AN: I know I said it would take a while to get through, but since I knew pretty much how I wanted this part to go down (had it in mind since I started the story), and focused more on this story than my other ones, I was able to finish a bit faster than I expected. However, this is only the first part. The way I have it planned thus far, it will go for three parts. Can't promise I will have them out as soon as this one, but I will try. Also, thank you everyone who has been enjoying this story so far.
The Storm part 1
"S...Sigmund Lesrec!?" Rita stammered, her hand on the handle of the umbrella she had just taken from the stand.
"The monster hunter…" Gila gasped in horror.
"Indeed. Now, if you will excuse me, ma'am...I have a job to do." He said, taking a step toward Rita.
"Stay back!" She snapped, holding the umbrella out like a sword at him.
"Madam, I don't wish to hurt you…" Sigmund said in a soft, threatening voice.
"Girls! Lincoln! Run!" Mrs Loud yelled up the stairs. The children didn't need telling twice and they quickly fled down the hall. The monster hunter sighed and tried to simply walk past the Loud Matriarch. She responded by swinging the rain reflector at him like it were a club. With lightning reflexes, he raised his arm to block the strike and, with a single chop, knocked the makeshift weapon from her hands. Disarmed, but not down, Rita threw a punch at his face. He caught her fist in his hand and twisted her arm behind her back, causing her to wince and gasp in pain.
"You're making this far more difficult for yourself than it needs to be." He said sternly. "Stop resisting and stay out of my way."
"Leave them alone!" Rita screamed, trying to kick back at his shins. Sigmund sighed again and struck her in the back of her head with his free hand. That one hit was enough to knock her to the ground and out cold.
"...clearly mesmerized by the monsters." He rationalized to himself as he pulled out some chains. He moved her unconscious form to a nearby chair and used the chains to bind her to it. "There. That will keep you safe. Now to ensure the monsters can't escape." He said to himself, pulling a cube shaped device from his belt pouch.
"Please be safe. Please be safe…" Lincoln quietly prayed as he and his friends from Grimwood ran for their lives down the longer than they seemed halls of the second floor. He was deeply worried about his mother; this man was dangerous after all, and his own mother took him on. He glanced back and, for a moment, saw no sign of pursuit. Seconds later, though, he heard the sound of Sigmund's shoes as he vaulted up the stairs and started chasing after them. Seeing the evil man behind them, even at a distance, made Lincoln see red. He haunted his little mummy sister (albeit indirectly), hurt Zanya, threatened his friends, and now (as near as he knew) hurt his mother. "Everyone, you keep running! I'll hold him off!" Lincoln called out to the girls in front of him.
"What!? Are you crazy, Linc!?" Winnie yelled back as she scampered down the hall on all fours.
"No. Out of all of us, I'm probably the safest bet against him since I'm not a monster. Odds are he won't go all out against me. I'll stall him as long as I can, so you can find Suki and evacuate the school." The white haired boy reasoned, though he hoped on the inside that he was right. Before the girls could be start arguing with him, he skidded to a stop and turned to face the mad hunter.
"Lincoln….be careful…." Sibella uttered as she looked back at her mortal love, standing ready to face Sigmund. It took the adult monster slayer only a few seconds to reach Lincoln, who refused to budge from the center of the hall, forcing him to stop.
"...stand aside, young man." He ordered firmly.
"What did you do to my mother!?" The middle Loud demanded to know.
"She was your mother? My apologies, but I had to knock her out. She'll be fine. I left her restrained downstairs. Now stand aside." Sigmund instructed once more.
"No. I won't let you hurt any more of my friends." Lincoln replied, anger clear in his voice.
"Friends? Kid…."
"My name is Lincoln Loud. Not kid." Sigmund raised an eyebrow at the boy, quite surprised he had the nerve to talk back to him like that.
"...very well, Mr Loud." He said with a slight smirk. "As I was saying, monsters aren't friends. They are beasts. Mindless, bloodthirsty killers. A blight upon humanity."
"...this coming from a man who senselessly murders and harms innocent monsters. And why do you do it?" Lincoln inquired, his anger rising.
"It is my duty, Mr Loud. My duty to rid the world of ALL monsters." He answered simply. The two stood in silence for a couple seconds, Lincoln waiting for him to continue with SOME kind of further justification for his irrational hate. When none came, Lincoln's blood started boiling even more.
"That's it? THAT'S your reason!? A monster didn't kill your parents!?" Sigmund shook his head. "Attacked you as a child!?" Another negative response. "Took your one true love!? Kicked your puppy!? Stole your bike!? Made fun of your family!? NOTHING!? Just...it's your flipping duty!? And how is it YOUR duty!? Who made you judge, jury and executioner!?"
"You do not understand, Mr Loud. I have the blood of Van Helsing in me. It's my destiny to protect humanity from these beasts."
"That...is the STUPIDEST THING I EVER HEARD IN ALL MY LIFE!" Lincoln roared in absolute fury. "Just because you're somehow related to Van Helsing means you have to hate monsters!?"
"Like I said. You wouldn't understand, being a child. It's out of my hands." Originally, Lincoln's plan was to stall him with conversation long enough for the girl's to get away. However, he didn't anticipate him to say something so infuriating. Now, he didn't care about the plan. He was WAY too angry. He wanted to hurt him. He ran right at Sigmund, rearing his fist back and punching at him with all his might. With hardly any effort, the hunter swatted his attack away. This didn't stop Lincoln as he continued his furious assault. His training had paid off, as his combo attacks were flowing nicely, even with as fast as he was attacking. However, despite his hard work, Sigmund had several years more experience in combat than him, and was able to dodge and repel his attacks with relative ease. The one son was quickly realizing just how out-matched he was as his mind became less clouded by anger.
'I can't even touch this guy…' He thought to himself as the monster hunter used his arm to block a roundhouse kick. '...and while I may have a few defensive spells, I don't know any offensive ones. Dang it, Lincoln...you spent so much time covering one of your weaknesses, you forgot to play to your strength….'
"Are you done yet?" Sigmund asked, looking more annoyed than anything else about this encounter. Lincoln's mind raced as he tried to find a solution for this problem. Then it hit him: just because his spells weren't meant for offensive purposes doesn't mean he couldn't use them offensively.
"Aerosa…." Lincoln chanted, a sphere of wind appearing in his hand. "...phenotar!" He then hurled the ball of air into Sigmund's face. He wasn't expecting him to know or use magic, so this sudden attack staggered the hunter, though it didn't hurt him. What did hurt him was Lincoln slamming his elbow into his midsection while he was distracted, followed by an uppercut to the chin, sending Sigmund stumbling back a few inches. The white haired boy grinned, feeling proud of that. However, his grin faded when Sigmund straightened back up and chuckled.
"Not bad, Loud. You surprised me there." He told him, not even winded by the attack.
"But...that should have left you…"
"Please...I fight monsters MUCH stronger than YOU for a living. It'll take more than that to even slow me down." He responded. Lincoln gulped, feeling pretty nervous now. Even more so when Sigmund drew a sword from his cape. He was ARMED too!? Lincoln was terrified, but he refused to back down. "You have gumption and nerve, Lincoln Loud. I'll give you that. But your convictions surely cannot be as strong as mine. Now, get out of my way and let me do what's best for humanity….or else I will have to hurt you." Lincoln's eyes darted around the hall, soon falling upon the long rug that ran across the length of the hall. He remembered what Lana said about using everything and anything as a weapon for self defense. He stepped to one side, off of the carpet. "Very good, Lincoln. You did the right, smart thing." Sigmund said with a smirk, about to move on.
"I can't say the same for you." Lincoln snapped back, swinging his two hands to one side, which sent the entire rug further down the hall right into the man, knocking over some furniture in the process. While surprised by this, Sigmund was still able to slash apart the heavy carpet, but was still hindered by the pieces of carpet. Lincoln took the opportunity to charge at the mad monster hunter and land a flying kick against him, sending him flat on his back. No more than a second after he landed, Sigmund lept to his feet and decided it was time to take the offensive himself. He sprung forward and swung at the boy with his sword. Lincoln frantically dodged to one side, only to be kicked backwards, landing on an overturned table and breaking it into pieces.
"I didn't want to have to do that, Loud. You FORCED me to do that." He said as he approached the pained young man groaning on the pieces of the table. He raised his sword over the boy, who rolled away before the blade came down. Lincoln blinked as he saw that blade had come down sideways. It seemed he was right; the hunter wasn't going to try and kill him, just debilitate him. Lincoln took the opportunity to grab one of the broken table legs and held it like a club. He swung the makeshift weapon at the mad hunter, but Sigmund easily blocked it with his own sword. The table leg was getting more and more damaged as the fight drew on, until Sigmund stepped back from Lincoln and smiled wryly at him. "...perhaps I was mistaken. Your convictions are a strong as my own." The white haired Loud lowered his weapon slightly, wondering what he meant. "You are willing to fight a clearly superior opponent...one who could kill you in an instant if he really wanted to...to save some miserable monsters." In a move that surprised Lincoln, he sheathed his sword. "...I concede to you, Lincoln Loud."
"...what?"
"I concede. I don't wish to fight you any further." He elaborated. "You're ready to fight to your own death, but I do not wish to kill you. My only option is clear to me." The Loud warlock could hardly believe his ears. In fact, he didn't believe them, or him. Not for a second. Especially not after he held his hand out to him. The boy just stared at the man's hand for a moment. Against his better judgement, he slowly, cautiously reached out his own hand out. Sigmund firmly took hold of Lincoln's hand, shook it once….then yanked on his arm, pulling him forward before landing a hard blow to the back of his head with the side of his hand. Lincoln fell face first onto the hard, wooden floor, out like a light. "Sorry, Lincoln...I respect your tenacity, even if it is grossly misplaced...but I won't let this opportunity to destroy these monsters pass." He said before he ran off down the hall after the girls.
A few seconds after he left, the young man on the floor opened one eye, looking in the direction he knew Sigmund had gone. Seeing no sign of him, he started to get back up, rubbing the back of his head. Wrestling with Lynn so much taught him a lot...including how to play possum. This man was even more dangerous than he thought. He needed help. He pulled out his phone, then realized he never got Mr Talon's number. 'Haven't been on the ball lately….' He thought to himself. He goes with plan B and texted his sisters.
Lincoln: SOS. Send Detective Talon.
At that moment, Lori and Leni were strolling in the hall, chatting with one another as they had just finished their last class before lunch. They were just discussing a test Leni had to take in algebra when she felt her phone shake. She blinked and took it out to check it. "Hey! It's from Lincoln!"
"Oh? What'd he say?" Lori asked with a smile.
"...Sos? Why is he asking us for sauce?" A confused Leni inquired. Lori raised an eyebrow and leaned in for a look. Her face went pale.
"Leni! That's not sauce! It's SOS! Lincoln's in trouble!" Lori explained, trying her best not to scream. Leni gasped, nearly dropping her phone.
"Linky's in trouble!? Oh no!"
"Shhh….we need to help him….you hurry to the office and explain to them we have a family emergency. I'll text Dad and let him know we're all coming home and tell Detective Talon what's up…" Lori instructed, trying to keep a cool head. Leni nodded and ran off, Lori hurriedly passing Lincoln's message to Trent. "Hang in there, Lincoln. We're coming…."
Back in Grimwood, the girls were soon able to find Gosuki, who was wandering the halls looking for them. She had heard all sorts of commotion and was trying to figure out what was happening. When they finally met, Winnie and Sibella tried to coax her to run, while she was trying to get answers. "Suki, we really don't have time for this.." Sibella said frantically as she tried to pull the young kaiju along.
"But...what's going on? Why are you all so frightened?" Suki asked, not budging from her spot.
"There's a bad man here and he aims to kill us! Now move!" Winnie said, loudly and bluntly, pushing on the reptile girl's back.
"A bad man?" The daughter of Godzilla looked down the hall, just as Sigmund turned the corner. "You mean him?"
"Oh shazbot…" Milly growled, reaching for her raygun. Sibella and Phantasma both looked horrified, not just at seeing the monster hunter, but at the fact Lincoln was nowhere to be seen. Suki frowned and stomped her way between him and the other Grimwood girls.
"Suki? What are you-?" Tanis was about to ask, but then Gosuki spoke up.
"You there! Who do you think you are!?" Sigmund just stared at the young kaiju with a look that combined bewilderment and possibly fear. He hadn't seen her in his surveillance of the house, so he had no idea what to expect, but something about her seemed horribly familiar.
"What manner of monster are you!?"
"I am Goskui, daughter of Gojira." She declared angrily.
'Gojira!? As in….Godzilla!?' He thought in great concern. He may be a mighty monster hunter. He could handle a vampire, a werewolf, a reanimated, or something like that. But the King of the Giant Monsters? Noooooo thank you.
"Now you answer my question! Who are you and what gives you the-" Her chew out was cut short when Sigmund quick drew a hand crossbow from somewhere in his cloak, shooting a dart right into her arm. "Ow! Hey! What was that fooooooooooor….?" Suki started to feel really dizzy, looking unsteady on her feet.
"Suki? What's wrong?" Elsa asked before the kaiju girl flopped to the ground, causing the hall to shake slightly from the impact. The girls gasp, but calm down a little when they noticed their friend was still breathing. She was just sedated; the safest option Sigmund thought, at least until he could get the resources to fight one as powerful as Godzilla. He then turned his attention to the Grimwood girls, reaching for a sterling silver automatic pistol at his side. Before he could draw it, Milly fired upon him with her raygun. He was forced to take cover, giving Elsa and Sibella the chance to get Suki and get her out of dodge. The little martian provided cover for them as she back down the hall, Sigmund taking a few shots back at her until she rounded the next corner.
"Keep moving!" Milly shouted to her friends as she took up a position about mid way down the corridor, behind a suit of armor. "I'll cover you!"
"Hang on a sec...Phanty, help me out a moment." Winnie said with a grin that said she had something sneaky in mind. While the other girls continued to move Suki along, Phantasma picked Winnie up and helped her hide up near the ceiling. Meanwhile, the monster hunter stopped right at the corner, using it as a shield as he prepared to do battle with the mini martian. He quickly leans out, at about the same time M-149 had. Having the quicker reflexes, he fired first, just as the martian ducked back behind her barrier. She quickly returned fire, able to get more shots off, but none of them hit as he had retreated back. This stalemate lasted for a few seconds, until a lucky bullet grazed Milly's helmet, causing a small chunk to break off.
The little martian was thrown into a panic, trying to cover the hole with her hands. Martians were able to breathe oxygen for a time, but too much wasn't good for them (hence why she always wore her helmet). Because her hands were occupied, she could no longer fight back: a fact Sigmund intended to capitalize on. He strode around the corner as the young martian tried to flee, aiming the barrel at her back. Before he could pull the trigger, Winnie gave a rage filled howl as she was dropped right onto his head. The surprise attack caused him to drop his pistol and try to pull the werewolf girl currently punching and clawing at his head and face off of him. Seeing an opportunity, Milly threw caution to the wind, pulled one of her hands off the hole in her helmet, and fired her own weapon at his. The silver pistol was disintegrated the moment the beam touched it, reduced to worthless dust. Pleased with her work, she replaced her hand over the hole and fled the scene, just as Winnie was thrown off the hunter's noggin. She snickered as she ran away on all fours the way Sigmund had just came.
"Damn, these girls are more cunning than I thought…." Sigmund growled, checking his face for blood (of which there was none. Winnie hadn't aimed to draw blood, just throw him off). "Well, I wanted a challenge….careful what you wish for and all that." He looked toward where Winnie was still running and where Milly had escaped. Given the choice between a hindered martian and werewolf with a head start, he opted to go after Milly, drawing his sword again. Winnie looked back to see if she was being chased just as she rounded the corner at the opposite end of the hall. In her lapse of attention, she ran right into none other than Lincoln. The one son fell onto his tailbone in the collision.
"Whoa...sorr-Lincoln!?"
"Heh...hey Winnie." He said, just as the werewolf girl gave him a big hug.
"You're ok!" She cheered as he hugged her back.
"Yeah...he tried to knock me out, but between you and Lynn, it takes more than you think to knock me out." He told her with a soft chuckle, right before he went full serious mode. "Where are the others? Are they ok?"
"I think so." Winnie told him as they separated. "Suki got tranqed, I think, and Milly's helmet took a hit, but no serious injuries."
"Good….listen, head to my room, grab the orb, and get out of here." He instructed her as he got back to his feet.
"What? Uh uh. No way." Winnie said flatly, swinging her arms to show that wasn't going to happen. "I'm not leaving without everyone else. End of story."
"...had a feeling you were gonna say that." Lincoln replied, a soft smile appearing on his face. "...because I'd say the same thing." Right at that point, they heard a near deafening scream of absolute rage. "What was that!?"
"It sounded like Elsa!"
"Let's move.." Lincoln said, moving as quick and quiet as he could down the hall.
Seconds earlier, Gila and Tanis were wrapping up Milly's broken bubble with some extra bandages, while the others had stashed Suki in one of the empty bedrooms. They reasoned she would be safe there for the time being, out of his sight and out of his mind. "So, what's our next plan of action?" Gila asked as she tied a bow to finish the wrap job.
"...our best bet of escape is probably Lincoln's teleportation orb." Sibella said. "But we can't leave Suki, Mrs Loud or Lincoln here with that maniac…"
"...if I could just get a good shot on him, I could end the threat once and for all…" Milly complained, a little groggy from the extra oxygen.
"I sincerely doubt that." Sigmund said with a sinister smirk as he stepped out in front of the girl, a few feet down the hall. The disoriented alien reached for her weapon again, but this time, the hunter was prepared. He tossed a small metal cylinder right at them. By the time Milly had her ray drawn, the canister burst in a bright flash of light and a loud bang. The Grimwood girls were forced to cover their eyes, and the bang had left a ringing in their ears. However, the bright flash and loud noise caused a sort of sensory overload in the young martian, which made her pass out. Tanis slowly uncovered her eyes to see the monster hunter moved closer. Reacting quickly, she lashed out with a roll of her own bandages. They wrapped around his ankle and, with a powerful tug, she pulled his leg out from under him and knocked him onto his back.
"I got him!"
"That's what you think." He replied, grabbing the wrapping and pulling hard on it. Tanis didn't have time to rip it off her before she was pulled off her own feet and flying toward Sigmund. The mad hunter proceed to back hand slap her hard across the face, causing to slam into the right hand wall and bounce off, landing on her front on the ground near her friends.
"Tanis!" Gila cried as the remaining monster girls ran over to the groaning and crying mummy child. Seeing Tanis like this, in pain and crying, along with the pain caused by the flashbang, and knowing/thinking three of her friends were out of commision thanks to this creep. caused something inside Elsa to snap. Her eyes started to glow and electricity started to arc through her body and hair.
"You MONSTER!" She screamed as she charged right at the rising specist. Sigmund retaliated with a swipe of his blade, but Elsa was having none of it. With one punch, she shattered the weapon into pieces. This, the hunter was clearly not expecting, as he had a look of surprise on his face just before the franken-teen belted him across the face. He staggered back just as her fist met with his gut, making him cough as the air was knocked out of him. Elsa didn't let up, just outright wailing on the fiend in her rage. The reanimated girl's friends just stared on in shock, as did Winnie and Lincoln when they rounded the bend. They had never seen her angry before, much less this angry. It...was actually kind of scary. After Elsa finished tenderizing the delusional man, she grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the ground. Her breathing was heavy and her eyes were still glowing bright white as her grip tightened. Sigmund was choking as he tried to remove her hand from his neck with one hand, and reached into his cloak with the other. From within it, he pulled out a taser the size of a dagger hilt.
"Elsa! Look out!" Winnie cried, able to see the device. However, Elsa didn't seem to hear her or was too furious to, and Malora's uncle made his move. He thrust the taser into one of her neck bolts. Elsa started to shake, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head as the electricity surged into the bolt and into her. Her grip immediately slackened right before she fell to the ground.
"Cough….not bad, monster…." He choked out, holding his red throat. "...but I was the one who nearly slew Frankenstein's monster. I know how to deal with the likes of you." He reached behind himself and drew a second sword. Before he could even lift it, however, a chair collided with his side, exploding into a shower of splinters and pieces. Infuriated, he turned to see who had thrown in. "You!?" He bellowed (or as much as he could with a sore throat and gasping for air) when he saw Lincoln standing there, glaring at him. The white haired boy had two more chairs floating around him, which flew at the hunter when he gestured toward him. Sigmund was ready this time, and used his sword to destroy the furniture before it could hit him. What he didn't realize was the chairs were a diversion. He never saw the sofa that was flying at him like a missle. It plowed right into him, knocking him right back and sent him crashing through a window. Lincoln ran over to Elsa to make sure she was alright, while Winnie looked out at the window as Sigmund fell toward the ground below.
"Hit the ground. Hit the ground. Hit the ground." Winnie hoped quietly. Unfortunately for her, the hunter landed in the moat, not the trapped ground. "...dang it." She heard a window open from nearby, seeing Gila climbing out. "Gila? What are you doing?"
"He's on my turf now." She said seriously, before she dove off the sill and into the warm, murky water below. As soon as she entered the water, she spotted Sigmund as he reoriented himself. She darted right at him, thinking this was the perfect time to try her eel style. The hunter never saw her coming, thanks to the lack of visibility and not being used to being in such waters. She impacted his side with her head before following up with a flip kick to his face. Angered, he pulled a knife from his coat, but the creature's daughter was already swimming away from him, before turning back and speeding toward him like a torpedo. Between her speed and the muddy water, he couldn't put up an effective defense. She kept right on crashing into him at random angles, usually following up with punches and kicks. While her attacks weren't too damaging to the fully grown human, she had a few advantages that he did not: she could breathe underwater, and she wasn't alone. The moat crocodiles were starting to converge on them, looking at Sigmund like he were a chicken nugget. Unable to stop Gila, Sigmund was forced to do something desperate. He pulled out his taser again and, right when the fish girl struck him, he activated it, causing it to shock not just Gila, but himself, as well as frightening the crocs.
The very shaken and tired monster hunter just barely managed to get back to the surface, clinging to the dirt shore of the moat. He was gasping and wheezing as he looked back to see the unconscious Gila floating face down in the water behind him. Still holding his dagger from earlier, he thought he could at least try and slay her, but Sibella, in bat form, had grabbed the aquatic child and flew back up to the open window with her. Swearing under his breath, he took a moment to regain his strength before he pulled a rope and grappling hook from his cape. He couldn't risk climbing onto dry land, as he knew it was still trapped, so he had to hook the sill of the very window he had been knocked out of and climb back up, before the carnivorous reptiles could return.
Back up in the hall, Sibella and Phantasma were checking over Gila to make sure she was going to be alright, with Elsa laying beside Milly and the crying Tanis, whom the Loud warlock was trying to comfort. Lincoln was growing more and more worried. With around half of their friends out of commission and that lunatic STILL not giving up, this was getting beyond dangerous. However, as more of their friends were losing consciousness, escape was becoming more and more difficult for them. As the five of them were discussing options, the hunter had thrown himself back through the window, trying to land on his feet, but ending up on his knees instead. "Oh, come on! How do you have the strength to come back after that!?" Lincoln objected upon seeing Sigmund again.
"I've trained most of my life to fight monsters, Loud." He replied. "Such requires significant endurance, dogged perseverance, and tolerance for pain like you wouldn't believe." He got back to his feet, but before he could make a move, the Phantom's daughter flew at him. She landed a kick right to his face, making him flinch, but not much else. Out of reflex, he swung back, but as she was a ghost, that was a useless move. Phanty continued to float around him, punching and kicking him as she went. He had swung back once or twice, but quickly realized how pointless it was. What he didn't realize was that while she was more or less annoying him, she was also picking his pockets: knives, knuckles, a few clips of bullets, whatever she could reach, she tossed right out the window.
"Thatta girl, Phanty…" Winnie muttered with a smirk. "Lemme give you a hand with that. AAAAAAWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The werewolf girl pounced upon Sigmund while he was distracted by her ghostly friend, socking him in the face a few times before reaching into his coat and tried to relieve him of a long, curved dagger. However, the moment her hands touched the hilt of the weapon, her hands started smoking as she screamed in pain. This gave Sigmund an opening to punch her off of him and right into Lincoln's hand.
"Winnie! Are you ok!?" He asked in deep concern. Winnie was sobbing and whimpering, her hands looking VERY badly burned; so much that it made the one son cringe in horror. Phanty was so stunned that she had ceased her assault; a lapse the hunter exploited. He pulled a small, lavender crystal from his pocket and muttered some words under his breath. The spectral girl found herself being pulled into the crystal as if it were a black hole. She screamed with fright and tried to fly away, but it's pull was too strong.
"Phanty!" Sibella, Tanis, Winnie and Lincoln all cried.
"Enough is enough!" Sigmund yelled, looking like a man at the end of his patience. "I'm only going to say this once! Surrender yourselves and die, or I shatter this, destroying her very soul!" He held the crystal up to show them the tiny Phantasma beating against the side of the crystal, crying hysterically. Lincoln could feel his fury building again, but he didn't dare act this time; or else Phanty would be lost forever. He slowly put Winnie down and held up his hands in surrender, slowly followed by Sibella, Tanis, and finally Winnie. Sigmund smirked as he lowered the hand still holding the gem. "About time you wised up...oh, and little werewolf...did you really think I would neglect to carry silver weapons on my person?" He taunted as he showed Winnie the very dagger that had burned her. Winnie sniffled and growled at him, which only made the cruel man laugh. While he was gloating, Lincoln saw a chance. His grip on the crystal was loose. He quickly raised his palm upward and Phanty's prison slipped right out of his hand. Sigmund noticed this and made a grab at it, but Sibella noticed too and sprang into action, leaping at the monster hunter and sending him flying back with a flying kick to the chest. He had collided hard with the wall just as the crystal holding Phanty landed gently in Lincoln's hand.
"I gotcha, Phanty...it's gonna be ok…" He said softly as he looked at the sobbing spirit. He looked back to Tanis, who was helping Winnie mend her injured hands. He set the crystal gently down with Elsa. "Could you two keep an eye on this and keep her safe? I'm going to go help Sibella…" The pair nodded lightly as Lincoln stood back up and turned in time to see Sibella hurl two spheres of energy at Sigmund. The hunter rolled out of the way, the spheres causing a dent and a hole to appear in the wall. He, in response, hurled a knife at her. This was when Lincoln intervened, using his levitation magic to send the blade into the ceiling. Sibella smiled at him as he leaped over by her side; a smile he returned in kind before they sprang into action.
Sigmund pulled yet another throwing knife (making Lincoln wonder where he was keeping them all) from his jacket, but chose to use it for melee combat instead. He thrusted at Dracula's daughter, who easily avoided it, which gave Lincoln an opening to kick him in the gut. He turned his attention to the middle Loud, swiping at his face with the knife. He sprang back to avoid getting slashed, leading to Sibella kicking the weapon from Sigmund's hand. With the hunter disarmed, Lincoln and Sibella both attacked him simultaneously; both using the fighting techniques they learned from Lynn and Shaggy. Under normal circumstances, Malora's uncle would be able to handle two opponents at once. However, being kind of tired, and fighting a vampiress, he found himself losing control of the fight. He opted to focus his defense on Sibella, since he already knew Lincoln didn't have the strength to really harm him. Nevertheless, the constant barrage from the Loud warlock was irritating him, throwing off his rhythm and letting the vampiress get a few good hits in. They finished up their combined attack with a teamwork kick, sending the hunter skidding back. The moment he came to a stop, he pulled his hand crossbow back out, pointing at them with fire in his eyes.
'This guy is a walking arsenal…' Lincoln thought as Sibella pushed him aside before diving away to avoid the bolt herself. While he was on the ground, and Sigmund was reloading, the white haired boy conjured a light sphere into his hand. "Hey Sigmund!" He shouted. "Keep your eye on the birdy!" He hurled the orb at him. Thinking it was projectile of some kind, the hunter fired his next bolt into the ball of light. The moment the tip pierced it, the sphere exploded in a flash of blinding light. Since he wasn't expecting this (unlike the lovers currently facing him), Sigmund got an eyeful, causing him to roar in pain and cover his eyes. Being blind, he never saw Sibella's next two magic missiles; the first hitting him like Elsa's fist, and the second exploding upon contact, knocking him to the ground on his back.
"Give it up, Lesrec…" Sibella said seriously, a ball of fire floating at her fingertips. "...or this will get much worse for you. Leave Grimwood's peacefully and never return…"
"Ugh….you think...you scare me, Miss Dracula? Your father can't even manage that…." Sigmund growled as his vision started to return, a tiny ball slipping into his hand from his sleeve.
"The police are on their way, Mr Lesrec." Lincoln informed him, his arms crossed. "If you stay, you're going to be arrested for murder, among other things."
"They are?" Sibella looked rather surprised to Lincoln.
"Yes, they are." He replied, though the look he gave her in return was a 'I assume as much' look. 'In hindsight, should have called the cops after texting my sisters to tell Mr Talon...really not my day for brilliance…' He thought to himself, just as Sigmund flipped back to his feet and tossed the pellet at their feet. It released a thick cloud of smoke upon contact with the ground, filling the area around them with an obscuring cloud in seconds.
"A smoke bomb!? That's cheating!" Winnie shouted, shaking her bandaged fist at the cloud.
"Sibella? Sibella!? Are you al-AUGH!" Lincoln couldn't see in the smoke, but he could feel the kick that sent him careening into a side table, busting it when he collided with it.
"Lincoln!?" The vampiress called out, trying to find her human love in the smoke. Before she could, she felt something sharp pierce through her hand as it was pinned to the wall. She screamed, right when a second bolt pinned her other hand to the same wall. As the smoke started to clear, her eyes widened as she saw the form of Sigmund pointing his crossbow right at her, with a wooden stake loaded into it.
"And now you die!" He yelled, pulling the trigger. Everything seemed to travel in slow motion at the wooden spike flew through the air, aimed right at Sibella's heart. She closed her eyes, bracing for impact. Before it could hit her though, Lincoln leaped into its path, letting it strike him instead.
"AAAAAAAGGGGGGGH!" Lincoln screamed in pain as the stake pierced into him, forcing him back into Sibella and knocking him to the ground.
"LINCOLN!" Tanis and Sibella both screeched, tears spilling from the little mummy's face. While she couldn't see things perfectly, she could see the silhouette of Sibella pinned to the wall, Lincoln slumped on the ground at her feet with something sticking out of his chest, and Sigmund standing in front of them. Almost exactly like her nightmare from so long ago.
"Idiot boy!" The hunter growled as he reached for a new stake. Before he could, however, a lasso of bandages wrapped around him, binding his arms to his sides. "What the!?"
"GET OVER HERE!" The little mummy shrieked, yanking hard on the wrapping she had in her hand. Sigmund was pulled right off his feet, to his shock, and he was thrown into the wall to Tanis' left...hard! Then she threw him against the right wall. Even harder. Winnie's jaw dropped as she saw her friend, and the youngest of them all, mashing this fiend between two walls, madder than anyone had ever seen her. After a few seconds of sending Sigmund between two walls, she started slamming him against the floor in front of her and behind her. She finished up by twirling the hunter over her head before hurling him to the end of the hall, the impact of which caused the walls to shake, Sigmund falling to the floor, seemingly out. Tanis took a few heaving breaths before she ran over to Lincoln and Sibella as the smoke dissipated, sobbing uncontrollably. "Lincoln...it's just like in my nightmare…."
"Not quite…" Lincoln replied with a groan and a weak smile, looking at her. Tanis looked over at him and gasped. She thought the stake had hit him in the chest, but it was stuck in his left shoulder. It was still bleeding a bit, but it could have been much worse. A smile started to spread across her face as she hugged the wounded boy.
"I was so worried, big brother! I thought you were going to end up dead, just like my nightmare!"
"Actually, that may be what saved me." Lincoln told her as he slowly got to his feet. "You warned me this would happen, so I was more careful with how I positioned myself."
"Lincoln...you are some kind of insane genius…" Sibella said, her own eyes swimming in tears, a big smile on her face.
"Hehe...a little bit, I guess." He said, turning to help Sibella out of the wall.
"Guys! Look MMMPH!" Winnie tried to yell. Lincoln turned his head in time to see Winnie get hurled right at Tanis, hitting her in the head and sending the two into a heap, out like a light.
"Tanis! Winnie!" Before Lincoln could react, he was shoulder checked by Sigmund, who was so angry, he was almost frothing at the mouth. The white haired boy was thrown to the floor, the stake being driven deep upon impact.
"Agh!" He gasped, turning quick to gaze into the bruised face of Sigmund Lesrec. "How are you still moving after all that!?"
"I told you...endurance...and pain tolerance." He growled. "And now, you tell me...why are you defending these beasts!?"
"They aren't beasts! They are my friends…" His eyes look toward Sibella, then back at Sigmund. "...and the girls I love." Upon hearing that, the mad monster hunter looked positively disgusted.
"You….LOVE monsters!?" He inquired in abject horror. "That is the most disgusting, perverse...that is betrayal to your own kind!"
"If being human means I have to be like you, then I don't want to be human!"
"...you don't deserve to live any more, Loud…." He told the boy in a deadly serious voice. "...but first things first." He turned back to Sibella, loading a new stake into his bow before pointing it at her heart once more.
