AN: Since the Loud Family are witnessing the events occuring in Gregory's world, I've decided to try something a little different. Rather than putting a line break between every moment in which one of the Louds speaks up, I'll underline the moments in which they interject. Let me know what you think: does it work ok? Does it help the flow, or hinder it?

Record Breaking

"I followed my ears to find out where that music was coming from. I just hope I don't end up facing the music for it."

The middle Loud didn't have to go far to find the source of the music. Standing atop a mausoleum, trying to shoo away a murder of crows harrassing him, was a man with a record player for a head. He was wearing a dark blue conductor's outfit and carrying a baton, which he was swinging at the birds. "Away with you! Away!" He yelled, the music being interrupted. The yelling seemed to have sent the pesky avians away. Or perhaps it was Lincoln's presence. It was hard to say. "Oh, whoa is me…" The man moaned in a manner the human boy could only call melodramatic. "I put my blood, sweat and tears into this melody...worked until my fingers bled to write the score...my very soul went into creating my masterpiece...but alas, no one wishes to hear it. Not even the birds…"

"Ugh. What a drama queen…" Lola commented with disgust, rolling her eyes as she ignored the looks all of her sisters were giving her.

"...if only I could get one person to listen...someone who can appreciate good music…" He continued to lament. Lincoln's first instinct was to walk away; he hadn't forgotten what happened practically every time he helped someone so far. Yet, he felt some sympathy for the depressed composer. He walked up to a small tombstone and sat down upon it, looking up at the conductor. The man with the record player head turned to continue his moaning and suddenly noticed the young man. "Where did you come from…?" He asked in surprise.

"The house." Lincoln said vaguely. "I heard your music."

"You...heard my music? You'd like to hear more?" He asked, hope filling his voice. Lincoln nodded in reply. "Oh joyous day!" He cheered right before he cleared his throat. He then started to sing as if he were at the opera. As he did, a sad piano sonnet started to play around them. Lincoln may not have been as musically talented as Luna, but he knew what good music was...and this wasn't it.

"What do you think, Luna?" Leni asked, looking into the rocket's frowning face.

"Dull, derivative, and soulless…" she critiqued. "It's like he just copied Mozart and put nothing of his own in."

The one son was starting to lose interest in the impromptu concert, but before he could make a move, his vision started to go black.

"Lincoln! Get out of there!" A voice cried out, but it was too late. Everything grew dark to Lincoln, with the image fading on the crystal ball. This didn't last long, however, for the vision returned, giving the Loud's a bird's eye view of a smooth, black valley, where the lost brother was sitting in the center of it.

"What just happened?" Rita asked in concern.

"Where'd Lincoln go to?" Lana asked. She was able to see him, but couldn't figure out where he had been sent.

"And why is the music still playing?" Lori inquired. "I can't see that conductor guy…"

"Where...where am I?" The one son wondered aloud as he slowly stood up. There was something strange about the towering, smooth walls to either side of him. He gingerly placed his hand upon the right side wall. "...vinyl?" Just then, he heard a scraping sound; like sharp metal being dragged along asphalt. It was low, but it was growing in volume quickly. He slowly looked behind himself. Whatever it was, it sounded like it was coming right for him. 'Run!' He thought to himself before he bolted in the opposite direction. It was a good thing he did too, because a sharp metal blade was headed right for him, causing sparks as it scraped along the floor.

The Loud sisters screamed, while Rita and Lynn Sr gasped. "W...what is that thing!?" The horrified Loud father asked.

"It looks like...a giant record needle!?" Luna answered in shock.

"Linky's trapped in a giant record!?" Leni nearlly screamed.

"Actually, that seems highly likely…" Lisa commented, frowning as she watched the scene unfolded. "...and given how fast the needle is travelling, and how sharp it seems...if it reaches our brother, it will likely slice him in half...approximately…"

"What gives!?" Lincoln shouted out as he fled for his life from the needle.

"This is for all those who lack the taste to appreciate my genius!" The Poor Conductor declared, his voice ringing all around him. "For the philistines who refuse to even listen to my art!"

"But I was listening! I sat down and gave you a chance!" The one son yelled back.

"No one truly understands the genius of my craft! Therefore, they must be punished!"

"You ingrate! No wonder no one wants to listen to your music!"

"YOU LEAVE OUR BROTHER ALONE, YOU BIG BULLY!" Lola's voice suddenly sounded from high above. Her sheer volume was enough to cause the arm of the player to shake, causing the needle to bounce off the sides and slow down for a moment.

"L...Lola!?" Did Lincoln really just hear that? Did he really hear one of his sisters right there?

"He heard me!?" The pageant princess inquired in surprise, her family holding their ears in pain.

"How can he not?" Lori groaned. "I think they heard you all the way in California…"

"It appears that, if we were to speak at a higher than normal volume, it's possible for Lincoln to hear us." Lisa theorized after her ears stopped ringing. Leni, Lana, and Lynn's eyes lit up, the three of them taking a deep breath.

"Whoa! Hold up!" Luna exclaimed, holding up her hands to stop them. "If you all yell at once, Linc might get distracted, and that would be bad…" Her words were, fortunately, enough to stop them.

The white haired boy's mind was racing as he ran along the curved path. There was another by solid walls and floor around him, and swirling fog far above him, and the needle was starting to gain again. He couldn't keep running like this. He had no escape. He closed his eyes, getting ready to accept his fate when...BOOOOM! A fiery explosion rocked the record, shards of vinyl flying across the path far ahead. The needle was bounced around again, causing it to lose momentum. "Lincoln!" A familiar young lady's voice shouted from a newly created hole in the wall. "Over here, amigo!" As soon as he ran up to the gap in the barrier, he drove through, the needle skidding past seconds later. "Are you alright, Lincoln?" Cactus Girl asked, hopping over to the young man's side. The young man was breathing heavily, sweating from the effort of maintaining a full run.

"I...think so...thanks, Cactus-Whoa!" He yelled, grabbing the young living cactus and jumping back through the hole, narrowly avoiding the razor sharp blade as it zipped past the other side. Her needles dug into his arm as he held her, but he couldn't even feel it with his adrenaline. "...that was close…"

"Thanks, Lincoln." She said, looking down at the arm holding him. "...you...uh...can let me go now."

"Oh...right. Sorry." He said as he released her, A few beads of blood appeared on his arm where the spines stuck into him. The little cow girl looked apologetically at him as she pulled off her neckerchief and used it to wrap his injury.

"There. That should do it."

"Aww. She's so nice." Leni cooed, smiling at the scene.

"That much be Cactus Girl. Well, at least we know she isn't a 'prick'. Hahahaha!"

"Luan!" Her parents scolded her, the family joker smiling sheepishly.

"She's pretty cute though." Lana commented, leaning in for a closer look.

"She is...for a cactus." Lola agreed.

"...did...the music just stop?" The sports centered Loud pointed out, the silence coming from the crystal ball being very noticeable.

"Thanks again." The one son said after his small wounds were dressed. "Don't suppose you know how to get out of here?"

"...the only way out is to stop the music." She informed him. "Permanently."

"Stop the music, huh? Hmmm…" Lincoln's hand went to his chin as the gears in his head started turning. "...well, at least we have plenty of time to think…" The moment he said that, the arm and needle flew overhead, coming to rest in an earlier segment of the record. The middle Loud's mouth hung open for a moment as he witnessed this, followed by a few sour expression crossing his face. "Oh, that's just-"

"Bullshit!" Lynn snapped furiously.

"Junior! Language!" Lynn Sr told her, a look of anger and disappointment on his face.

"Well, it is!"

"While I wouldn't have put it so crudely, I must concur with Lynn's analysis of the situation." The little genius interjected. "This situation is far from what one would call fair."

"Oh no...what are they going to do?" Leni asked, worried to the point of tears as the two friends dodged the needle in both directions again.

"Either they stop that player, or they'll need to break some speed records." Luan quipped, though once more, no one thought it was very funny.

"Break some records…" Luna muttered, before her face suddenly lit up. "That's it! If they can ruin that record, it should stop the music. And if the little lady in green is right, that should save them."

"Hmmm. Logical. Vinyl records tend to be fragile, so it shouldn't be too diffcult." The bespectacled toddler commented after considering her older sister's idea for a second.

"Lincoln! Break the record!" Luna shouted, hoping Lincoln could hear her.

"Luna?" The one son said aloud when he heard her voice, though nowhere near as loudly as Lola's.

"What is it, Lincoln?" Cactus Girl asked, looking up at the human boy.

"I could have swore I heard Luna's voice. She said break the record." He replied, looking up toward the swirling mist.

"Break the record? Well, how does she suggest we do that!?" The hot headed desert dweller inquired sharply. After avoiding getting bisected for a third time, the white haired boy took the opportunity to think.

'Records are supposed to be pretty fragile...easily scratched.' He mused, the player's arm moving back over again. "Do you think your lasso can reach that arm?"

"I wish...but even if I could, neither of us are strong enough to pull it…"

"Good point…" The one son frowned as one idea went south. "Wait...how did you punch a hole in the wall before?"

"I borrowed a few sticks of dynamite from my brother." She admitted to her friend. "...but don't tell him I did. He doesn't like it when I use his stuff…" She added, looking both guilty and worried.

"I've been there. I understand." He replied. "Do you still have some left?"

"I think I have one stick left." Cactus Girl reached behind herself and pulled out a stick of tnt. "Si. One left."

"...I have a crazy idea." He told her in a deadpan voice. "If we use that dynamite to blast the needle into the wall, the force should cause it to rip through the walls like a battering ram." He started to explain as they were forced to move yet again. "That should scratch the record something fierce. No more record, no more music."

"...that is crazy." She agreed, looking at him like he lost his mind.

"I'm open to other suggestions at this point." A moment of silence followed his words, to which Cactus Girl pulled a match from her pocket.

"...just say when." She grumbled slightly.

"As soon as we pass through the hole the first time, light it." Lincoln instructed her. "Then count to three and throw it down the path. We'll dive through and we should be safe."

"I hope you know what you're doing…"

"Us too…" The Loud Children and parents said together.

The middle Loud and little sister of Cactus Gunman watched and waited as the blade came right for them again. When it came into view, they jumped through the hole in the wall for the fifth time, the fiery spirited cowgirl lighting the fuse. "One...two...three!" She hurled the stick as hard as she could before both she and Lincoln sprang back across and hit the dirt. Seconds later, the needle started to pass the tnt, almost exactly at the moment it exploded. The spike of steel was thrown like a cannonball, starting to tear through the vinyl like a knife through cardboard. The two friends and the Louds listening in cringed as the record screeched loudly as it was scratched.

"No! NOOOOO!" The pretentious musician screamed as the melody became distorted, then died. "My masterpieeeeeeeeeece!" He wailed as all went black once more. When Lincoln and Cactus Girl's vision returned, they found themselves laying on the graveyard grass, in front of the crypt Poor Conductor was standing atop.

"Whew...great job, Cactus Girl." Lincoln complimented her, giving her a bright smile.

"...not going to lie, amigo...I didn't think that was going to work...but am I glad it did." She said, helping the white haired boy up.

"My music...my magnum opus...ruined…" The melancholy music player moaned.

"Oh, shut up." Lincoln said angrily, glaring up at him. "You cried and moaned for an audience, but the moment you get one, you try and kill them! You have no right to beg for sympathy from us!" The lasso wielding young lady gave a sharp nod in agreement before she took Lincoln's hand and the two started to walk away, leaving the self important conductor to his own lamentations. "Oh, and your 'masterpiece' is bland too!" The one son snapped as a final shot before he and Cactus Girl disappeared from Poor Conductor's sight.