It was 5 in the morning, and Lincoln was already up before any of his sisters. He was outside in the backyard doing some squat jumps and push ups, although he was still having a hard time due the 200-pound vest that was under a white shirt. Before he was about to head inside, he walked over to a tree and sat down, where he proceeded to close his eyes and breath. "Martin said I should mediate to unlock my inner soul or whatever, guess I can give it a try". Meditation was a skill that Lincoln learned rather quickly, as the concept of clearing your mind was something that Lincoln never found hard. The boy listened to all the sounds around him, from the birds chirping, the wind howling, the squirrels running, all the way down to his own heartbeat. After about 20 minutes of this, he got up and headed towards the house to take a shower.
As the girls began to get up for school, Lincoln was already downstairs eating some eggs and drinking some water. He would have to cut back on junk food, and only eat healthy and beneficial foods. Truthfully, it was the worst part of his training. Just then Lori walked into the kitchen, looking a bit surprised at seeing her brother already dressed and up. "Whoa, what happened to your face"? Lori asked, noticing the red marks on Lincolns face from the ass whooping he received from Ron. Lincoln completely forgot that no one has really seen him since Friday, as he was out all weekend. So, nobody has really seen the beating that he took. He came up with a lie quickly. "I tripped and hit a pole", Lincoln said, continuing to eat his eggs. Lori looked at him suspiciously, before shrugging and heading towards the kitchen for some coffee. The rest of the girls soon came in the kitchen, also sharing the same surprise as Lori upon seeing their only brother. "Bro where have you been for the past two days"? Luna asked worriedly, which honestly kind of took Lincoln by surprise. "And what happened to your face"? Lola asked, noticing the red marks. "Me and Clyde had a long project and I tripped and hit a pole", Lincoln said, as he finished up his eggs. The girls bought it, except for Lisa, who squinted at Lincoln suspiciously, but choosing not to say anything. "Well try not to stay out to long Linky, we still worry about you", Leni said, rubbing his hair as her and the rest of the girls headed towards the kitchen. Lincoln gave a heart-warming smile at them. Amongst all the chaos, he sometimes forgets that his family is still worrying and caring for each other, and this makes Lincoln feel a little guilty inside. "I want to tell them, but I can't. I don't want to hurt or worry any of them, nor do I want them involved with this, I have to fight alone", he thought to himself. He hopped off the chair and almost stumbled before realizing he was wearing a 200-pound vest. "crap, I forgot about this. Man is it going to be a long day". He sighed as he remembered he had gym today too.
Lincoln arrived at school a bit later then his sisters, as he told Lori that he wanted to walk to school from now on. Which she didn't mind although it was tiring with the vest on, Lincoln needed the extra exercise. School went as well as any kid could expect on Monday. Boring and tiring, although admittedly, Lincoln wasn't tired. If anything, the meditation and exercise made the boy even more alert. After the first three classes, Lunch rolled around, where Lincoln finally saw Clyde again. He was sitting at his usual spot with Liam, Rusty, Zach and even Stella. The sight of his friends caused the boy to smile.
"what's up guys" Lincoln said as he took a seat next to Clyde. Everyone except for Clyde and Rusty smiled at Lincoln and greeted him. "You scared the heck out of me dude, where did you go yesterday"? Clyde asked. The group, except for rusty, looked at the two boys confusingly.
"I uhh… went to the police station…then back to the fighting lounge", Lincoln said sheepishly. Everyone's eyes went wide, except for Clyde and Rusty who face palmed. "Wait a minute, the fighting Lounge? You mean Royal Woods underground fight club that serves as the headquarters for the Django gang"? Stella asked in shock.
"Okay did everyone know about this place except us"? Clyde asked annoyingly. He then shifted his attention back at Lincoln. "Why the heck did you go back? What happened"? All eyes were on the Loud boy, waiting for an explanation for what transpired over the weekend. Lincoln thought to himself for a bit, wondering if he should come clean to his best friends and reveal what he was going to do. He didn't have much of a choice at this point. As the boy sighed, he began to explain what he did. "Long story short, I uh… declared war on the Django gang in order to save an innocent little girl so I can reunite her with her father and the only way I can do that is to fight all four of the best fighters within the gang…and I have to fight Ron Django in order to crumble his criminal empire…and I have one year to train before I have to fight them…" Lincoln stared around at the shocked expressions around the table. Even Rusty and Clyde looked at him with eyes wide and jaws dropped. After a couple of seconds, Zach broke the silence. "okay, forget long story shorts, just tell us everything that lead up to that". With that Lincoln began to recall the entire weekend. From the moment when Clyde discovered the Fighting Lounge to when Lincoln began training with Martin. The entire time the group listened to every detail and word that came out of the boy's mouth.
"Holy shit", Stella said, as she looked down at the table trying to digest everything she heard. Zach and Liam leaned back in their chair, completely speechless. Rusty just stared at Lincoln with a worried expression. "You've done some stupid things, but this one takes the cake", Clyde said. "Well I guess we only have one choice", Liam stated, as everyone turned their heads to him confusingly. "I guess we're going to have to help you train so you can take down those son of a bitches". Lincoln rubbed his arm sheepishly. "Thanks, but I can't get you guys involved in this, same with my family. That's why they can't let them know. I'm going to train my ass off everyday for the year. So, I probably won't see you guys outside of school for a long time", Lincoln said a little sadly. Clyde smiled at Lincoln and began to reassure him. "It's fine buddy. What you did was stupid, but we're still going to support you. Plus, we'll still see each other everyday at school. We got your back". Liam and Zach smiled as well, agreeing with Clyde. However, Stella and Rusty looked at Lincoln with worried and sad expressions. Truth be told, they were scared for their friend. They didn't want him to get hurt or killed, and the thought of that happening began to seem real to the two.
The bell rang signaling the end of lunch, and the beginning of gym.
Coach Pacowaski, like usual on a Monday, made the kids run laps around the court. As Clyde, Rusty, Liam, Zach and Stella were running at a normal pace, they turned back to see Lincoln running at a very slow pace. He was sweating and looked to be on the verge of passing out. The 200-pound vest along with yesterdays training with Martin wore the boy out, and he could hardly keep up with a couple laps. Coach Pacowaski looked at the boy confusingly. "Huh, sure Loud isn't an athletic kid, but he doesn't get tired easily and he can usually run a couple of laps" coach thought to himself. "He's not looking so good", Liam said, as the group looked back at Lincoln with concern". Clyde slowed his pace down to meet up with Lincoln. "You doing okay buddy"? Clyde asked. "No not really, I'm getting way to tired", Lincoln said, trying to catch his breath. Just then, a red hair and two other boys ran pass Lincoln and Clyde. "Awe look, Larry can barley handle a couple of laps, how pathetic" Chandler said laughing, which caused the whole class to laugh except for Lincolns friends and even Girl Jordan, who looked at Lincoln sadly. "Jordan what are you looking at? You better not be staring at that loser"? Jordan's friends said, running beside her. "Huh? No, of course not" she said unconfidently. Although some of the things Lincoln did weirded her out, mainly his old crush on her, she still could tell that he was a good kid, and whenever he was bullied, it made her sad.
The rest of Lincolns group slowed their pace to meet up with Clyde and Lincoln, while glaring at Chandler and his friends. "what a jerk, we outta prank him", Liam said. Lincoln began to chuckle, which made the group confused. "It's fine, I don't want to hurt Chandler or any innocent person. Besides, he's right. I need to run faster without getting tired. I need to get stronger, and I need to become the strongest person in Royal Woods if I plan on beating Djangos gang", Lincoln said with a determined smile. "But still, these kids shouldn't be mocking you", Stella said. "It's fine, I'm not fighting them, I'm fighting a gang of killers, and being mocked is nothing compared to what that little girl is going through in Django's gang". Lincoln began to stand up straight, as determination overtook him. "Because in a year, I don't plan on losing a single fight". With that, Lincoln began to sprint around the gym, even outrunning Chandler and his friends. The sudden energy that overtook Lincoln took everyone by surprise, except his friends who stared at Lincoln with heart warming smiles. Despite their worries, something within them told them that Lincoln was going to be okay.
After school, Lincoln began his journey to Martins house, eager to continue his training. Now that his family believed his art club excuse, he was free to train with Martin every day, and it would be like this for the next year.
Hi, I just wanted to thank everyone who's supporting this story. It's my first story I've ever written, and I hope ya'll are enjoying it. I apologize for not getting chapters out quicker, but I promise I'll get them in as fast as I can. Anyways just a heads up that the next chapter will be five months later, as their will be no notable events that happen within those five months except for Lincolns training. So, in the next chapter, we will see how everyone's doing after five months!