After a long wait due to the Coronavirus, here is the continuation of this story. I can't guarantee frequent updates though.
The defense attorney Mr. Shapiro smiled with satisfaction upon Clyde's testimony while Judge Callahan drank some water.
"I'd like to call Detective Sanders to the stand before calling my next witness." Ms. Bolivar, rising from her chair continued.
Detective Sanders, a police officer for the past fifteen years of the Royal Woods Police Department stood in front of the Judges podium.
"During a search of the Loud residence we found some documents belonging to Lisa Loud and nine GPS tracking chips. There was a reminder to implant them into her siblings after finishing her latest project," Detective Sanders revealed.
"What!" Rita shouted as Aunt Shirley and Ethan were stunned at what they heard.
"How many times have we've asked you not to use your family as test subjects?" Lynn Sr. scolded Lisa.
Lori and Luna glared intensely at the little genius and Luna asked furiously, "Lise, how could you think of implanting a tracking chip inside our baby sister?"
The stoic, poker faced child she was Lisa replied exasperatedly, "Okay I'll simply remove the two chips I implanted into our parents last month after chloroforming them during their REM cycles tonight."
Lynn Sr. gulped nervously and started probing the sides of his neck with his fingers while Rita maintained a steamed expression on her face.
"We're tired of you violating our privacy," Lori blurted out angrily.
"Yea Poindexter," Lynn Jr. snapped.
"Okay, it's nothing to get worried about, it's a perfectly harmless procedure," Lisa continued.
Judge Callahan became slightly impatient and banged her gavel on the podium three times.
"Girls, that's enough," she exclaimed, then cleared her throat, "Ms. Bolivar you have the floor."
"My next witness is Tyler Nicholson," Ms. Bolivar stated.
Tyler Nicholson, a man around his late twenties with dark brown hair, a nephew of Mrs. Francis stood up. As he approached the witness stand, the sisters looked at each other in bewilderment until Lynn gasped upon recognizing the man's face.
The swearing in process finished he sat down then Ms. Bolivar began her questioning, "Mr. Nicholson, could you tell the court about the encounter you had with Lynn Loud Jr last year?"
"My friend Paul and I were contestants in the Royal Woods Amazing Quest competition. Both of us were minding our own business when she rudely shoved us aside, then ran around gloating about her winning the competition. My friend actually sprained his left ankle on the asphalt when we fell down. Because of her poor sportsmanship Mayor Davis made a public announcement banning the girl permanently from the competition," he stated.
"Do you recognize her anywhere in this courtroom?" Ms. Bolivar asked.
Tyler scanned each of the sisters until his eyes landed on Lynn Jr.
"The girl with the ponytail wearing the purple blouse," Tyler replied referring to Lynn.
Clearly remembering her sister's behavior that day, Lori grumbled under her breath, "Way to go Lynn."
"He's just angry because he was going to lose to a girl," Lynn muttered cockily.
"Some people shouldn't have kids if they cannot teach them how to be gracious winners," Mr. Nicholson said angrily.
"I have no more questions for this witness," Ms. Bolivar stated.
Judge Callahan glanced at her watch then announced, "I call for a ten minute break, court adjourned," then banged the gavel before leaving the courtroom to use a private restroom.
The McBrides and Uncle Ethan followed suit to take a bathroom break while Mr. Shapiro approached the parents with a somber expression that clearly showed he wasn't pleased about the testimony revealed in the courtroom making Rita and Lynn Sr. very apprehensive.
"Come with me please," he requested, then passing by the others Albert asked him, "Wait for us."
Inside a waiting room the family gathered around Mr. Shapiro, his expression still remaining the same. The Attorney waited for three seconds before speaking.
"I'll get straight to the point, Mr. and Mrs. Loud, the testimony given against your daughters have made things a bit more complicated," he admitted.
"Look Mr. Shapiro Lisa just gets carried away with her scientific research sometimes," Rita admitted.
"Do you have any suggestions so my parents can be found innocent?" Lori asked.
"Miss Loud, the only course of action I'd suggest is your parents taking a plea bargain to avoid prison or receiving a lesser sentence of say twelve to fifteen months in prison," he stated.
"You mean my daughter and son in law should admit they're guilty of child abuse," Albert queried.
"You're absolutely right," Mr. Shapiro responded.
The children looked pleased at the suggestion and looked eagerly at their parents.
Rita turned to her husband and urged, "Honey, let's do it."
The father nodded in agreement, "It's a deal," he replied.
"We're one hundred percent in agreement," Luna added.
When everyone walked out of the waiting room with the defense attorney Lori asked, "Does anyone wants to use the bathroom?" and the twins responded in unison, "I do."
"I'll come along too," Lucy added.
Presently Clyde sat on a bench in the courts lobby engrossed with a puzzle game on his cellphone to pass the time. He glanced up in time to see Lincoln approach him and quickly turned off the game then Lincoln sat beside his friend.
"Clyde thank you and your dads for coming to support us," he said.
Clyde replied, "Well best friends have to support each other in difficult times."
Lincoln didn't respond, instead they sat quietly for some minutes then Clyde peeked towards the glass doors and noticed a few dark clouds in the sky and a little rainfall starting.
Suddenly Howard walked over to the boys and remarked, "Only three minutes left, we should go inside."
Back inside the courtroom Harold was already seated when they returned. Everyone remained silent until Judge Callahan reappeared and resumed the court proceedings.
"Would the prosecution call your next witness," Judge Callahan asked.
To the surprise of Clyde, the sisters, Albert, and the Loud parents, Ms. Bolivar announced, "I'd like to call Lincoln Loud to the stand."
Without any nervousness Lincoln walked boldly to the left of the Judge's podium and remained standing as the bailiff approached him carrying the bible.
"State your name son," the bailiff requested.
"My name is Lincoln Loud," the boy declared boldly.
"Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" the bailiff asked solemnly.
Lincoln placed his right palm on the bible "Yes, I do," he replied.
After the bible was removed and the bailiff walked away Lincoln sat down.
With an authoritative air Ms. Bolivar ambled in his direction, stopping a few inches away from Lincoln.
"Mr. Loud, can you remember the events leading up to the day you were forced to wear a mascot costume on the beach by your family?" Ms. Bolivar inquired.
"It started when I wanted a break from attending my sister's activities. I almost made it to my bedroom to hide from them but Lynn was standing at the top of the stairs and asked me if I was coming to her baseball game," Lincoln explained.
"What was your response?" Ms. Bolivar asked.
"I told her pass and that I wanted to stay home and read the latest issue of my Ace Savvy comic, but she asked me if I would reconsider," Lincoln continued.
"Then you stood your ground and told her you weren't going," Ms. Bolivar added.
Lincoln became a bit apprehensive then looked across the room in Lynn's direction for a moment then gave a look of determination.
"I was going to tell her I really needed a break but she made me reconsider by threatening me with her baseball bat," Lincoln admitted, eliciting horrified expressions from Aunt Ruth and Aunt Shirley.
"You must have been terrified when she threatened to physically attack you because you refused to attend her game, am I right?" Ms. Bolivar asked.
"Yes, so I relented and attended the game," Lincoln replied confidently.
"Then after her team lost Lynn accused you of being bad luck then you decided to trick your sisters into believing you were bad luck to avoid going to their events," Ms. Bolivar continued.
"Yes Mrs. Bolivar," he replied, "I realized it was a bad idea when my parents overheard me telling Leni I was unlucky and became skeptical so they started pretending I was bad luck and decided I wasn't allowed to go to fun places with them. Mom decided I shouldn't go to the movies with them and my father made me eat breakfast alone. My room was boarded up and I had to sleep on the back porch. The next morning I was allowed to come in for breakfast and told to eat in the kitchen alone."
"When they left that morning for another game I remembered hearing the team's mascot suit was considered a good luck charm so I went to the stadium and asked the guy wearing it I wanted to borrow the suit to surprise my cousin and he agreed. Only when her team won they believed I was lucky but only when wearing the suit so they forced me to wear it to the beach, then I was rescued by Katie and Josh," Lincoln continued.
"It must have been a relief to remove that costume," she stated and he said, "Yes Ms. Bolivar."
'Now, Mr. Loud," the prosecuting attorney began, then paused for dramatic effect, "Were you the person your sisters were assaulting in the van that early morning?"
Lincoln began to feel uncomfortable sitting there and found difficulty answering the question.
"Mr. Loud, don't be afraid to answer since you're under oath," Ms. Bolivar told Lincoln with a gentle tone, then Lincoln released a sigh.
"Yes it was me," the boy admitted causing Aunt Shirley to deeply frown while her husband looked flabbergasted while Albert merely shook his head in disappointment.
"I just wanted to enjoy a nice road trip for once without having to deal with my sisters antics so I decided to sneak out and claim the best seat before we left at seven a.m. but they found out my plan and confronted me outside so they jumped inside the van and started attacking me, I was lucky that mom heard us and she yelled at us to come inside."
"Is the bullying that goes on in your home something that happens quite often?" was the prosecuting attorneys next question.
"Well, it happens occasionally, but I'm not the only person getting bullied, Luan goes around playing pranks on everyone, we're constantly fighting over the remote control, one time Lori and Leni fought over buying the same dress and roommates clashing with each other. Even I have moments where I'm no angel. One time I decided to coach Lola for a pageant to make sure she won because first prize was two season passes to Dairyland for the coach and winner but Lola got injured before the pageant so I convinced Lana to take her place. One time I was desperate to sell more than my sisters at our annual garage sale so I began selling items inside the house. When my sisters noticed what I was doing they started grabbing stuff to sell. We managed to sell almost everything in the house," Lincoln continued.
"Hmm I see, you can step down." Ms. Bolivar said.