Lincoln sauntered around through another part of Royal Woods. It was a means for him to try and clear his head. He currently was conversing on the phone, ignoring the early afternoon sun above him.

"I don't know, man… are you sure you aren't just being paranoid?" Clyde asked over the phone.

"I thought I was until today. Lynn hunted down and stole that party invite from someone else's trash can! That's why she barely knows anyone who'll be going to the party," Lincoln complained while he walked the calm streets. His anger from before had at least vanished, except now he felt more upset with himself than anything. He was uncertain if all this was his own fault, or if it was someone else's fault.

"Wait, how do you know she stole it from someone's garbage?" Clyde asked, turning the television off to focus more on the phone call.

"Rusty and his little brother saw her doing it while they were riding bikes," he answered. His friend at least informed him of this, he thanked them for it, yet his fears were confirmed because of it unfortunately.

"So… it's true then, huh? Lynn really wants to be more than just a sister to you," Clyde spoke his thoughts aloud. He could practically hear his friend's upset confusion taking him over.

"Yeah…" Lincoln huffed, hanging his head, "The worst part is that Lisa warned me about this kind of thing, she said that might happen when I turned thirteen…"

"Maybe you should indulge Lynn a li'l bit? Maybe she'll realize she's crazy if you play along a little while," Clyde suggested with a light laugh. Except treating this as a joke did nothing to lighten the mood, and despite the risk he thought it was far away from being worth a try.

"I'm hanging up now," huffed Lincoln.

"Come on man, I-!"

Lincoln hung up. He rolled his eyes. He couldn't take his problems getting laughed at, especially right now. He felt stuck in a sense. This happened a lot both inside and outside of his family. Normally he could brush it off as the seriousness of the problems taking a while to set in, recently however, he was starting to reach his wit's end with it.

His phone rang again before he could pocket it. With a more upbeat tone this time. He looked at it. He lightly laughed. Lincoln swore his girlfriend just knew whenever he was upset. He accepted the call. "Hey, Ronnie Anne," he greeted in his half glum tone, bringing the phone to his ear.

"Hey, Lame-o. I call at a bad time?" Ronnie Anne Santiago chimed up. She had been dating him secretly for a long time now. Though the secrecy was not by choice. It was the only way to avoid meddling from the many sisters of Lincoln's. Only Lori and Bobby knew, their eldest siblings respectively.

"No… I'm just doing nothing," Lincoln replied. Their relationship had become long distance when the Santiagos moved away, though it started off with her bullying him to show her affection, it had blossomed as fast as a sunflower. "Everything okay there?" he asked her, moving away from the topic about him. He'd rather not bother her with his personal problems. He knew she wouldn't like what she'd hear anyway.

"Yeah, I'm doing great…" Ronnie Anne breathed in, "Bobby on the other hand…" the Santiago couldn't put this to words. Something of course was wrong with him, but she needed to figure out how to describe it first.

"Did he get hurt on the job again?" Lincoln chirped. Bobby was like a brother to him. He knew it was far from unusual for him to get hurt at work, especially when he always had about a dozen jobs he handled daily.

"No… he's depressed. Lori's been ducking his calls and it's starting to get to him a lot," Ronnie Anne explained her older brother's problem. "Do you know what's going on? Has Lori been acting weird lately?" she then asked. The only Loud brother paused for a moment.

"She… kinda has. Lori's been so much kinder than usual lately. She's been way happier in the last week than she has been in the last few months. I've never seen her like this before. She acts more like mom now, too." Lincoln answered. At first, he brushed it off as his lack of sleep due to Lily keeping him up late was making him imagine things. But now that the rest of his family was noticing Lori's sudden change, he knew it was slightly alarming.

"Didn't she force you to stop hanging out with my brother just because she was jealous?" Ronnie Anne reminded him. Lincoln breathed in. That was another bad moment in his history he did not need to be reminded of.

"I didn't need that reminder… But maybe… Maybe she feels guilty about something," Lincoln took a seat at a bench beside a bus stop. The white haired boy knew that compensating for guilt sometimes turned into constant acts of kindness, though not knowing the possible cause of said guilt was a worrisome thought

"…You don't think she's pregnant, do you?" Ronnie Anne suggested. That idea surprised her boyfriend.

"Whaa-? No way! The last time she even saw Bobby was… a month ago…" his eyes went wide as the dots now began to connect in his head. The older six Loud siblings had seen their mother go through so many running emotions in her last few pregnancies. He did see a constant aura of happiness when she conceived Lily. He wondered if it was just another case of that, but this time with Lori.

"Sorry I uh... Hello?" Lincoln spoke again once his surprise wore off, but as he then noticed, his phone lost connection to the signal. It confused him. It couldn't easily lose connection in this kind of place. He breathed out an annoyed sigh and put his phone away for now. He needed a moment to take in this revelation.

As he sat and thought, however, he suddenly felt an odd chill run down his spine, and a sense of fear begin to well up in him. It wasn't cold outside. He could not understand why he was starting to feel so strange. Until he looked behind himself.

"What the…?"

Lori was seated on the couch in Sam's living room. Pelacur sat across her on another chair, eating from a very large bowl of soup. He was practically drinking it with how he was consuming it.

"Is your world's cuisine this delicious?" Jundao questioned in Lori's mind. The tiger sounded slightly jealous of what he's possibly missed out on. Anything was better than eating rocks.

"Yeah, but usually the canned stuff's just okay," Lori rallied her thoughts back to him, trying to keep these talks in her head like Lisa had suggested.

Sam returned, carrying two cans of soda for them both. "So… you're really that common fighter person?" Sam decided to start the conversation. The queen driver Lori had pulled out was a dead giveaway to that identity since the news footage at one point even focused on the jewel encrusted golden belt.

"Yeah, it's a long story," the blonde teenage chuckled, rubbing her head nervously. She knew the drummer was good with secrets, but that did not make her feel any more relaxed.

"And you can talk to monsters?" Sam then asked.

"I'm linked with one. Because of it I'm able to understand their language… at least the ones that aren't out of their minds," Lori nodded, grateful for this gift Jundao had inadvertently granted her. She found it so sudden that it was a little hard to adjust, even after the last week.

"Lucky you… I'd kill to be able to understand Pelacur. It feels like a guessing game half the time," Sam stated while resting her head in her hand while her arm rested on the armrest. It was not hard though to find out what her gargoyle friend wanted. He tended to be so direct yet gentle in his actions.

"Can you tell me how you two met?" Lori requested. She was very curious how exactly this monster saved the drummer's life.

"Oh, sure!" Sam nodded. She was a lot more relaxed to explain now that her secret was discovered. "I was going home after one of the practice sessions with Luna. I always go through a place that had the construction put on hold because it saves me some time," Sam started. It was a week ago, but it felt like years ago to her due to how shocking that night had been.

"Uhuh…" Lori nodded as she stayed quiet and listened. Although Luna being mentioned made her wonder again where her younger sister was.

"I dunno… I guess it was bad luck," Sam delayed as she tried to put this to words. She wasn't sure if it was good or bad luck that their meeting happened. "A steel beam fell from up high. I froze on the spot… next thing I know, he's standing there like a statue and took the hit for me. It didn't do anything to him but break a few scales, either."

"I had the strongest scales in my whole family," Pelacur laid down the now empty bowl. Soup was on his chin. The drummer tried to clean him up with a hand towel that she had brought as well.

"Thanks for saving her… My sister would be ruined if something happened to Sam," Lori thanked the gargoyle. Despite his scary and sturdy appearance, he seemed very soft hearted.

"You said you're linked with a monster? Where is he?" Sam asked. She wondered if that creature Lori had was hidden somewhere nearby.

"Jundao's still in the world they came from. He's waiting for me to summon him like… some sort of queen," Lori tried to explain it in the simplest way she could understand it, though referring to herself like she was royalty made her feel embarrassed.

"Our world…. We have no world left…" Pelacur solemnly commented.

"What did he say?" Sam asked Lori to translate.

"He said there was nothing left of their world. The crystals are on every one of those monsters. They spread overtime, and the only way to cure it is with the core crystal fragment from another monster," Lori exclaimed. She could tell that Sam was doing her best to take care of the creature, but this infection was impossible to stop with the current medicinal technology according to Lisa.

"…What happens if it isn't cured?" Sam hesitated to ask. Lori paused for a moment, unsure if she should tell. In which case, she had to. Lying was causing far more problems than solving lately.

"They lose their minds… I'm infected with the same crystals, and if me or Jundao don't get core shards, I'll die," Lori spoke with a clear serious tone. She was trusting Sam to keep so much of this between them. A tense silence entered the room's atmosphere.

Which was then broken when her phone started ringing. Lori sighed, hoping that it wasn't Bobby calling right now. It was not a good time. On the screen however, Lisa's avatar showed. "Hello?" Lori answered her little sister's call, letting Sam take in the news that her new friend was doomed to a slow descent to insanity at best.

"Lori! Where are you right now?!" Lisa sounded panicked. The anger blended in her voice startled Lori.

"I-I'm at Sam's! What's going on, Lisa?" Lori requested, trying to get her second youngest sister to relax.

"They're gone! The sealed drivers were stolen!"

"What?!" Lori's eyes practically broke out of her sockets. "But how?!"

"Someone pumped a sleeping gas into our home's ventilation system! When I woke up, the case was gone!" Lisa was trying to remain calm. Yet she still sounded upset like any toddler would if something they cherished was stolen from them.

"Is everyone okay?" Lori asked. Family to her was more important than the drivers. Since they could always make more of those things, according to Lisa.

"Yes, the gas has no toxin to it… at most, they'll all brush it off as tiredness. I woke up as soon as I did Because Luna opened the door to the garage," Lisa claimed, her anger starting to at least fade. Luna and Lily fell asleep themselves though when they had gone to the living room. The rock star could never come back to aid Lori's spy task as result of this forced slumber. "I've already called Kurutta to let him know what happened."

"I'll come home right now," Lori got up from the couch.

"I did not just call to inform you of this... A monster has appeared as well! It's at a sunset hotel near where you are… it's another form of creature, though."

"Wait… another form of monster?" Lori asked. She was torn between hunting the monster or going home to make sure everyone was alright.

"It's a monster made entirely of fire… It's truly fascinating… I'm afraid if the creature is not defeated the fire will only intensify."

"A monster made out of fire? That sounds like something out of my league..." Lori murmured, clearly wanting to come home to make sure everyone was safe first.

"I can take care of the others. You go secure this core shard and let me examine it before you use it," Lisa ended the phone call abruptly. Her mental limit was too broken to argue with her.

"Sorry Sam, I have to go," Lori put her phone away and began to head for the door.

"W-wait!" Sam stood up, "You won't tell anyone about this… right? I'd rather Luna think I'm a chicken than worry about a monster living with me."

"I couldn't care, even if I wanted to. Just, talk to Luna already. Call me if something happens," Lori ran out the door, leaving the drummer with the gargoyle monster.

"Souaka?" Pelacur chirped, holding up the bowl.

Sam sighed, overwhelmed by the wave of news she had been given in the last few minutes.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get you more soup…"