Hello, Exotos here. Before we begin with the review responses, I'd like to mention that at the very end of this chapter, there will be a message written by A Hopeful Observer, and I hope you read it and understand.

Now, to the reviews:

1) Nobody245: Welp, time for questions to come flying, buddy!

2) GennaiArakida-XIV:

* YOU BET IT HAS!

* Calliope? She's a real person... she just isn't around anymore.

* Trust me, Haiku will give Lynn a piece of her mind if needed.

* Summoning device? Close, but no cigar.

* And it'll just get scarier down the line. HAHAHAHA!

*Yeah, poor girl.

3) Finnjr63: More interesting stuff coming up!

4) ChernoMan:

* Yeah, let's see how badly things muck up.

*She's a ticked off girl. Ticked off people don't think about what they say.

5) animehero1000:

* Penelope and Clyde have a special relationship, being "spouses" in a sense, with Clyde being the passive Father and Penelope the frustrated Mother, so no, the interaction they had is exclusive to each other.

* Questions will be given. Answers? I dunno about that.

6) LoudAutomata16: I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! I hope you enjoy the ride, 'cause this is gonna last for a long time.

7) Observant Guest:

* Penelope as a Well Intentioned Extremist? Sounds spot-on to me. And yeah, if any characters in the fic has common sense, knows what Lincoln did, and hasn't been brainwashed to worship his divine dong or whatever, don't expect them to think highly of him.

*Proto-Lucy's really more of a set up for the future. How so? Read to find out.

*As for the birthmark question, I wanna point out that I find it funny how you mentioned Liam, Hattie, Zach, and Renee, since they didn't even appear in the chapter:

** Liam, paw, on his arm.

** Hattie, square, on her chin.

** Zach, flower, on his left cheek.

** Renee, skull, on her left palm.

** Papa Wheelie, Flat Tire, and Rusty Spokes all have a fist birthmark, the Lynn caste symbol, and it's located in the navel, right eye, and back hand respectively.

** Rocky, a skull, on his chest.

8) Hatoralo: Read A Hopeful Observer's message, buddy.

And now, to the chapter proper!

Episode 11: A Helping Hand, and a Healthy Beating?! Proto-Lola's Advice and Proto-Lucy's Proposition!

The Poetry Club...

Mere moments after the summoning happened, the events were felt from two particular places. The first was the poetry club, where Haiku gasped and took a look at her surroundings worriedly. This caught Polly and Tabby's attention, who were sitting on the show stage, playing their instruments for practice.

"Haiku, what is it?" Tabby asked as she and Polly paused and walked closer to the scared girl, "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, something's wrong, Tabby, something's horribly wrong!" Haiku answered, clutching her stomach and shivering. "A being... no, a thing beyond this world was just summoned. And it just had to be done in a way that can only end in misery for the summoner!"

"Something got summoned? You really buy into that garbage?" Polly asked, folding her arms as she asked, "I mean, even if bringing some monster from heck was possible, where is it even coming from?"

Haiku thought about it clearly, so as to not make a mistake, and she immediately managed to notice that the being's signal came from one place: The Loud House. And this wouldn't be so bad if she hadn't had a phone call with Lynn earlier about the summoning, giving her an idea of why that was the case.

"Polly, I'll explain along the way, but we need to head to the Loud house right now!" Haiku told the roller skater, walking closer to her before getting on her back. "Do you have the energy to go straight to the house?"

"Why do you even bother getting on my back before letting me answer? I can always just say no, you know?" Polly growled, with Haiku silently mimicking Polly's mouth in a mocking way as she added, "Besides, how do you expect me to take you to a place I've never been to before?"

"I'll guide you to the house, okay!?" Haiku yelled at the top of her lungs, before raising her arm. "And the longer we stay here arguing over pointless things, the less time we'll have to prevent something dangerous from happening, so let's go!"

Haiku slapped one of Polly's butt cheeks, and the girl neighed like a horse before making her birthmark glow, allowing her to use her super speed, which she used to zoom out of the club in an instant. This left a line of a burning trail, and a worried Tabby behind.

"Geez, she didn't even ask for my opinion on the matter," Tabby remarked as she walked to the fire extinguisher. "I hate when she does that."

Then, with Mr. and Mrs. Loud...

Rita looked around the building, while her companions-Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Shrinivas, Mrs. DiMartino-and her husband remained on their seats, though at least Shrinivas looked up for a brief moment.

"Did anybody else feel that?" Rita asked, turning to her business partners as she added, "Please tell me I wasn't the only one who felt that."

"Well, what are you talking about exactly, honey?" Lynn Sr. asked, forming a nervous smile. "What did you feel?"

"It felt like something was summoned. You know, like someone arrived after being sent a summons order, but in a more supernatural sort of way," Rita explained, scratching her head as she thought about it a bit more. "And for some reason, I felt like it was of the progenitor known as Gremory, too-"

"If that's the case, then why even ask us if we felt it?" Mrs. DiMartino sternly pointed out, raising an eyebrow and folding her arms as she scoffed, "Did you seriously forgot that, as far as we know, you're the only one of Gremory's caste in the organization?"

To prove her point, DiMartino, Shrinivas, Johnson, and Lynn Sr. revealed their birthmarks, located in the chest, forehead, under the right eye and left ear, respectively. This caused DiMartino to add:

"I mean I'm from Samael's caste, Shrinivas' from one of the traitor's caste, and Agnes and your husband's from Zagan's caste, did you seriously think any of us would feel your progenitor being summoned?"

And then Mrs. Johnson realized something. "Didn't we leave Pacowski in the room built to detect a progenitor's summoning?"

Suddenly, the alarms blared a hot pink color, followed by a grey color, rinse and repeat, and DiMartino threw an angry look at Johnson before the team headed to the room the redheaded woman just mentioned.

Once there, the first thing they saw Pacowski standing in front of ten monitors, with the ones with a diamond and a skull symbol on their screen being the only ones blaring.

"Warning, Progenitor Gremory and Vine have been summoned." the alarm voice, which sounded oddly feminine and... nasally, stated in a robotic tone. "Repeat, Progenitor Gremory and Vine have been summoned."

"Did the system detect it just now?" Mrs. Johnson asked as she went to Pacowski's side.

"Yes, I was just sitting here, checking the monitors around the building, and then out of nowhere, the they lit up and I sounded the alarms right away!" Pacowski answered before showing the information to the team. "And according to the sources, the summoning of Gremory happened at the Sweetwater Mansion and the summoning of Vine happened... at Rita and Lynn's house."

"Our house?!" Lynn Sr. exclaimed, walking forward and checking the information on the screen. "But how could that happen?! The only way for that to be possible is if somebody there found the Ars Loudia-!"

Everybody flinched and immediately got an idea that put all eyes on Rita.

"Look, I know that it was my job to be vigilant for any copies of the Ars Loudia, precisely so this didn't happen, so I can see why you would blame me for the summoning," Rita stated, looking around the room worried. "However, I made sure I didn't miss any of the books. Trust me, I made sure to not leave any Ars Loudia in any nook or cranny in the house, honest!"

"I'm afraid she's telling the truth."

Everybody looked up to see part of the ceiling opening, allowing the monitor from before to come out, then turn on before saying, "The internal scans of the house reveal no physical copies of the Ars Loudia exist."

"See? I didn't mess up this time!" Rita proudly stated.

"However, this doesn't really explain how the summoning could even happen then," Mrs. Shrinivas stated.

"Vine planned for it."

Everyone looked around for the source of the voice, until they noticed a man was suddenly right next to Pacowski, his elbows on the desk as he watched the blaring screens, arms folded. The man was very skinny, almost malnourished in a way, with messy blonde hair, and eyes with black sclera and tiny, pink pupils.

"She's known as the progenitor of literature for one thing. She has the power of writing, memorizing, and creating any and all literature in the universe, and she doesn't even need to be in a physical plane to do it."

Rita and Lynn Sr.'s eyes slowly grew wider as the man continued his explanation:

"Wherever she is, whenever she wants, if she desires to write a poem, a magazine... an Ars Loudia copy, she can do it, and unless we develop a way to cancel her ability to write in an extradimensional, non-linear manner, there's nothing we can do about it, but hope for the best."

"Please pardon him, he can't help but tell his stories once in a while, prompted or otherwise," the computer said before "moving" closer to the man. "And if you're wondering who he is, this is Greg, the organization's janitor. Say hi, Greg."

The man remained silent.

"Well, hi to you too," Rita sternly "greeted" in return, before focusing on the computer. "So, which summoning are we supposed to deal with? Vine's or Gremory's?"

The computer turned to Mrs. DiMartino and ordered, "Mrs. DiMartino, as part of the Luna caste, you have the ability to channel your energy into your voice, which is capable of propelling people from one location to another with great precision. With that in mind, please prepare your voice to send the Louds straight back into their house."

DiMartino threw a smug look at the Loud parents. Mostly Rita. "Ohoho, trust me, I'm gonna make sure I'm fully prepared to do this."

"As for you, Mr. and Mrs. Loud, you should get prepared for departure. A shuttle will be provded for your departure, since it has been proven that the rate of survival of a normal, non-enhanced human to survive travel through such intense screaming, is 1 to 10."

"Wait, you're sending us straight back to our house?!" Rita snapped. "We're not even going to discuss this?!"

The lanky Greg turned his chair around and, with a stern look, growled, "Mrs. Loud, your own children are in grave danger, and as a mother, you should know that whenever your children are in danger, your first instinct should be to go try and protect them, provided you have the ability to do so."

Greg narrowed his eyes. "And from what I can see, there's nothing stopping you from going to their aid."

Everybody turned back to the Loud parents as the computer stated:

"It has been decided, then. Mr. and Mrs. Loud. Prepare yourself to embark right back to your house. You already know where your suits are, and if you try to change anybody's mind about this, an appropriate punishment will be delivered to you right away. So don't keep anybody waiting."

And right back at the Loud house...

Lucy and Lynn stood their ground as Proto-Lucy landed on the ground and dusted herself, sporting the same smug smile she had on her face during the beating she and her sisters gave to the Loud sisters. Not only that, but for some reason, she felt... casual, almost as if she wasn't particularly impressed or surprised that she was summoned.

What was surprising, though, were the pets barging into the room and barking, hissing, and throwing angry noises at the prototype. All Proto-Lucy had to do to get rid of them was flash a sadistic smirk, and the animals ran away as fast as they could, tails tucked between their cheeks.

"So, we meet again, Ariel and Camael," Proto-Lucy remarked as she stepped out of the symbol, and looked back at the duo. "But you do realize I have to ask why you even summoned me in the first place? I mean, the last time you met my siblings was so recent, shouldn't you be making sure you don't meet them ever again?"

"Don't think you can act smug right now, Not-Lucy!" Lynn snapped, giving the lookalike the pointer finger. "We summoned you, and by ritual laws in the book, that means that you must obey us until the contract expires. You take orders from us!"

"Quite the contrary, dear Camael; You may have summoned me, but that doesn't mean you can just boss me around. If you anger me too much, I'll make sure you see wish you had treated me with respect," Proto-Lucy chuckled. "Speaking of which, did you prepare your propitiation?"

Lynn tilted her head. "Propiti-what now?"

"An offering to appease a being of higher caliber like a god or something," Lucy answered, getting the athlete's attention. "Lynn, please tell me you have something to give her. Preferrably something that'll make her happy."

"And how am I supposed to know what sort of gifts will make that thing happy?!" Lynn snapped at the goth, pointing at the prototype poet as she added, "She may look like you, but we can't confidently believe that whatever makes you happy will make them happy!"

"Hey, want a hint? I don't like being summoned without knowing why I was summoned in the first place, and none of the other progenitors like this either," Proto-Lucy sternly growled, getting the duo's attention. "As for the gift, It's okay, you already have just the thing to appease me!"

"Wait, really?!" Lynn exclaimed, earning a simple nod from Proto-Lucy. "Oh man, that's a relief."

Lucy stepped forward and asked, "And what is that gift you mentioned?"

Proto-Lucy turned to look at Lucy. "My eyes."

Back at the Sweetwater Mansion...

Proto-Lola stretched for a moment while Leni and Carlota watched her, and Lindsey stood nearby, shivering a little as she immediately noticed how alike Proto-Lola was to... well, take a guess.

"So, this is the progenitor known as Gremory?" Lindsey thought, clutching her chest as she felt her heart start beating faster than usual. "But why does she look so much like Lola? And what can she even do to help me out?"

Suddenly, Proto-Lola turned to look at the redhead, and her calm, yet subtly angry facial expression pierced straight through Lindsey's emotional defenses.

Lindsey flinched for a brief moment before regaining her composure, hoping the interdimensional diva hadn't noticed. Not helping matters was Proto-Lola laughing like a member of royalty afterwards, then leaning closer to the redhead's face...

"You don't have to be afraid of my presence, darling," the proto-diva bluntly stated with a reassuring tone. "I may be an impossibly gorgeous angel, immaculate gift of beauty itself, and beacon of so many things I can't even be bothered to remember, but that doesn't mean I'm your enemy. If anything, you summoned me for a reason, and I'm willing to work with you as long as you provide said reason."

Then the prototype diva turned to look at Leni and Carlota. "But first, I need to ask who are the girls with you," Proto-Lola folded her arms and smiled. "After all, I haven't seen either of them in my life."

Proto-Lola threw a wink at Carlota, who only tilted her head and raised an eyebrow as Leni said:

"I'm Leni Loud, and this is one of my brother's friend's cousins, Carlota..."

Leni paused, then turned to the girl before nervously saying, "Casachica, right?"

Carlota gasped and slapped Leni as hard as she could, without potentially killing her. "How dare you!?"

"Please don't start fighting, I don't want to give Chandler the trouble of having to clean up your mess," Lindsey stated before turning back to Proto-Lola, who held back her laughter. "So, these two told me that you could give me advice of some sort."

"I can... for a price," Proto-Lola leaned closer and grabbed Lindsey's cheek. "In exchange for advice, I want to see your face. After all, I can sense you're from my caste, and in my caste, each members' beauty should always be on full display."

Lindsey slapped Proto-Lola's hand away, and it only took a small glare from the primordial diva to make Lindsey nervously explain herself, "I-I'm not exactly comfortable with revealing my face yet. The doctor was very clear that I must-"

"Well, your doctor was definitely not a professional," Proto-Lola shook her head in disappointment. "The Gremory caste' physical body has been made in such way that any and all disfigurement, that isn't outright losing limbs, can be healed in a matter of minutes to hours. I'm sure your face is perfectly fine."

Without letting the girl say anything, Proto-Lola grabbed the bandages, then seamlessly pulled all of them out, revealing Lindsey's current face to the trio. And though Leni gasped and Carlota flinched in shock, Proto-Lola... remained still, almost as if Lindsey's face had caught her off-guard. And why would this be the case?

Because Lindsey's face looked just like Lola's.

"I know, why does my face look so much like my most hated enemy's face? That's the first question anybody would ask," Lindsey guessed, earning no response from the prototype at all. "Thing is, I... don't really remember either. Maybe I was just angry at the fact I got tricked by Lola, maybe I wanted a reminder of the sort of person I could've become-"

Proto-Lola smiled, "Or, perhaps, you want to show Lola the person she could've been?"

Lindsey raised an eyebrow, prompting the proto-diva to explain, "Let's not mince words here: Lola's a jerk, and one of the worst kinds of jerks, the kind that do everything they can to achieve whatever goal or prize they have in mind, regardless of the value of said prize. And in Lola's case, the prizes she's always after... mean absolutely nothing."

"Look, I don't wanna act like I'm on Lola's side, but most beauty pageants give prizes in cash money and or objects that could be used or sold for equal value," Lindsey retorted, with Carlota and Leni exchanging worried looks as Proto-Lola raised an eyebrow. "With a family as big as hers, those prizes should mean something, right?"

"Not when said prizes are, like, lost very soon afterwards," Leni sorrowfully answered. "If she gets money, she either wastes it on frivolous stuff to make herself look glamorous, or if she gets objects, she just crams them into a house that's already in desperate need of more space."

"That does make me wonder; even if you only ever get second place, you still got some prizes, right?" Carlota asked, scratching her chin and putting a hand on her hip. "What did you do with them?"

Lindsey looked at the ground and clasped her hands, only to quickly look away the moment she looked like she was about to talk.

Leni and Carlota seemed a little worried, but Proto-Lola was more accepting, saying, "It's alright, sweetheart, I'd probably have to stop you anyway since there's one thing I need to ask."

Proto-Lola sternly scowled at Leni and Carlota, "Why was I summoned in the first place?"

Carlota gently jabbed Leni in the shoulder, almost as if she was asking her to explain. Leni, however, just shot an "are you serious?!" look at the shapely Latina before jabbing Carlota in return, though with some strength to her jab.

The girl returned the jab, and it eventually devolved into Leni and Carlota getting into a big ball of violence, where they started beating each other up while Lindsey and Proto-Lola watched, the former in confusion, the latter in disappointment.

"Typical fashionista; They get the most handsome, sexy bodies imaginable, but their brains practically get squished into the size of a peanut," Proto-Lola mused, folding her arms and shaking her head. "Never follow their example, Lindsey."

"Trust me, I won't," Lindsey turned to the prototype diva and explained, "I summoned you with the help of these two because they told me you could help me deal with Lola."

Upon hearing that, Proto-Lola's frown slowly turned into a smile and her look became a lot more devious, giving Lindsey a pretty good idea of what she was going to say next:

"Alright then, but under one condition..."

Back at the Loud house...

Lucy and Lynn stood in shock as they still tried to process what Proto-Lucy had said, all while the progenitor herself stood nearby, arms folded behind her back as she impatiently waited for the duo to return to reality. And when she realized they weren't coming back anytime soon, she snapped back to the world with a stern statement:

"Listen up, just because what I said might be hard to understand, doesn't mean you can just zone in front of me. I mean, you already wasted my time by summoning me, and wasting my time processing what I'm telling isn't gonna earn you my good side. So you better stop wasting my time before I shove you through a realm of nightmares!"

"Y-Your eyes?" Lucy asked, backing away until she was behind Lynn before asking, "W-What are you talking about?"

Proto-Lucy slowly flew down into the ground, only to partially phase through it before stating, "Oh, my sweet little Ariel..."

Then, she phased out of the ground behind Lynn and then slowly twisted her head all the way to the left to look at Lucy. "You're clearly too naive for your own sake."

Lynn and Lucy flinched and backed away from the primordial poet, with Lynn forming a pair of fists as Proto-Lucy turned her body all the way to the right, returning her head to It's "original" position.

"You know how people sometimes say, "They have your eyes" in response to how a baby looks? In your case, It's literal," Proto-Lucy walked towards Lynn and Lucy in a slow, menacing manner. "You see, you were born with no eyes, so Lincoln ripped mine right out of their sockets, and planted them right into your sockets, not knowing that by then my eyes were frozen in a perpetually traumatized state."

"Huh, guess we now know why your stare freaked out Mom and Dad so much," Lynn quipped, earning a look from both Lucy and her prototype counterpart. "What? I'm only trying to lift the mood."

One second of silence later, Proto-Lucy literally slapped Lynn so hard, she crashed through the walls of the house, and finally crashed through Mr. Grouse's house, right into the living room where she fell unconscious soon afterwards. And as Proto-Lucy watched the resulting shapes on the broken wall, a portal opened close to Lucy, and from there came out a pair of arms similar to Carol's.

"Alright, now that Camael's dealt with," Proto-Lucy turned back to her "daughter". "How about we-"

However, by the time she fully turned around, Lucy was nowhere to be seen, with the portal the arms came out of closing soon afterwards. Not that this stopped Proto-Lucy from simply chuckling and following the duo... by phasing through the floors until she landed at the basement.

Once there, she silently saw as Carol snapped at Lucy, shouting, "Why the heck is your counterpart here?!"

Too startled to think of anything, Lucy twiddled her fingers and confessed, "I-I summoned her-"

"Why would you do that!?" Carol grabbed Lucy by the neck of her shirt and pulled her up. "Did you seriously think you could mess with someone like her after the beating she and her sisters gave to you and your sisters?! One wrong move, and she'll turn this place into a slaughterhouse!"

"Now there, you're kind of making stuff up," Proto-Lucy spoke, getting everybody's attention. "Now, if I had Lynn by my side, we could easily turn this place into a slaughter house. However, without her, I'd probably turn this place into a morgue instead."

Carol dropped Lucy and promptly created a portal right above Proto-Lucy, while the prototype just watched with curiosity as Carol moved the portal down, then suddenly closed it, slicing the proto-goth in half. However, just as she got ready to make another portal, an arm seemingly made of darkness "burst" from the ground and pinned Carol to the wall, making sure to use it's "fingers" to trap her arms as well.

With that done, Lucy slowly turned back to look at the remainings of Proto-Lucy, the upper half laughing to herself as black... things came out of the lower half and connected themselves to the upper half. They then pulled both halves together, and one spin later, Proto-Lucy was right back to normal as if nothing had happened.

"Oh Carol, of all the times you could show your Leni side, why did you choose to do it now? You're not making yourself look any cooler to my daughter here," Proto-Lucy shook her head in disappointment. "And besides, It's quite rude that you decide to take away Ariel just as I was starting to talk with her."

Proto-Lucy folded her arms and sternly stated, "This a matter of mother and bastard child, so if you wish to live, I suggest you stay out of this."

Carol could only growl as the hands restraining her held her tighter, just in case she tried anything funny. Then the progenitor walked towards Lucy, who fell to the ground and could only crawl back until she hit a wall, wherein she was easily cornered by her counterpart, who leaned closer to her and said...

"How about we make a deal?"

Naturally, Lucy was confused, so her counterpart explained thus:

"I know you may think I'm a lunatic madwoman who wants nothing more than to shower you with despair and fear, but I can be reasoned with. Besides, being my daughter, I can't just treat you like any other summoner I ever met."

By the end of the sentence, Proto-Lucy sternly thought, "Although, admittedly, I had to be convinced to do this in the first place."

A long time ago...

"Look, I didn't agree to summon you just to be insulted, you know?" Margo growled, a stern look on her face as Proto-Lucy raised an eyebrow. "I'm here to give you a suggestion."

The prototype poet thought about the proposition for a moment, then nodded and sat down. "Very well, what's this mysterious proposition you wanna make?"

Margo sat down and explained, "I understand that, as a higher being of unfathomable powers, mindset, and goals, that it may be pointless to try and argue with you, but I still think it would benefit you if you gave my idea a little bit of thought."

"I'm fairly certain that I need to know what this idea even is to consider it," Proto-Lucy folded her arms. "Tell me this idea already before I rip off your eyes and add them to my collection!"

"See? That's a big problem with all of you; One sentence later, and I can clearly see that the impression you give is that you're impatient and, most importantly, unreasonable," Margo added, getting the prototype to tilt her head in curiosity. "I mean, the only time people are ever going to summon you is if they're desperate and out of options."

"But that's how It's always been," Proto-Lucy raised her arms. "Nobody ever summons us as their first option! It's only when the summoner's at their very lowest and desperate that we're summoned into this world!"

"Still, don't you think it would make business a lot smoother if you tried to be reasonable?" the tomboy shrugged. "Like, rather than going straight into gouging eyes out, how about you give them a deal? Maybe you could have them do something for you in exchange for keeping their eyes?"

"But my collection could always use a little extra pair of eyes!" Proto-Lucy whined, slamming her fists into the ground. "What if the summoner has a pair of pretty cute eyes, and I want them, but then they manage to fulfill the deal we made, allowing them to keep said eyes?!"

"Like I said I'm just giving you a suggestion and I'm not saying that's how you should do things from now on," Margo got up and dusted herself. "I'm just saying that, It's easier to manipulate people for your own ends if they think they can trust you."

Margo smirked. "Specially if they haven't met you in person before."

Proto-Lucy remained frozen for a moment, then slowly smiled like a maniac before stating, with pure malice, "...I'm listening."

Back in the present...

"To think I'd actually ever find some use for that brat's advice, life truly is filled with mysteries," Proto-Lucy shook her head, then stated. "Alright, Ariel, listen up, 'cause I'm only going to say this once!"

The formerly shivering poet suddenly stopped, and turned to look at her counterpart. Just what the heck did she want this time?

"Listen, I've thought about this and, being your mother, treating you like I do everybody else just isn't fair," Proto-Lucy slowly walked forward to the Gothic poet. "After all, you may be the living proof of your father's cruelty and a complete mockery of everything I stood for."

The prototype crouched down and grabbed Lucy's cheek, with the poet flinching and starting to shiver once more as her "mother" stated:

"But I'm proud of your existence nonetheless."

Proto-Lucy reached for and touched Lucy's stomach.

"And I'll be even more proud of you, once you become a mother yourself," the prototype chuckled and grabbed Lucy's belly tighter. "And that will happen sooner than you think, my darling."

Lucy snapped and tried to free herself from the progenitor's grasp, but it was fruitless. "W-W-What makes you think something like that could happen?! How do I know you're not just saying that to freak me out!?"

The prototype's answer was blunt: "Time for us progenitors is but a screen: Instead of living through it, we see through it all the time of a universe."

And what she said next sent shivers down Lucy's spine:

"Which includes, the present, the past, and the future. And nothing, ever, is missed by our keen eyes."

Proto-Lucy backed away. "But let's get to the good stuff: I'll let you keep your eyes, but only if you manage to find me a pair of eyes I can take instead. The type of eyes don't matter...for the most part, whether they're from a girl or a guy, old or brand new, just find me a pair of eyes I can take instead of yours. I'll send one of my servants to go pick up the eyes you've gotten in about three weeks, so you got plenty of time to goof around like the little bastard you are."

Suddenly, the prototype grabbed Lucy by the neck of her shirt and pulled her towards her.

"But listen clearly, you little freak of nature! If the pair of eyes you give me are crystal eyes, or some other type of fake eyes, then I'll make sure to shove those same eyes down on your sockets, after I take mine back!" Proto-Lucy snapped at the top of her lungs. "Have I been clear?!"

Lucy shook her head violently, and Proto-Lucy then whispered, "And, just to let you know; I only considered being reasonable with you by a certain Margo's request."

"M-Margo?" the poet stuttered. "You mean, like one of Lynn's friends?"

Proto-Lucy nodded before she further explained with a smug tone. "If it hadn't been for her, you'd be blind by now. You should better get ready to thank her next time you see her, because trust me, your life will depend on it."

With that said, Proto-Lucy charged a grey energy blast and then shot it, only for the blast to blow up and transform into a portal. She then dropped Lucy on the ground and left through said portal, which vanished from existence soon afterwards, followed by the shadow arms restraining Carol.

"Even at her weakest, I'm still no match for her shadow powers it seems," Carol remarked as she stretched, before running to Lucy's aid. "Lucy, are you okay?!"

"Yeah, I guess so..." the gothic poet stood up and hesitantly dusted herself. "Sigh. But, I'm not sure if I'll be able to fulfill the deal. And there's also what the others might think about what I did, which I didn't think about until now!"

"And you won't think about it either," Carol stated, getting Lucy's attention. "Nobody needs to know about what happened here, not right away anyhow. Just, take some time to think about what you'll say when everybody inevitably finds out what happened. Until then, you must stay calm and-"

Suddenly, the duo heard a crashing sound.

"What was that?" Lucy asked.

The pair exchanged worried looks and then promptly bolted upstairs. However, just as they were going to go to see where the crashing sound came from, Haiku and Polly barged through the door and stopped right before she crashed with Lucy, closely followed by Lincoln and the twins coming in afterwards. Needless to say, this left both Lucy and Carol stunned, the Goth having it worse than the teenager.

And then, back at the Sweetwater Mansion...

Lindsey and Proto-Lola sat on the former's bed as the latter maintained a holographic map of sorts, which Leni and Carlota, both with notable bruises on their bodies, watched the map intently.

"And once the pageant begins, It'll be up to Carlota to act as a bouncer, while you act as a judge and Leni here acts in the background," Proto-Lola explained, with Leni and Carlota nodding in agreement while Lindsey tried to bandage her face back to normal. "Then, It'll only be a matter of time before Jophiel shows the cruel side she inherited from her father, and I'll make sure to punish her dearly for it."

"Is this "father" she's talking about the one the brute daughter's named after?" Carlota whispered to Leni, who just threw an "Are you for real?" look at her. "'Cause I've seen that guy before, and he doesn't seem to be that bad."

"Do yourself a favor and, like, just go with it," Leni replied with an exasperated sigh. "When it comes to divine family trees, they're so tangled, people go mad trying to make sense out of them."

"And that's basically all the plan is about," Proto-Lola extended her hand towards Lindsey. "We both share a common goal, and you seem to have promise, so if you don't want to convince me that you're a waste of time, accept the deal."

Lindsey glanced at the offering, then stated:

"Under one condition."

"Ugh, typical Lola caste, asking for too much before they even lift a finger," Proto-Lola growled in annoyance. "Fair enough, what's this condition?"

Lindsey narrowed her eyes.

-Next Chapter Preview-

"Hi everyone, Lola here!"

Haiku spoke with Lincoln, before Polly Pain grabbed Haiku and dragged her out.

"Yay! After several days, he beauty pageant's finally here!"

The scene changed to show the Loud family, minus Lisa and Lily, walking towards the building the beauty pageant would take place at. Lola spoke about it, while her exhausted siblings stood nearby.

"I can't wait to give this thing a shot! And best of all, a certain brat's nowhere to be seen!"

The siblings walked inside, and two scenes were shown: Lincoln meeting with Ronnie Anne at the front seat, and Luna and Lynn meeting up with Sam, Polly Pain, and Tabby.

"W-Wait a minute... is that... Lindsey Sweetwater?!"

Lola and Lincoln crashed close to a reporter lady, who crouched down and tried to interview them afterwards.

"Next time, on Chains of Reality: Divinity Reborn..."

Up next was Lincoln meeting with the Biker trio, with one of them pointing at a certain redheaded, bandaged girl.

"The Beauty Pageant Finally Begins! The Unexpected Return of the Eternal Rival!"

Lindsey and Lola shared some words with each other before Lola went backstage with Lana, who she shared some words with.

"Don't miss it!"

Finally, Proto-Lola was shown watching something from afar, before she turned around and folded her arms.

Hi everyone I am A Hopeful Observer, Exotos partner in writing this fic. I don't plan on doing this very often, but I do wanna make some things clear going forward. Like Exotos said this story is gonna be on the longer side and that means we can't go revealing secrets right now. Fact is the story is updated on a weekly basis, so revealing too much now kills the intrigue and ruins the flow of the story. Don't worry though you will start getting answers before the halfway point. I can't tell you how many chapters the story will end up being, but in terms of plot progression we will be around 20% done when the P Lola arc closes out.

Another thing, we do appreciate the reviews you post for this story. Believe it or not we do read and use them to better write this story. Heck one of you made a good point on where Exotos excels at writing and we are definitely taking it to heart. Still, you gotta remember that your ideas and suggestions are not necessarily gonna make it into the story overnight, but if it helps they will start to show themselves as we get deeper into the story. Hope you all continue reading this story and be sure to tell your friends XD

P.S. For those of you who feel the story has a major plot hole involving the abilities of the Loud kids and the citizens of Royal Woods, I recommend reading the Caste Examination story. There is a hint that addresses this supposed inconsistency. If you figure it out please don't post anything in reviews, the main story will bring it to light soon enough.