It had been about five minutes since Lincoln had left his ditzy sister's shop. Right now, he was just minding his own business and strolling along the boardwalk.
"I must say, this is a very peaceful place to be. I should come down here more often. Hopefully, I'll be able to meet some cool new people," Lincoln said to himself.
As he walked upon the boardwalk, a few shady-looking thugs gave him a sneaky glance and started to follow him. As they trailed after the tall man, they were unaware that Lincoln already knew they were right behind him. He just stayed silent so he could plan out his attack on them.
"Hey! Are you gonna acknowledge us?" rudely spoke one of the thugs that held a bat.
"Maybe? But may I ask as to why you all are following me with malicious intent?" Lincoln asked as he turned around to face the group of five. Lincoln soon had a face of worry when he noticed they had weapons on them while he was unarmed and very defenseless. He smiled like an idiot and took a few steps back, waiting for a good chance to book it in hope of finding Luna or any of his sisters that could help protect him. He didn't want to come crying to them but he knew next to nothing about fighting except how to punch and kick, meaning he would get beaten and sliced into nothing by these thugs.
"Sorry to say, kid. But some rich dude paid us to come and kick your shit. We know you just got back and all that but money is something we need so at least we'll make this quick," said a thug with a knife.
"Well now. That certainly is awful."
"Sadly so. But that's just how life is around these parts."
Lincoln and the thugs just stared at each other, not knowing what else to do next. Everyone just did not look like they wanted to be there for different reasons. Lincoln just wanted to go hang out with a more nicer group, while they seemed nervous (most of them were putting on a "tough" act) because Lincoln was one of the infamous Louds; it was almost a rule to not mess with any of the Louds due to how bizarre they were, from their family history of having magic users (e.g witches, mages, and sorcerers.) to how secluded they were. In a town like Royal Woods, they were the outcasts the town was too afraid to kick out of town.
But Lincoln did not want to make conversation and immediately booked it out of there as fast as possible to try and find Luna. However, this presented a problem to the snowy-haired teenager and that was the sad fact that Lincoln did not know his way around the large boardwalk. The whole place was like a maze to him; a game of Pac-Man is what Lana would probably call it (she introduced Lincoln to a couple of old arcade games that was downloaded on one of his consoles).
He ran as fast as his legs could take him, not knowing where he was even heading. All he had on his mind was to not get killed by what seemed to be hitmen. The faster he ran, the more they seemed to catch up to him. This was insane! Why did some guy send people to beat him up! Or worse, want him dead?!
"C'mon dude! Quit running!"
"I may have lost my memory. But I didn't lose my common sense!"
"Damnit! This dude has an IQ compared to the other people we go after!"
As Lincoln continued to run, he went out onto the outer area right above the beach. While he would normally be more aware of his surroundings, this was not the case in this mad dash around the area made him less aware of what was in front of him. Before he knew what hit him, he ran into the wooden rail leading to the beach below him which had signs that said "Dangerous part of the beach. Head down to get to the safe part". The rail broke from the sudden force of Lincoln ramming into it and caused him to almost fall off the edge. He flailed his arms around in an attempt to keep his balance but alas, he began to fall down to the sand...
"Lincoln!" cried a familiar raspy voice as they grabbed onto his shirt collar and pulled him back onto the safe boardwalk.
Lincoln's vision started to clear up once he took a few moments to breathe and calm himself down. Once his vision returned to normal, he noticed that his savior was Luna who just happened to be walking by as he ran into the railing at breakneck speeds.
Talk about a coincidence.
"OK. Tell me what the hell caused you to crash into the railing?" Luna rightfully asked.
"P-People trying to beat me because some random person sent them after me."
"What? Who are you talking about?"
"I think he's talking about us," said one of the thugs that finally caught up to the Loud. Luna turned around, giving the group a harsh glare that meant business.
"Shit! He didn't say his sisters would be here!" said a thug in fear. "Taking on the weak link is one thing but fighting one of the ten girls? That's suicide!"
"Oh. I guess you've heard about our reputation? Good. That'll make things a bit easier," Luna told the thugs, cracking her knuckles in a menacing manner.
"L-Luna wait. They even stated earlier that they didn't want to beat me up. They only came because they needed money," Lincoln desperately said, trying to make things even worse by causing a scene. "How... about we ask who their boss is? If they cooperate, you can kick that dudes ass instead of them! Besides, you don't think you could take them all on without any weapons... right?"
"Oh please, brah. They most likely know who I am already. Is that correct?" Luna retorted back, giving the thugs a scary glance. They huddled up close together in fear, nodding quickly. "Now then, would you be so kind as to tell me the name of your boss?"
"Uh... I don't think we should tell you that. Knowing him, he'll send more scary looking dudes after us and then you two," said the thug with a bat, at which Luna's glare became even more menacing. "A-Alright! His name is... Chandler."
"Chandler? The weird-looking guy from the beach?" Lincoln asked confusingly.
"Wait. You know him?"
"Duh. He tried to attack me when I woke up on the beach. Haiku mentioned something about him thinking I stole his girlfriend from him or something."
"Of course. Chandler has had a hopeless crush on Haiku for years, and this kinda drove Haiku nuts. He thinks Haiku actually likes him back which is pretty hilarious. She obviously likes you however but I don't think Chandler will ever accept that."
"Eh?! She likes me?" Lincoln exclaimed in surprise. That was very sudden to say to him. Someone like Haiku didn't seem like they would even like Lincoln at all so this was interesting news.
"You're kidding! Haiku doesn't like me," Lincoln defensively said back.
"Maybe. Maybe not. But now isn't a good time to talk about it now, is it?"
Lincoln thought to himself and sighed, admitting defeat. Luna just chuckled and began to walk away and brought Lincoln with her to go to someplace safe from what he could guess. At least he could trust Luna compared to anyone else here.
He hoped so...
"Follow me! I'll take you someplace really fun!" Luna told Lincoln eagerly. "It has a ton of stuff I think you'll enjoy!" Lincoln tried to reply but decided to stay quiet, not wanting to stall Luna on her surprise. However, this did not help to quench his fears about where they were heading. Would this place have even more dangerous people that wanted to hurt or even kill him? Just how dangerous is this place and why did he even agree to come along?
Oh yeah, he wanted to go as well. He silently cursed his eagerness about tagging but couldn't help to be a bit excited about everything as well. This whole day had been an adventure so far even if most of it was a hazard to his health. As his spunky older sis dragged him around, he took this time to look around the boardwalk and notice its many attractions and restaurants (no rollercoasters, however). Small snack bars filled with tasty homemade food from many nice looking and friendly people (most of them being younger folk), interesting carnival games that had neat looking prizes: teddy bears, plushies, even some free food, and a free video game if you got the highest score (just a random Plug n' Play that looked pretty good compared to a weird knockoff bootleg).
"The boardwalk is a lot more interesting than I thought," Lincoln stated.
"That's because you stayed around the sucky parts of it! The closer to the beach, the more fun you'll have! It's probably my fault that I didn't take you with me but I didn't want to be a nuisance or something since you like less supervision at these places."
"I do? Where did you get that idea? I've never told anyone that." Lincoln asked in confusion. Luna opened her mouth to speak but closed it, sadly remembering Lincoln's condition and continued to walk.
"Crud... I think I said something bad... Quick! Try to think of a way to change the subject!"Lincoln nervously thought before asking a question. "Where... are we heading?"
"Huh? Oh! I'm taking you to my favorite hangout in this part of town! It's called Aitken!" Luna proudly exclaimed. "It's a nice hangout that my girlfriend Sam and I own! Just a nice place to hang out and grab a drink or two!"
Lincoln's interest certainly peaked at this discovery. Luna owned a place here with her girlfriend? How exciting he thought to himself. Maybe he could make some new friends at the place! When he heard this, he picked up his pace and even outran Luna, much to her surprise.
"W-Woah! Slow down, bro!" Luna said in a panic but only saw Lincoln going faster and faster until they had reached their destination.
"Oh c'mon! What's wrong if I need speed? This place seems awesome!" He excitedly said before Luna stopped him in his tracks.
Looks like they reached their destination making Lincoln finally let go of Luna's hand and examined the looks of the place.
Aitken was a two-story brick building with a flashy purple and light blue sign of its name above the door. The outside had wide-open windows on the first floor which let Lincoln take a glance at the inside, seeing it was a darker looking area with neon lights; he even thought he could see what looked like a bar and pool table in it. The roof had purple overhangs on it with some neat planet decorations hanging down. One last detail he noticed was the smaller windows on the second story, meaning the second floor might be more private and apartment-like.
"Wow! This is so cool!" Lincoln exclaimed. "What's inside?"
"You'll have to find out! So just follow me", Luna said before leading him inside.
When Lincoln entered the place, his mind was blown at how cool the place looked. It was pretty large and open with a small area that had a large couch and TV that was currently off. On the left side were a few pool tables, foosball games, and even a couple of arcade cabinets that didn't require any quarters while on the far right was a bar that had drinks of many types and kinds: beer, wine, water, and even soda. Inside the bar was a tall blonde woman currently shaking a few drinks all by herself.
"Place is a beaut, huh?" Luna asked Lincoln who responded with a nod. "Yep! Sam, Me and a few of my crew pitched in to make this place! Just a nice hangout for people to chill out, make a few friends and have fun!"
"This is all incredible! Its a wonder! Can you show me around?"
"Yeah yeah! Follow me!" Luna said before leading Lincoln to the TV area where a couple was currently making out on the couch. The female being chubby looking while the male was more skinny. Luna smirked and gave the girl a poke on the side, making her scream out of surprise and fall off the couch.
The girl was Luan! What was she doing here? Wasn't she supposed to be with Lori?
"Get up, Banana gut. No screwing on the couch," Luna teased, making Luan and her lover blush bright red. "Hey, Benny. Having a nice time?"
The two brunets stood up with an annoyed face with Luan glaring at Luna.
"Luna! Why did you have to do that! Benny and I are on a date!" Luan angrily stated at her sister. "We finished our fruit delivery and went out to do our own thing. I don't where Lori went. Probably went to the gym".
"As if Lori's muscles weren't big enough. Look, you and Benny can continue your date. Just, go upstairs if you want some more private time."
"Thanks... Can you please stop teasing me and Benny like that? Not everything is intimate in our love life," Luan huffed in annoyance. As the two sisters bickered, Benny walked up to Lincoln and struck up a conversation.
"Hey! Uh... Are you new in town? We don't ever get visitors here in Royal Woods," Benny said curiously.
Benny was a tall nineteen-year-old man with a large tuff of fluffy brown hair and a lean body. He had on a white T-shirt with a light blue wool overshirt with some black dress pants and sneakers. Something formal yet casual. Lincoln could tell the man was geeky by his looks alone. Maybe he was trying too hard to look cool in front of Luan? Lincoln just shrugged to himself and nodded to Benny's question.
"I guess you can say I'm back in town. I'm Lincoln, Luan's only brother. I assume we've met before?" Lincoln replied to Benny who stood bewildered at what Lincoln said. He didn't blame him though. Luan's missing brother, who has been missing for five whole years, suddenly returns to town under odd circumstances.
"You're Lincoln? It's you?! Where have you been these past few years? You just suddenly... vanished! Caused a huge panic in town about how the demons were returning to take our children or something like that. Everything only calmed down when Lord Soogna claimed that the demons aren't coming back. They'll only come back when the fabled Ocean King returned which was just a myth."
"Lord Soogna? Ocean... King? What on earth are you talking about?"
"You don't know who they are?"
"I don't remember anything about my life. My family, friends, what I did, anything! I'm a blank slate so I'm back to square one essentially."
Benny went quiet and thought to himself before taking Lincoln's hand and walking over to a set of chairs and sat down to talk some more. "Alright, so if you're trying to regain your memories, then you'll want to know about Lord Soogna and the myth of the Ocean king. Do any of those sound familiar to you?"
"I... For some odd reason, Lord Soogna sounds familiar to me. Maybe he made that much of an impression on me?"
"He does that to everyone. For better or for worse. While most of the older folk see him as a nice kind man who tries to keep this town together, others know him for trying to control the town and keep everyone afraid that something bad might happen," Benny said in a venomous tone.
"Is Soogna dangerous? Like is he all-powerful or... something? Can he use some kind of magic?" Lincoln asked Benny, who only gave a slight chuckle. "Magic? Nah. He may be unnerving and strange but he ain't a wizard or something. If he wanted to attack anyone, he would probably send someone after them," replied Benny.
"Alright then... What's this about the Ocean King? It's a... myth?"
"Ah yes! The tale of the Ocean King! You see, long ago there was a-GAH!" Benny said before Luan tugged on his color and pulled him out of the chair. "Oh right! Luan and I have a date to continue."
"C'mon Benny! I wanted you to show me that new restaurant that opened up! You said it was sushi and I'll sure as hell won't pass up the chance to have some sushi!" Luan exclaimed as she tugged on Benny's arm even more.
"You sure do love food, Luan. Maybe a bit too much. I'm starting to think Benny loves taking you out to eat for another reason," Luna teased, making both Benny and Luan blush. "It's not like that, Luna. Benny just likes taking me out for a good time! Which in return, I do the same for him!"
"I dunno sis. You look like you've put on quite a few pounds lately! Maybe Benny likes it! Hehehe!" Luna chuckled before Luan and Benny left embarrassed. Lincoln walked up to Luna," That seemed a bit... mean don't you think?"
"Nah it's fine. Luan and I go at it all the time with no meaning to it! Just some tongue in cheek banter is all. Pretty harmless if you ask me!" Luna replied with a smile. Lincoln shrugged and walked off over to the bar with Luna who then started speaking to the blonde woman."Hey, Sammy! How ya been?"
"Nah it's fine. Luan and I go at it all the time with no meaning to it! Just some tongue in cheek banter is all. Pretty harmless if you ask me!" Luna replied with a smile. Lincoln shrugged and walked off over to the bar with Luna who then started speaking to the blonde woman. "Hey, Sammy! How ya been?"
The woman turned around and smiled when she saw Luna and walked up the counter. "Hey, Lunes! What brings you here? And who's this funky looking guy?" Sam asked. "Huh. He kinda reminds me of your little bro with the white hair and all. Uh... N-No offense since I know its still a sore subject and all."
Sam Sharp was a tall woman with a very athletic and curvy figure. She had on a black short sleeve Chop Suey shirt and purple pants with some brown leather boots. Her hair had multiple blue dye streaks that were kept in a long ponytail probably meant to keep her hair from accidentally falling in the drinks she would serve. A beautiful, yet tough-looking woman is what Lincoln noted about her. Another thing he noticed is that both of Sam's muscular arms had dragon tattoos that went to her wrists and shoulders and some earrings on her ears. Guess she likes looking noticeable.
"Oh! It's fine! It's Lincoln!" Luna exclaimed. "He finally showed up after god knows how long!"
"Wait... That's Lincoln? After he just... disappeared during the storm five years ago?" Sam asked in disbelief. Lincoln tilted his head at Sam's mention of a storm. Was that important? He should probably ask her that later.
"It's the real deal! C'mon over and say hi! Give him one of your bearhugs if you want to," Luna told Sam, who did just that and walked out to them.
"Jesus. He sure got... tall. How tall is he?" Sam asked at which Luna just shrugged. "Same height as Lori. So... About 6'6 I believe."
"Hot damn! You Louds sure are gifted in your looks! I should know firsthand," Sam said before giving Luna's round rear a flirty slap.
"Eep! S-Sam! If you're going to do that, do it upstairs!" Luna exclaimed with a blush. Sam just smirked and gave Luna a wink. "You sure? Be my guest!", Sam replied, making Luna blush harder. Lincoln couldn't help chuckle at the sight in front of him. His older sister was acting so embarrassed that it could not be funny!
"I'll leave you two be and head outside again. Maybe I'll run into Lori or something," Lincoln said before turning to leave, only for Sam to grab his shoulder and turn him back around.
"At least let me make you something to eat. You look kinda hungry, Linc!" Sam said as she walked to the kitchen, coming out three minutes later with a very tasty hotdog wrapped in tin foil. "Here you are! One tasty hotdog on the house!"
"Oh! Uh... Thank you so much! I'll see you all later!" Lincoln said before walking away with his new treat, and leaving Sam and Luna to head on upstairs.
- A few minutes later-
Lincoln was now looking at the sea, calmed by its soothing colors and mesmerizing waves. He smiled as he ate his hotdog in peace. However, he suddenly got an odd feeling and turned around to come face to face (well, Lincoln had to look down to make eye contact) with an angry-looking Chandler.
"Oh. It's you," Lincoln said, unamused. "I see you don't have your group with you this time."
"Cut the bullshit, Loud! I'm here to teach you a damn lesson once and for all! You may be back and all that but I don't give a damn!"
"What do you even want from me?! I don't know who you are!"
"Bullshit! Don't you remember me making you and your stupid friend, Clyde look like fools back in school?" Chandler asked in annoyance, only for Lincoln to simply shrug his shoulders. "What? You don't remember? Not even your friend?"
"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. Now can you please leave me be?" replied Lincoln, taking another bite out of his food. Chandler gritted his teeth and slapped the hotdog out of Lincoln's hand, making it fall onto the beach below, thankfully landing on the tinfoil. Lincoln turned to Chandler, now immediately pissed at him. Without uttering a word, Lincoln gives him an angry kick to the groin and heads down to the beach to retrieve his lunch, failing to see the danger signs on the steps.
"Hey! What the hell?!" Chandler yelled in rage. "Ok look. I understand I made you mad. But a kick to the balls was reallyunnecessary!"
"Can you please go away? I'm not being a pain to you!" Lincoln replied. Chandler rolled his eyes and began to walk away, only to notice that Lincoln was on the dangerous part of the beach. "Oh, he' screwed if a Sandworm comes around. Hell, a Sandshark if he's that unlucky!"
As Lincoln made his way over to the water where his hotdog had landed, a mound in the sand rose up and started making its way over the white-haired man. It was about the size of a basketball, the size of a Sandworm mound.
"Crud. No matter. He's a Loud. They can use magic from what I've heard. If not, its just one Sandworm. One good punch to the gut and it'll leave you alone. They're only dangerous in packs anyways."
Just as he said that the mound grew bigger as the creature rose up even higher, now exposing a tall and boney fin with two beady yet hungry-looking eyes revealed at the front of it. This wasn't a Sandworm at all! It was the much more deadly Sandshark!
"Shit," Chandler said in disbelief.
