Merry not-yet Christmas, everybody! I had planned to post this on the 25th, but I won't be able to, so here's a chapter right now!

Hope, I'll understand if you give me coal for Christmas, I've been a bad boy. Hopefully you do get a gift, though, you deserve it :)

And for the first time ever, I think, there's neither review replies or next chapter previews.

Yup, I definitely deserve that coal now.

Anyway, to the chapter!

Episode 54: A Step Closer to Fission! The Aventure Further Envelops Lisapolis!

Back where we left Lincoln, Clyde, and Sincoln, the trio kept walking until they arrived at the designated spot on the map: a circular room with a large machine in the middle, and several monitors strung across the walls.

"So this is the thing that'll split me and Sincoln apart?" Lincoln asked.

"I gotta be honest," Clyde took a closer look. "This is starting to look more and more suspicious by the minute."

"One word: Trap!" Sincoln yelled. "When are you assholes going to listen to me!?"

"When you and Lincoln have split, I presume."

The boys turned around and saw Proto-Lisa on one of the screens, looking wearingly at Sincoln.

"Alright, Proto-Lisa, we came to the spot you asked us to," Lincoln said as he took a couple steps forward, getting the prototype's attention. "What do we do now?"

"Head into the machine you see there and sit on it," Proto-Lisa explained as the screen leaned closer to said machine. "I'll take it over from there."

Lincoln tried to walk to the machine, but was stopped by an enraged Sincoln. "Junior, I'm serious here! This. Is. A trap! You can't trust her!"

Lincoln broke free from his counterpart's grasp. "Well, I can't exactly trust you either, can I?"

Sincoln narrowed his eyes. "We both know the thing on the screen is as much of a problem as I am: even if she's being nice, she's probably just doih it to further her own goals! That's how the Lisa caste operates!"

"Even so, you've been a thorn on my side for too long," Lincoln replied with a serious tone. "Even if I have to train extra hard in order to control my power without you supposedly acting as a limiter, then so be it."

"Me not being there as a limiter will be the least of your problems if I get out!"

"When you get out."

Lincoln walked to the machine, and before Sincoln could try to get Clyde's side one more time-a lost cause perhaps but still worth a shot-the guy himself shot another blast at him, once again sporting the orange eyes until he blinked.

As for Lincoln, he sat down on the machine as Proto-Lisa's tired frown turned into a smile. "Okay, am I doing this right?"

"Yeah, you're doing it exactly as intended," Proto-Lisa took a deep breath. "Now, I'm going to warn you: the splitting process is a little... Painful, so, I can apply some anesthesia so you don't have to suffer through it."

"I-"

"Even if you say no to it, I at least insist you take painkillers. 'Cause this is going to hurt."

Lincoln took a deep breath and nodded in agreement, causing the machine to take out said painkillers and inject them on his bloodstream.

"It's not the best way you'll come out unscathed, but It's the best I can do with the resources I got," Proto-Lisa replied, clasping and rubbing her hands as she asked, "Now, let's begin the separation."

Then, she slyly smiled.

"Shall we?"

Rita launched a barrage of ice attacks at Maria, who kept snapping her fingers to cancel them. Lynn Sr. Stood nearby, wanting to do something to stop the women, and yet knowing he wasn't strong enough to survive getting between them.

"This fight is pointless, Rita!" Mrs. Santiago exclaimed as she clenched her gauntlet. "We both know the real enemy we should be dealing with!"

"Then how about you actually say their name!?" Rita hissed as she got ready to launch another attack. "Because what I see is you trying to go after my daughter's head!"

Rita unleashed a large row of ice constructs, effectiveky icebergs, at Mrs. Santiago, whose eyes glew red before she breath fire, melting the ice before it could even hit her.

"Lori's not your daughter, Rita! None of the Loud "Children" are your children!"

Rita gritted her teeth and growled, prompting Lynn Sr. To blurt:

"W-Well, Ronnie Anne's not your daughter either!"

Rita gasped and turned to her husband as Maria narrowed her eyes, her look growing more and more murderous as the man continued:

"And yet, you act like she is. She came first, and yet you treat her like a daughter. She's the one who made you, and yet she considers you her mother, not her daughter. Rita and I are the same: even if our children came first... Even if they made us... We still see them as our kids-"

"Pipe down, Lynn!" Maria demanded, stomping the ground. "You can't possibly understand why I'm doing what I'm doing!"

"I'm not saying that I understand, in fact, if I can be a little blunt: I have no idea what you're planning to do, nor what you plan to get out of this," Lynn Sr took a deep breath. "I just want you to understand that-"

Mrs. Santiago let out a "tsk" and snapped her fingers, sending a row of ice to wncircle the parents.

"I'm not in the mood for a pep talk, Lynn. I have to go find Lori and make sure she doesn't corrupt my daughter into becoming a blind follower of hers!"

With another snap, Mrs. Santiago vanished from the spot, leaving Rita to slowly undo the icicles encircling her and her husband. "Ugh, she's such a pain to reason with!"

"I can kinda see where she's coming from, though," Lynn Sr mused. "Lori's been known to do some rather nasty stuff in the past. If she managed to convince Ronnie Anne That what she did was cool-"

"But she won't."

The couple turned around and saw a familiar group appear into view: the lovechildren, looking slightly less bruised since their fight with Tally.

"Dad will make sure of that."

"The lovechildren!" Rita exclaimed, clenching her fists and narrowing her eyes. "What are you doing here!?"

"We could ask the same thing to you!" Lupa sternly replied, before she scoffed with a smug tone. "That is, if we didn't know already."

"Now, Lupa, don't give them a reason to attack us," Lacy said, standing between the groups. "Maybe they just want something else?"

"I never thought Junior's child would be the one trying to keep things calm," Lynn Sr. Remarked with an awkward chuckle.

"I was pretty shocked too at first," Lacy rolled her eyes and put a hand on her hip. "But you eventually get used to it after, I don't know, acting like the adult for a dozen assignments."

Rita raised an eyebrow. "A dozen assignments?"

"Perhaps it's time to fill you in on the details."

The groups turned around and saw a giant monitor descending from the ceiling, showing static as it leaned down to "look" directly at them.

"The Master Monitor!"

Lola and Lisa jumped around the place as the mutated rodents swung their claws at them, primarily Lisa, who managed to drive them away with a few blasts of her arm cannon.

"I can keep them distracted for a while!" Lisa stated, shooting another blast. "You go search the room for the cure!"

Lola nodded and began inspecting the room, climbing the walls to the best of her ability as she checked every capsule and every inch and cranny of the wall, paying no attention to Lisa's attacks.

As for Lisa, the scientist dodged all attacks thrown at her direction, though She quickly grew exhausted after that, allowing one more claw swing to hit and graze her cheek.

"Dang it, these things are relentless," Lisa activated her jet boots and flew up, far from the rodents' reach. "I need to think of something, or else they'll overrun me!"

"Why don't you try taming one of them?" Lola asked, focusing solely on her search. "You know, like what Lana would do?"

Lisa scratched her chin and smiled. "That certainly sounds worth a shot!"

Lisa flew down to one of the rodents, sat on its back and grabbed its elongated ears, the creature running around and clawing at anything in its past in a fit of enraged panic.

"Am I doing it right?!" Lisa asked.

"You have to convince it that you're the bigger person!" Lola replied. "Keep trying, but don't rip off its ears!"

It was in that moment Lisa knew, Lola was awful at giving advice. The rodent kept kicking the air, trying to force the girl off its back, while Lisa kept clinging to it as she desperately tried to think of what to do.

And then, she pondered, wasn't her caste's power related to the mind?

So, Lisa put a hand on the creature's forehead, and after a brief flash of green light engulfed it, the rodent stopped, its eyes glowing green as Lisa finally managed to properly sit on the creature.

"Alright then, let's put you to the test!"

The creature screeched as it lunged at its fellow creatures, swiping its claws wildly. This eventually culminated in the creature throwing all the other rodents off to the side, standing still as the rodents twitched in pain.

"That should stun them for a moment," Lisa remarked, slightly hoping she wasn't wrong. Normally she would believe she was right, but she couldn't take any chances right now. "Lola, have you had any luck?"

"Sadly no," Lola slid down the wall and landed right next to Lisa. "I can see some faces I think we've seen before but-"

And then she noticed the rodent's glowing green eyes, causing her to grow angry at the scientist.

"Lisa, what did you do?"

"Nothing that would really justify the tone you're using to talk to me right now," Lisa replied, shaking her head. "I simply put my hand on its head, channeled some power into its brain and boom, I tamed it!"

Lola narrowed her eyes. "You brainwashed it!"

"And I tamed it, which is what's important," Lisa rebutted as she made the creature walk towards the ex-diva. "Anyway, we shouldn't lose focus, there's still a couple of rodents left to tranquilize."

Lola, her stern expression unchanging, turned to see a group of mutant rats running to them, prompting her to take a couple steps forward them.

"I'll deal with them, you stay back."

"What?"

Lola snapped a cold glare at Lisa. "Stay. Back."

Before Lisa could react to the glare, a small piece of ice had covered both her and her rodent's shoulders, something they noticed as they also noticed that they couldn't actually move. They stood in place as Lola stopped walking and faced the rodents as she deeply inhaled.

Then she exhaled, and a pinkish mist came from her mouth, eventually enough coming out until it covered the incoming creatures. Lola promptly snapped her fingers, and in the blink of an eye, the mist dissipated to reveal the rodents frozen in place before being covered in ice.

"Ice breath, huh? That's kinda neat." Lisa blurted, making Lola flinch. "Since when can you do that?"

"Well, in the month the rest of the girls and I were training and fooling around, we decided to try play a little with our imaginations," Lola answered, scratching her back of her head with a little smile. "Eventually, I discovered the ability to freeze things with my breath!"

"Hmm, interesting," Lisa made the mutant rodent go close to and sniff one of the capsules. "Guess training is worthwhile after all, huh?"

Lola flinched, remembering her mistake of not training With Carol and everybody else back during the pagesnt fiasco, which also brought up an interesting question:

"Why didn't you join me and the girls during our training?"

"I'm a woman of science, Lola, not fighting," Lisa responded without hesitation. "My work is mostly done at the sidelines; I don't have the luxury of being able to head to the frontlines whenever I want."

"Well, you could have it if you took advantage of your free time," Lola put her hand on her hip. "There were several moments where you took a break from building the spaceship, and you never even humored the idea of training with us!"

"Because every one of you train with your bodies, while I can only train my mind," Lisa narrowed her eyes. "You think It's easy for me to throw a punch or a kick with these tiny, frail limbs of mine?"

"Well, my, Lana, Lucy, and Lynn's limbs aren't that much bigger, and we deal with it just fine," Lola shrugged. "Besides, even if you don't want to do physical training, you could always try to train your supernatural skills."

"That would be... A big help..."

The girls turned around, ready to start a fight with whoever spoke just now, but calmed down as soon as they saw the voice came from a person alive inside one of the tubes.

Lisa moved the brainwashed rodent towards the capsule, and made it destroy it with a claw swipe. From within the capsule, a stocky man slid out, one which took Lola a while to recognize.

"I know who you are, you're my brother's coach! What are you doing here?"

"Progenitor Lisa... Is trying to make... An army of... Alien mutants," Pacowski explained as he caught his breath. "She wants to... Try force... The neophilim to... Evolve as she sees fit!"

"Why would she do that?" Lisa asked.

"The mind... Is her domain... So when she lost hers, she... Began doing things that made no sense," Pacowski explained, generating some fire around him to melt the capsule's liquid. "She thinks... She can force... Evolution to a species... She didn't create."

"She didn't create?" Lola parroted. "Mr. Pacowski, right? If you say she's trying to force evolution to a species she didn't create-"

"Could that mean she's created living beings before?" Lisa inquired.

"Well, the fauna... And some flora... Of this planet were co-created by her, but that's not it," Pacowski took a deep breath. "Before them, she was trying to create... Her own lovechildren."

Lola raised an eyebrow. "Aren't lovechildren supposed to be children born between one of us and Lincoln? And in she like, a billion years old? How can she still have children?"

"The female body needs to be over a certain age in order for pregnancy to be possible," Lisa remarked, scratching her chin. "Theoretically, without Lincoln's divine assistance, only our older sisters could create lovechildren."

"As for how she can still have children... Well, she found a way."

A lot of hissing was heard as the group looked at their place, where the walls contorted as small humanoids burst from there and slid down to them.

They resembked smaller versions of Lisa, with green full bodysuits, a long, spiky black tail, and a pacifier covering their mouths.

The most worrying thing about them, however, was that once they stopped poping from the walls, they had surrounded the man and the girls, their eyes glowing as they soon turned their attention to Lisa...

Lori, Ronnie Anne, and Chandler kept walking across the artificial landscape of the Lisapolis castle, the former two engaging in a conversation while the latter just looked around at the scenery and the creatures they passed by.

"And then I utterly got my butt destroyed by Clyde! He's way too good at videogames, I tell you!" Ronnie Anne chirped. "But don't worry, I got my revenge through proxy by beating his daughter in another game soon after."

"Daughter?" Lori asked, feigning intrigue.

"Yeah, there's this redheaded girl in his and Lincoln's class who he hangs out often," Ronnie Anne paused, trying to think of the best way to explain Calliope's situation. "It's kinda complicated, though. The explanation, I mean."

"I'm all ears."

"Okay, so, remember how there are multiple dimensions and all of that stuff? Well, this daughter is actually the daughter of another dimension's version of Clyde and Penelope, who suddenly became abusive one day and that convinced her to run away With the help of two strange individuals."

"That was nice of them, I think," Lori remarked.

"Eh, I don't know, the fact they disappeared as soon as they took her to our world makes me wonder, why didn't they just send her to an orphanage or something, rather than the Johnson's house?"

Lori's eyes sprung open as the sounds of Something being fried was heard, a sound whose source was soon revealed to be Chandler shooting some lighting at a jellyfish-like creature. The creature was stunned for a second once he stopped, but continued flying a second later as if nothing happened.

As much as she wished to stay quiet, Ronnie Anne soon found herself asking, "Chandler, what are you doing?"

"Verifying if any other creatures can absorb lighting," the boy explained, focused on the fleeing insectoid. "If anything other than that beetle can absorb lighting, we may be in trouble."

"Except you won't, because you have me on your side!" Lori pointed out, pointing At herself with a wide smile. "As long as that's true, nothing in this world can come close to you."

Chandler raised an eyebrow. "And neither of you find that strange?"

Now it was Ronnie Anne's turn to look confused, though this was soon forgotten when Lori stepped forward and stated:

"I'm among the strongest of the deities that rule the new reality, is it really that farfetched to assume nullifying the absorption of my element is something I can do?"

"I'm not finding weird that you can surpass the absorption, indeed, I believe it would make less sense if the gods couldn't do that," Chandler remarked, and for some reason, Lynn came to mind before he continued, "What I find weird is that the creatures here don't pose a threat to you: I mean, these are things made of nanomachines created by a long forgotten goddess, the smartest one, I believe."

Lori's smile faltered a little. "Maybe she couldn't think of a way to give me a better challenge?"

Chandler snorted. "Who do you think you are, Lincoln?"

At that comment, Lori aimed her palm forward, shot a beam of lighting, and Chandler narrowly dodged the strike as the impact of the attack vaporized the wall, allowing everybody to see the alien world outside.

"Whoa, Lori, calm down!" Ronnie Anne exclaimed as she went to Lori's side, causing the older girl's face to contort from anger to happiness. "If you go too far, you might alert Proto-Science-O!"

"There's nothing to worry about: that girl is far too laser focused on her own things to pay us attention," Lori answered, not taking away her sight from Chandler. "Besides, this isn't the first time I've deslt with this brat: he has a bit of a history of being a thorn in my behind."

Lori smirked. "And a thorn in Lincoln's behind as well."

Hearing that, Ronnie Anne immediately became furious, glaring at Chandler as she asked a simple question:

"Is there anything you haven't told me, Chandler?"

"Is there anything I have told you, Ronalda?" Chandler responded without hesitation. "The short answer's yes, the long answer's that I've only kept to myself information that had yet to be relevant."

Lori lowered her eyelids. "Right, I'm assuming that's your way of saying that you've kept everything that could've made you look bad to yourself?"

Chandler raised an eyebrow. "Speaking from experience?"

Lori charged lighting in the form of a hammer, but managed to control herself long enough to calm down and explain herself:

"A long time ago, I used to work at Gud' Games and Grub."

Chandler flinched and took a step back.

"One day, Lincoln asked me to do him a few favors involving free food and the like. Something that, I discovered much too late, was to satisfy Chandler in order to get invited to his birthday party."

Chandler frowned and lowered his head in regret, remembering that particular disaster before he returned to his stern expression.

"I nearly lost my job, and Lincoln had to work in my place to help me."

"Great, as if I didn't have enough reason to dislike you," Ronnie Anne growled, throwing a disapproving look at Chandler. "But let me guess, you changed since then?"

Chandler remained silent.

"You nearly made Lori lose her job, forced Lincoln to work in her place, and you never apologized for anything," Ronnie Anne reprimanded, saving her hands in her pockets as Lori smirked in approval. "With that in mind, are you surprised I still don't trust you?"

This time, Chandler quite sternly shot back:

"You cultivated a tough girl persona, bullied Lincoln for several years, which his sisters approved of by the way, and not only did you not apologize to him, or all the other people you bullied, but left Royal Woods without ever trying to fix your image. With that in mind, are you still surprised almost nobody trusts you?"

Ronnie Anne took a step back and flinched while Lori narrowed her eyes, electricity surging through her. And then Chandler continued:

"Besides, can you even claim Lori hasn't done anything wrong?"

Ronnie Anne narrowed her eyes and spat, "Can you claim you've ever seen Lori do something like that!?"

"He can't, Ronnie Anne: he's just trying to trick you into thinking he's the good guy," Lori stated, putting a hand on Ronnie Anne's shoulder. "He's pulling the same trick he's been using for years on you, but it can only work if you-"

"Remember when you and he went on a double date to reconcile her with your brother?" Chandler interjected. "She forced Lincoln to go, just as how you yourself were forced to go."

"Yeah, but that all came out for the better in the end," Ronnie Anne waved her hand. "That doesn't prove anything!"

"How did you..." Lori uttered in disbelief.

"Well, how about this: there was a time when Clyde wasn't paying attention to Lori anymore, and chose to hang out with Bobby," Chandler continued, folding his arms. "Lori didn't feel comfortable With this arrangement, so she tried to sabotage it, even if it meant returning to another arrangement she wasn't comfortable with."

At this, Ronnie Anne hummed and scratched her chin. "Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen Clyde acting romantically with Lori since this deal with the progenitors started."

"And, just in case you need another idea," Chandler smirked. "There's a certain little something that happened between her and a girl named Carol-"

At the mention of Carol's name, Lori charged lighting and shot it again, with Chandler dodging the attack before it destroyed yet another piece of the castle.

"Stop bluffing, you little brat!" Lori yelled. "Even if some of the things you said did happen-and they didn't-how would you know about them!?"

Chandler shrugged. "You're the matriarch of the caste of communication, you tell-"

Suddenly, Lori appeared before Chandler and kneed him in the face hard enough to send him flying up, before punching him hard enough to send him through the wall and into the alien forest that was Lisapolis outside the castle.

Ronnie Anne and Lori then landed near the spot Chandler crashed, avoiding a fleeing Trashy monster in the process. Once they arrived, the first thing they saw Chandler do was cough up blood as he slowly, weakly stood up...

And kept talking:

"These things were all done while you were away... Ronalda..."

"And how am I supposed to believe that!?" Ronnie Anne exclaimed, stomping the ground.

"Have you asked Clyde?"

Ronnie Anne faltered a little.

"Have you asked Lincoln?"

And that did the rest.

"Have you, at any point in the month leading to this mission, asked anything of importance to any of the sisters, their parents, Lincoln's friends, anybody at all?"

Geez, talk about rubbing salt in the wound.

Then, at the first sight of Lori getting ready to attack again, Ronnie Anne grabbed her arm and exclaimed:

"L-Lori, I know you're angry, but killing Chandler might not be the best idea-"

Lori surrounded Ronnie Anne with electricity, lifted her, and yelled "stay out of this!" as she threw her away, followed by Ronnie Anne shooting a paralyzing beam at Lori soon after.

It didn't work.

"This little brat has said enough!"

Lori powered up, And the sheer force of the aura sent Ronnie Anne flying off into a wall. And thus, Lori charged some lighting, ready to shot it at the boy.

"I'm going to make sure his big mouth stops spitting slanders!"

Without a second of hesitation, Lori shot a bolt of lighting at Chandler, and the resulting collision caused a huge explosion that evaporated the trees and left a gisnt scorching mark on the ground, eith Chandler nowhere to be seen once the dust cloud settled.

And yet, Lori's anger was mixed with annoyance afterwards.

"Why doesn't it surprise me that you'd get involved..."

Lori turned over to the spot nearby her, where she saw not only Chandler still alive, but he and Ronnie Anne being gently put on the ground as a figure stood up and glared at Lori, whose sole answer was a bitter:

"Maria?"

The woman turned around, clenched her gauntlet and narrowed her eyes with determination.

Tally kept flying around the highly advanced gallways of the castle, searching every nook and cranny for a hint or clue as to where Haiku anf Giggles could be, assuming they were there in the first place.

A fact that was proven right when they reached an area filled with the same capsules as Lola and Lisa's room, with Haiku and Giggles among them.

"Alright, here they are! Still in perfect condition!" Tally chirped. "Now we just have to-"

"Pay attention to your surroundings."

The fusion turned around and saw a familiar face come into view: Paige, whose usual stern look had a mix of worry added to it.

"Paige?" Tally blurted. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same thing, but there's no time," the girl answered as she walked up to Haiku and Giggles' capsules and pressed some buttons. "You're here for your friends, no problem, I'll help you, but you have to leave as soon as I give them to you."

Tally folded her arms. "Why? What's the problem?"

"You're in an alien world ruled by an ancient deity's corpse with control freak tendencies, what's not the problem!? And again, pay attention! Anything could-"

Suddenly, a sound wave struck the room, forcing both the fusion and the girl to cover their ears as the controls for every capsule, Haiku and Giggles included, fried.

Eventually, Tally split back into Polly and Tabby, and only then did the wave stop, probably for the better in Tabby's case, who covered her ears as she groaned on the ground.

"Tabby! Are you okay?!" Polly asked as she helped the rocker stand up.

"Don't scream so loud, please," Tabby requested With a quiet voice. "My head hurts enough as it is."

Then Polly took a closer look at Tabby's ear, and saw it was bleeding. However, this little revelation was soon replaced when Lulu, her eyes still glowing green, walked into view with heavy steps.

"Lulu..." Tabby said. "So that's why she was nowhere to be found in Planet Tokyo..."

"And she messed up the controls," Paige blurted. "I can't manuaññy get your friends out of their capsules, you'll need to either break the capsules or take them with you."

Lulu cracked her knuckles.

"After Lulu's been taken care of, of course."

Polly put Tabby on the ground near the capsules, then took a couple steps forward with Paige, who summoned her hammer as Lulu spread her wings and flew high. And at the sight of an incoming fight, she gritted her teeth and thought:

Carol, whatever you're doing, I hope you're having a better time than I am...