Lincoln whistled as he left his room. Today, he planned to visit his friend Clyde at his house. Before he could go down the stairs, hands came out and pulled him into Lisa's room.
Lincoln sighed. "Let me guess, you guys want me to work the machine?"
"Well...Frankly, we got nothing better to do." Lori admitted.
Lynn Jr. nodded. "There's only so many times I can dribble my balls by myself, and none of my friends want to hang out."
Luna tuned her guitar. "Been suffering a dry spell, dude. Hopefully watching some alternate universe can give me some inspiration."
Luan thought for a moment before shrugging. "Can't think of a joke."
Lincoln checked the time. "Well, I guess I have some time to burn. Alright, new universe?"
Hearing the affirmatives, Lincoln punched in the keys, and the screen shifted to a new scene.
"...What is this?" An older version of Lincoln asked, one backpack strap over his shoulder. Other than his overbite not being as prominent, not much was different besides the uniform that clearly screaming 'catholic school.' Near his body, a textbox showed.
LINCOLN LOUD/TRANSFER STUDENT/SIXTEEN YEARS OLD
"And there goes any thought that might be a normal alternate universe." Lincoln remarked.
Lori nodded. "Yeah, it's really weird that the most normal one that we've gotten is that cooking universe-OH GOD, IT'S BACK!"
Luan looked at Lori weirdly. "What are you tal- I REMEMBER NOW?! GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD! I DON'T NEED IT!"
Desperately trying to think of something else and spare herself of the horror, Lynn Jr. looked at Lynn before stopping. "Luna, are you okay? Your nose is bleeding."
"Y-Yeah." Luna said as she hurriedly wiped her nose. "Still, worth the scarring."
In front of him, a well maintained school, clearly well funded, stood in front of him. Brown and Orange leaves flew around in the breeze, marking the changing of the season. It was very pretty.
ST. JOEL'S CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL/NORTHERN ONTARIO
"Huh, I'm Canadian in this one? That's new." Lincoln remarked.
"Quite a surprise, EH?" Luan grinned as she nudged Lincoln. A few seconds of silence passed.
Luan shriveled up. "Sorry, guys. Guess I could use some inspiration."
"Join the club." Luna said as she patted Luan's back in sympathy.
But what commanded Lincoln's attention were the three bad boys that stood in front of him, smirking and cracking their knuckles. One of them grinned evilly as he pointed his finger at Lincoln. "This is where you get your education."
Lincoln blinked. "Are you guys serious?"
The trio advanced.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!" Lincoln shouted, utterly frustrated as he dropped his backpack behind and put up his fist, ready to fight.
"LET'S GO!"
"Well, it was nice knowing you." Lynn Jr. commented.
"Oh, come on! That me could probably take them!" Lincoln protested.
"Lincoln, that Lincoln doesn't look physically capable, and also Canadian. No offense, but he's probably not going to win this." Luan said.
"Why do you guys always do this?" Lincoln lamented.
The clock ticked as Lincoln Loud, now sporting a few new bruises and a small black eye, waited in a chair for the principal to call him into his office. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees as he put his chin on his hands. How did he lose? His fighting techniques were flawless…
Well, at least he thought so.
"Well, I'm surprised. He managed to put up more of a fight than I thought." Lori whistled.
"See?" Lincoln leaned back. "I told you."
"MAN!" Lynn Jr. groused. "A fight happens and it's offscreen! Why didn't you invite for that showing with you being an apocalyptic martial artist who can cut people with his hands? That sounded cool!
Lincoln grimaced. "It wasn't that cool… Disturbing, really…"
"So...What are you in for?" Lincoln turned to look at the person that talked to him.
Sitting it in the chair next to him was a white teenage girl with black hair save for a streak of magenta to be on one of her bangs and shocking pink eyeliner. She was wearing a regular schoolgirl uniform, a white blouse underneath a sleeveless sweater and a skirt that went past just the of her fingers. She wore a ton of bracelets and wristbands and had on black socks with pink stripes on it, covered by sneakers.
"From British Governor's daughter to regular Canadian teenager." Luna rubbed her chin. "That has to be the weirdest transition I've ever heard of."
"I got into a fight." Lincoln grinned. "An awesome fight."
"Did you win?" The girl asked.
Lincoln's grin disappeared as he considered. Right below his head, a textbox showed up.
No.
Yes.
Lincoln sighed.
No.
Yes.
"Not really." Lincoln sighed as he looked away, missing the smile that the girl gave him.
"Well, at least you're honest." The girl said as a text box appeared right above her head.
TABBY MILLER WILL REMEMBER THAT.
"Okay, what are with these textboxes?" Lynn Jr. complained. "Do these guys even notice them, or do they just ignore them?"
"Or maybe they're just there for our benefit?" Luna guessed. "By the way, what do you think it means by 'Tabby Miller will remember that.'"
"Oh, she wants him." Lori smirked.
"LORI!" Lincoln leaned back, a little shocked.
"By the way, are you new?" The girl asked.
"Yeah." Lincoln responded.
Lisa grinned. "Me too. I'm Tabby."
"Lincoln Loud."
"How long have you been here?"
Lincoln thought for a moment. "About fifteen minutes."
Tabby whistled. "Only that long and you got beat up? You must totally be great. We should be friends?"
Lincoln quirked an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Uh-huh."
Lori blinked. "Wow, she works quick."
Luan smirked. "Guess she wants to make some sweet music with Lincoln."
Luna quirked her eyebrow. Now that she got past the shock of seeing Tabby in an alternate dimension, even she could see that Tabby was going pretty fast. Even when she met her, it took a few more meetings for Tabby to get comfortable around her. And come to think about it, was Tabby blushing?
Lincoln sat on a couch in the darkened basement, the only light coming from the turned on TV. His fingers were a blue as they manipulated the buttons on the game controller he was holding. On the TV, a black boxer was beating the stuffing out of a raptor.
"Geez, Lincoln, go outside some time. That can't be good for you." Lynn Jr. shook her head.
Luan nudged Lincoln. "You should be glad that Lisa isn't here, otherwise she would lecture you on the importance of your eyesight."
"Don't I know it." He responded.
"LINCOLN?!"
"WHAT?!" Lincoln shouted, his eyes not leaving the TV screen.
"VISITOR!"
"WHAT? WHATEVER!"
"He's down there. Go on in."
Lincoln shouted back up the stairs. "I DON'T EVEN KNOW ANYONE IN THIS TOWN!"
Tabby walked downstairs. "Hey!"
"What are you doing in my house?!" Lincoln asked, his eyes still glued to the TV and his video game.
"Wow, get your eyes off your video game and put them on your visitor." Lori shook her head in disapproval. "Pretty sure even I'm not that bad."
Luan, Luna, Lynn Jr., and Lincoln looked at Lori before looking back at the screen.
"By the way, who was that? That didn't sound like dad." Luna asked.
"Your brother let me in." Tabby replied as she sat down on the other couch.
Everyone blinked.
"I-WE HAVE A BROTHER IN THIS UNIVERSE?!"
Lincoln groaned. "This is ridiculous! No, we can't be friends!"
Tabby pointedly ignored that as she looked back at the game that Lincoln was playing. "Are you playing video games? And do you guys have lemonade?"
"YES! And No! We only have iced tea." Lincoln said, fingers furiously pushing buttons.
"Okay, I'll go ask your brother where the glasses are." Tabby said as she got up and made her way to the stairs. Just then she turned around to look at Lincoln. "By the way, what's your brother's name?"
"Lemy." Lincoln responded as his character dealt the finishing blow to his AI opponent. He finally looked up and narrowed his eyes, the effects of playing video games in a dark room showing themselves.
"Who are you?"
"Wow, rude." Luna remarked, feeling a little irked at the alternate Lincoln's disrespect.
"I know, but did you hear the other brother's name? Lemy? LEMY?" Lori just looked so utterly shocked that her parents, even in an alternate dimension, actually chose to name someone that.
"I KNOW! It makes him sound like that animal that jumps off the climb… What was that animal called again?" Lynn Jr. asked as she rubbed her chin.
"You're thinking of lemmings. And yeah, Lemy? There's tons of names that start with L, like Lane!" Luan declared.
"Luke!" Luna said.
"Loki." Lori added.
"Lynn III has a nice ring to it." Lynn grinned.
"Liam, oh wait, that's already taken." Lincoln realized before he went back to trying to think of another name.
Tabby and Lincoln were sitting at a table by themselves in the school cafeteria. They looked lost in their own world, as Tabby read a book while she munched on some fries that had what looked to be refried beans and melted cheese on top and Lincoln ate a sandwich next to her. As she swallowed what she was eating, she looked over at Lincoln and lifted up her book revealing the title to be 'A Catcher in the Rye'.
"Hey! Do you know this? Have you read this?"
Lincoln looked over, annoyed as he opened his mouth to take an another bite.
"What? No!"
Tabby looked over, setting her book down. "You know that English Class is next period, right?"
Lincoln petulantly shut his eyes as he chewed. "Shut up! Go away!" As he said this, an arrow appeared next to his head.
← Hates being bothered when eating
"As rude as this Lincoln is being, I totally agree with him. Lunch time is food time." Lynn Jr. nodded, as if having dispensed sage-like wisdom.
"Boy, she's really trying." Luan grimaced. "It's starting to come across as desperate."
"Yeah, no offense to her, but it's starting to be a little...weird." Lincoln admitted.
Lori nodded. "Yeah, I agree."
Tabby started to take another fry from her platter when she started to consider it. "Have you ever bought these Mexican fries? Isn't that, like… kinda racist or something?"
"Only if you make it so." Luna commented.
Lincoln swallowed as he thought about the question and shrugged. "I don't know. My mom packs my lunch."
Tabby smiled as she leaned back in her chair, picking up her book. "What a sweet, innocent boy you are."
Lincoln didn't respond as he continued eating his sandvich.
Lincoln felt the rest of his sisters look at him with a smirk. "...No comment."
Tabby sat against a tree in the front yard of the school as all the students passed her by, lost in their own conversations. The leaves had fallen to the ground, covering the group like newly laid carpet. Tabby picked up one of the leaves and turned it around in her hand, looking at it from all angles.
The squeal of the brakes and a distinctive odor made Tabby look up just in time to see the school bus park in front of the school and opened its doors. Students poured, and eventually one Lincoln Loud walked out of the bus. As he passed through the gates, he spotted Tabby sitting nearby.
"Hey." "Hey."
About ready to continue walking towards the school, Lincoln realized that Tabby hadn't gotten up yet.
Stay behind.
Keep on walking.
After waiting a couple of seconds, Lincoln sighed.
Stay behind.
Keep on walking.
Lincoln came over and sat down next to Tabby. He thought for a moment before realizing that he didn't have much to say. The two sat in silence before Tabby quietly averted her eyes away from Lincoln.
"Do you hate me?"
Lincoln stared at Tabby.
No
Yes
…
TABBY MILLER WILL REMEMBER THAT.
"...Aww." Lori said as she clutched her hands in front of her heart.
"That's so sweet." Luan smiled.
"That was so sugary, I think I got diabetes." Lynn Jr. admitted.
"You know, dudes." Luna said. "This is nice, just two normal people, just being normal. We should watch more universes like this."
"Who's Tabby Miller?" Lynn Loud asked as everyone dined at the dinner table. Well, almost everyone as Rita Loud keep shouting for Lemy to join everyone.
"Lincoln's new girlfriend." Lucy Loud replied just as Lincoln spewed his food back onto his plate to glare at his dad and sister.
"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!"
"Yap yap yap yap!" Charles went as he passed under the table.
"Lincoln, you have a girlfriend?" Lynn Loud grinned, a knowing glint in his eye. "Is she cute?"
"Yes, Lincoln…" Lucy smiled. "Please tell us about her."
"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Lincoln shouted harder, a bit of a blush on his cheeks.
Lynn Loud didn't stop smiling as he lifted his glass of water.
"Do you want her to be your girlfriend?"
"And alternate Lincoln likes her back. Can't wait to see this." Lori grinned, with Luna giving a thumbs up as well.
"They don't want you hanging out with girls? What are they, five?!" Tabby shook her head as Lincoln told her about his family. The two were hanging out after dark in an empty parking lot.
"I know, right?" Lincoln replied as he watched Tabby get ready to a trick on her skateboard.
"Huh, Tabby is skateboarding… Never thought I'd see that." Luna admitted.
He nodded as Tabby did a ollie and landed perfectly. "Nice."
He was then reminded of something else. "Hey, what's your family like?"
"I don't even want to talk about it."
Everyone looked at Luna.
"Alternate dimension. They're nice folks here." Luna admitted, though part of her still went out the alternate Tabby. Even though she didn't say much, what she did say didn't say great things.
"Harsh." He said as he watched Tabby jump off the skateboard after an aborted trick. As she grabbed the skateboard and walked back over to Lincoln, she looked like she was thinking about something. After a while, she looked at Lincoln.
"Hey, didn't you say that your mom has a guitar?"
"Looks like this Tabby is going to follow in your footsteps." Luan commented.
"Wait, is she gonna try to form a band with Lincoln?" Lynn Jr. quirked an eyebrow.
"Why is that a problem? Bro here can carry a beat." Luna said, defending her little brother.
"Yeah,you should totally see me and Clyde when we have a jam session!" Lincoln boasted.
The teacher looked at his papers as he considered what to do next. "Umm...New Kid, you're partnered up with Mollie, alright? Okay, everyone get into your groups and start brainstorming for your project."
Everyone got up and sat near their partners, the classroom immediately filling with chatter about the project or something else. Lincoln himself picked up his backpack and looked for the lone seat open to his partner. Finding it, he walked over and set the backpack on the ground, taking a look at his partner Mollie.
She was a teenage girl with dark brown hair that she had tied into a decently long ponytail. While she wore the school's uniform, she also wore a large grey hooded sweatshirt over the top. As Lincoln pulled out the chair, the girl turned to look at him, a deadpan look on her face.
"Wait, who is she?" Lori asked, unfamiliar with the new face.
"Oh, that's Mollie. Remember the whole Love guru thing?" Lincoln asked.
Luan grinned. "Oh, how could I forget? That thing fueled my routines for weeks."
Lincoln looked at Luan before turning back to everyone else. "Well, apparently Flat Tire asked her out to go to a cemetery. It didn't work out."
"...Okay, keep that guy away from Lucy." Lynn Jr. frowned.
"Hey…" She said.
"Hey." Lincoln greeted as he took a seat. "So what are we doing?"
Mollie shrugged. "Some stupid partner thing that you'll probably slack off on and leave me to do all the work."
Lincoln blinked and tried to make himself as small as possible as the sheer ire and malice coming from his sisters made it suddenly very uncomfortable to be in the small room as them.
Lincoln blinked.
Umm...Okay.
That's right, lackey. Now get to work.
Lincoln held out his hand. "Umm...Okay. Nice to meet you too. I'm Lincoln."
Mollie took his hand and shook it. "The pleasure's all mine."
All of the sisters nodded as the oppressive aura wore off. Lincoln resisted the urge to sigh in relief.
Lincoln and Tabby were sitting inside Lincoln's room, which looked like nearly every other boy's room, with posters on the walls and comic books on the nearby shelf. Lincoln was sitting on his bed while Tabby sat on a nearby chair, both facing each other as they fiddled with the instruments in their hands. Lincoln had a guitar and Tabby had a bass. Lincoln looked up, utterly confused.
"Why do you even want to start a band, anyway? I mean, obviously I suck at guitar."
Tabby looked up, her expression incredulous.
"Lincoln! If we had a band, we would be COOL. We would transcend our class status or whatever, and become automatically cool."
Luna frowned. That sort of attitude, especially coming from Tabby or at least an alternate version, absolutely rubbed her the wrong way. Forming a band and making music together, in her opinion, should be for fun or because you feel like you have something to say.
Forming a band just because you want to be popular is dumb, because she could still remember what the general public makes popular…
'Baby, Baby, oooooo…'
Luna shivered.
"Luna, you cold?" Lincoln asked.
"Nah, bro. Just remembered something…"
Lincoln looked at Tabby confused. "...Class status?"
Tabby shook her head before looking back at Lincoln. "You know how I'm not a goth and you're not a jock?"
"I… I'm such a jock!"
"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Lynn Jr. laughed out as soon as she heard that.
As she calmed down, she looked at Lincoln again. "PFT HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" At this point, she was slapping herself on the knee.
Finally, she calmed down, wiping a tear from her eye. "Best laugh I've ever had."
Tabby snickered for a bit. "Anyway, they have this thing… 'Lunchaplooza'. Everyone goes! We play there, we'll be FAMOUS! Besides, we own instruments, so might as well, right?"
Lincoln looked around before speaking up again. "What about… There's only two of us, right?"
Tabby put a finger on her lip, before nodding. "Drums would definitely help."
"Passion would help even more." Luna couldn't help but snipe.
"You suck at drawing, don't you?" Mollie asked as she observed Lincoln doing his best to draw a map of Russia for their project in the classroom with everyone else doing their own thing. Lincoln looked up, a little annoyed.
"Maps are hard! I could draw it really good if it was a sheep."
"A sheep…" Lincoln muttered, utterly crestfallen. "This guy could only draw a good sheep…"
Mollie quirked an eyebrow. "A sheep? Are you serious? Show me."
Lincoln nodded and took out a seperate piece of paper. Soon, he managed to draw out the roughest approximation of a sheep. Just as he started to work on the back, he paused for a moment, looking deep in thought before turning to Mollie.
"I forget, do sheep have curly tails, or is that pigs?"
"Lincoln, you okay?" Lori asked as Lincoln got up and headed towards Lisa's desk. Everyone jumped as Lincoln face planted into the wood.
A few moments passed before Lincoln returned to his seat. "I… I will be. Eventually."
Mollie looked at the drawing then at Lincoln before silently guffawing. "That's the worst sheep I've ever seen!"
Lincoln looked scandalized. "What are you talking about? This is such a good sheep!"
"Whatever." Mollie said as she went back to the map. Lincoln shrugged and joined her.
A few minutes passed working on the map, before Mollie looked up at Lincoln.
"Hey, you hang out with that girl Tabby all the time, right?" Mollie asked.
Lincoln wasn't sure how this related to the project. "I guess."
"Are you guys going out?"
Yes.
No.
The scene shifted before the Alternate Lincoln made his choice, and everyone booed.
"OH COME ON!" Lori shouted.
Lincoln and Tabby sat together in the school auditorium along with the rest of the school as they watched the school band play...pretty badly. It was like half of the people on the stage had a really long day and they just wanted to go home already. The same look was on the face of the conductor as he tried his best to make something out of the cacophony that was being produced.
Everyone cringed as they heard the noise.
"...You know, even though I know nothing about music, I'm pretty sure I could do better than that." Lynn Jr. commented.
"Pretty sure all of us could." Lori admitted.
All the while, Luan rubbed Luna's back as she vomited into the trash can.
The two friends did their best to bear through the noise when Lincoln noticed something. Picking through the noise, he did his best to listen to this person's playing before making a decision. He nudged Tabby, who turned to look at him.
"That girl," He said as he pointed towards the stage. "She's in my Geography class."
Tabby looked around before looking back at Lincoln and shot him an annoyed stare. "Dude, there's like a zillion girls up there! Gotta be specific."
"The girl on the drums."
Tabby looked back at Mollie, who was playing the drums, and frankly being the best musician of the whole bunch.
"She can totally play." Lincoln said, looking amazed.
Tabby nodded. "She's certainly hitting those drums with those sticks, yeah."
Luna couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Well, that's the greatest thing I've ever heard about a drummer."
Tabby took a second look at Mollie and considered her.
"Well, she could use some eyeliner though."
"...Okay then."
"Hey, Lincoln." Lincoln looked up from his locker, hearing something through the din of after school chatter. Looking to the direction of the voice, he saw Mollie and a black girl, though she looked vaguely familiar, walk towards him.
"Oh hi." Lincoln said as he checked back on his locker and nodded to himself that he got everything before looking back at Mollie and the other girl. "So, yeah. Presentation on Monday, right?"
Mollie gave a small smile. "Yeah, don't worry. We'll be fine."
Lincoln returned the smile as he closed his locker. "Cool. Yeah. Cool!"
Mollie seemed to remember something as she turned and gestured to the other girl. "Oh, this is Joy. Joy, Lincoln. We have geography together."
"Hi." She said deadpan.
As the two turned away, Mollie looked over her shoulder. "I'll see you on Monday, okay? Remember, first period!"
"Yeah! For sure!" Lincoln said, his smile still on his lips as he waved goodbye.
"...What was this scene for?" Lincoln couldn't help asking.
Luan nodded. "Yeah, I agree with Lincoln. What was the point of that?"
Lynn Jr. looked at both of them like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Didn't you hear her. 'I'll see you on Monday?' You might as well say 'Gee, I hope nothing happens to me!'"
Lincoln and Tabby sat underneath a tree, the leaves serving as their blanket. Both were dressed out of their uniforms and in their casual clothes and jackets, simply enjoying the peace and tranquility that nature provided. But Lincoln was leaning forward, deep in thought about something. Then he said something.
"I think I like her."
"...What?" "What?" "What?" "What?" "What?"
Tabby turned to face Lincoln. "What?"
"Mollie." Lincoln said as he slightly turned his head to the side.
Tabby turned fully, her face incredulous. "You like her LIKE HER? You barely even know her!"
Lincoln continued looking to the side. "Uhh… I mean like I'd like her to join her band."
"Oh, he's so full of it!"
Tabby relaxed. "Oh… Did you ask her yet?"
Lincoln looked back as he shook his head. "No, I'll ask her on Monday."
Lincoln blinked. "Well, that was a thing."
Luna took a deep breath, before letting it out. 'I'm fine. I'm fine.'
MONDAY
Lincoln whistled as he walked down the streets, not minding the dark clouds over the head. He checked his watch before nodding to himself. Still plenty of time to get to class and their presentation. He continued forward, towards the school…
Lincoln blinked. "Wait, didn't I take the bus? Why am I walking?"
Lori hmm'd. "Maybe you missed it."
Completely ignoring the unconscious male student that was laying on the ground to the side.
"Geez, Lincoln." Luna couldn't help commenting. "That's cold."
"I know." Lincoln grimaced. "I just ignored him? What if he needed help?"
The white haired teenager noticed that the doors to the school were left open. As he crossed the threshold, he blinked as he beheld the scene before him.
The school looked like a warzone, and his fellow male classmates were the casualties, groaning and writhing in pain on the floor. Lincoln blinked, unsure of what happened. Suddenly, the rush of sneakers against the floor could be heard as Tabby and Joy turned the corner and spotted him.
"LINCOLN! OH MY GOD!" She shouted as she ran over with Joy, stopping in front of him. "THE BENVIE TECH BOYS! OH MY GOD!"
"THEY CAME AND BEAT EVERYONE UP!" Joy cried out as she gestured to three guys on the ground.
"Wait, who are the Benvie Tech boys?" Lincoln asked.
"I would like to know that, dudes." Luna admitted.
"Urkkk…" One of them managed to get out of his throat. Another one tried to get up, only to collapse back to the ground.
"Wow…" Lincoln remarked, seeing the carnage around him. "Great day to miss the bus."
"...Is this guy serious?" Lynn Jr. couldn't help but ask.
"I think he is." Lori said, raising an eyebrow.
"Seriously, that's cold." Luan interjected.
"LINCOLN!" Tabby shouted. "THEY GOT MOLLIE!"
Everyone looked between each other, before looking back at the screen. "Why?!"
Lincoln gasped. "OUR PRESENTATION!"
Lincoln quickly doffed his backpack to the ground and turned to look at Tabby and Joy. "Don't worry, I'll get Mollie back!"
As he ran out of St. Joel's, he could hear Tabby shout at him. "KICK THEIR BUTTS, LINCOLN!"
"Umm...Shouldn't you call the police, or wait for some of your classmates to get up? Pretty sure that any group of people that can beat up your entire schoolboy population is going to require some back up!" Luna said.
Lynn Jr. remembered something. "Also, didn't this you lose in a fight against those three?"
"I can't watch!" Luan shouted as she covered her eyes.
BENVIE TECH H.S. - THE BENVIE BOYS TURF!
"WAIT, THEY'RE HIGH SCHOOLERS?! WHERE IS THEIR PRINCIPAL? THIS SCHOOL CAN'T BE THIS BAD THAT PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE PUNISHED FOR BEATING UP ANOTHER SCHOOL'S SCHOOLBOY POPULATION?!" Lori screamed.
"Where are the police? Pretty sure that this is serious enough for them to get involved…" Lincoln asked as well.
"CHANDLER!" Lincoln shouted as he punched a guy in the face, dropping him to the ground, not that he could be seen because of the crowd of punks and pissed off teenagers surrounding him. "I'M HERE! DON'T BE A B***H, B***H!"
"Like heck we wi-" The punk's words were stopped after a helping of knuckle sandwich. He was soon replaced by a dozen more.
"...Is this happening?" Lincoln asked, unsure of what he was seeing.
Lincoln ducked under a punch, before jumping up and kicking behind him, catching the guy in the back. As the guy went down, Lincoln kicked with his other leg, catching another guy on the chest. That guy fell down too.
As Lincoln landed, he crouched on the ground. A moment later, a punk tried to boot him in the face. Lincoln quickly turned, the boot ending up in another goon's groin.
Everyone in the immediate area immediately winced in sympathy as the guy tried out loud.
"He's surviving…" Lori breathed in disbelief.
Lincoln took advantage, punching the kicker hard in the chest and sending him flying into the crowd of Benvie Boys. Turning around, he grabbed the aching guy and started to hit other people with the body like it was a hammer. Blow by blow, Lincoln drove a group of the Boys back. Spotting the people to his back were starting to regroup, he chucked the guy at them.
He ducked under the boot of another, and struck the other knee, sending the guy flying up. Like a hammer striking a nail, Lincoln nailed him in the chest, sending him down to the ground. Turning around, another guy rushed at him with a flurry of fists. Blocking each punch with his forearms, he leaned to the side, letting one punch sail through the empty space. With one punch, the punk disappeared into the crowd.
"How?!" Lynn Jr. shouted. "He couldn't even take three people in a fight, now he practically soloing the whole school?!"
PUNCH! POW! KICK! BLAM!
No matter how many people knocked down, more people were coming.
Dodging another punch, Lincoln grabbed the guy's wrist and spun him around, sending him crashing into a nearby crowd. Turning around, he got punched in the gut. Gritting his teeth, he stamped on the guy's foot. As the guy screamed, Lincoln punched him in the gut.
Before he could breath, someone punched him in the face, making him stumble back. Collecting himself and feeling his back collide with two bodies, he quickly drove his elbows back, feeling them land against gut and forcing two people to lean forward. Lincoln brought his two fists, smashing them into their faces.
As the two guys fell back, someone kicked him forwards. His arms windmilled, trying to keep his balance, but to no avail. Falling forward, he tried to get up, only to get swarmed by all the Benvie Boys still standing. They dogpiled him, getting a few sicker punches in the process. The pile got bigger and bigger, more and more people joining.
Everyone gasped, sitting a bit closer to the edge, hoping that alternate Lincoln would make it out okay.
"WE GOT HIM!" One of them shouted. Then… the pile began to move.
"RAHHH!" Lincoln uppercutted the whole group, sending everyone flying.
"...He soloed the entire school." Lincoln gasped.
"Well, at least it's getting interesting now." Lynn Jr. admitted.
His shoulders slumped, he took a couple of deep breaths to get his heart rate down. His eyes looked around, trying to find someone that looked conscious enough for him to question. Spotting one such person, he walked over and grabbed the person by the shirt, making the guy look a little green. Lifting the person up, he frowned.
"WHERE'S CHANDLER?!"
The punk shivered. "Urk… He's on the roof… URP!"
He barfed, making Lincoln let go and grimace.
"Oh come on, he didn't punch you that bad!" Lynn Jr. shouted at the wimp.
"He uppercutted the group of them right off, Lynn. Pretty sure that's very hard." Luna argued.
"Gross." He remarked before continuing on his way. Just as he reached the staircase to the roof, one last goon stood in the way.
"NOT SO FAST, LOUD! YOU'LL HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME FIRST!"
Lincoln glared out of the way.
Perhaps we can solve this non-violently.
I'm going to **** your **** and **** **** **** **** until you can only **** sideways! ****!
Beat up the goon offscreen
"Dang...Harsh." Luan chuckled.
"What was the red option saying?" Lincoln asked, only for everyone to shrug.
Lincoln ran up the stairs, his eyes dead set on the end. As the locked door came closer, he leveled his shoulder and charged. Busting through the door, he looked up and shouted!
"MOLLIE!"
"LINCOLN!" Mollie said, chained to a raised bar. "HELP! THIS SUCKS!"
"Understatement of the century." Lori remarked.
"Took you long enough." A taller, more sauve version of Chandler wearing sunglasses and cargo pants commented.
"LET HER GO, CHANDLER!" Lincoln shouted as he dramatically swept his arm to the side. "IT'S OVER! I'VE BEATEN ALL YOUR GOONS!"
"So…" Chandler smirked as he crossed his arms, appraising Lincoln and finding him lacking. "This is the best St. Joel could muster?"
Lincoln took up a fighting stance. "That's not what your mom said last night!"
Chandler frowned, before taking off his sunglasses and putting them away, getting into a fighting stance. "Just for that, I'm going to kill you."
As the two faced each other, the clouds overhead finally started to drop rain. The first drop fell to the ground in between the two. It splashed.
FIGHT!
"And now it's a fighting game." Lincoln commented.
"Wasn't it already one of your fighting games before?" Luna asked, before Lincoln shook his head.
"Nah, before that, it was a side scroller beat-em-up. There's a difference."
"Nerd." Lynn scoffed.
Lincoln and Chandler shot forward, their fists meeting in the middle. They stayed like that, gritting their teeth as they tried to overpower the other. In a flash, their other fists collided with each other. The two stared at each other.
Then their fists left each other, only to collide again, and again, and again! Sprays of rain marking their movement as they tried to overpower the other with the sheer speed of their fists. Their fists slammed against each other again, again, AGAIN!
"Or this just became anime." Lincoln amended.
Then Lincoln punched Chandler in the face, Chandler's own punch sliding past his cheek.
Chandler flew through the air, landing on the ground with a sickening crack.
"Wow…" Mollie said. Lincoln nodded. Did he break something?
Chandler got up, snarling as he reached inside his pocket and pulled out a pair of now broken sunglasses. As if just to mock him further, one of the lenses fell out. Chandler got up before tossing the sunglasses away like garbage.
"Alright, Loud. You're good. BUT NOW I'M SERIOUS!" With that, Chandler took up another stance, his arms loose and his feet were bouncing.
Then he shot forward, faster than Lincoln could react, a boot colliding with Lincoln's face.
This time, Lincoln was sent flying, landing on the ground and slid a few inches. Shaking his head, he looked around and didn't see Chandler. Suddenly getting a feeling in his gut, he looked up and quickly rolled away, scant moments before Chandler's foot smashed the ground where his face was.
Rolling into a crouch, Lincoln tried to sweep the leg, only for Chandler to backflip over it. In slow motion, Lincoln watched as Chandler grinned. Chandler curled into a ball, before his feet shot out, catching Lincoln in the chest.
"Kung-fu film?" Lincoln corrected, before shrugging. "Okay, it's something."
Lincoln landed next to Mollie. Lincoln looked over and smiled shakily. "Hey."
Mollie looked at him slightly concerned. "Hey, are you okay? He looks like he's beating you now."
Lincoln nodded. "Yeah, he's actually kind of tough. Don't worry, though. I can still take him."
"Are you sure this is the time to have a conversation?" Lori asked.
Luna shrugged. "At least that Chandler bloke is letting him talk. Pretty sure he could have continued kicking him at that time."
With that, Lincoln pushed himself off the way and charged at Chandler. Jumping at Chandler, he threw a punch at Chandler's head, who dodged it completely. Suddenly, Lincoln expelled some saliva as Chandler kneed him in the chest.
Staggered, Lincoln was left wide opened.
Knee! Jab! Straight! Knee! Uppercut! Gut punch! Left hook! Right hook!
Lincoln and his sisters grimaced as they winced at every blow.
With a final grin, Chandler roundhouse kicked Lincoln in the face, lightning splitting the sky as Lincoln landed on the ground.
To Mollie's horror, Lincoln laid there, barely able to get up, the only movement coming from his chest.
On Lincoln's end, he didn't feel great. The fight with Chandler's goons had taken a lot more out of him than he thought. His entire body was screaming at him to rest, just close his eyes. Just rest…
"Lincoln…"
Just go to sleep…
"Lincoln!"
You can't fight anymore…
Mollie screamed. "LINCOLN!"
"Come on, Lincoln!" Lori said. "Fight for your sorta-crush!"
Lincoln's eyes shot open. LIKE HECK HE CAN'T!
Gritting his teeth, he forced his body up. Slowly, surely, like the rain dripping down his face, he found his feet and stood up. Chandler whistled.
"Well then… At least I have someone practice this against."
As Chandler got back into his stance, a chill went down Lincoln's spine. This was it. Chandler's super move!
Lincoln gritted his teeth as he got into his own stance. For Mollie, he can't lose. HE WON'T LOSE!
"TAKE THIS!" Chandler shouted, rushing at Lincoln with a flurry of kicks so fast, it was like Chandler had suddenly grow more feet to kick Lincoln with. Lincoln stood tall, staring at the storm of kicks that came closer...closer…
NOW!
Rushing forward, Lincoln parried one kick, then another, then another. Like a blocking machine, Lincoln parried one kick after another. Chandler saw this and increased the speed of his kicks, only for Lincoln to increase the speed of his parries. The stalemate lasted until…
Lincoln's jaw dropped. "He just recreated Evo #37…"
Everyone looked at him weirdly.
"What's Evo #37?" Luan asked.
"Well, it's this big fighting game tournament moment where Daigo Umehara played Justin Wong in Street Fighter: Third Strike, and during the last round-"
"Okay, forget we asked. I mean, it's just some dumb tournament in someone's basement, how big could it be?" Lynn Jr. scoffed, making Lincoln seethe.
"Lynn, last year, Evo had 10k attendees and was hosted at Mandalay Palace in Las Vegas."
Before Lynn Jr. could retort, Lori looked over. "Wait, Mandalay Palace? The 43 floor luxury floor and casino? They held the event there?"
Lincoln nodded.
Luna whistled. "That's pretty big for someone's basement."
SMASH!
"Oh right, fight still happening."
Chandler tried to drop his heel on the crown of Lincoln's head, only to miss and embed his foot in the ground. He tried to pull his foot, even holding his thigh and pulling it out that way, only to no avail. This could be a problem.
"Ahem."
Chandler looked over to see Lincoln ready to punch him in the face. The rain on Chandler's face became mixed with sweat.
"M-Mercy."
Lincoln shook his head.
"No."
With that, Lincoln punched Chandler in the face. The blow addled Chandler's wits, leaving him wide open. The barrage of punches and kicks was so brutal, even Mollie looked on with some sympathy.
PUNCH PUNCH PUNCH KICK KICK KICK
As Chandler leaned forward, utterly beat up, Lincoln's left fist shivered before he delivered a devastating gut punch. Spittle shot out of Chandler's mouth, his head leaning forward and exposing his chin. Lincoln reared back his right fist before punching Chandler right in the chin. With a savage roar, Lincoln uppercutted the Benvie Boys' leader, sending him flying off the roof of the building and into the nearby woods.
64 HITS! ULTRA COMBOOOOOOOOOOOO!
"Dude…"
Forcing himself not to collapse, he made his way over to Mollie, who was staring at him in barely disguised awe.
"Hey." "Hey."
"You know… I didn't know who was going to rescue me…" Mollie admitted before smiling up at Lincoln. "But I kinda hoped it was you, Lincoln."
Lincoln smiled as he broke the restraints, setting Mollie free, before leaning over. "I like you, Mollie. We should go out some time. Also, you wanna play the drums in my band?"
Mollie grinned. "OH YES!"
With that, the two made out in the rain.
"...Well, that was something." Lincoln commented.
"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Lynn Jr. shouted as she jumped up. "WITH THE PUNCHING, KICKING, THE 'IS THIS THE BEST THAT ST. JOEL COULD MUSTER?' TO THE 'THAT WAS NOT WHAT YOUR MOM SAID LAST NIGHT!', AND THE ULTRA COMBOOOOOOO! WOOO!"
Lynn Jr. fell back, breathing hard from her burst of excitement. Luan looked at Lynn with a quirked eyebrow. "Did you get it all out?"
Lynn Jr. nodded before turning to Lincoln. "Hey, you think I can borrow some of those fighting games you got?"
"We'll see…" Lincoln said, making a note to be out of the house whenever Lynn Jr. wanted to spar.
"THAT WAS A LOAD OF BOLLOCKS!" Luna shouted as she stood up, startling everyone as they scrambled back.
"Luna? Are you okay?" Lori asked, only to regret it as Luna turned to face her.
"NO, I'M NOT OKAY! TABBY SHOULD HAVE BEEN WITH LINCOLN! THEY WERE PERFECT TOGETHER! I JUST CAN'T!"
"Luna!" Lori shouted as she got up and shook Luna her by the shoulders. After a few shakes, Luna shook her head and took a couple of deep breaths.
"S-Sorry, dudes. I don't know what came over me. I mean, I just thought that they seemed to make more sense to me."
"That makes sense." Lynn Jr. said. "I mean, what did Mollie and Lincoln have in that one? Like a class together, and that's enough to make out in the rain?"
Luan nodded. "Yeah, like 'Oh, Lincoln! I fell in love with you the moment you drew that sheep!'"
Luna turned to Lori. "Guess I know how you feel when girls other than Ronnie talk to Lincoln."
Lori scoffed. "Please, don't be ridiculous. I'm nowhere as extreme as you."
Luna got an idea for a joke. "So...Lincoln?"
"Yeah, Luan?" Lincoln didn't like Luan's tone.
"I heard you've been hanging out with a new girl. What's her name?"
Luna and Lynn Jr. couldn't help but grin wolfishly as they heard that. Lincoln started sweating. "Well...Her name's…"
"WHAT?!" Lori glared at Lincoln, making everyone else backup and then so. Lori cleared her throat. "Sorry, don't know what came over me."
Lincoln then backed up some more. "Well, I gotta go now to Clyde's. That was...something, I guess."
Everyone said their goodbyes as started to leave before Lincoln noticed Luna still staying. "Luna, you still here?"
Luna nodded. "I wanna watch a bit more. Do you know how to turn it off when you're done?"
The Following Morning
Luna's face was in her cereal. Lincoln came over, looking concerned.
"Luna?" Lincoln asked. "Are you okay?"
Luna looked up, bits of milk and flakes falling from her face. "Maybe we should have…"
"What?"
"MAYBE WE SHOULD!" With that, Luna face planted into her breakfast again.
"..." Lincoln, at that point, just readjusted Luna's head so that she wasn't completely face down, before sitting down and eating his breakfast.
Inspiration: Scott Pilgrim vs The World