appear to her.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to most stories from the Blossomverse, the fanfic lacks the Blame Game, hunger for carthasis and suffering that it's known for, with the fanfic focusing instead on relationships and antics from the characters despite the cynicism on the atmosphere.
- Mineral Macguffin: There is crystallized shards of Chloe's soul around the multiverse, with only two remaining to complete the soul. Lucy is in possession of one of the shards.
- The Multiverse: Besides Royal Woods and the Infinity Train, there are other worlds in this verse based in other media. The Pokémon World is featured into flashbacks and events before the main story.
- Not a Morning Person: Stella usually wakes up at 12 PM, so her mother is surprised to see that she is awake earlier in the morning.
- Original Character: Liberty Leal was created by CookieGHD, serving as an iteration of Liberty Loud.
- Outside-Context Problem: Downplayed with the titular train. While the train is a completely unknown and out-of-place element in mundane worlds, it isn't really a completely strange subject for more fantastical worlds.
- Prequel: Not the story itself, but the events from the Pokémon world. The"Road of Wisteria" and "Cherry Grave" takes place before the main story. The former is about Goh before he entered the train and the latter is abour Sara visiting Chloe's grave before moving on to Alola.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After being knocked out by Lori, Stella decides to go back to her home after she wakes up, not even bothering to finish her pizza. Too bad that an interdimensional train appeared to her.
- Shout-Out: The portraits that Stella sees during the events of the "Field of Stars" is about two characters from another story from called Infinity Train: Wake Me Up, specifically about Fennel and Juniper, with the former being the protagonist from the mentioned fanfic.
- Spiritual Antithesis: To Crown of Thorns. Both stories are set into Alternate Universe Fic with a second media getting focus, but the way the elements are shown contrast each other.
- Crown of Thorns is still set into the Pokémon World, with the Miraculous Earth serving as the second focus. Star Finder is set into Royal Woods and the Pokémon world become the second focus instead.
- Crown of Thorns is set before Book 1 while Star Finder is set after Book 1, meaning that Stella's journey is more easy than Acerola's journey.
- Taught by Experience: Luna knows how to dodge every prank that Luan uses against her due to being her roommate. This is shown when she dodges a water balloon being tossed at her when she enters their bedroom, making it hit Lola instead.
- Title Drop: "Star Finders" is the name that Starlow chose for Stella's group.
- Ultimate Universe: While this story features some characters and the setting from The Loud House, there's still many changes to the characters such as their alignment, designs, personalities and relationships, and also featuring Original Characters to spice things up. The setting is also more serious and dark than the show (but not humorless) by allowing the characters to feel more jaded and pessimistic than their canon selves.
- Weird Crossover: A crossover between a Slice of Life cartoon (The Loud House) and a character-driven thriller for kids (Infinity Train) isn't the most usual one.
