Chapter 37.
A week since that last battle between Lincoln and Korax had passed, and nothing else happened after that. Things had quieted down after that whole thing had blown over. Good thing though, since it gave the Loud family, and especially Lincoln, some time to settle down and take it easy. Probably shouldn't take all this peace and quiet for granted though.
Just this morning, Lola had barged into Lincoln's bedroom, and before the boy could even ask what could possibly rile her up at this time of the day, he had a poster shoved into his face. Apparently it was for an upcoming beauty pageant. And Lola wants him to help her do the last touches of her preparation.
So, they head out to the backyard where Lincoln would then begin with the final touch-ups.
"Okay Lola," Lincoln began, scanning through the pages of a guidebook, "Gil de Lily says here-"
"Come on, Lincoln, "Lola impatiently interrupted him, "I don't need Gil de Lily's advice now, I just need you to run me through the essentials and be the judge. I do need some confidence boost too, you know?" The young diva then struck a pose as she finished her sentence.
Lincoln stared blankly at his sister before closing the guidebook and sighed, "Alright Lola, you're the boss."
Doing as she asked, Lincoln had her go through the 'essentials' in winning the contest. They consisted mostly of the runway walks, the interviews and most importantly, the talent showcase. Lincoln would have just zip through in judging everything the pageant winner does, if it wasn't for her insistence. This forced the still, for some reason, tired boy to force his focus on giving her a good comment and criticism on her works.
Thankfully, it all came to an end soon enough for the boy, with Lola feeling giddy about her scores.
"So, how did I do, Linky?" Lola asked, hopping excitedly in place, waiting expectantly for Lincoln's final verdict.
"Well, since I've already made my comments on your previous performances, I'm just going to sum it up," Lincoln scratched his head, "Overall, you did good. I may have spotted some missteps here and there. But nothing you can't really improve on the actual runway."
Lola found this strange, she thought he made the exact same moves and steps she'd always done before, what made him say that?
"What?" The young pageant queen tilted her head in question.
Lincoln's eyes widened when he realized what he just did and shook his head with his hands up, "I'm sorry, it was nothing. You did perfect! Just be sure to keep improvising, okay?"
"Oh, okay then," Lola nodded with a smile and started walking back into the house, not before she leaned onto the railing to ask, "Wait, Lincoln, what time is it?"
The boy, having just picked up the last items used during all that, stopped to look at his phone and check on the time. He nodded and pocketed his phone to inform Lola, "It's at least a quarter to eleven, why?"
It was then Lola's turn to have her eyes widen, "The contest is in an hour!"
Lola's panicking would then send the entire family in a frenzied rush to prepare for the trip and get her to where the contest would be held. The whole family then took off to the spot in Vanzilla, it all may have taken nearly half an hour but at least they managed to finish just in time.
After a not-so relaxing drive, due to them not wanting to incur Lola's wrath as the aftereffect of her panicked state, they finally came to a stop outside the auditorium where the contest was set to take place in.
"You guys can go on ahead, I'm gonna find a good spot to park Vanzilla in." Mr. Loud said to them after dropping off his family near the entrance, before driving off.
Inside, the Louds found that though the place was a bit quiet, at least more so than their household would usually be, but it was far from empty. There were at least several parents tending and giving a pep talk of sorts to their daughters.
The sight of the other contestants being so much more energetic than the ones she's faced off before however, did not faze Lola, not one bit. Besides, how is she going to win when she's being a nervous wreck while she's on the stage, right? Fueling further to her confidence is her own history in winning countless contests before.
The place itself was quite large too, it was also heavily decorated with multiple banners and some other things that would suit for an event like this one. The stage too had been lined up with a red carpet. How grand did this place needed to be?
"Alright, Lola," Lincoln crouched down in front of his sister, "Now remember, you've already prepared for all of this, so it shouldn't be any problem to you right?"
Lola then scoffed as she replied, "Of course, Lincoln. I mean come on, I'm Lola Loud! Also, it's not like you didn't help."
Lincoln then patted his sister on the head before she waved them goodbye, heading towards the backstage area where she would then begin gathering courage by talking to herself in the mirror at the dressing room. If there's anything she didn't want today, it's to lose her chance to win another pageant contest due to some freak accident.
She may have just jinxed her own chances though, especially after having that thought. What's coming may end up being much freakier than anyone would imagine.
Back with the rest of the Loud family, their father had already joined up with since finding a good parking spot wasn't that hard considering the number of people currently present at the time.
They then made their way to a row of seat that would definitely yield a good view on the whole contest.
"So, what do you kids think?" Mr. Loud began, "If things are going to be okay, I mean?"
"Come on, dad, I'm sure things are still gonna go easy today." Lynn replied before turning over to Lincoln, "Right, Lincoln?"
"Huh?" The boy said, trying to come up with an answer, "Oh uh, I guess so."
Though, even the buck-toothed boy wasn't so sure about things. Probably because he had just spotted someone very familiar to him.
"Psst!" Someone called out to him.
"Huh?" Lincoln looked over to his left side where Lisa was waving to him, "Excuse me, Lana? Can I switch with you for a moment?"
"Yeah, I don't see why not. Besides, maybe for once, I'll try to focus on the actual show." She voluntarily got up and walked over to Lincoln's place.
"Okay, what is it?" Asked the Loud boy as he took a seat.
"What do you suppose his reason for being here?" She inquired, most likely referring to the same person Lincoln had seen.
"What, Oswald?" Lincoln looked back to the man walking around the stage, like he was inspecting the place.
"I have a bad feeling about this, Lincoln," Lisa voiced her worries, "Not him, but of something else."
"Yeah, me too." Lincoln grimly agreed to the young scientist.
Meanwhile, Lynn Sr. had been watching the two whisper silently for quite a while now, how the others didn't follow was beyond anyone. He then straightened himself on his seat and faked a cough to get the others' attention, "It's a bit quiet don't you think? You know, why don't we share our experiences during these recent events?"
"That's a good idea, honey!" Rita agreed to her husband, then looked to her right where Lori was quietly sitting at, "Lori, why don't you start first?"
"Well, it was nice, mom. Bobby and I could finally get some time together after the whole thing with the town had literally blown over." Said the teen with a smile.
"Yeah, and I could, like, finally get back to the latest fashion trends!" Leni followed soon after.
"And I could finally get a moment's peace and start jamming again." Luna continued.
"Uh-huh, and I too can finally start focusing on my jokes again! But be careful, this time, I'm more than ready for an all-out attack!" She laughed after making a joke based on the recent events, which made her family flinch, almost enough to bother even Lucy. Then, like usual, she added her signature quote, "Get it?"
"Yeeeaahh…." Lynn slowly said, still bothered by Luan's joke, "Anyway, I can't really say things have been going good for me though, my team's training was canceled at the last minute due to one of our members freaking out."
"Let me guess, paranoia?" Lucy asked, which the sporty Loud replied with a nod, "Well, I can't say I had it good too, I thought all I needed was more things related to the darkness, I found myself keeping away from them."
"I don't think I can really point out what's bothering me, I managed to have a good time lately, but I've also been thinking that all these mud, and handyman stuff just won't cut it for me. That I needed a break or something." Lana sighed, looking down on the floor.
"Well, how about you two?" Lynn Sr. looked to his only son and his second youngest, "Surely, you two must have had something good in your way lately, right?"
"Mhm, like a few days ago, your teacher came to my office and had an appointment, apparently he broke some of his teeth or something." Rita laughed, she shouldn't, but just remembering how Zed was too casual on things despite having a slight fracture in his nose and a broken teeth, it couldn't be helped.
"Yeah, I don't know what happened, but it seems that my office had been thrown away, literally!" Mr. Loud too joined in remembering his time, "Apparently you guys weren't kidding when you said things did got worse. Now it looks like I'll be missing work for several months or so."
Just by hearing that, Lincoln felt his eyes slowly gravitating towards Oswald down at the stage, still looking to be inspecting the premises.
"My days has been going great lately, to be honest." The Loud boy said, trying to not let too much out.
"I would have to agree to Lincoln, as of late, I have managed to collect some samples of those extraterrestrial beings. Really, I'm surprised their remains were still around at the scene." Lisa finished up on things while adjusting her glasses.
"Now that we've done that, why don't we focus back on Lola? Looks like the contest is about to start soon." Lana said, which the rest of the family all agreed with.
The contest then started moments after the Loud family had their focus back onto the stage where all the contestants began lining up in. Somewhere in the row, they could all see her, dressed in a pink sparkly dress with a tiara on her head, Lola Loud, waving happily to the audience. Especially them.
Now, it's all just a matter of whether things would go smoothly or not.
Chapter Ends.
Well, nothing can go wrong, right?
Next time, we will be seeing more progress on the story, hopefully it can be counted as such.
But until then, tune in next time, to First Impact, Chapter 38.