Chapter 38.
With Lola's upcoming pageant contest coming up, the Loud family had gone off to the auditorium where the contest was to be held. While all was well, Lincoln and by extension, Lisa, could not help but feel as though things will not stay as peaceful for long. Their worries seem to have grown more after seeing Oswald Kresten among the crowd of workers who are managing the entire thing.
A couple of hours have passed since then, and naturally, the Loud family's very own, Lola Loud was easily dominating in the contest, leaving the other contestants very doubtful of their own chances to win.
By now all that was left of the contest is for the final judging process. While the others were all biting nervously on their nails, some even fanning themselves and looking like they're about to pass out, Lola waited with a big smile plastered on her face as the judges discussed about their final verdict.
After jumping from opinions to opinions and running through their previous scores, the juries turned back to all of the contestants, with a decisive look on their faces.
"Now then, contestants," One of them began, presumably the head judge, "After talking about it with my fellow juries, we have come to a conclusion on who will win our beauty pageant!"
Despite knowing that this was just about to unfold, the audience and contestants both gasped after the jury revealed what was next, they were of delight and surprise.
"Looking back on our scores, and on the performance of our contestants, we are happy to announce that our winners are…"
Lola, and her family whom are all at the edge of their seats, waited excitedly for the final results to be told to everyone.
"Coming in at third place…" The head jury began, pausing for a moment to further add tension in the air, before finally continuing, "Florence Valentino!"
It was after her name was announced that the aforementioned girl clenched her fists and gave out a reaction that basically screamed, "So close!". The girl then began walking to to the newly-placed podium where she was given a bouquet of flowers and a simple-looking tiara with a single gem of unknown legitimacy. The podium then rose one feet above the ground, signifying her position.
This Florence Valentino kid was wearing a light blue dress without any patterns and were accompanied only by a cyan sash and gloves. Her hair was light brown in color which was set into a small ponytail. Judging by how smooth it looked, it was clear that they were kept with great care. Despite being third place though, she still beamed a smile and waved to the audience who all gave her a round of applause as she accepted her place.
After a few more seconds, the podium lowered itself back to its' original height and Florence left with her prizes as she continued to wave at the audiences.
Once she was off behind the curtains, her smile wore off and she looked at the floor before taking off her tiara to look at it. She sighed and was just about to walk off before somebody whistled to her.
Confused, she turned to her back to see tall Englishman wearing a dark green jean jacket with a green shirt underneath, accompanied also with a pair of dark green jeans. His hair reached down to his neck, though, despite its' length, his eyes weren't obscured as they were parted in the middle. Looking at the girl was a pair of sharp green eyes. The man was also leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. This man, is otherwise known as, Oswald Kresten.
Feeling disturbed, Florence was just about to run away from him before he gave her a thumbs up and a single nod. His expression said it all, "Good job" was the message he gave her. Once she got that message through, her smile returned, her confidence too. If she's to lose this one, there will always be another pageant for her to improve on. She then ran off with a big smile on her face.
Oswald then leaned back on the wall and peeked out a bit to see as the contestant on second place was announced: "Lindsey Sweetwater!" Came the voice of the head jury. He also saw how the girl had a sour expression on her face.
Sighing, Oswald eased up for a while as he waited for something. Surely, this something was going to be a very big problem for him, and of course, Lincoln as well.
He could just hear as the audience was getting restless while the jury was about to declare the number 1 of this contest. He heard the jury got off his seat and began walking around like a big jerk, teasing both the audiences and the contestants as he did his so-called dramatic pause. At least, that's what went through Oswald's mind, and, another thing crossed his mind. It felt like a tripwire that was linked directly to his mind had been triggered and someone has made their presence known.
Back with the Loud family, Lincoln felt the air getting tense. He then began sweating as he looked around to see the source of his uneasiness. Unknown to him, Lisa had been staring at him as he did that.
Then, just when the head jury was finally about to announce the winner, the roof around the middle of the building collapsed. It was a good thing that none of the seats were placed there. Though, what followed were the panicked and terrified screams of the audiences as they were blinded by the clouds of smoke that were kicked up by the roof's collapse.
Many of the people who had been caught inside of the smokescreen managed to get out shortly after and get themselves to a safer location. They should have gone outside, but instead they chose to watch as the cloud cleared off to reveal an Armored Hexon with blue markings all around it and a monster with a physical build similar to Theropods with the exception of having a face flatter than what you could call a dinosaur's and a tail only half the length of its' body size.
Before anyone could start gasping or screaming or even react to the two, the door was kicked open. Walking in with a slow gait was yet another familiar Commander.
The Commander then looked around the auditorium, giving out a somber aura, as if he was feeling bad about something. He looked to the floor to see one of the broken ribbons that were once strung high onto the ceiling. Crouching down, he picked it up before folding it. With a sigh, he stood back up and placed hand on his head.
"I told them I didn't want to destroy anything," Lund finally spoke up, "Just when I've found a good place to duel in."
Once he finished talking, he held his hand forwards where a small red sphere of energy began forming. He slowly moved his hand downwards with the sphere following his motion, creating a single-bladed sword as it did. As soon as it was finished, Lund grabbed the blade and swung it around before pointing it forward towards the stage.
"W-What do you want?" The head jury shakily asked.
"At ease, it's like he said," Oswald interloped, walking to the middle of the stage where he stopped, crossing his arms as he looked back to Lund, "A duel."
With that, Oswald gestured the contestants, the juries and the audiences to get to safety, which they did without hesitation except for one. Including her family.
Oswald then looked at this remaining contestant with a raised eyebrow. It was Lola Loud, standing still in place with a confused and hesitant look.
"Kid, you better get out of here, fast." Oswald told her.
"Lola, come on!" Lana shouted from the back.
"N-No!" Yelled the young pageant queen.
"And why is that?"
Lola was taken aback by his question, she stepped back for bit while she held her arm, looking away with some hint of embarrassment in her face before finally answering him, "Because… I don't want to lose my chance to win! I can't just let my entire career down the drain because of this!"
From the back, along with his family, Lincoln silently uttered, "Lola…" under his breath. He couldn't help but feel sympathy towards his little sister, but if there's one thing she should be more worried about right now, it should be for her own life.
"Listen, I don't know how important this thing is to you and I'm sure it means the world, but if you don't run now, you'll never have the chance to go on with this 'career' of yours."
"But… But it's all I have!" Lola defiantly shouted back at Oswald, before her mascara was visibly ruined as it became runny due to her tears falling down her face, "I don't want you freaks to ruin this one!"
Oswald closed his eyes and breathed in deeply for a moment before exhaling as he opened them again.
"I'm sorry," He sincerely apologized, "But I don't want to see another person dead because of me. Not anymore."
Despite her efforts at trying to bottle up her emotions, Lola did eventually run away from the stage and out the backstage exit while she screamed in frustration.
"Lola!" The Louds shouted out, running out of the building to look for her. All except two of them stayed behind.
"Lincoln, I'm leaving this to you! Please, be safe!" Lisa asked of Lincoln, a request which the boy nodded to.
Just as Lisa had left the building, Julius came in, looking like he had just ran a marathon. He then ran over to Lincoln's side and nodded to the boy and transformed.
Kicking away at the carpet, Oswald reveals a hidden button underneath it. He then looked at the trio of invaders, especially Lund, who had been looking at the ground as if he was actually feeling bad for what he's done. The man then stepped on the button and next to it, a hatch was opened, from where a sabre sprang out of and caught by Oswald.
"Alright Lund, if you really felt bad on what you've done, then how about you keep to your words and duel with me? You can send your boys over to those two, they can take care of them."
"Okay, Oswald?" Julius shouted, objecting on one thing, "First off, I do not want to fight Disastrosaurus Rex over there!"
Lincoln then blankly looked at Julius as he finished, well at least it felt like a blank stare. He was then met with a shrug from Julius, to which he replied with, "Dude, just get on with it."
"…Fine, but I assure you-"
Julius paused when he looked again to where the two were, only to find that they were no longer standing far but instead, just mere centimeters away from them. Before anyone could say anything to this, they were punched straight out of the building, stopped only when they finally lost their momentum in the air. This created a problem, they were bound for a crash landing.
The duo then hit the ground hard enough to make two craters many times their own size in diameter and at least a few times their height in depth. Inside the crater, the pair groaned in pain.
Back with Oswald and Lund, the former had just finished adjusting his arm to the use of the sword and had it pointed at the latter, who simply stared back at him.
"Right then, Sa'Ur Lund, let's duel." He declared, transforming into his grasshopper motif armor when his waist glowed bright red as his belt appeared.
The two then rushed towards each other and clashed with their swords, creating a shockwave that shook the entire building, but had a small enough amount of energy in it so it wouldn't destroy it.
Backing away from the lock, Oswald and Lund both tried to circle around each other, which turned to them spiraling closer towards each other as they stepped over the seats and locked their blades again. Pushing through, they both managed to free themselves and continued on by delivering swings after swings, all repelled only by their own force.
The clashing of blades continued as they began to run around the auditorium, both trying to gain an advantage of sorts towards the other. The two eventually reached the stage where they would then begin to move with much more grace, showcasing their expertise on their weapon.
Meanwhile, Julius and Lincoln had been trying as hard as they could to try and get an opening on their opponents. Ever since the two were caught off-guard, they haven't been able to properly lock onto the Elite and the beast.
"Alright, come on now Lincoln think! What do you do when you can't keep up with Lynn?" Lincoln thought to himself, racking his brain for memories of when he and the sporty Loud would be playing tag around the house, or when she had her roller skates with her, blitzing him when he least expects it.
The Loud boy then got an idea, once he and Julius found themselves into a more open area, he stopped and kept his position, body bent, head towards the ground, and just overall not looking at anything at all.
Julius also stopped a few meters ahead of Lincoln before turning back to the boy. Confused, he asked, "Lincoln, what are you doing?"
The boy simply raised one hand towards Julius and scanned around the place to see if there would be any signs of the Armored Hexon and the monster around. Sure enough, they were. Julius then found himself in a pinch when the dinosaurian monster tackled him from behind.
Thinking that Lincoln was also open for attacks, the Armored Hexon jumped above the boy and got ready to pounce. Only for it to be countered when Lincoln rolled to his side and had the Elite punch the ground.
Wasting no time, Lincoln jumped forward and threw a punch to the side of the Elite's head and staggered it. Lincoln then continued his counterattack by following through with a series of punches and kicks aimed at the Armored Hexon. After having dazed it, Lincoln made haste towards the Theropod-like creature who charged towards Lincoln.
However, Julius managed to recover quick enough to grab the saurian by its' tail and pull it back, hoping to overcome the kinetic energy produced by the charging reptilian. This also gave Lincoln to perform a Superman Punch on the creature's face, which seems to greatly affect it as it then began thrashing around. This was a big mistake on the beast's part since even though this made it dangerous, it doesn't know that someone else was behind it. Using this as a chance, Julius began applying more pressure onto the creature's leg, securing his arm lock around it.
Julius then spun around in place, with the monster getting caught off-guard by this and was at the mercy of the teen, which is to say, basically nonexistent towards the creature. After having made several rounds, Julius released the creature's tail and sent it flying towards the Armored Hexon once Lincoln barely jumped out of the way. Great coincidence, really.
"Alright!" Lincoln pumped his fist skywards.
"Ha ha! Come on!" Julius taunted their enemy, feeling rather cocky.
With that, the two sides now have a more equal ground against each other. Both Lincoln and Julius took up a fighting stance as they prepared themselves for the real battle. This gesture was returned by the opposing force as the Armored Hexon began stretching its' muscles which is, unknown whether it had them or not, while its' beastly comrade roared at the two young fighters.
The tornado team match will now commence.
Chapter Ends.
There we go, a bit longer than I intended to but it'll work out. Also, if you guys are wondering which girl I took for Florence, she's actually one of the characters that appeared in "Cover Girls". Why? Because taking one-off characters seem to be a thing here. Only in my case, I took it a bit further.
Soon, we will see another change in the story that will. Will. Eventually play a role in the next arc.
Now then, with 38 finished, Chapter 39's arrival will be underway.