Chapter 3

The next day, Lori pulled the family's beat-up blue van (affectionately dubbed "Vanzilla") into the parking lot of Gus' Games 'N' Grub. She turned to face Lincoln, who was sitting shotgun.

"Okay, Linc, have fun dominating the competition! I'll be busy with dinner by the time you're done, so I arranged for Beau to give you a ride home, okay?" Beau was Lori's friend as well as a part-time employee. Lincoln nodded and took a deep breath before pulling a spandex Spider-Man mask over his head. Wearing the mask in public still attracted stares, but not as many as leaving it off did. Lincoln walked through the doors and spotted Gus, the owner of the establishment, sitting at a small table. Gus was a stocky, balding man wearing a red polo shirt and horn-rimmed glasses. Gus beamed.

"Ah, Lincoln, my favorite customer! Did you come for the contest?"

"Yes, sir," Lincoln replied, stepping up to the table.

"Good. Now, the rules are simple," Gus said, handing Lincoln a clipboard and pencil. "You give me ten dollars in paper, I give you ten dollars in quarters. Write the title of the game in the left-hand column, and your corresponding score for that game in the right-hand column. When all of your quarters are spent, add the scores together and turn in the sheet. I compare everyone's final scores to determine the winner. Lunch is provided, and the contest starts in..." Gus checked his watch. "...ten minutes, so pick a booth and sit down." Lincoln sat down at a booth in the corner that had more privacy than the others, placed the provided reservation card with his name on it at the edge of the table, and bounced the roll of quarters in his palm. Gus' voice soon came over the radio speakers. "Attention gamers! Registration for the contest is now closed and the contest starts...NOW!" Lincoln stood and walked over to the first unoccupied game he saw, Centipede.

...

A breathless Lincoln staggered back to his booth after a challenging single-player round of Gus' newest game, Dance Dance Revolution. Behind the mask, his eyebrows rose in surprise when he saw the small five-meat pizza and the chilled bottle of root beer. He shook his head. Leave it to Beau to know exactly what he was planning to order for lunch. In her defense, though, he'd ordered the same thing every time he came. He sat down, pushed the bottom hem of his mask up to his forehead, and started eating.

Forty-five minutes after he finished his lunch break, Lincoln had spent the last of his quarters playing Donkey Kong, so he did the addition and turned in the paper. All he could do then was sit at his booth and twiddle his thumbs until it was time to announce the winner. When that time came, Lincoln and the other contestants gathered in front of a small stage built into the wall. Rather than one of the usual animatronic attractions, the stage held a video game cabinet under a white sheet. Gus walked onto the stage holding a microphone.

"Well, boys and girls, you probably came here expecting me to only announce one winner. That's not gonna happen, because we have a tie! Lincoln Loud and Hank Valentino, please join me up here on the stage." Lincoln couldn't help but start shaking in fright; Hank was a burly teenager with fair skin, a gap in his teeth, and brown hair in a mohawk. "I've decided that, rather than divide the prize between them, they should duke it out for themselves. And I mean that literally, because the tiebreaker game is...Mortal Kombat!" Gus ripped the sheet away, revealing the colorful two-player cabinet.

Lincoln breathed a sigh of relief. At least with this game, he had a chance. As player one, Hank chose Scorpion as his avatar. Lincoln anticipated this and chose Scorpion's single worthy adversary, Sub-Zero.

The game began, projected onto a blank white wall so the audience could observe. Lincoln knew how to button-smash like a pro so that any combo moves happened purely by chance. Pixelated blood flew as Sub-Zero's foot connected with Scorpion's face. Scorpion was back on his feet in an instant and retaliated with his signature kunai attack, which Sub-Zero jumped over. Sub-Zero conjured an ice sword and plunged it into Scorpion's chest, depleting half of his health bar. Suddenly and without warning, Scorpion ripped off his mask and spewed fire from his grinning skull, reducing Sub-Zero to a mound of ashes. Lincoln's heart dropped as the words FATALITY and SCORPION WINS! flashed across the screen.

"Hey!" someone in the front row shouted. Lincoln whirled around to see a scrawny boy with curly ginger hair, crooked teeth, and a heavy dusting of freckles pointing frantically at Hank. "That guy has cheat codes on his arm!" Hank was wearing a tight-fitting T-shirt, so the accusation was easy to verify. Gus frowned, grabbed Hank's wrist, and lifted his arm. There it was, clear as day: a variety of symbols scrawled in black marker.

"You, young man, are banned from this establishment," Gus growled to Hank. He turned to the assembled children and young adults and announced, "The winner by forfeit is Lincoln Loud!"

It's been quite a while since I've seen the episode Tricked! Now that I think about it, I might not have seen it at all. Either way, I had to guess which bully was Hank and which was Hawk. For the sake of the story, I hope I guessed right!