Wow, this really took a lot from me to complete. No joke, the actual dimensional thing was simple, but the actual reacting from the Loud House is taking a lot more. And I'm realizing that is probably because of two things.

One, the Loud House isn't grabbing me as much. Maybe I'm finally hitting the tired mark, but the thought of writing for the fandom is doing much for me.

Two, I reached the problem that all authors of any 'react' stories have. Eventually the characters stop that visceral reaction. Eventually, you have to start writing them as if they had seen this all before because it wouldn't feel natural, and part of the fun of writing a react goes away.

Anyways, I'm think about writing something else for a bit. When I come back, I'll continue the 'Luna and Sam seek inspiration, and I already have the title for that chapter.

Rock Geeks

Disclaimer: I don't own The Loud House.

Luna burst through the door, setting her stuff down on the ground.

"Hey Ma! Hey Pa! GOTTA GO!"

"Uh...hi, Luna…"

With that, she ran up the stairs and looked through Lisa's door.

"Hey dudes! Did I miss anything?"

"No, you're just in time, Luna." Luan said with the rest of the siblings nodding. "You could almost say that you were going 'Luna'crous speed, eh?"

Everyone groaned at that pun.

"Okay, everyone, settle down." Lincoln said, standing in front of his sisters. "As you know, we are currently facing a serious problem… WE DO NOT HAVE COSTUME IDEAS FOR HALLOWEEN!"

Everyone gasped.

"Gasp, inconceivable." Lucy shook her head.

Lola looked at everyone. "You know, my idea is still open."

"No offense, Lola." Lori said. "But literally no one wants to be 'Princess Lola and her royal entourage.'"

Luan nodded. "I ain't playing no fool."

"Yeah, and I'm not playing your body double!" Lana added.

Lola huffed.

Lincoln nodded his head. "So, I figured we go ahead and find some worlds for us to get some inspiration."

Leni's eyes gleamed. "OH! Can we go back to that world where everyone was very muscled and that Lincoln licked that cherry really weirdly?"

"..." Everyone turned to look at Leni.

"Why?" Lisa asked.

Leni smiled. "Sure, it was kind of creepy how other Lincoln played around with the cherry. But I went back and when you get past the weirdness and all the violence, everyone was just so fashionable! I just had to try to recreate all their outfits."

"...Wait, is that where you got the idea for the swiss cheese suit?" Lincoln asked.

"Is that supposed to be a suit with lots of holes in it, or an actual suit made out of swiss cheese?" Lynn Jr asked. "Because the other one sounds delicious."

Leni nodded. "Yes."

"...Let's go ahead and look for a new one." Lincoln said as he gestured to Lisa to turn the machine on.

"You know, dudes, we're probably going to be here for a while until we actually find a decent world." Luna pointed out.

"A search function would be very helpful." Lucy nodded.

"I will add that to the list of upgrades I am currently considering." Lisa confirmed as she turned on the machine.

Vanzilla drove down the road, with an teenage Lincoln at the wheel. He drove in silence, being the only one in the vehicle while some rock music came out of the radio. Keeping his eyes on the road, he soon spotted one specific house of the many.

Slowing down, he stopped in front of the unassuming house, before taking out his phone and checking the address. Looking up, he confirmed that he was at the place. He went ahead and parked in a place where the car of the house could easily move out onto the street.

"Is this one me as a babysitter?" Lincoln asked.

"It's a possibility." Lisa agreed.

Lynn Jr yawned. "Boring. Next one."

"Hang on." Lucy cautioned. "This is only the beginning. We should let it play a few more minutes."

Lola thought for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah, pretty sure that before very crazy universe we've seen, they start off nice and normal before they go crazy."

Luan nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

Next, he got his backpack, opened it up, and checked off everything inside.

"Homework...check. Recipe book...check. Emergency numbers handwritten...check. First Aid certification and CPR certification… check. Okay, got everything."

"Wow, Lincoln. Alternate you is taking this pretty seriously." Luna whistled.

Lori looked a little disconcerted with alternate Lincoln's level of prep. "Yeah, even I haven't prepared that hard for a client."

Luan rubbed her chin. "Maybe we should do something like that. Would really help the bottom line of our business cards."

Lisa adjusted her glasses as she agreed. "You can never be too careful."

Lana clapped her hands. "Oh, you think we got a class where we learn with those dummies?"

Closing the backpack and putting it on his back, he was about to leave the van when he noticed himself in the mirror. He quickly looked and checked over his complexion, his hair, his nose, and his teeth before mentally confirming to himself that everything was in place. Still one more thing…

"Hi...Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, I'm Lincoln Loud of Loud Babysitting. How are you?" Lincoln smiled. "Nailed it."

Lynn Jr snickered. "Nerd."

Leni frowned at Lynn Jr. "Lincoln's not being a nerd. I had to practice in front of the mirror plenty of times to get the people's names right."

"And then you had the problem of being late." Lucy pointed out.

Exiting Vanzilla, he walked up to the house, and stopped in front of the door. Taking a deep breath, he also adjusted his hair one more time and rolled his neck. He exhaled.

"Showtime."

Pressing the doorbell, he could hear the bell echo throughout the house. A couple of moments later, he could someone walking to the door. The door opened, and a blonde bearded man with glasses looked out.

Lincoln saluted. "Hello, Mr. William's! Lincoln Loud from Loud Babysitting, at your service."

"Hey, how old do you think this Lincoln is? Because he looks like he's sixteen." Luan commented.

"Huh, just realized that it's a fifty-fifty chance of Lincoln actually looking like his age." Lori admitted.

"Does that mean that we're getting to be baby sitters by eleven, since there's only Lucy?" Lola asked, already getting dollar signs in her eyes.

"I don't know." Lynn Jr said as she considered Lola. "You don't seem like the nurturing type."

"I CAN SO BE THE NURTURING TYPE!" Lola shouted before pointing at Lana. "AND STOP SNICKERING!"

The man smiled. "Great, you're here. Thank you for taking this job. We just moved in and didn't really know anyone in the area who could babysit."

Lincoln smiled right back. "Well, allow me to say 'Welcome to the neighborhood.' Mind telling me where you planning to take Mrs. Williams?"

"Please call me Sam." Sam said.

Sam Williams...Why did that name sound familiar?

Lucy gasped. "Gasp! Sam Williams?"

"You know him?" Lincoln asked.

"One of the best horror writers in the world right now." Lucy explained. "I am seething with envy right now."

"Let's not make things too formal. And I've been planning to take the wife out to this Japanese restaurant out on Elms Street. Wife has been feeling a little homesick."

Lincoln thought for a moment as he recalled the location. "Elms Street… You mean Tokyo Bar? Talking as an American who's never been to Japan, I have to say that their Katsudon is pretty good."

"What's Katsudon?" Luna asked.

"I don't know, but it sounds good." Lana admitted, licking her lips.

"Got it." Lori said as she typed it in her phone. "It's deep fried pork cutlet?"

Leni shivered. "Oh...deep fried?"

"Sounds amazing." Lynn Jr admitted.

"You don't say… Oh yeah, come on in. Shouldn't leave you outside for so long." Sam said, opening the door wider to welcome Lincoln inside.

Just as Lincoln was about to walk inside, his eyes happened to catch a glance of Sam's feet, and how he wasn't wearing any shoes at the moment. Stepping inside the house, he looked to the side and saw a place where all the shoes were placed. Taking off his own shoes, he set them aside as he looked around the house.

All in all, nothing seemed to be out of place. The whole house looked like a regular suburban home, nothing that suggested that people like the Fox Quintuplets.

He shivered at that memory. Great time for Lynn to be out of town on that day.

"Wait, they should be eleven by that time, and they still need a babysitter?!" Luan shivered in fear.

"Even I'm not that willing to take care of them when they're that old." Lynn Jr admitted.

"Honey!" Sam called out. "The babysitter came!"

"Coming!" Someone said before Mrs. Williams came out.

'Why does Mrs. Williams look like she came out of one of Lucy's Japanese horror films?' Lincoln thought to himself as he tried not to look over Mrs. Williams. Mrs. Williams came up to his height, wearing a plain white dress that contrasted heavily with her gray skin tone and had black hair that covered her eyes that went down to the small of her back. As soon as the woman saw Lincoln through his hair, she smiled and walked up to him.

Lucy looked herself over.

"Looks like Lucy found her halloween costume." Lola sighed. "NOW SHOW ME MINE!"

"You must be Lincoln." She greeted as she held out her hand. "I'm Emiko, by the way."

"The pleasure is all mine." Lincoln grasped the woman's hand and shook it, pointedly ignoring how it was cold to the touch. "So if you don't mind me asking, where is Erma?"

Sam and Emiko exchanged a look, before Sam gestured with his head to follow him. While Emiko stayed behind near the door, the two men crept over to the kitchen area. Standing behind the corner, Sam gestured, letting Lincoln lean over and catch a peek of Erma.

There, sitting at the table and playing with a homemade doll, sat a miniature version of Emiko, only her black hair covered her entire face and looked long enough to go down to her feet.

"Aww, she seems nice." Leni admitted. "Actually, she kind of reminds me of you, Lucy."

"Rule one of alternate dimensions, my dear Leni." Lisa warned. "Things are never as they seem."

"Got that right." Lori said as she repressed a shiver. "I mean, don't you guys literally get the chills just looking at her.

A couple of affirmatives came out of the mouths of the others.

"I don't." Lucy disagreed.

"Pretty sure you don't count." Lynn Jr. responded.

Lincoln looked back at Sam as the two of them walked back. "She really takes after her mother, huh?"

Sam chuckled. "You have no idea."

As the two men came back to the door, Emiko came over and dropped a twenty and a ten into Lincoln's hand as Sam tied his shoes. "I believe that should cover everything for pizza."

Lincoln nodded as he pocketed the money. "Okay, anything else I should know?"

"Well…" Sam and Emiko looked at each other before Sam put a hand on Lincoln's shoulder. "Feel free to call us if you feel like taking care of Erma is too much."

"...Okay, that is a serious red light." Luna said.

"Practically bright red." Luan agreed.

Lincoln smiled confidently. "Mr. Williams, no offense, but no member of Loud Babysitting has ever quit on a job, and I don't plan on being the first."

"Maybe you should still ask why you think that of your kid?" Lincoln asked rhetorically.

Instead of being assured of his words, the couple only looked worriedly at each other before Emiko opened the door. Just before the two went out, Sam called out. "ERMA, BEHAVE YOURSELF! DON'T MESS AROUND WITH THIS BABYSITTER LIKE YOU DID THE LAST ONE!"

'...The last one?'

"Hmm...Foreboding." Lucy said.

"Okay, that changes from 'red light' to 'GET OUT OF THERE NOW'." Lori groaned.

"Oh, this is going to be tough to watch." Lola said as she covered her eyes.

With that, the two closed the door behind them. Walking to the window, Lincoln watched as the Williams got into their car, then backed out of their driveway and drove out of sight. He turned away from the window as he began to think of how to entertain Erma until her bedtime.

'DON'T MESS AROUND WITH THIS BABYSITTER LIKE YOU DID THE LAST ONE!'

Lincoln shook his head, trying to stop himself from pondering Mr. Williams' parting words. Walking over to the kitchen, he knocked on the entrance and waited. Hearing nothing, he remembered that Erma was probably shy.

"Hey, Erma. My name is Lincoln and your parents left me in charge for a while. They will be coming back, but I think we can have some fun, what do you think?"

"Ehh… Could be a little better with the introduction." Lori judged.

"Yeah, makes you look kind of weird." Leni agreed.

Lucy looked over and saw that Lincoln was writing in a notebook. Leaning over, she noticed that he had labeled the notes 'babysitting tips.' She looked up and saw Lincoln looking back at her. He shrugged.

Silence. Lincoln frowned before looking around the corner. "Erma?"

No one was at the table. Lincoln walked inside the room. "Erma? Are you here?"

He bent down, looking underneath the table. There was nothing, and it was impeccably clean down there too. He stood up and stood there for a moment, trying to listen for anything that would indicate where Erma was. There was nothing.

"Wow, she's practically Lucy, but creepier." Lynn Jr commented.

"Seriously, how could she be that quiet?" Lola shivered. "Make some noise, for crying out loud."

Lucy frowned. "Even I'm not sure where she went."

Lincoln looked over at Lucy, looking worried. "You sure?"

"Lincoln, despite what you think, I do not have the ability to teleport, as much as I would like to. I move around like everyone else, I just do it more quietly." Lucy said.

Lincoln looked back at the screen and paled. "What did I get myself into?"

"Oh geez, it's like trying to find Lucy when she doesn't want to be found." Lincoln grumbled. "Okay, calm down, Lincoln. Now where would a little girl go?"

Then Lincoln got the overwhelming urge to look up, an instinct honed from years of Luan's pranks. He looked up.

And looked… and looked… and looked.

There, crawling along the ceiling like a spider, Erma was. Lincoln stared at the little girl.

"And there it is." Luan sighed.

"Really says a lot a"Really says a lot about us that stuff like this is hardly bothering us." Luna admitted.

"S-Someone please tell E-Erma to s-stop crawling around like a s-s-s-s-" Leni shivered.

"Spider?" Lana guested.

"SPIDER!" Leni screamed before quickly covering her eyes.

"Lincoln." Lucy leaned. "If you ever do get a client like this, don't feel afraid to call me."

Erma stopped, then with a sickening crack, her head turned a complete 180 and looked back at him.

"...Correction, I demandto be the babysitter for this one." Lucy said with a grin.

At least that was what Lincoln thought she did, since her face was covered by her face.

'Oh my god...THANK GOD SHE ISN'T LANA! Oh, and she's crawling around on the ceiling...without magnets, or glue, or tape, or even handle bars. She's just crawling on the ceiling… WHICH IS SOMETHING THAT REGULAR KIDS CAN'T DO!'

"Well, you appear to be handling yourself pretty well." Lisa commented.

"Pretty sure he's handling it better than any of us would." Luna pointed out.

Erma phased through the ceiling. A moment later, the entire house was plunged into darkness. Lincoln blinked, before he muffled a curse that came out of his mouth.

Activating the flashlight on his phone, he ran over to the door and tried the doorknob. It didn't even budge. Just then, the TV turned on, bathing the room in an eerie glow as the screen only showed static.

"Already, this Lincoln gets points for not acting like a character in a horror movie. 'Oh no, I better try to stay and solve the problem, rather than try escaping.'" Luan mimicked.

"Why is the door locked? Did Erma think to do that?!" Lola gulped.

Lincoln turned around, unsure of what he was seeing. Suddenly, there was something in the static, something that formed into Erma's shape. It slowly raised its hand up, about to press it against the glass screen.

The seventeen year old turned away, looking around before spotting the kitchen. Quickly running over, he nearly slid on the smooth flooring before recovering himself. Carelessly flipping open every cabinet and drawer, he frantically looked until he spotted what he was looking for. He grabbed off the shelf and held up his flashlight to examine the item.

Salt. Salt was a purifier, right? He partly remembered something about that when Lucy got really interested in being a wiccan.

Everyone turned to Lucy. She nodded.

"Salt is indeed a purifier."

Lisa thought for a moment remembering something.

"I just remembered that in ancient times, salt was thought of as important and that evil spirits would try to get their hands on it. Therefore, everytime salt was spilled, a person would throw it over their shoulder and into the spirit's eyes, and that's where that ridiculous good luck ritual of throwing spilled salt over the shoulder came from."

Lynn Jr looked at Lisa. "That's where it came from?"

Suddenly, he was drawn out of his examination as he heard the rattling of something. He pointed his flashlight up. The plates were rattling, along with the pots, the pans and the silverware.

"Uh-oh." Just as he said that, one of the plates leapt at him.

Shoving the container of salt into one of his pants pockets as deep as he could, he switched the phone to his other hand and quickly reached up and grabbed it. Gritting his teeth as his palm briefly flashed in pain, the rattling behind him quickly forced him to move. Not a second later, another plate smashed into the spot where he used to be.

Seeing a way of the kitchen that wasn't connected to the living room, Lincoln raced through the room as all heck broke loose and all the kitchenware flew up into the air. Using the plate, he blocked all of the incoming spoons and forks before ducking in time for a pot to sail over his head. Setting the plate on a nearby counter, he turned the corner in time for several thunks to sound behind him.

"Okay, how did this Lincoln learn that, because I gotta admit, that's pretty cool." Lynn Jr complimented.

"Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if years of living in this household had given him the opportunity to learn that." Lisa remarked.

Everyone looked at Lisa, thought for a moment, before nodding in agreement and looking back at

He took the time to look behind him and paled.

There were several knives embedded in the wall behind him.

Lori and the older sisters grimaced. "I can't believe it. A kid that might be even worse than the Fox Quintuplets."

Leni, Luna, Luan, and even Lynn Jr. shivered. Luan even made the cross symbols.

Lincoln and the others looked at each other before shrugging.

Oh, and there was a shadowy figure coming right for him, making the shadows appear like ink that was spilling out of a bottle and soaking everything in the hallways into a pitch black.

"BACK, YOU! BACK!" Lincoln shouted as he took out the container of salt and began to throw salt at the figure.

Everyone couldn't help giggling at that image, even if this Lincoln was basically being chased by a demon.

To his relief, the figure actually seemed to recoil at the salt, slowly backing away from the mineral. Still, he was left with some time to decide what to do, and he didn't have many options.

Run or hide, and he doubted that the house was big enough to put any huge distance between him and the entity that no doubt had possessed Erma. At this point, he had only one option. He took a deep breath.

He tossed another handful of salt at the entity, making it disappear between a corner. Quickly, he ran to the nearby stairs and up them. Up on the second floor, he quickly looked around before seeing the room he was looking for.

On the door was a simple sign. "Erma."

Everyone stared at the screen, utterly shocked.

"He's not going to…" Lola shook her head.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures, mate." Luna responded.

Lori leaned back. "I don't know if that is brave or really stupid."

Lisa kept her eyes on the screen. "Which whatever one of those two are, it depends on whether or not the result was successful."

Racing inside, he closed the door behind him and turned off the flashlight on his phone, before forcing himself to control his breathing as he put his ear near the door and listened. He could hear nothing, and that didn't comfort him in the least. Remembering that the entity had the ability to phase through walls, he backed up from the door, before looking around in the dark room.

His heart tried not to pound of his chest as he saw that Erma like puppets, the ones that his sister Luan still liked to use whenever she got a chance to get onstage. Before, they were slightly disturbing. Now, it was taking all of Lincoln's composure to not be disturbed as he silently crept to the closet door.

"Hey, Mr. Coconuts is not creepy!" Luan protested.

"Yeah, how about you stare into his dead, wooden eyes?" Lynn Jr challenged.

"A staring contest? How am I supposed to win, Mr. Coconuts can't even blink!"

"Simple." Lola interjected. "For fifteen minutes, you can't look away from Mr. Coconuts. You win… one free prank for each one of us."

"LOLA!"

Luan looked interested. "Ooo, and if I lose?"

Lola's smile turned savage. "Then you have to prank someone else for April Fools day!"

"Ooo…" Everyone suddenly looked interested.

"Who?" Luan asked.

Lola snickered. "Oh, I'm sure that everyone here can come up with something…"

"Oh, I volunteer to watch!" Lynn Jr and Lana raised their hands.

"Alright, YOU'RE ON!" With that, the four got up and left the room.

"...Well that happened." Lincoln said.

Quietly opening the door, he turned his phone on and checked it out. Seemed spacious enough, even with all the extra boxes and stuff inside. Unfortunately, there was one puppet in there. Wearing a black suit and a combed back hairstyle, its soulless eyes stared into Lincoln's own.

Lincoln quickly walked inside, turned the puppet's head around, before putting salt everywhere with the least amount he could. When he was done, he sat down and considered the container of salt.

"Gee, it's like they never even touched this thing." Lincoln whispered, before setting it aside and turning on his phone, setting the brightness to the lowest possible setting. Typing in a number, he held his breath as he heard the ringing tone.

"Come on… Come on…"

'We're sorry. There is no service available.'

"Dang it!" Lincoln cursed. "Come on, Lincoln. Think, think!"

"Oh gee, fresh meat, huh?"

Lincoln froze.

"Come on, you really think that kid keeps normal stuff lying around."

Turning on the flashlight, Lincoln looked over to his side… where the puppet was now sitting up straight, his dead wooden eyes staring at him as his jaw moved and words came out.

"Man, the last one was at least a little cute. Where did you get picked up from, the babysitter farm?"

"..."

Everyone stared at the screen before they all came together in a group hug.

"Well, there's the subjects of my night terrors." Lisa dryly commented.

Leni nodded. "Yeah, but at least he's not like a wooden puppet spider…"

Everyone leaned away as Leni briefly screamed everyone's ear drums off.

Leni looked sheepish. "Sorry."

"Come on, say something. As much as I hate all of humanity, I still would like someone to talk to in this dark- HEY!"

Lincoln grabbed the puppet and started to bash it with his fist. Again and again, even until one of his knuckles bled. Realizing that the puppet was nowhere near destroyed, Lincoln gritted his teeth as he whipped the puppet around, smashing it into every wall he could. Looking at it again, he groaned, seeing that the puppet was still fully whole. He started trying to pull the head off futilely.

"DO IT, BEAT IT UP!" Everyone screamed as they hoped for the puppet to be destroyed.

"Hey, HEY! WHAT THE HECK!" The puppet shouted.

"I got no words for someone that possesses kids! Now stop possessing or haunting Erma, RIGHT NOW!"

"...Then why is he still in the puppet's body? Pretty sure they would have jumped ship immediately if he could do that." Lincoln commented.

"Pretty sure your counterpart doesn't have full control of his mental faculties." Lisa responded.

"Either way, KILL IT WITH FIRE!" Lori screamed.

The puppet's head spun around a full 180 degrees, his jaw dropped.

"Are you serious? The kid, possessed?"

The puppet's jaw flapped up and down uncontrollably as he laughed up a storm, Lincoln's frown still stuck on his face.

"You're actually serious? Listen, bub. The kid isn't possessed. All that power, all the stuff that you're seeing? It's all her."

Lincoln blinked. "Wait, are you saying that Erma has powers?"

The puppet rolled his eyes. "If I was possessing the kid, why would I still be in this useless body of mine?"

"Wow, thanks for stealing our job." Luna said.

"Pretty sure if Luan was here, she would have something to say." Lisa responded.

"Hey, Leni, are you alright?" Lincoln asked a cowering Leni.

"Is the killer spider puppet dead yet?"

The two stared at each other, before Lincoln shoved the puppet into a nearby box and put some more boxes right on top of it. Just as he did this, the door threw open, a dark entity standing right before Lincoln, seemingly sucking what little light was left. Lincoln didn't even flinch as he shined a light at the shadowy figure, revealing Erma in the middle of the shadowy mass.

Practically milliseconds passed before Erma immediately fled from the light. Lincoln got up, looking through the doorway to see a bit of shadow disappear.

"ERMA!" Lincoln shouted as he got out of Erma's room, before going down the stairs. As he did, shadowy hands suddenly burst through the walls, grabbing at any limbs that they could. The white haired teenager didn't stop, deftly dodging every one as he came to the first floor and looked around.

"ERMA, I'M NOT PLAYING AROUND!" Lincoln shouted as he passed by a mirror. Suddenly feeling like something was off, he looked back at the mirror, only to see his reflection have no eyes. Raising his eyebrow, he watched as the reflection open his mouth, his lower jaw hanging lower and lower. Lincoln didn't even mind.

"ERMA! THIS ISN'T EVEN SCARY ANYMORE! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!"

The shadowy mass burst out of the ground in front of him, raising its arms threateningly at him.

Lincoln pointed the flashlight at the shadows.

Erma stood there, her own arms raised up, her expression covered by her hair. The two stared at each other, Lincoln looking visibly unimpressed. Erma seemingly stared back, before shaking her arms.

"Wow, this me has guts." Lincoln whistled.

"Yeah, pretty sure I would have booked it as soon as possible." Lori admitted, with everyone else agreeing.

The teenager sighed.

"Erma, enough." Lincoln said as he backed away, keeping his eyes on Erma. His hand fumbled around for a bit before he found the light switch. Flipping it on, the house was bathed in light again, and Erma seemed to calm down, just standing there.

Lincoln sighed as he tried to think of what to do now. Now that he actually had time to calm down and think, he knew that he didn't really have any ability to punish Erma. After all, he was just the babysitter.

Everyone thought about that logic before shrugging, not really feeling any actual effort to argue otherwise.

Not to mention, actually staring at her, he had almost forgotten she was a five year old girl. Sure, a five year old girl with powerful supernatural powers, but still just a five year old. Heck, when he thought about it, Lisa was a lot like Erma when she was her age.

With that said, Lisa should never know about Erma. The confrontation between the two would probably bring in the big property damage numbers. Wait a second… damage?

Lincoln looked at a nearby wall and groaned as he saw the knives sticking out of it. Peeking into the kitchen, he cringed harder when he saw all the kitchenware strewn all over the place. He looked back at Erma.

"Okay, Erma. How about this? I'm gonna go clean up all the salt I've been throwing around. Meanwhile, you clean up the kitchen. When you do, I promise I'll order pizza tonight for dinner, okay?"

Erma merely nodded before levitating all the kitchenware to their places. Lincoln blinked.

The six stared at the screen.

"How fast our fear turns to envy when we see Erma use her powers more practically." Lisa dryly commented, with the others agreeing.

"Is the puppet spider gone?" Leni peeked from behind her fingers. Lincoln patted her on the shoulders.

"Yes, the puppet spiders are gone."

"That's pretty useful… Hey, Erma? Do you know where your parents keep their vacuum cleaner?"

Erma pointed to a nearby closet. Lincoln opened it and found the machine he needed.

"Thank you." He said, plugging in the machine and vacuuming the salt that was left on the floor. Disconnecting the vacuum cleaner, he went upstairs and repeated the same thing in Erma's room, also taking the time to make sure the live puppet was still in the box that he was under. After checking everything, Lincoln nodded his head and went downstairs.

Putting the vacuum cleaner back into the closet, Lincoln checked the kitchen again and saw that the place was spotless. He whistled. "Boy, would have liked to have your powers when spring cleaning comes around."

Erma didn't say anything, just sitting at the table with her head down.

"...Is it me, or am I actually feeling sad for Erma?" Lincoln questioned.

"It's not just you. I mean, Erma's still a little girl… a scary little girl, but a little girl." Leni explained.

Lincoln frowned. Maybe it had been the time that he spent around Lucy, but something told him that something was bothering Erma, the silence somehow having a sad air to it. He quickly picked the phone and turned to the long haired girl.

"Hey Erma, you want anything on the pizza?"

"..."

"Pepperoni, extra cheese…"

"..."

"Spiders?"

Luan covered Leni's mouth before she could scream.

"..."

Lincoln sighed and punched in the number and waited for the phone to ring. As the pizza parlor picked up and asked for his order, he told the address before started ordering. "Yeah, I would have a medium pepperoni."

"Okay, that will be about $10.50."

Lincoln nodded. "Great, how long do you think it will take?"

"Give us about 30 minutes."

"Okay, sounds great. Thank you."

"Yeah, thanks for ordering at Little Mario's."

The phone clicked, signaling the end of the phone call. Hanging the phone, Lincoln looked over. Erma sat there like she wasn't excited at the prospect of pizza, which was straight up mind boggling. Taking a seat next to the little girl, he looked around awkwardly for a bit, before speaking up.

"So, Erma… We got some time before the pizza comes."

"..."

'Alright Lincoln, think. This is a little girl who's not your ordinary little girl. Probably is like Lucy.'

"You want to show your doll collection? You must have named some of them."

"..."

"You want to watch a scary movie? I'm down." 'Don't show fear. Don't show fear.'

"..."

"You have a Ouija board? We could try contacting your friends from the other side. I mean, you must have made a few, right?"

"..."

Lincoln sighed, leaning back in his chair as he tried to think. 'Okay, think. She's a little girl who doesn't know any better. Come to think of it, this is starting to remind me of the time I had to take care of the Kubrick twins. Wait a minute…'

"Are you… bummed that you couldn't scare me?"

"Well, she is a ghost girl."

"AHHH!" Everyone screamed, siding away from Lucy, before relaxing.

"Sorry, Lucy, kinda forget that you were there." Lincoln explained.

"Don't worry, I'm used to it."

Erma nodded, and Lincoln frowned as he tried to think of something to remedy Erma's mood. Then he got an idea. "Hey, Erma. I have an idea to cheer you up."

A few minutes later, Lincoln sat at the table, his lips pursed as he heard the doorbell ring.

"Come on, man." The pizza man muttered as he rang the bell. "Hurry up and get your pizza."

'Three…two...one.'

"I've got other orders I've got to - AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"...Not sure I like Lincoln's way of cheering Erma." Lori admitted.

"Yeah, pretty sure this is just reinforcing Erma's behavior." Luna added.

As soon as the pizza boy stopped screaming, Lincoln sprang up from his seat and ran over to the door, throwing it open and taking a deep breath as he made a show of digging in his pocket. "Sorry about that, man. Was on the phone. Here's the money."

He looked up and blinked. "Dude, you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Oh, that's a Luan joke right there." Lucy cringed.

Lincoln thought for a moment, before nodding.

The pale and shivering man flinched at the mention of ghost.

"Y-Y-Yeah, here's your pizza and your change." The man practically threw both box and money at Lincoln before immediately running back to his car. Once inside, he gunned the engine and took off, his tires screeching as he disappeared into the night. Lincoln stood there, blinking at the sheer speed before he went back inside.

"Geez," Lincoln raised an eyebrow as Erma reappeared next to the table before she took a seat. "What did you do to the guy?"

Erma's hair suddenly grew to envelop her as she waved her arms threateningly. Lincoln stared at her before she returned to her base form. "Huh. Okay, got it out of your system?"

Erma looked like she was pondering for a moment, before several objects fell from the ceiling.

"AHHH!"

"Wicked."

"GAH!" Lincoln screamed, suddenly finding himself surrounded by puppets. Stumbling back, he put a hand over his heart, feeling the rapid beating. As he forced himself to calm down, he looked over at Erma.

The little girl was silently laughing, joyfully taking a bite of pepperoni. Lincoln sighed as he took his seat again and took his own slice of pepperoni, taking a big bite out of it.

"You get one, Erma." Lincoln said around a mouthful of pizza. "You get one."

"My heart can't take anymore of this." Lori complained.

Erma was playing with a makeshift doll in the living room while Lincoln puzzled over a problem on his homework in the dining room.

Then the little girl came over and tugged on Lincoln's shirt. The teenager looked up from his homework and looked at Erma, raising an eyebrow. The little girl lifted up her doll, which now that Lincoln got a better look at it, seemed kind of familiar.

Erma then got out a needle before driving it into the eye of the doll.

"OW!" Lincoln looked over at the window, a little worried where that scream came from.

Erma just smiled.

"Truly, my dream client." Lucy grinned.

A few more minutes later, Lincoln was working on his homework some more when Erma tugged on his clothes again. Looking down, he saw that she had a box full of tapes along with a tape player and a tape rewinder. Erma looked up at him and tilted her head.

"Oh, these were video tapes." Lincoln said as he got down his knees and started to look at the movies. Classic horror movies from the 70s and 80s, of course. "Before DVD, these used to be the ones that people recorded movies and…"

Lincoln blinked as he took out one tape from its box and looked at it. Instead of two spools of film on the tape as he was familiar with, there was one giant one instead. The teenager whistled.

"Woah...I thought these were just legends…"

Erma looked at him confused.

"The fabled Betamax…"

Everyone stared at the screen before looking at each other.

"What's Betamax?"

Everyone shrugged.

After Lincoln set up the videoplayer, the two sat down in the living room to watch a scary movie. Lincoln did his best to not scream in terror, every once in a while discreetly looking at Erma. Erma simply laughed, having the time of her life.

Eventually, even her energy couldn't sustain her, and Lincoln noticed his charge's head drooping regularly. Trying not to rejoice, Lincoln got up and paused the movie before turning off the TV. Erma looked like she wanted to protest, but she simply was too tired to put up much of a fuss.

"Alright, time to go to bed." Lincoln said.

The two went upstairs. Lincoln leaned on the doorway as Erma brushed her teeth, using her powers to levitate the brush. Finally, the two entered Erma's bedroom, and Lincoln watched as Erma crawled underneath her bed.

"Erma?" Lincoln asked as he came over and lifted the bed skirt, checking the underneath.

The little girl curled under the bed, a pillow and a blanket already there. Lincoln smiled as he got up and walked over to the doorway. Finger hovering over the light switch, he looked back and smiled.

"Good night, Erma."

With that, the lights were turned off.

"...That was sickeningly sweet that I think I'm going to hurl." Lucy commented.

Suddenly, the door burst open.

"BOOYAH! I WIN!" Luan grinned as she held Mr. Coconuts in her hands.

"WHAT?!" Everyone screamed as Lynn Jr and the twins slinked back into the room, utterly defeated.

"Oh yeah, prepare yourselves. I'm going to make full use...he he, HAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAH!" Luan laughed maniacally, before calming down.

"Now, excuse me while I put Mr. Coconuts here somewhere safe… really safe… after all, if I can't see him, then he can't see me…"

Luan went out of the room, while everyone stared in horror.

"Okay, I'm really scared now…"

Inspiration - Erma (webcomic)