Everyone get ready. Cuz we're about to meet a group you've all been dying to see!
And yes, I know this story's only supposed to update on Sundays. Here's my counterargument: I'm the boss.
But first, let's answer some reviews:
1) Nobody245: Kind of? It's complicated. And yes, Ynovation.
2) Guest: Yup, it's time to see how Lincoln is a ladies man, for better or worse.
And now, to the chapter!
Lincoln and the girls sat down at a table, Polly serving tea to everyone before sitting alongside them.
"Ever since I was young, I was told to treat people nice, whether they were a Protagonist, Antagonist, Neutral, or even an Outsider," the guy started. "My parents always told me that when you treat people nicely, they treat you nicely back."
"Even the Antagonists?" Tabby asked. "Their job involves causing problems for everyone! What would being nice to one of them change?"
Haiku frowned and looked elsewhere, prompting Giggles to rub her head while Tabby panicked.
"N-Not that I'm saying all Antagonists want to cause trouble! I'm pretty sure most of them just want to live their lives!" the time traveler sighed and put a hand on her cheek. "But with the way the Index System works…"
"Yeah, there's a clear favoritism for Protagonists and disdain for Antagonists," Lincoln groaned. "And… there's a chance I might've helped a lot of Antagonists before my Cliche came to light."
Now the girls showed their interest, with Darcy outright hopping up on the table and crawling to Lincoln, chirping:
"How?! Where?! When?! Can I be friends with them too?!"
Tabby promptly grabbed the gothic girl and hugged her.
"Darcy makes some good questions; when did this happen?"
Lincoln took a deep breath. "As you can probably imagine, Cristina was the first girl I helped…"
Several years ago, in kindergarten, Lincoln was walking back home while waving goodbye to Clyde and Ronnie Anne, only to notice a certain redhead floating nearby.
This was Cristina, who whistled a peculiar tune as she floated to the streets, oblivious to the incoming truck.
Without really thinking, Lincoln ran to Cristina and jumped, tackling her out of the truck's way and rolling with her until they hit a tree.
The truck crashed on a lamppost, and the Protagonist on top of it jumped down and grabbed the Antagonist, while Clyde and Ronnie Anne ran to Lincoln's side.
"Lincoln! Are you okay?!" Clyde cried.
"Just what were you thinking, Lame-O!?" Ronnie Anne snapped, punching Lincoln's shoulder after she helped him stand up.
"Sorry, I just… I acted without thinking," Lincoln replied before turning back to the redhead. "Anyway, are you okay?"
Cristina, with hearts in her eyes, nodded slowly as she gained a smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine…"
Cristina couldn't help but blush at the memory. Back then, even before she found out about Love Satellite, she was pretty sure she had fallen for Lincoln right then and there. To be saved by someone who hadn't even learned their Cliche or been designated yet… there was something admirable about that.
And then she repaid him by falling for the same "mistaken cheating" nonsense those TV dramas did.
It wasn't even something she could excuse: she watched those TV dramas all the time, could even recite some of their dialogue from memory, and she still fell for the oldest trick in the book.
"I'd say this place is decent enough for a brawl," Lola remarked as she and Cristina flew down to a barren wasteland. "Would you agree?"
Cristina shook her head and returned to reality, charging her bow and arrow as she stated:
"Let's just get this over with."
Lola slowly narrowed her eyes, then waved her arm, sending a row of ice at the Cupid.
Cristina quickly floated up and shot several arrows at the Ice Queen, who simply pierced the arrows with some more ice structures, causing them to explode.
"So, care to explain one thing?" Lola asked as she slid back from the blast. "Why did you immediately think that Lincoln was cheating on you with that girl?"
Cristina blushed and flinched, standing still long enough to allow Lola to summon and launch several ice shards at her.
Cristina luckily dodged them, though her cheek and part of her hair was sliced.
"You jerk! You said that to get me to lower my guard!"
"Of course I did, I'm an Antagonist!" Lola laughed like a noblewoman. "But speaking seriously, why would someone like you fall for the oldest trick of the rom-com book?"
Cristina gritted her teeth, and after taking a deep breath, she answered:
"Lincoln didn't stop at me. He kept saving girls whenever he could. And he did this long before he even knew what his Cliche was."
Lola snapped her fingers, summoning an ice seat for Cristina to sit on as she continued:
"As far as anybody knew, he had no powers whatsoever. He was the closest thing to a normal human in this crazy world we live in. And he still went out of his way to help everyone."
"And how's that a problem?" Lola raised an eyebrow. "Lincoln's always had a heart of gold, and he's always been a decent person. How's that reason to believe he's cheating on you?"
"Something strange happened to the girls I saved," Lincoln folded his arms. "Once they got older, they started acting like they were crushing on me. I got love letters, they blushed when I was around, stuff like that."
"Maybe they were just being grateful over the fact you saved them?" Tabby argued. "I mean, if I was rescued by someone, I would want to show my appreciation to them."
"It's one thing to be grateful to your rescuer, but it's another thing to fall in love with them," Haiku pointed out. "And from the way Lincoln describes it, it seems to be the latter."
Giggles turned to Darcy and raised an eyebrow. "You don't feel like you're gonna fall in love with Lincoln, right?"
The gothic girl lowered her eyelids and dryly pointed out, "I'm five."
"It wasn't instant either, Giggles," Lincoln added. "At first, they just seemed grateful, but once they became teenagers, it's almost as if they fell head over heels for me overnight."
"That sounds like the work of a Matchmaker to me."
Cristina winced, returning to reality just in time to see Lola had made an entire tea party set out of ice.
"When did you have time to make this?"
"When do I not?" Lola boasted proudly, sipping her tea before adding. "Anyway, back to the matter at hand. The Matchmaker."
"Right, I had the same thought too, but that can't be it," Cristina shook her head. "Matchmaker is one of those Cliches where an Antagonist having it is almost unheard of; it's mostly Neutral, the occasional Protagonist, and even the rare Outsider!"
"One doesn't need to be an Antagonist to act antagonistic," Lola sadly spoke. "All being an Antagonist does is make your intentions public knowledge. Even if you don't have such intentions."
Cristina hummed and lowered her head, scratching her chin before Lola smiled and said:
"You know, Cristina? I'm starting to like you. Not gonna lie, you calling my brother a cheater put you at a heavy disadvantage, but after this little talk, I can see how we could work something out."
The Ice Queen reached for her pocket, then took out and handed her a pink coin with her face on both sides.
"What's this?"
"It's a Trophy Coin. You know, the object taken by a Protagonist who has beaten an Antagonist?" Lola slid the coin towards Cristina. "If you take it, it'll be counted as your win, and I'll keep quiet on everything that happened. Sounds good?"
The redhead turned back to see the Ice Queen flashing a sneaky smile at her. But she didn't really have any chance at beating Lola in a straight up fight, so…
Cristina sighed and grabbed the coin.
"Excellent! Now that this issue has been resolved," Lola stood up and rubbed her hands together. "I believe it's time I go home."
The Ice Queen whistled, and shortly thereafter a giant blue dragon flew down to her side, Cristina gasping and jumping as the ice structures melted.
The dragon was showered in a sky blue light a moment later, and transformed into her true form: Lana Loud, looking fairly normal except for blue wings and scaly skin.
"Cristina, meet my twin sister, Lana," Lola said as she walked to her sister's side. "I'm sure Lincoln's told you about her, right?"
"Yeah, he said two of his sisters were twins," Cristina lowered her eyelids. "And if that's the case…"
Lola removed one of her opera gloves, revealing a scaly arm ending in a hand with claws.
"Therefore, that would make my Cliche; Ice Queen, Weredragon Variant."
Cristina gritted her teeth. "How's that fair!? You practically got two Cliches in one!"
Lola scoffed. "It's rather laughable that a mere Neutral would call anything unfair!"
"Come on, Lola, don't pick on her," Lana asked. "Let's just go already before something else happens."
"Agreed. I hope we get to talk another time, Cristina McCann."
Lola got on her sister's back, and the duo flew up before Lana paused:
"You need me to take you back home, too?"
Cristina flinched. "Uh, no, it's fine. I know where to go."
The twins nodded, and flew away, leaving Cristina to look back at the Trophy Coin and clutch with a concerned expression.
Back with Ynovation, Lincoln and the girls sat on the rooftop, watching the sunset in the distance.
"Well, this day certainly went in an unexpected direction," Polly remarked. "All I wanted was to help Lincoln get more creative with his Cliche, and one of his childhood friends nearly killed us."
"Truth be told, I had a feeling she would attack anyway," Haiku shrugged. "I mean, she always seemed rather upset whenever we hung out with Lincoln."
"I might need to take a look into the timeline to see if this might happen again," Tabby sighed, adjusting her goggles. "If another of Lincoln's friends or even the girls he helped are planning to attack, we might need to make a plan. Or a couple of them."
And while the girls kept talking, Giggles went to Lincoln's side and put a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"
"Well, it's not the first time Cristina got so jealous that she got the wrong idea and attacked me," Lincoln sighed. "But after she brought up the other girls I saved, I can't help but worry that they might attack too."
"Don't worry, Lincoln," Giggles flashed a thumbs up. "If anybody tries to hurt you, we'll be there to help you."
"Are you sure?"
"You're part of Ynovation now; if somebody hurts one of us, then they gotta deal with all of us."
Lincoln and Giggles exchanged smiles, and turned back to the sunset, a renewed sense of hope within them.
Meanwhile, at the outskirts of Royal Woods, Stella appeared slightly above the ground and landed in a three-point landing, taking a look at the city in the distance before shooting a disgusted look at the Index System.
With that done, she turned and walked towards the wilderness, eventually encountering a treehouse on the ground.
"I'm back," she said as she stepped in.
The only other people inside turned to look at the Demon Lord. These were all girls: one with long dark brown hair, and two others with slightly lighter brown hair; one shoulder length, the other tied in a braid.
"Did you manage to hack the system?" the dark brunette asked.
"I was about to, when Lincoln's sister attacked me."
"Which one?"
"One of the older ones."
"Which one?"
"The one with blonde hair."
"Which one?"
"The one that's a dumbass!"
The room went quiet, until a girl asked "Which one?" With a raised eyebrow.
"Look, the point is, the plan was a bust," Stella groaned. "I did manage to temporarily pit Lincoln against one of his sisters, but nothing came out of it thanks to the Hacker of the family."
"Leni Loud…" the braided girl said before opening a small portal to Cyberspace. "I do remember her having a friend with the same Cliche as mine, so I guess that makes sense…"
"Don't beat yourself up for it, Girl Jordan," the shoulder-length brunette said. "All we can do now is figure out what our next move should be."
"Mollie's got a point," Stella stated. "Especially considering who Lincoln's hanging out with."
The dark brunette tilted her head. "Who's he hanging out with?"
Stella flashed a little smile. "Well… have you ever heard of something called Ynovation?"
