"We're really going to see this new comedian?" Luan asked while following Lincoln through town, the early morning sun beating down on them. Lincoln had shown that video to his older sister before they left, and it was enough to give her plenty of reasons to come.
"Yeah! They are really interesting so far. I just wanted to check'em out. They're getting really popular so fast," Lincoln claimed. It was strange how fast this Xeran elite monster had gathered a large crowd, a lot larger than the one that had been presented in the video.
"Whoa… They must be good," Luan was eager now, though Lincoln was now more nervous than anything. He was just glad the Xeran could not steal his essence for whatever reason, neither could they take essence from his siblings, as far as he could tell, that it seemed to be a strange coincidence that was constantly on his mind.
"I hope she's not doing something dangerous…" Lincoln gulped. He would be terrified to be near this Xeran elite if it was juggling knives, or worse. The two had to bump and shove their way through the crowd to get near the center, apologizing as they reached the source of the grand entertainment.
"Alright, my fans! Since the last volunteer seems to be trap- stuck in that sewer pipe, I'll avoid using the teleporting rubber chicken again, for safeties sake," Xerest apologized to the crowd who were still laughing, believing it all to be one big act. Luan wished she could have seen that with her own eyes.
"However, I hope you don't mind an old classic being aided by a real poultry!"
Lincoln watched the Xeran elite comedian close her upper body in her chest-like torso before it popped open, and several chickens flew out. She only kept one in her palms.
"Please don't tell me it's what I think it is…" Lincoln muttered while brushing one of the many feathered farm animals off his head. At least the children in the crowd found them adorable.
"Why did the chicken cross the road?" Xerest giggled "to get to the ugly witches house of course!"
There was an awkward silence. No one understood the joke. Luan presumed it was one of those jokes that was too complex to laugh at.
"Well at least she's just failing at joke telling… and stealing from a farm?" Lincoln said. They watched the clown put a palm to the sidewalk beside her, and slowly rose it up, making a door appear beside her. She held the chicken up to one side and knocked on the door.
"Knock, knock!" Xerest cooed.
"Who's there?" the crowd called out, hoping the good old knock knock joke would be better than the other one.
"The chicken of course," Xerest opened the door, revealing Luan on the other side. She looked around in confusion, wondering what just happened and how she went from being in the crowd to in the center. It took a moment, but when Lincoln got the joke, he was angered fast.
"O-oh… I get it, I'm the ugly witch," Luan weak-heartedly laughed, realizing that she was being mocked for her looks. Her brother approached angrily toward Xerest, regretting bringing her now. This was either an unlucky coincidence or a sign that he should try his best to disassociate as much of his family from the Xeran.
"I guess you can say it was 'foul' play," Luan decided to try and make a groan-worthy pun to cheer herself up. Xerest seemed to gain a twitch in response and a slightly angered look on her face. Lincoln noticed this pretty fast, stopping in his tracks.
"Al-alright, how about you go now, metal face, so we can continue the good comedy," Xerest insisted.
"Hey, come on! Luan here is a great comic. I'm sure we can 'iron' out our issues," Lincoln grinned.
"Nice one, Linc," Luan gave him an approving thumbs up, though the crowd looked displeased with these puns. Xerest twitched more, losing her bubbly nature each passing second.
"Please get lost, you two! I'm trying to just do my job for my master," Xerest tried to be more pleading to the two she could not identify, not even Lincoln.
"Alright, come on, Linc. Let's just watch the rest of the show," Luan understood, trying to just be thankful for being involved, but aware of what her only brother was doing to get revenge for her public humiliation. Puns somehow angered the comedian monster.
"Okay, Luan! Let's just 'Linc' hands so we don't get separated in the crowd," Lincoln smiled. They then heard a sudden howling loud cry of anger.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up! Puns, puns, puns! The lowest, stupidest, weakest form of comedic humor! You've ruined this entire show! Textoth! Textoth! Get out here you weak boned idiots!" Xerest cried in anger. A dozen of the skeletal monsters began to emerge from hiding, having spent this time absorbing all the essence of joy the crowd had produced.
"I-it's the rioters!" Luan gulped. Most people still saw these textoth as a crazy cult that worshiped the Xeran monsters rather than minions.
"Luan, let's run!" Lincoln declared.
"You mean let's make like a banana and split," Luan punned in agreement, Xerest screaming again like someone had just stabbed her in the funny bone. The entire crowd vanished in one large panic. Lincoln however remained with the monster and the textoth once they all left, having only pretended to flee to get his sibling to escape without him. Lincoln hoped Luan would presume he was lost with the rest of the crowd.
"Oh look, the pun monster didn't run. I guess you're smart enough to take your punishment for ruining my show?" Xerest grinned while her chest body closed, then opened again. Out popped a large wooden hammer that she grabbed, used to comically crush watermelons, but also served for a good weapon. The textoth drew their weapons with her.
"That's really punny. Sadly, I'm here to stop you. I'm Guardian Red, protector of the essence that fuels the flames of life!" Lincoln declared. He may not be able to morph without his star, but that did not stop him from striking his usual pose and giving his dramatic introduction.
"I'm going to flatten you!" Xerest squealed while jumping in anger at the pun. She didn't care if he was a guardian or not. She wanted to kill him just because of all the puns that made her nerves rupture. Lincoln had to confess that he had seen happy clowns, sad clowns and scary clowns, but never an angry clown.
"Let's hope Lynn's having an easier time," Lincoln made his claws pop out of his gauntlet before charging against his wave of thirteen enemies. Not even being able to activate his dual claws mode was another issue, but he would manage with singular combat.
"Attack!" Xerest ordered, bringing her large mallet down. Lincoln put up his guard, catching the attack. He was thankful his clawed gauntlet was like a miniature shield for him. Two textoths came at his sides, but Lincoln shoved himself back, dodging their attacks, rolling backwards on the ground and quickly standing back up.
"This has gotten a lot scarier knowing I have no protection…" Lincoln murmured. Without his guardian suit, he was going to take massive damage from any attack, unlike Lynn who had her vest gloves and boots.
"Stay still, you rude boy!" the Xeran elite monster threw her hammer beside her before she rummaged around in her chest, pulling out a large bright cannon, the type normally used to shoot confetti at a parade.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding," Lincoln groaned, seeing four of the textoth coming at him altogether. He ducked under the first's swing, before he slashed the next one in the stomach, blocking the third's attack. The teenager jumped over the fourth that tried to swing for his legs, stomping on its jagged scimitar and stopping it from attacking, while grappling with the third for its sword.
"Fire!" Xerest fired the cannon, and out flew multiple giant fake paper snakes. Lincoln quickly slashed the third textoth in the shoulder, stunning it, and he kneed the fourth one in the face, grabbing them both and getting behind them to use them as shields. The giant paper snakes collided with the skeletal warriors, and they exploded.
Lincoln was sent flying from the explosion, despite his skeletal shields taking the hit for him. He crashed onto the windshield of a car, shattering the glass as he fell through onto the passenger seat.
"I'm way over my head here," Lincoln coughed while brushing aside the broken glass with his gauntlet, before climbing back out. Thankfully he had minimal injuries on him. He was ready to fight the last seven textoth and the angry clown monster.
"Please hurry, do not leave me hanging here Lynn… I'd rather not let this monster escape."
"I wish Lisa told me where it MIGHT be. All she told me was that it's probably in this park," Lynn was on the street right next to the park. She saw a few others in the opening, but no sign of Lincoln's star yet. It was irritating, but even the child prodigy had her limits on what her genius could do, and not knowing the location of everything was sadly one of those limits. Lynn went and entered the park.
"Huh?" she saw a lot of people gathered toward the center of the park, looking hesitant or scared to get to close to what caught their attention.
"So she got here way before I did," Lynn rubbed her head, seeing the dark blue guardian before her, sitting there in a meditative fashion in front of the water fountain, one that was well known for producing small rainbows all around it at the middle of a bright, sunny day.
"Uh… hey there," Lynn approached. The dark blue guardian stayed idle to her call.
"Lynn?! Oh thank goodness! Help me! Help!" Lori mentally screamed in relief upon seeing her little sister. Her possessed body refused to move, despite her constant mental struggle.
"Sooo… you're a guardian too? That's uh cool… Say I am, too. Look," Lynn spoke quieter so no one could hear them. Everyone was too scared to get close to a guardian, mainly because of how strong they saw guardians tended to be, as well as being attacked often by Xeran. Guardian Black presented her black star to prove her identity, even if the third guardian used another method to transform.
"How'd you make your suit?" Lynn questioned. The blue guardian stood up, reaching for her side, grabbing the hilt of their sword and pulling it out. The handles of the hilt spread out as the blade extended and popped out.
Lynn was slashed across the chest, sparks and smoke sent flying off of her body as she fell flat on her back, coughing in pain. Her guardian gear vest took most of the attack, but the assault out of nowhere was still upsetting.
"Wh-what was that for?! I'm friendly! Don't you hate the Xeran, too?" Guardian Black asked, seeing the blade pointed to her throat.
"Don't do this!" Lori mentally screamed from seeing what her own body was doing to her sibling, "Don't make me hurt one of my sisters!"
Lynn knew she was going to be in for a fight. Many of the civilians around were beginning to leave to call for emergency services upon witnessing a child be attacked, but everyone was too afraid to try and attack the swordswoman. Lynn kicked the dark blue guardian in the stomach, knocking her back. She then quickly got back onto her feet.
"Fine… Have it your way!"