Authors Note: I wanted to just let all you dear viewers know, that I have something special planned that I will begin on soon. But it will result in this fic being slowed down, it is a special chapter for it you could say like a movie one. That's the best way I have to describe it, I hope you all enjoy! Take care!
Lincoln screamed as he fell from the air through the portal. The fall felt endless, until it was suddenly stopped when he abruptly landed in a pool of water at somebody's backyard. He quickly swam back to the surface, gasping for his breath while hanging onto the side of the pool.
"Ouuuggghhh…uhh?" Lincoln realized that he was not alone. There was a small family of five having a barbecue, and his sudden appearance out of nowhere had interrupted things.
"So-sorry, I'll get out of your yard," Lincoln apologized while he pulled his soaked body out of the pool, the family not having any words to say and just watching as he left, while the grill caught fire with its overcooked food. The teenage boy looked around the dark streets, not seeing Lynn anywhere. Only the streetlights and the moon itself were illuminating the night now.
"Well, at least these are safe," Guardian Red looked down at the two cards he had been given that had the riddles written down upon them. He doubted that BelGaner even had any real location in mind for where that portal would take the teenagers. Either way it seemed now, the game had begun.
"And that must be her now," he heard his cellphone ringing, mentally thanking Luan for getting him that waterproof phone case. The comedic Loud gave him that item to make sure that none of her very few water-based pranks that she used would not be able to ruin his phone. The middle Loud child recognized Lynn's ringtone since it was a more triumphant hero anthem theme that he had given her recently, which seemed fitting for his sister, seeing how she was Guardian Black.
"Hey, Lynn. Are you okay?" Lincoln asked, hoping that his girlfriend had a much safer warping than he had been given.
"Hey, Lincoln… Kind of… I'm just a bit dizzy… and all the blood's rushing to my head, that's all," Lynn replied. At the moment she was stuck hanging upside down in a tree, her duffel bag caught on a branch, which had saved her from the nasty fall and spared her from any injuries beyond a few scratches.
"Sorry about that… Glad to hear you're safe, at least. I wound up in a pool in some neighborhood, I kind of interrupted a family's cookout," Lincoln apologized. At the moment he felt pretty nauseous, just like his sisterly girlfriend. Neither of them were used to using those portals. They had no idea how the Xeran tolerated using them on a regular basis.
"Do you see a sign of where you are, or anything?" Lynn asked, still pondering to herself on how to escape from her own predicament without breaking any of her limbs. That would be devastating to both of her careers, sports and defending the world.
"Uhh… oh! There's one that says Archbrook Street… I've never been to this place before," Lincoln claimed while shaking his head rapidly like a wet dog trying to dry himself off.
"Oh! That's about half a mile away from our school. That means we're not too far from each other. So what do you want to do, boss? Want me to come to you, or do you want to come to me? Or do we meet halfway?" Lynn asked, thinking that it would be best if they were together for this extreme game of Hide and Seek, especially since they had to unravel riddles and discover disguised textoth if they wanted no innocent civilians to get hurt.
"Considering we've got to find four disguised skeletons before six a.m.… I think we should probably split up. If they were trying to hurt us, I'd say otherwise," Lincoln claimed, not exactly the keenest on being referred to as boss. If anyone was the leader of the guardians, it was Lisa, the very one who founded the Guardian Project, whose mind gave the world its first line of defense against the Xeran. It never was the intention though, it was what it had turned into. Going from simply finishing a project for a deceased cohort, turned into a vital volunteer protective service that grew daily more vital in its needs.
"Alright. I actually think I have this first riddle solved anyway," Lynn claimed, looking at the one card BelGaner had pointed out to her which he claimed to be the easiest to solve out of the four given out.
"That's great! I'll check up on you in an hour… Bye, I love ya."
"Thanks. Bye, I love you too," Lynn hung up, but then she heard a crack, looking to the tree branch. She sighed, aware that it would be worse to have that branch fall on top of her if she fell. She pushed herself off of it, landing on a few bushes down below, groaning on impact.
"Whew! I feel dizzy," she climbed out of the bushes, holding her head, the duffel bag full of Gruynithil dangling off her side. She looked around to notice the familiar school. She had landed on a tree very close to it. Lynn looked down at the first riddle she was given to read it.
"A common item crafted daily by man. It is always sold by the maker, but never wanted by the buyer. The one who uses the item never knows it either."
Lynn scratched her head. It sounded pretty simple to her. There were really only a few things that people would make to sell that others would inevitably have to buy and not want to use, nor know they were using it.
"Sounds like a tombstone or a coffin… Well that's a good thing… no funeral home or cemetery should be open at this hour! At worst, I get arrested for trespassing, and if I find someone in either that isn't able to speak, I beat them up!" Lynn punched one fist into the other, relying on the logic of textoth not being able to talk in hopes of discovering the disguised ones. She made sure her duffel bag was secure before beginning to make her way down the street to go to the nearest cemetery, which she knew as one of Lucy's favorites.
"Well… this is just great," Lincoln groaned while viewing the first riddle of the two he had, wanting to figure out any type of theory, as long as he could get a direction to go that might be an answer to this riddle, so far he was getting the exact opposite result.
"My first is often at the front door. My second is found within the cereal family. My third is what most people want. My whole is one united state."
"…I can't solve this alone… I'm stuck at twenty possible leads already," Lincoln shook his head. He was thankful that BelGaner did not forbid them from requesting aid.
"Lisa, be my savior again," he muttered while dialing her phone number. He held the cellphone to his ear, waiting for an answer.
"Hello, Lincoln. Did you win the game?" Lisa answered tiredly, at the moment in another part of Royal Woods herself. She had just left the park where Lynn and Lori had battled, and she had gathered up all the broken sword pieces that she could wrangle up.
"No, Lisa, it just started. I need help. It's a riddle based game of Hide and Seek, and this riddle I got is too complicated for me… the good news is that Lynn and I got a small amount of Gruynithil! A Xeran Elite dropped the stuff, no idea where they got it. It's not much, but it might be enough to make something out of it," Lincoln explained as best as he could, while adding the great news of more of the alien metal being in their possession.
"Really?! That's extraordinary! I was gathering some pieces myself… Kind of… so what is this riddle? I may be of use now that I'm more alert," Lisa replied. She felt very tired, having been walking forever, and her short legs did not make the trips any faster, but exercise was never bad as long as it got her outside of the lab, according to Lynn. The news did wake her right back up though.
"Well… I'll just send you a picture of it, so you can read for yourself," Lincoln then took a picture of the riddle card. Once the image was saved, he hit Send to send it to Lisa in a matter of moments. The Guardian Project's maker viewed the strange riddle with her glasses covered eyes.
"Hmm… the most common thing at front doors are mats… and the thing many people want more than anything is money or happiness… We both know money is the more likely of the two. However, I can't understand the second one," Lisa stated her theory thus far. The first part might be mat and the third part might be money. How these related were beyond them. Guardian Red suddenly had a light bulb flash in his head.
"Wait… what is cereal made with?"
"Primarily rye, a common cereal grain which takes not so much effort to produce. The factories tend to add several different personal ingredients when…" Lisa began rambling, while Lincoln was just thinking to himself and tuning her out, the gears in his head slowly turning. Riddles were not fun to him at all, because they were cryptic and ridiculous like this one. They always needed insane reaches in logic, and BelGaner did not hesitate to make them crazy and confusing it seemed.
"Mat… Rye… Money… Mat-rye-money… Wait a second! I know it's a stretch, but altogether it sounds like matrimony!" Lincoln declared. Lisa took a moment to process what he said, but understood his point. She wished she could ask her brother the details, but she would be wasting his precious time.
"Thanks, Lisa. I'll see you later," Lincoln thanked her for her assistance. He would have gotten nowhere without her.
"Please remain safe. I know this is for Lori, but I'd rather you all come back alive instead of only two," Lisa hung up. Lincoln understood, still willing to do his best to save everybody he could. But if it came down to it, he would give himself up for them, that was a heroes job to do their best to save everybody they could.
"I guess I need to find… I have no idea what I need to find. I guess I'll start with stores that sell wedding gowns," Lincoln scratched his head. He may have the answer to the riddle, but matrimony could refer to several things; jewelry stores that sold engagement rings, stores that primarily specialize in making and selling wedding dresses, and the dozens of various places that host for said weddings, or offer catering services for them.
"Oh, boy… I hope Lynn is nowhere near as confused as I am…" Lincoln exhaled in frustration, beginning to hurriedly run down the street. He was far away from the only shop he could think of that sold wedding dresses that was open late, this game was just living up to the fact that getting ready to be married was more chaotic than marriage itself.
"Don't worry Lori… you'll be fine… I promise."