Alright, here's Chapter 2! I just wanna go on the record and say that playing the episodes of Duncanville in the background while I write has helped me quite a bit.
I'm so happy you guys liked the last one and I promise to give you all nothing but my best for the rest of the story! Even if I don't know how long it's going to be yet.
Anyway, on to the chapter!
Chapter 2
For Duncan Harris, Saturday mornings are a chance for him to catch up on sleep.
This Saturday morning however, is special for him.
It's quarter past seven right now and he can be seen driving across a bridge heading towards Boston.
Right next to him sitting in the passenger seat is his crush, Mia, dressed in her usual green jacket, pink shirt, and blue jeans with holes.
"Thanks for driving me to the protest, Duncan. There was no way I could've gotten my parents to wake up early for this."
Duncan smiles back at her.
"Hey, it's not just your parents that prefer sleep."
He points to the backseat to show that his dad, Jack Harris, is in the car with them, but he is fast asleep. The sound of his loud snoring rings in both their ears.
Mia looks away from Jack and towards Duncan.
"Mind if I put on some music?"
Duncan activates the CD player in front of him.
"Don't worry! I got something here I KNOW you'll like!"
From the speakers, the music starts playing with Mia instantly recognizing the song.
"OH! I love this song!"
She then starts to sing along.
(Boo'd Up - Ella Mai)
"Feelings, so deep in my feelings!
No, this ain't really like me!
Can't control my anxiety…"
Duncan starts to sing along with her, getting more excited by the second he knows he's sharing a moment with her.
"Feeling, like I'm touching the ceiling!
When I'm with you, I can't breathe!
Boy, you do something to me!"
What came next for Duncan was completely unexpected. He tightens his hands on the steering wheel as he hears the voice of his dad start singing along with Mia. Their voices being the only two voices singing in the car.
"Ooooo, no, I'll never get over you until I find,
Something new that get me high like you do, yeah, yeah!"
Duncan angrily looks at his rear view mirror to see the happy face of his dad.
Through gritted teeth, he says, "What… are… you… DOING!?"
Jack raises hands up defensively. "I'm… I'm singing! What!? I'm not ALLOWED to sing!?"
"Fifteen years!" Continues Duncan. "Fifteen FRICKING years and I've NEVER heard you sing a song like this! How do you even know the lyrics!?"
Mia gives Duncan a concerned look. "Duncan… please calm down."
Jack starts to answer Duncan's question. "Okay… son… I don't think I'm ever going to say this again… so listen up."
Duncan looks away from the road and at his dad, further concerning Mia.
"There are times when… even I need a break from Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones. The music of today has something bands back then DON'T and that's… DUNCAN BEHIND YOU!"
Duncan quickly turns his head to see a fuel tanker crashed through the concrete dividers and is driving head on towards everybody in the car…
Before Duncan could scream in terror, he woke up.
"What's with these stupid nightmares!?" He thinks to himself. "That's SEVEN NIGHTS in a row! Why am I ALWAYS up so ear-"
Before Duncan can even finish that thought, he looks at his alarm clock and sees that it's ten past noon.
He sighs, and crashes his head back on his pillow.
Deciding not to deal with his problem by himself anymore, he decides to talk about his nightmares with his friends at the abandoned trailer…
They responded in a way only the best of friends would respond.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Duncan rolls his eyes at Yangzi, Bex, and Wolf, he knows they'll stop laughing eventually.
Yangzi wipes a tear from his eye. "Okay… You, Mia, and your dad are in the car and all of a sudden a giant tanker comes out of nowhere and kills you all!? That's hilarious!"
"Funniest thing I heard all week." Wolf smirks.
Duncan then sits down. "I should have never told you guys about this." He then reaches into his back pocket and takes out his Nintendo Switch. "I'll just play some Animal Crossing until I forget what we were all talking about!"
Bex leans closer to Duncan. "You had a choice between this game and Doom Eternal… and you chose…"
*CRASH*
Duncan looks up from his game. "What was that?"
"It sounded like it came from outside." Said Yangzi.
The four friends then decide to exit their abandoned trailer to search for whatever caused the noise.
It was then they heard two kids speaking.
"Please tell me you were able to save it."
"Oh yeah. Worry about your stupid beetles. Not your brother."
"To be fair, you've been through worse."
Yangzi clears his throat and yells at the kids. "Uh, excuse me! You kids need some help!?"
The first voice, the voice of a little girl, speaks again.
"Dang it. We've been spotted."
Duncan gets wide eyed as soon as he sees two familiar faces come out of the bushes. A familiar kid with white hair and an equally familiar little girl with glasses.
Bex whispers to Duncan. "Is it just me or do these kids seem familiar?"
The little girl pushes her glasses into place. "Our apologies for making you all come out here but we're in the middle of something important."
Wolf notices the plastic box full of dirt in the white haired boy's hands. "What's with the dirt?"
The little girl snatches the box away from the boy's hands. "This… is to provide adequate shelter for the Gold Spotted Oak Borer beetles."
Everybody remains silent. The little girl then sighs.
"You all may not have taken note of the significant oak mortality going on near your homes, but as soon as the Royal Woods Institute of Science received reports of healthy trees getting damage, we hypothesized that it was the work of these beetles, who have somehow gotten transported here from California.
I'll spare you the major details of the history of trouble these things can cause, but if we don't do anything to this invasive species, every tree you see before you could all die in about three years."
Wolf narrows his eyes. "I didn't get any of tha-"
"ROYAL WOODS!?"
Everybody turns to face Duncan.
"Now I'm SURE of it! Lisa and Lincoln Loud!"
"Lincoln Loud!?" Said Yangzi. "I KNEW he looked familiar!"
The boy, Lincoln Loud, scratches the back of his head. "Uh… um… Do I KNOW you guys?"
Duncan takes a few steps forward. "Last week… you went up against Team You've Got Chainmail… I'M THE BAKER!"
Now it's Lincoln's turn to get wide eyed. "That was you!?"
While still holding the box of beetles, Lisa crosses her arms. "Looks like it's a small world after all."
"Royal Woods is… like… a thousand miles away from here!" Said Duncan.
"Seven hundred and eighteen to be exact!" Said Lisa as she pushed her glasses in place again.
"That leads me to the SECOND thing I'm doing for the Institute." She looks at her brother. "It seems that you have some business here to take care of. You think you'll be fine by yourself for a little bit? I'll come back for you in an hour? Thirty minutes?"
Lincoln nods. "One hour is plenty of time. You go ahead, Lisa. I'm gonna have a lot to talk about."
Lisa nods back then talks into her earpiece.
"Ten to teleport, stand by."
Yangzi raises an eyebrow. "Teleportation? No way!"
Lisa smiles. "A NEW way of travel. Top secret stuff. It costs taxpayers five million dollars every time we use it, but it looks REALLY promising!"
A voice comes out of Lisa's earpiece. "We're ready for you."
Lisa talks back. "Engage."
And just like that, she gets de-materialized by a pillar of light only to be re-materialized in Royal Woods, leaving Duncan, Yangzi, Bex, and Wolf standing with their mouths wide open.
"Whoa." Said Duncan.
"I gotta tweet about this!" Shouted Yangzi as he started to take out his phone.
"Do you really think anybody's gonna believe you?" Said Lincoln, crossing his arms.
Yangzi gives Lincoln a sheepish look as he slowly puts his phone back in his pocket.
Duncan takes a deep breath. "Okay! I'm just gonna go ahead and say it! I'm sorry!"
Lincoln raises an eyebrow. "Sorry? For what?"
Duncan explains. "I don't want you to think we're just reckless jerks who mindlessly kill everyone for the fun of it in Guilds of Glory. There was a bounty posted and we HAD to take it!"
Lincoln, after hearing what Duncan had to say, smirks. "Relax man. You did what you had to do. Look, I'm always open to meeting new people. What's your name?"
Duncan smiles. "My name is Duncan Harris. And these are my friends, Yangzi."
"How you doin'?" Greeted Yangzi.
"Bex."
"Hey-ho! Buddy!" Greeted Bex. "If you ever need anyone to help you out with any plans of yours, I'm your gal!"
"And Wolf."
"Sup." Wolf simply greeted.
Lincoln nods at them. "It's nice to meet you all. As you all know, I'm Lincoln Loud. I have five older sisters and five younger sisters. That means I have very little time to myself."
He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a Nintendo Switch. The game console looking exactly the same as the one Duncan has inside the trailer.
"How about we play another game together?"
Duncan, Yangzi, Bex, and Wolf look at each other, and smile.
They just got a new friend.
In the Loud House, Luna is in her room on the top bunk of her bunk bed gently playing her iconic purple guitar.
"Ugh. I'm so bored." She thought. "Why can't something exciting happen today!?"
Then, as if on cue, her younger sister, Luan, comes rushing in.
Luan is what one would call the family comedian. However comedy, being subjective and all, often leads her to laugh at her own jokes and then asking around if anybody understood what the joke (usually pun) was supposed to mean. She asks the question once she takes in the fact that one else laughed with her.
"Hey Luna!" She shouts out to her older sister, looking up at her from the floor. "I just thought of something hilarious! You gotta hear it!"
Luna looks down at her sister, she's told many jokes before in the past, all of them not even remotely funny to her, maybe this one will stand out above the rest.
"Sure sis." Luna smiles. "I could use a good laugh."
"Okay, here goes!" Said Luan as she prepares herself.
"I love Dust in the Wind… but I hate dust in my Kansas albums!"
Almost immediately, Luna burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! Okay, I gotta admit! That was pretty clever!"
Just then, the sisters then see Clyde McBride standing near their door.
"Hey, have either of you seen Lincoln anywhere? I haven't been seeing him on Guilds of Glory."
Luan shrugs her shoulders. "Nah, I haven't seen him. He has been disappearing more often, now that I think about it."
Luna then gets off the top bunk and faces Clyde.
"I haven't seen him either, but I can say that I haven't been seeing Lisa around much either. Maybe she knows something."
"Alright then." Clyde nods at Luna. "Next time we see Lisa, we interrogate her. We know she's not all that good at lying!"
Music can be heard from the abandoned trailer as Lincoln's Nintendo Switch is playing The Time (Dirty Bit) by The Black Eyed Peas from Just Dance 2020.
Lincoln, Duncan, Yangzi, and Bex are holding joycons that belong to both Lincoln and Duncan while Wolf is holding his phone recording the whole thing.
Right now, Yangzi is winning with the others not far behind, except Duncan, who can never get more than three stars every time he plays his copy of the game.
They're now taking turns dancing while singing a part of the song, believing they'll dance better.
"All these girls, they like my swagger! They callin' me Mick Jagger! I be rollin' like a stone Jet-setter, Jet-lagger!" Sang Duncan as he dances.
Now it's Lincoln's turn. "We ain't messin with no maggots! Messin' with the baddest! Chicks in the club! Honey what's up!?"
Yangzi starts to dance. "Mirror mirror on the wall! Who's the baddest of them all! Yeah it's gotta be the Apl! I'm the Mack daddy y'all!"
Bex then dances. "Haters better step back! Ladies download your app! I'm the party application! Rocking just like that!"
While still holding the phone in his hands, Wolf says, "This is international big mega radio smasher!"
The five of them start singing together.
"Cause I'M! HAVIN'! A GOOD! TIME! WITH YOU! I'M TELLIN' YOU!"
Yangzi then, to the surprise of everybody, takes out his phone and walks closer to Wolf, who has a confused look on his face.
"If you guys like this song, you can find many more just like it on the newest music app…"
"OH HELL NO!" Shouted Wolf. "You're trendsetting AGAIN!?"
The range of emotions that came from Lincoln, Duncan, and Bex range from concerned to entertained; with Lincoln being the entertained one.
With the song now over, he looks back at the screen on the Nintendo Switch.
"Hey guys! Check it out! I won!"
The four friends immediately stop fighting and worrying to check out their scores. Lincoln had indeed won.
Yangzi then pats Lincoln on the back. "Congrats man! You danced your SOUL out!"
Wolf raises an eyebrow. "Is that why you got in my face? To lose on purpose?"
Lincoln brushes Yangzi's hand away and goes on to sit on the booth in the trailer.
"Okay, I think I know what's going on here. You guys felt bad for me and let me win because you don't know what it's like to have ten sisters. I get it."
He then sees the four friends look away from him and at the floor.
"Hey, you don't gotta worry about me! You don't gotta worry about me at all! I'll tell you what. Now that I'm here and we're all friends… Why don't you give me a tour of Oakdale! I'm sure it's not all that different from Royal Woods!"
Their faces then lit up. "That sounds like fun!" Shouted Duncan. "But I gotta warn you… there really aren't that many fun places to-"
"DUNCAN!"
Duncan grits his teeth. "Oh god. Not her!"
To the surprise of everyone, Duncan's sister, Kimberly, steps into the abandoned trailer, her back turned to Lincoln's, who's wide eyed by the new guest.
Kimberly narrows her gaze at her brother. "I need thirty dollars to get a book from the mall! Mom won't budge no matter how much I-"
She stops talking when she notices the four friends aggressively pointing behind her.
"What are you point…" She turns her head around to face Lincoln, who she instantly recognizes. "...ing… at…"
Lincoln stands up from the booth and extends his hand out for a handshake. "Hi… My name's Lincoln Loud. It's very nice to meet you."
"OH… MY… GOD!" Thought Kimberly. "He's even CUTER in person!"
"I...I...I…"
"LINCOLN!" She hears Duncan shout out.
"THIS… is my sister, Kimberly! She killed both your friends in Guilds of-OOF!"
Duncan found himself cut off, as he was punched very hard in the gut by his sister.
Lincoln widens his gaze. "I KNEW… I've seen that purple hair somewhere before!"
"You're not mad at me, are you!?" Kimberly asks in a panic. Hoping to make a good first impression.
"Mad?" Said Lincoln. "Why would I be mad at someone who just wants to win a game?"
Kimberly was about to talk back when Wolf beat her to it.
"Duncan also has a five year old stepsister named Jing."
"WOLF!" Thought Kimberly. "Now is NOT the time for…"
"Oh really!" Said in intrigued Lincoln. "That means Kimberly here is the middle child! What a coincidence! I'm a middle child too!"
"Heh heh." Chuckled Kimberly, as she's too nervous to speak.
"Maybe you could show me around Oakdale as well."
For a second, Kimberly considered it, but then she thought of something else.
"You know what? I think Duncan and his friends can show you around better than I can! I'll just get in the way."
Lincoln respectfully nods at her and walks over to retrieve his Nintendo Switch.
"You okay to lead the way, Duncan?"
Yangzi, Bex, and Wolf look at their friend, who's holding his stomach. "Yeah… I'll… I'll lead the way." Said Duncan.
"Don't worry, Dunc." Said Yangzi. "Let your boy carry some of that weight from your shoulders!"
And just like that Lincoln and his newest friends walked out of the abandoned trailer to start the tour of Oakdale.
Kimberly, now alone, waited until the group disappeared from sight before she made her move.
"Please be here… Please be here… Please be here…"
She looked closely at the booth that Lincoln sat on earlier for about a minute until…
"AHA!"
She pinches her desired object between her fingers.
A long, white hair.
Now before you guys start bashing me in the reviews for making the decision that Kimberly would have a crush on Lincoln, I just wanna say that in the words of her voice actor, Riki Lindhome, she's sort of an angry, emotional, hormonal, pre-teen, who has crushes on everybody. I imagined Lincoln being part of the everybody category.
Another thing I should note here, the original reason that I came up with as to why Lincoln and Lisa are in the woods of Oakdale is that Lisa wanted to harvest a unique and endangered species of beetle native only to that forest. I changed the reason when I learned about the Gold Spotted Oak Borer beetle: an invasive species responsible for killing thousands on top of thousands of oak trees near San Diego. Pretty serious stuff. Today they're researching any predatory species that could kill these beetles and not harm other species.
Anyway, that was chapter 2. I hope you guys enjoy it and are now looking forward to chapter 3. I also hope that episode 7 of Duncanville will stick to its schedule and release on the 19th of this month. I can't wait!