Hey, here's chapter 25 of Neon Flash.
Lincoln traversed through the rooftops, avoiding detection, and keeping a hawk's eye on Lucy. So far the area was empty, no crooks or suspicious people driving around in vans.
'Okay Luce, what are you up to?' If Lincoln had anything to go by, Lucy would frequent the Royal Woods cemetery. That location for a hangout was rather morbid and creepy… something that fit her vibe exactly. But somehow, a group of people stopped her midway, it looked to be someone of her age.
'One… two… three… four… there's about six people in total. But with Lucy, that'll make seven.' The people identified would pass off as a part of Lucy's age group, they also gave out the same creepy feeling that Lucy usually has. Perhaps they're in her little friendship group.
Unable to make out what they were talking about, Lincoln simply decided to wait. Right there, it was just all of them talking in the cemetery. Probably something on how pointless life is, that the inevitable darkness that looms upon all humankind will soon envelop their meaningless lives.
Upon that thought, Lincoln was slightly frightened on the notion that he could become nihilistic. Living life without living it at all and just moaning and groaning, staring that everything and everyone was pointless… if a nihilist died, would they even care?
From there, a murky shadow appeared… cloaked in a tan gown, poorly decorated with splotches of black ink… sporting a recent insignia.
'Wait a minute… that's from that cult Ronnie Anne warned me about'. He paid attention to the sign. Instinctively, he wanted to get close, but if he shows himself as Neon Flash or Lincoln… things will be compromised.
Before Lincoln could investigate further, he felt something swipe at his side, knocking him to the side of the roof. He turned to see who it was… or rather 'what'.
From the assailant, came a long tail, standing, wriggling, the flesh squamous, scaly and cold.
"What the hell?" Lincoln whispered. The being walked forth, protracting his sickly, yellow claws and revealing its gnashing teeth.
He quickly looked to Lucy's position, it looks like they were unaware of the fight. He would have to keep it that way, meaning no explosive abilities. This would be complicated for the anti-hero… but that didn't mean it was impossible.
Neon Flash took out the hilt of his blade, manipulating his powers to create the sword. "Okay. Come on." They walked towards each other, steeling their minds for the onslaught.
Neon started by slashing diagonally up to the left, the monster took the attack, then the anti-hero swiped his blade to the right, which was dodged.
The monster dared to strike back by tacking a horizontal swipe toward Neon's torso, but the vigilante spun and countered with a upwards diagonal swipe to the right. The monster saw the light blade coming from the swordsman, wanting to strike its existence down. It blocked the attack with its claws and charged forth. Neon stood his ground, stopping the movements, leaving them at a stalemate.
Neon looked to see the being's tail about to swipe at him again, but he was ready for it. He flipped away, effectively dodging it. He then took his chain and wrapped it around the leg of the beast, he rolled out of the way and with a quick yank, put his opponent to the ground. Lincoln leapt towards the beast, blade in hand and pierced its tail. He took the blade out in such a fashion that caused the apparatus to be ripped off.
The being screamed out in agony, but before its wails continued, Neon stabbed it in the chin, effectively silencing it, the blade did not reach the being's brain, leaving it alive, but in a lot of agony.
"Just shut it for a minute. Once I'm done, I'll see if there's a Jurassic Park for you to go after this… actually scratch that… those dinosaurs have a tendency to come out."
Neon Flash went to view Lucy and her previous position, only to find that they were all gone. "Super… now where are they?" Agitation was heard in his voice, he was busy fighting this lizard thing, he didn't pay attention to the stakeout.
His attention turned back to the creature. Seeing its facial features, and it made him cringe inside. "I thought it was tech, but you really are an overgrown lizard." It took the blade from its jaw and roared, albeit the wound made it more of a gargled wail.
Neon's eyes widened at the sight of seeing the lizard's tail regenerate, the wound on its jaw still existed, but maybe some more time will allow it to heal.
The scaly opponent rushed at the anti-hero, running on all fours. Since Lucy and everyone else was gone, now was the time to cut loose. Neon charged an energy ball and fired it toward the animal, hoping to blind it. But it didn't lose its momentum, which startled Neon Flash a bit. He wrapped the chain around its lead hand, absorbing the oncoming attack, countering by stabbing the animal in its side, went around with the chain to entrap it, then throw it off the building.
Neon dashed towards the scene, wanting to see if his adversary was dead, or maimed. He was sure of the second part, though. But it seemed that after all of that, the monster was nowhere to be seen.
Lincoln sighed under his breath, how could it have survived the onslaught? It was somewhere, lurking… waiting. Regardless, he was done with the fight. Now came the matter of finding Lucy. The first thing he wanted to see if she was taking the route back home. By any fortune, the sound of the fight may have traveled to their ears and found it a good idea to flee. Maybe she'd head back home, so that's where he started.
Luckily, he spotted her. A mop of black hair could be seen in the distance, it was definite that this was Lucy, since she also has a bat on her arm. He waited for her to step into the house before he did. Once the door shut behind her, he went back to his room to sleep.
Maybe in the morning, things will unravel itself.
Lincoln's day started off as well as it would for a kid his age. He got up, had breakfast and now, he was having a good time playing video games in the living room. While he would go for an over-the-top fighting game, this time, he wanted to see a game a little more realistic. This fighting game had it all, boxing, wrestling, submissions, and combination strings quite realistic to perform. Decided to choose a certain weight class, the venue and went to work. Personally, Lincoln found it as a learning experience.
His opponent was in a close range, close enough to be punished with rear uppercut, lead hook combination after ducking a hook.
With his attention paid fully to the game, he wasn't aware of one of his sisters, just waiting for the right opportunity.
"C'mon, I got you in a clinch, now you go to the cage and you're gonna take the knees." Lincoln said. Apparently, his character was kneeing his opponent in the stomach.
She sees him in his blissful ignorance, from there she quickly lunged at him.
Lincoln didn't notice as he reveled in his virtual victory. As he did a fist pump downward, he lifts his knee up, he thought he would feel the nothingness of air. But he felt something warm and fleshly, like a stomach.
"Ohh!" He exclaimed as he saw who took the effect of it. "Lana! Are you alright?!"
Lana was clutching her stomach at the violent feeling. He kneeled down to her level, waiting for her to speak, or maybe cry.
"Oww… what was that for?" Lana croaked.
"What?! I was celebrating my win in the game and then you lunged at me! Wait a sec… why did you lunge at me in the first place…" He looked around to see that there was rope. "… and why do you have rope on you?"
"I just wanted to play a game." Lana strained. "Tried to hogtie you… thought it would be funny." Lincoln sighed at the notion. Even if she wanted to have fun, this kind would've done nothing good for her.
"Okay, leave the funny stuff to Luan. Let's get some ice on it." Lincoln got up to escort Lana to the kitchen, and escort his stomach, since it wanted to growl at him. Going inside, he happens to see Lori and Lily. Lori was getting a snack, for herself and for Lily. The white haired boy moved to the fridge and saw an ice pack for Lana, handing it to her. "Try not to do anything crazy like that okay?" Lincoln said.
"No promises, man. Besides, I'm tougher than I look." Lana stated. She didn't want that to happen, she liked being her.
"Clearly." He remarked with much disbelief. Given the people he had the pleasure of facing, Lana would be a paper tiger in comparison. She walked away without a word.
"Is Lana okay?" Lily asked.
"Yeah, just a little accident. She'll be okay." Lincoln answered. "Guessing you and Lori are spending a little time together, huh?" Lincoln took something out of the fridge and sat down.
"Yeah… Lily just got a little hungry, so I'm making her a snack." Lori said. Once she finished the preparations, she handed it to Lily.
"Thank you." Lily said. She had such a sweet and innocent voice.
"Oh, you're welcome." Lori sat down with the two younger siblings.
"Look, this is coming out of the blue but, is Lucy doing ok? I don't know, but it's like she seems angry, upset with something." Lincoln asked. There had to be some sort of clue, a deviation that someone may have noticed. If Lucy is a gothic girl that's fine, but if there's something going on, like underlying depression, they had to notice the signs, before it was too late.
"Actually, yeah. I don't know why, but it's like Lucy's a different person. She wasn't always so distant. She has her ways, but I agree with you, something's not right." Lori leaned back to ponder about this a little more.
"Yeah, well Rita was talking to her about sneaking out at night past curfew, I think she did it again last night too."
"Umm… Lincoln." Lily asked meekly.
"What's up?"
"Why do you call Mom by her first name?"
He raised his brow in response. "It's complicated. I have my reasons." Lincoln tussled the little one's head while smirking.
"I heard my name." Lucy made her ethereal appearance. Showing her existence by appearing without warning. Of course Lori and Lily reacted in shock. But Lincoln hadn't flinched on that, he was undaunted by a measly jump-scare. "What do you even want this time?" Lucy's voice held such frustration, annoyed by someone mentioning her name without her presence. Whispering about like gossiping handmaidens, having the gall to talk about her in secret, but not to her face.
"Well… Lucy… we're really worried about you." Lily started. She felt a lump in her throat, something that she had to swallow before talking. She wasn't afraid of her siblings before, yet there was something that was telling her otherwise.
"Mom knows you snuck out again. I know you want to go on these spooky walks and all, but there's a bunch of crazy people out there at night… something could've happened to you." Lori explained.
Lucy simply scoffed at the notion. "It's not a big deal, so just drop it." The goth girl demanded.
"Drop it?" Lori was flabbergasted by her disrespectful tone.
"I didn't stutter, did I?" Lucy made that snide remark, making the situation worse for her.
"Wait, Lucy!" Lily stood up and hugged her from behind. "Please, I don't like it when you're upset. Can you talk to us?"
"Get off me, Lily." Lucy sneered under breath. For Lily's sake, she would do well enough to listen… but she didn't. Instead she hugged tighter. Lori stood up from the chair.
"Lucy." The oldest sister called her name. Her tone was soft, seeing that her younger sister was about to explode.
"I said… GET OFF!" Lucy quickly pried herself away from Lily's grip, then she pushed the sweet girl towards the wall.
Lori rushed to Lily's side. Lincoln's eyes widened, leaving behind the cautious worry he had into a boiling anger towards the goth. He stood up as well, creating an imposing appearance, courtesy of the goth.
"Lucy, what the hell?!" Lincoln exclaimed.
"Lily, are you alright?!" Lori rushed to the poor girls side. Lily's reaction had placed them at unease. For such a vicious assault to occur, when all she did was care about Lucy, it was only fitting that she let her emotions out by crying.
Lori could only embrace and comfort Lily upon what happened. This was something that caught her off guard, the family Loud siblings may have had their bouts and scraps, but no one has ever laid their hands on Lily in such a way
"I told you to get off." Lucy's venomous tone filled the room. She was just going to leave without a word, without even acknowledging her actions and apologizing for them.
Lincoln told Lily to be good, to be better… and where did it leave her? Someone swatted the olive branch and struck her cheek. Some sort of instinct kicked in him, causing him to march toward the girl.
"Hey!" Lincoln bellowed as he gripped Lucy's hand and dragged towards the wall, pressing her against it! "What the hell is your problem?! All she wanted to know is if you were okay!"
"What? You didn't hear me before? I didn't like it when she was touching me!" Lucy made a snide remark.
"Oh, so you don't like being touched? See, Lily was hugging you, you wanna know how you're touched?" Lincoln grabbed her shirt and slammed her against the wall. "That's a bad touch, right there!" He slammed her against it again. "Just like that! Know how you feel if it got worse? How'd you feel if someone gave you a black eye for what you did? Or maybe a cracked skull, cause that's what I'm leaning towards!"
"Like you can do anything to hurt me."
"Don't tempt me." Lincoln hardened his grip.
"Then go for it… it's not like it's going to matter anyway. Tch… you don't even matter, you're just a kid no one wanted… a rejected bastard is all that you'll ever be."
Something in Lincoln snapped upon hearing Lucy's insult. Normally, he would've brushed it off, but somehow, that particular insult stung him. Forget cracking Lucy's skull, maybe opening her head all over the floor would satisfy him.
Lori left with Lily in tow, wanting to get away from their fight. What mattered to the elder sister was keeping Lily safe. As for Lincoln, she didn't need to, she already knew what he was capable of.
"Three seconds." Lincoln warned. "Three seconds to take what you said back, and apologize to Lily, or I'll smash your teeth in. One…"
"You don't have it in you…" Before Lucy could finish, she was interrupted by a punch that narrowly missed, it hit the wall with a resounding thud.
"Are you gonna get Mommy Luna to save you?" Lucy just didn't know when to stop twisting that knife.
"I don't need no one to save me, but I can't say the same for you if you keep that attitude up."
"Two…" Lincoln waited for the final second to pass. The moment it did. He cocked his hand back, while he didn't see Lucy's eye widen in shock, her body shaking in fear was close enough. He loosened his grip on Lucy, and she quickly got out of the way… only because Lincoln allowed it.
Lincoln simply did a feint, smiling at the fact that he got Lucy to cower and move away from him. He even chuckled at the situation. "You can dish it out, but you don't even know if you can take it. I've met people who can talk and back it up, and seeing as you only talk… you're just an angry little girl with an attitude."
Lucy, attempting to save face for herself looked away from him and decided to walk away. "Whatever." She mumbled.
"Walking away, after all that?! You wanted my attention, you got it! Now you wanna walk away, ignoring people that care about you. Maybe you can write about how miserable you are in those little poems!"
Lucy didn't say anything to him, only preparing herself to leave the front door. But Lincoln wasn't done yet, since Lucy twisted the knife on him, it's only fitting that he did the same. Pushing her towards the wall was mere salt, compared to what he spewed next.
"That attitude of yours is exactly why a lot of people would prefer to ignore you than notice you! You wanna push away people who care, go on ahead! Because you're gonna realize our lives will go on, with or without you! Who knows, maybe it'll be better off!"
If Lucy's blackened heart was wrapped in vines bleeding all over the place, then Lincoln's words may have just ripped it to pieces. She left the house, refusing for anyone to see her so vulnerable.
Lincoln growled at this. Knowing that the argument was done, an uneasy feeling swept into him. Permeating his mind with this overwhelming sorrow, yet clouding his emotions in a fiery storm of anger and frustration. Was it the threatening of corporeal punishment, the psychological torment that made him feel like this?
Did it make him feel guilty?
He paced around the living room, thinking about this. Running his hand through his hair. 'Lucy, if you weren't my sister, I would've blasted you in the chest right then and there.' He went to the backyard, wanting to calm down. But with that encounter proved something: Lucy's involved with some bad people. Those freaks with those robes and scales had something to do with the way she's acting.
When he cooled down, he decided to check in on Lily. The little one wasn't sobbing like before, but she was still saddened about what happened, sniffling… her eyes now red and puffy. He knocked on the door. "Hey… I uh… just wanted to check on you. You ok?" Lincoln asked.
Lily didn't answer, he carefully walked towards her, sitting next to her.
"I'm sorry about what happened, I… I dunno what's going on. Honestly, I'm just as confused as you are about this."
"Why did she do it, Lincoln?" The tone of her voice brought turmoil to the white haired boy. Such cheery optimism, turning into an elegy of defeat.
"I don't know." Lincoln answered. 'But I will find out'. His mind was dead set on that notion.
"Listen, I'm gonna be out for a bit, but when I get back, I wanna do something with you, to cheer you up." Lincoln suggested. He wasn't good with this stuff, but thinking about Luna, she'd like him to give it a shot.
"Really?" She looked at him.
"Sure. I mean, if you want… we could watch those superhero shows you like so much, some popcorn and snacks. A little late-night thing, if I come back on time."
Lily thought about it in silence, from the sound of it, it seemed pretty fun. Like a movie night. "We can watch anything?"
"I mean within reason, but yeah we can watch whatever."
Lily had a small smile on her on hearing Lincoln's offer. "Okay." She replied. It seemed that the offer had cheered her up a bit.
Lincoln patted Lily on her shoulder, sitting up, then left the room. Right now, was to calm down and wait. Then, take down the creeps she's associating herself with.
Night has fallen, the moon was out and the family was resting away. Now it was time for Lucy and Lincoln to play.
For Lucy, she was going to sneak out again, this time, her loyal companion Fangs was not brought with her to her little evening strolls. Lincoln saw her walk out once more… as did someone else.
"Not this time." From those words, Lincoln went to the window, he leaped off, performing a front tuck, all the while transforming into Neon Flash. His suit was completely on, sticking the landing. He paused in the moment, slowly tilting his head upward.
"How interesting that the human race seems to all have an eye for such flair and grandeur." Lincoln shot up to see who was behind him. It was of course the wandering nomad, Geo.
"Could've given me a heads up on you being here. Wait, what are you doing here anyway?"
"New developments have occurred in this dimensional plane, and I am here to learn about humankind. Given there are certain… prerequisites." He said as his hand opened to reveal a green light, surrounded by a grey aura, acting as gentle gusts of wind.
"What is that?" Lincoln asked.
"A soul. A soul that has departed this world through whatever means. Should I have a chance to collect them, the soul will be departed to the afterlife, but not before I take a portion of its essence of time."
"What do you need its essence of time for?" Lincoln asked him.
"This essence of time is a part of human existence. By taking these souls, I am allowed to exist, like you for example. But the time period for such existence is a short one."
"But you never needed souls to exist in front of me." Lincoln deduced.
"I am ethereal being that exists and does not exist." The amount of people that acknowledge my existence is scarce, and using the ability to project myself to at least one person is what I am capable of."
"So with that soul, what were you trying to do in your… moment of existence?"
"I wished to understand the feeling of hunger and how it was filled, by doing so, I enjoyed something known as 'deep fried cheese and pork chop sandwich'."
"I'm guessing you enjoyed it." Lincoln remarked.
"I have learned something from this, I find the experience satisfactory."
Lincoln brushed off this dimensional nomad's deed. It seemed like there was nothing wrong with whatever he was doing. Learning about the human world, there's nothing wrong with that. "Well, I'm glad you and I caught up, but I have a problem. I need to get to the Royal Woods cemetery."
"Yes… a foreboding event occurs as we speak." Geo looked towards the direction of the cemetery.
"Wait… you know what's going on there?" Lincoln asked.
"Naturally." Was the nomads reply.
"Okay, but can you at least tell me if Lucy's is involved and what's going on down there?" Lincoln walked towards Geo, unmoving and undaunted.
"The Way of The Light, isn't just some mythological god worshipping cult as one would initially believe. They are a cult whom have lived for millennia, forfeiting their humanity for the sake of one thing: immortality." Geo explained such a notion. The nomad seemed to have more information about this cult compared to his initial information.
"Immortality?"
"To achieve such a feat, the cult must consume a soul they deem worthy, powerful enough to sustain them for a long period of time. To put it simply, they want your soul."
Lincoln was shocked. "Wait! Why would they want my soul?! I'm just a kid, not a godlike being!"
"Your recent expeditions as the Neon Flash haven't gone unnoticed. Once they have heard of your triumphs, they decided to scurry out of hiding."
"Great. Here I thought these demon lizard freaks wanted to summon Cthulhu or some sacrificial bride or crap like that." Lincoln remarked with apparent snark and annoyance. "I'm not even that powerful, I mean I don't transform with larger muscles with blond and spiky hair with glowing eyes."
"Your power has grown since your beginning, it still has yet to reach your potential. Doing so would require…" Geo stopped himself from explaining further.
"Require what?" Lincoln asked he wanted to know a little more about this.
"Your story still is yet to be written, Lincoln. Have patience. Such power will be revealed to you in time."
"Written, you make it sound like you know how it plays out." Lincoln was suspicious of his choice of words.
"I believe the term is 'figure of speech' as you people would remark it." Geo said. Hiding the apparent truth he spilled out without much thought.
"Look, Lucy's in danger, and if those lizard freaks for a hold of her, who knows what sick stuff they're gonna do. I gotta save her." Before Lincoln could sprint, Geo placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Behind you." Geo said. Lincoln turned to see the cemetery directly behind him.
"Wait. How did…" Lincoln turned once more to see that his house was gone, only to find the surrounding area of the Royal Woods cemetery present instead of the Loud House. "We need to talk about this later on…"
Neon ducked as Geo stood looking onwards, knowing he wouldn't be detected by any means. "How am I gonna find Lucy? All of these guys look exactly the same with those cloaks on."
Geo placed an insignia of an arrow on Lucy's cloak. No one, not even the cult could see it, but Neon Flash could.
"Okay, get Lucy, get out and take these prehistoric wannabes out like how the asteroids did with the real deal."
"If that is the case. I'll leave you to your work." Geo turned and took his leave.
"Wait you're not gonna stay and…" Neon turned to see no one there anymore. "Help?" He finished.
Neon Flash sighed upon this. "Super." He stood up to see Lucy once more. He still would like a little help on the matter. So he wanted to summon Geo once more.
"Uhh… Geo, Geo, Geo?" He waited to see if he'd pop up for him. He waited for ten seconds. "Nothing. Oh well."
Neon Flash looked to Lucy once more. Reacquiring his target, he quickly got in for a closer look. Once at a close range, he prepared a flash grenade with his hands. He waited for just a bit.
'BANG'
Neon quickly threw the grenade, blinding and staggering the group. That was his initial assumption, he ran towards Lucy, slashing through two cultists and sucker punching another one in the face. Before he could reach the goth, he was struck from the side causing him to tumble off course.
One cultist removed their cloak, revealing a scaly beast of a lizard. Similar to the one he fought on the roof.
"Wait a minute…" Neon mumbled to himself. He threw a light grenade once more to see the reaction of the lizard, not its body but rather its eyes… their reaction was similar to the first fight. When the light shined on them, their eyes adjusted to the light, not like a humans. Their eyes adapted to the extreme light.
"Great. Blinding you is useless." Neon Flash decided to stand his ground, considering the cult was surrounding him. One lizard rushed him. Neon stepped at an angle and punch him with a lead hook, another came forth to slash his torso, but Neon gripped its wrist with both hands. He then used an oblique leg kick to buckle and damage the monster's knee.
Neon was swiped away by a tail. He looked behind him to see another cultist ready to struck him. He performed a handplant roundhouse kick, taking his chain, wrapping it around the being's neck while throwing it to more of its 'brothers'.
One assailant, struck Neon in his arm, leaving behind a cut. He took his blade and slashed another cultist in the stomach. The monster staggered and the anti-hero used his weakening body to vault himself in the air. While using an explosive technique to launch himself even further.
'An explosive technique should…' Before Neon Flash could elaborate further, he remembered something important. 'No, Lucy's in the crossfire. But why does it matter? It'll serve her right for being a little…' Before Lincoln's thoughts could finish, one of the monsters leaped and rammed him.
"Bitch!" He said as he crashed to the ground. Neon would've fought a while longer, but his body was failing him, as was his consciousness. Before long, he found himself passing out losing to the cult.
They surround him once more, knowing they couldn't be stopped. None of them even bothered to checked their wounded or deceased. For they finally found their vessel.
Now the ritual can begin.
That's the end of this chapter. This chapter was written by DismalOrc29177, so all credit goes to him. This little mini-arc was thought of by Geo Soul, so credit for that goes to him as well.
Speaking of Geo, sometimes he'll be a fun-loving goofball like in earlier chapters, and other times he'll be… however you would describe how he acted in this chapter.
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