Lincoln soon felt himself waking up after what seemed to be hours since he passed out on the beach. While he was conscious to be able to listen in on Lori and Lisa's conversation earlier, he wasn't able to see where he was due to his vision, but he was able to at least guess he was in Lisa's room. Or was it a lab of some sort?
He slowly opened his eyes. Quickly covering them to let them adjust to the bright light shining in his face, letting an audible groan of annoyance and quickly turned his head, pushing it away to find out its a common spotlight sitting on a desk of all things. While this wasn't the time for disappointment, Lincoln expected the source of the light to be a bit bigger than a simple lamp.
"Ugh... Where am I?" Lincoln asked to himself and sitting up, finding himself to be in a small room made out of smooth grey concrete. Nothing interesting aside from the camera above the door and small paintings of normal household items. Probably there just to make the room more lively looking. "No point in trying. No amount of decor can make this type of place look inviting."
He got out of the bed and walked out the door, entering a large open room also made out of concrete. But compared to the barren bedroom he was in, this was more interesting as it seemed to be a lab with many tables and counters that had vials, glasses, beakers, and many tools that seemed to be used for science stuff. By one of the walls were large containers filled with an odd blue liquid. Upon closer inspection, Lincoln spotted odd figures floating inside of it. Black, humanoid shadows were all that Lincoln could see in them which gave him the creeps. On the other side of the room were large inactive robots, waiting to be turned on and be given orders. They were massive and hulking with large metal armor protecting their bodies and making them look like royal knights. In their hands were large black swords and shields held in front of them like a statue. What was odd was that compared to the other robots wandering around the room, these robots looked more ancient and stone-like, but still had a mechanical look to them.
"Where... Am I? What exactly is this place?" Lincoln thought to himself, looking around for an exit.
He began to snoop around, trying his best not to step on any of the small cleaning bots roaming on the floor. While he did try to find an exit, Lincoln found himself marveling at all the odd things that were in this lab. Odd little clay figures on shelves, small creatures captured in tiny glass domes that had a small environment in them. The creatures ranged from black crabs with a spore covered claw to an odd mutated looking snake, most likely a creation made from science rather than being from the wild.
Before Lincoln could look at any more things that grabbed his attention, a door opened with a small, brown-haired girl walking in and mumbling to herself and not even noticing Lincoln.
"Hm... X-rays are normal. The bone structure is... odd to say the least but compared to past records, it aligns perfectly with his-GAH!" she shouted in fear as she bumped into the towering Lincoln. "It uh... seems the subject has finally awoken from comatose. This is a good thing. Except for said subject almost giving me a myocardial infarction. Streetname, heart attack."
"Hello? I take you are... Lisa?" Lincoln asked.
"Correct. Glad you didn't lose your common sense. Well... I'm glad you didn't lose anything due to your battle," Lisa replied. "Ahem. Follow me really quickly. I don't have much time to talk but I must inform you about an examination I did while you were asleep. "Don't worry. I did not do anything harmful or weird to you. Just a few X-rays and... tests."
"That pause you did before saying test doesn't help my suspicion."
Lisa shrugged and lead Lincoln to another room that had medical supplies, machinery, and even an operating table. Lincoln gulped in fear of how eerie it looked. While it was supposed to be something that helps him, ironically he felt like he could be harmed in this room. The small girl hopped onto a stool and motioned for him to get on the table. He hesitantly nodded and sat on the table, letting Lincoln get a better look at his younger sister.
Lisa was a small, nine-year-old girl with short brown hair and green goggles on her head. She had a red shirt and a white lab coat that seemed to have a small blaster in the pocket, and black pajama pants with brown slippers. What caught Lincoln's attention was that Lisa's left arm didn't seem to be made of flesh. It seemed to been made of stone or something, which was odd since Lisa seemed to be able to move both hands without trouble. She was, adorable to say the least. Although, Lisa would most likely deny her being anything close to "cute" or "adorable" in the slightest.
"So what are you talking about? What do you want to show me, Lisa?"
"That is a good question, Elder Brother Unit. You see, when you came back from your sudden brawl on the beach, Lori and Luan were a bit... suspicious of you. They found odd tentacles growing out of your arms that were also wrapped around you in a sort of defense to protect you while you were unconscious," Lisa said.
"They're suspicious of me? But why? I haven't done anything threatening to them at all! Do they hate me?" Lincoln nervously asked.
"No, they don't. They just have a suspicion that you aren't truly our beloved brother but you are in fact, a mimic," Lisa said, only for Lincoln to tilt his head in confusion at which she sighed. "A Mimic is a monster that has the ability to transform into any object as a form of camouflage. While camouflaged as any object it's big or skilled enough to transform to, it will wait until prey comes around and either tries to use the item or pick it up, then the Mimic will turn back into its regular form and proceed to kill and eat its unfortunate victim."
"Why would they think that? I don't look anything like a monster!" Lincoln exclaimed. "I'm human. Plain and simple."
"Were you listening? Mimics can change and transform. While you could make the argument that they can't turn into people... That's where another issue comes in," Lisa explained before bringing over a laptop that started to show a video. "This video is a recording from some prevalence I have set up around the forest area of the continent. I set up cameras for research purposes and to prepare for any dangers that come close to us."
"That sure is... interesting. But what is this supposed to show?" Lincoln asked.
"Pay attention, Lincoln. Now watch and see what happens."
Lincoln nodded and did as asked. The camera was focused on a large open space surrounded by trees and what seemed to be a dirt path in the middle that also lead to a fork in the road. Not only that but the camera was named "Route Five" so this meant that this was an actual road to somewhere which interested Lincoln quite a bit. Hopefully, he would be able to get to this place and see where it heads to.
As Lincoln watched the footage, he noticed a small black mass slither its way only the path. Upon closer inspection, Lincoln noticed that this was the mimic that Lisa was talking about. He tilted his head in confusion, wondering how on Earth were Luan and Lori suspecting that he was one of these? He turned to ask Lisa only to notice the Mimic start to change form and size until it turned into a human. Lincolns' eyes widened in surprise at the transformation. Now it made a little more sense until something else caught his attention. When the change was complete, the naked male held out what seemed to be a gold puzzle piece, sending Lincoln in a worry.
"W-What's that object the mimic is holding?" Lincoln asked.
"Hm? Oh. We actually don't know. I just assumed it was a piece of... something that it just liked to have. What makes it interesting to you?" Lisa asked. Lincoln showed Lisa the backs of his hands, showing her the puzzle piece marking on his right hand with no marking on his left. "What are you trying to show me?"
"Look at my hands. Do you see the marking on my left hand? There used to be an identical mark on my right hand but Lynn gave me a necklace that had a gold puzzle piece that looked exactly like it! But when I was about to pass out when fighting Dek, I saw the gold piece get absorbed into my hand. After that, I blacked out and... had a vision or... a memory."
"A memory? Hm... Now that you mention it... Lucy dropped by and told me something similar. Something about you being put on a curse of some sort," Lisa said. "Well, I think she's right. These... puzzle pieces are important if I want to regain my memories! The puzzle piece I got gave me a memory where Lynn and I had a sword fight on the beach. After that... Things got weird." Lincoln replied, giving a curious face from Lisa."Weird you say? Interesting. You'll have to tell me sometime. Right now, we should focus on the mimic problem and most importantly, where it came from as well as where it's headed. You see here..." Lisa said before pulling up a map of what seemed to be a map of the continent that they lived on.
The continent seemed to be quite large and incredibly tall due to how thin it seemed. While he couldn't make a definite shape of it, he comedically compared its shape to a bird. Another odd quirk about it was that it didn't show the continent in a normal way. Instead, it was just a simple outline of the continent with colored sectors explaining where everything was. On the left side of it was a legend with the colors on the map, explaining what was what. On the lower left was an area that stuck out which was labeled red or "Royal Woods". On the bottom, the area was a dark yellow space that was labeled "desert" with a brown area above being labeled "forest", which Lincoln was starting to quickly understand. Also above the forest was a green area labeled "jungle" with a large round area inside it labeled "swamp". Above those two areas was a light yellow area labeled "plains" with the top right corner labeled "city". Last but not least, was a small white area in between "Royal Woods" and "Forest" that was simply labeled "Home". He easily guessed where that was and he was currently in that area. One thing that did catch his eye were three purple areas simply labeled "UNKNOWN" with one area being connected to the lower corner of the jungle with two separate sets of islands, each having three in total off of the continent in the lower-left corner of the whole map. Lincoln made sure to ask Lisa about those later.
"Route 5 is located in the green area right here. Somewhere in the Jungle on the main route to Great Lakes City," Lisa said as she pointed towards the grey area on the map. "As you can see, the mimic was coming down Argana from or somewhere close to the city. Simple enough so far, correct?"
"Uh... Yes, ma'am."
"Good. Now the problem here is that mimics only live in more populated or urban areas like cities or large towns. They usually stay away from forests, jungles, or rural areas due to how dangerous wildlife can be or the shortage of prey compared to the more populated cities. This is good for us since mimics can cause mass hysteria in a town run by Lord Soogna who uses these chances to make people afraid. And even when Soogna isn't doing his usual thing, paranoia can be created naturally by even mentioning the word mimic. While we would tell them that mimics can't turn themselves into humans, this particular mimic disproves of that fact and could potentially throw the entire town into chaos if people find out about it," Lisa explained once again.
"So I take it you want to kill this mimic as quickly as possible?" Lincoln asked, with Lisa nodding yes.
"Indeed. This mimic seems to be the only one so far that it can turn into a human. Eliminating it will reduce the risks of mass panic and such. However, I currently do not know the whereabouts of this specific mimic but I have reduced the general area of where it currently resides is somewhere on the outskirts of the forest," concluded Lisa as she put away the map. "However... You should be careful now as not only is this Mimic capable of turning into people, it has already caused dangerous paranoia by making Lori and Luan, two of your own sisters, think you are this very mimic. You are open to any attack that they can throw at which I highly suggest you prepare yourself to be attacked at any moment. Well... More than usual I suppose," Lisa told Lincoln. "You can go now. I still have some research to attend to."
Lisa hopped off and headed to the door while Lincoln simply followed her.
"Well... How do I convince them I'm not a mimic? Is there anything I can do?"Lincoln nervously asked Lisa who gave an annoyed sigh.
"Fear not, Elder Brother, for I am making a solution for that," Lisa stated. "I have gathered a few blood samples from you and a dead mimic I managed to get my hands on a while ago. I just need to run some tests and whatnot to get a complete and justified answer. Although... You might find a way by yourself. You were known as the Man with a plan."
Lincoln raised his hand to speak but kept silent. He silently waved goodbye and made his way to the exit of the bunker/lab which was a ladder of all things. He climbed it until he found a hatch that led right outside the house.
"Man with a plan? I guess I should live up to that name for a start. Hm... I know!" Lincoln exclaimed to himself as he came up with a name for his incomplete plan.
"Operation make Lori and Luan believe that I am not a mimic so they don't try to kill me is a go!"
(Well I certainly rushed this chapter but do not worry! I'll surely take my time with the rest of the chapters to this long story. But for now, I have some news. This story is going on a hiatus. I don't know when I'll continue it, but it'll be on hiatus so I can do some other things. Hope you all understand)
