Go, Go Chapter Twenty-nine Rangers! Duh, DUH, duh, duh, duh, Duh, Duh.

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"Lucy!" Lynn bellowed in her face as she stepped out of the bathroom. Surprising Lucy for one of the few times in her life, that she could remember, and causing her to suck in a breath in surprise.

Because Lucy didn't jump. She didn't scream. Not unless she was trying to deliberately. When Lucy was surprised, she was almost as quiet as she was when she was calm. Not something trained into her, or practiced on her own time. It was a bit like her stealthy movement. It wasn't something she tried to do. She was just naturally and quiet person. Ironic considering the family she was born into.

"Sigh…" A deep breath and the air rushed from her lungs in an actual sigh, even as she spoke the word. "Yes?"

"Well you know…" A smirk curled Lynn's lips as she pretended to be sheepish, knowing full well what she'd just done and the effect it had on her younger sister. Lucy could see in her expression that she was making a mental tally to mark the achievement, as though she'd won some sort of game. "I was hoping you'd be willing to help me practice my martial arts." She phrased it like a question, but Lucy knew better. Unless she announced some form of significant protest, Lynn was actually just telling her that she was going to help.

"Just us?" She needed the clarification. She didn't want to be doing this anyway, but it would be so much worse if it was just her against Lynn. Lucy wasn't particularly fond of the idea of being beaten on for the next hour, not that Lynn would go that far. It would be more like the teenaged, and better equipped, version of an adult holding a child at bay by their forehead, while the child swung ineffectually at the space between them. This would suck less if Lucy had help.

"No." Lynn dropped the shy act, marching forward without looking back, as though it was a given that Lucy was going to follow her. To be fair, she was… So… "We're going to pick up Lana and Lincoln too."

"Lincoln?" Lucy could instantly feel her core heat up at the thought. A steady, rising, heat, that gradually made its way up to her face. If Lincoln was going to be there, Lucy didn't think she'd mind helping Lynn anymore.

She was glad that Lynn wasn't looking back at her. She could feel her cheeks flushing at the thought. Lincoln's tall frame, in the warm sun. Sweaty, and hot. They'd both be against Lynn, so it wasn't like they'd be touching each other much, but maybe she'd get thrown on top of him, and knock him to the ground. Or maybe he'd catch her, and hold her in his powerful grip, keeping her from getting hurt, and protecting her. She'd feel his strong muscles under his shirt, working to keep her safe. She could feel her insides twisting pleasantly at the thought. A tickling itch worming it's way dow-

"Yeah." Lynn interrupted her thoughts, and Lucy shook her head to focus back on the now. "He's really only got speed going for him in a fight, but it's good practice trying to catch him…" She trailed off, seeming to think of something. "Now that I'm thinking about it though, I wonder if he'd like to learn how to defend himself. Running away faster than your opponent can chase you is a solid strategy if it's just you, but it's better if you have something to fall back on."

They stopped in front of Lana and Lola's door. The twins were milling about their room, gathering various objects to go. Lola had a pair of sunglasses perched Leni like on top of her head, and was pulling a bottle of sunscreen from one of her dresser drawers, most likely on her way to tan in the sun. Lana had a whistle around her neck, and a bag of treats, probably preparing for an afternoon of animal training. Lynn rapped the frame of the door, seizing their attention.

"Hey same and same again." Lynn called to them both.

"Don't call us that." Lola complained, an annoyed expression breaking across her features.

It was a nickname thought up, and given to them by Luan. Though she dropped it when she saw how much they hated it. Of course that was all the more reason for Lynn to start calling them that.

"I was thinking it would be cool if Lana helped me work on my martial techniques." She continued as though she hadn't heard Lola say anything. "We'll just pick up Lincoln on the way down to the yard."

"Sure, I'd be cool with that." Lana shook off her annoyance at being called the hated nickname, and began putting away her animal training equipment.

"Alright, cool." Lynn leaned back from the portal, and turned towards Lincoln's door.

"He's not in his room, I don't think." Lola said, causing Lynn to pause in her motion and look back. "Lana and I saw him carrying some stuff downstairs earlier."

Oh, cool, thanks." Lynn pivoted in the opposite direction, stepping around Lucy and starting towards the stairs.

The Twins joining on either side of Lucy in following their elder sister back down the hall and to the steps to the first floor. Her place between them preventing them from ribbing each other, and playfully, or not so playfully, fighting. Lucy didn't have a twin, though she'd thought about what it would be like in the past. Would her twin be just like her, like twins often were in stories? Or would her twin be her opposite, like with Lola and Lana? She imagined that if she and her make believe twin were the same, they'd develop some kind of silent communication. Still, she wasn't a twin, and she didn't have one, so she couldn't claim to have any insight into the inner workings of Lola and Lana's mind. Who knew whether they fought for real, or just for fun. She supposed it didn't matter so much. They clearly loved each other at the end of the day.

The living room came into sight as they reached the half way point on the stairs, and with it. Lincoln and Lori sat side by side on the couch playing video games. Something familiar and intoxicating tickled Lucy's senses, and she breathed in deeply, filling her lungs with it. A comforting haze falling over her thoughts. It was like a drug. She felt her heart beat rapidly, as her breath became shallow.

Stop.

She needed to calm down. There was something achingly familiar about it all. As though she'd felt this way before, or someway similar, in the past. She couldn't put her finger on it. Maybe she'd read about it. Maybe she'd seen it somewhere.

The sound of the front door opening and closing brought her attention to the fact that Lynn had just left her behind. Probably unintentionally. Lucy doubted Lynn would have abandoned one of her two remaining sparing partners if she knew she was doing it,

She glanced out the window, where Lynn was scouting out a spot for the fight. She half turned towards the door, but stopped… Why was she following Lynn? She didn't agree to help Lynn with her practice, and she didn't even want to. Lynn had just recruited her against her will. Sure she was okay with the idea earlier, but… Things were different now. She didn't want to. Lincoln was in here, and while she may not be able to bring up the courage to… She could just be near him though. It was even productive.

What better way to figure out what she was feeling and why, than to spend time with the one who brought those feelings forth? Her mind was a fantastic tapestry of colors when he was around. You couldn't really appreciate the artistry without experiencing it, could you.

"Dang it." Lincoln leaned back in his seat, as his avatar died on screen. Stretching his arms over his head, and arching his back, he let out a groaning breath, before tilting his head and glancing at her from the corner of his eye. "Oh, hey Luce."

A torrent of sensations threatened to overwhelm her again, as the object of her… As Lincoln focused his attention solely on her. She froze…

"Hi Lucy." Lori leaned forward to see her around their brother, taking one hand off the controller and waving in greeting.

"Hi…" She just about managed to mumble in return, feeling a sudden wave of gratitude towards their eldest sister.

I went through multiple versions of this section before I settled on this.

Lynn wasn't usually the type to stop and think things over too hard. She liked to do things more than she liked to think about things, but recently… She turned her head from her silent staring contest with the ceiling to look over at her younger sister's bed. The curtains were drawn. Recently she'd noticed her sister acting a bit differently.

Not something she was overly worried about. People change over time. Especially during their teen years. Lynn didn't know the science behind it, but she didn't have to, to know that. Hormones or whatever. Something about the brain. If she wanted to know she'd ask Lisa, but she'd be lying if she said she cared. She looked back up at the ceiling of the darkened room, before huffing and rolling over onto her stomach, pressing her face into her pillow.

Lucy wasn't changing in that way though… Or… She was, but… Lynn didn't know how to put it. She wasn't a walking dictionary like Lucy, Lincoln, or Lisa.

Lucy was happier than she usually was. A little bit more nervous too, and… Flakey? Having known Lucy for Lucy's entire life, Lynn knew that her little sister wasn't actually unhappy. She wasn't as out there and in your face as Lynn was, not by a long shot, but she wasn't unhappy. Lynn didn't think about it too hard, but she was pretty sure that Lucy just liked dark things. Maybe she liked creeping people out, and acting depressed all the time was part of that? Whatever.

The point was that Lucy wasn't a sad person. Once you knew her well enough though, you could read her moods as well as you could read anyone else's… Or maybe a little bit less well. Still, her moods became more easy to read the longer you knew her.

Lynn breathed in the smell of her pillow. It was good. Lemony? Were they using a knew fabric softener? Shifting, she lifted her head up and flipped her pillow over so she could rest her head on the cooler side. Laying back down on her side, facing the wall.

Lucy wasn't depressed all the time, but she wasn't a happy person either… That still made her sound depressed. This was why Lynn tried not to think about these things too hard, it was just confusing. This was worth it though. Her sister was going through something, and Lynn wanted to know what.

How best to put it though?… On a scale of one to ten, were one was suicidal, and ten was so happy you could die without regret, Lucy was usually a… Somewhere between a five and a six. Not totally neutral, but not quite happy either… This was stupid. Who cares, moving on. Lucy was a lot happier these days. Weirdly so. Especially since Lynn couldn't see a reason for the change. She wasn't spending more time outside the house, otherwise Lynn might have suspected she had a boyfriend, or a crush.

That's what it seemed like anyway her improved mood, combined with the fact that she was more distracted and nervous. It sure seemed a lot like she was trying to catch someone's attention, except that she was spending even more time at home than usual, so that couldn't be it.

It was honestly pretty frustrating trying to figure this all out. Probably why she left most of the in depth analysis, sciency, stuff to Lisa. Lynn didn't know how she could stand it. She much preferred the feeling of working up a sweat with a satisfying work out… Though, given her recent breakthrough in math, she supposed she could see why Lisa did this kind of stuff. As frustrating as it was in the short term, the payoff almost made it worth it. Still, it wasn't really her thing.

She was getting distracted though.

So Lucy wasn't crushing on somebody, or… Probably not… Lynn couldn't think of a reason for her to stay at home more if that was what was happening. Unless she was rejected? Lynn would beat the ever loving snot out of anyone who broke her sister's heart, but that didn't seem likely. Lucy wouldn't be as happy and… Floaty… As she was if her crush had rejected her.

Lynn needed to keep a closer eye on Lucy in the future. Stick to her like a leach for the next few days. It would let her see what Lucy's deal was and piss her off at the same time. Payback for ditching her during sparing practice that morning… That was pretty annoying.

I thought it would be more interesting to show you things from Lynn's perspective here.

"Soooo… What were you doing yesterday?" A vicious smirk showing her irritation with being ditched the other day, as she kicked the ball back to her gloomier sister.

Lucy looked pretty neutral, if you didn't know where to look, but kinda weirded out, if you did. Lynn had dragged her away from her contest with Luan. Lynn could understand the feeling, though she knew that Lucy wasn't as into that sort of stuff as her.

At least Luan didn't seem to be too down about it. She'd just gotten up and sat back down next to Lincoln and Luna. They were chatting about something or another. Lynn couldn't hear them. She might be able to if she dropped everything else she was doing and strained her ears, but that would be super obvious, and she didn't care enough to try. Whatever they were talking about was their business. Besides, Luan was probably just telling her god awful puns. Lynn didn't want to hear them.

Whatever expression Lucy had before, shifted to a kinds of embarrassed awkwardness, as she looked away, kicking the ball half heartedly to Lily.

"Nothing…" She muttered

And if that wasn't an instant flag, Lynn didn't know what was. Not a red flag though. Those were only used when something was seriously wrong. Like when one of the players kicked another player in the shin, on purpose. This was more like a green flag. The fact that Lucy didn't just tell her where she was, like she usually would, meant that she had something to hide. Oh, Lynn could just smell a secret in the air.

"Nothing? Really? Are you sure?" She could feel her cheek muscles straining as her smirk grew even wider. Some teeth were probably beginning to show past her lips. "You ditched me for nothing? Gotta say Lucy-loo, that's cold. You might hurt my feelings."

Lucy's face flushed, which for her just meant that her cheeks were noticeably more pink. It was enough though.

Lynn caught the ball under her foot, as Lily kicked it to her.

"No…" Lucy muttered barely audibly. "It wasn't like that."

"Then I shouldn't ask around?" Lynn imagined that her smirk was pretty shark like now. "I'm sure one of our sister's, or Lincoln, saw where you went."

"what are you guys talking about?" Lily asked, speaking for the first time during Lynn's interrogation, and breaking the flow.

Lynn felt a flash of annoyance at her, but she couldn't hold onto it. Lily was her baby sister. She could never stay mad at her.

"Lynn was just annoyed that I didn't get to spend as much time with her as she wanted yesterday." Lucy grabbed up the initiative, and Lynn felt a Real burst of annoyance at her.

At least if she lied, Lynn could have called her out on it, but she didn't even do that!

"Oh… Why are you angry?" Lily asked, turning to face Lynn again. "Did Lucy promise to spend time with you?"

"Well, no…" Lynn found herself suddenly on the back foot. She didn't like it "I was just wondering." She coughed awkwardly into her fist.

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Chapter events:

Third scene is still from Lynn's perspective. On the second day of the weekend, Lynn bring Lucy over to kick a ball around with her and Lily. She doesn't really have to focus too hard on playing, because sports are pretty reflexive to her at this point, so she spends most of her attention on watching Lucy. Making sure she doesn't sneak away again. Partially as retribution for doing so the previous day. Partially because she wants to figure out what's been making Lucy so happy.