Round 2: Mazed and Confused
Once again, they made their way to the festival. The already desolate fairgrounds had suffered even more since their last visit, with the debris-covered land now torn apart by huge beanstalks, the deserted attractions now completely consumed by vines. Even the maze, standing dominant over it all, had changed. Not only was it constantly spewing thunder and lightning into the black abyss above, the entire structure was now surrounded by a glowing aura of mystical energy that bathed the entire area in a hauntingly greenish light. Compared to the ruins surrounding it, the maze seemed less of a botanical structure and more like a supernatural entity in its own right.
Walking up to the entrance, Lincoln took a deep breath and prepared himself for what was about to happen. He was no stranger to fights with his siblings, but this was no longer a matter of petty squabbles. No, this battle was to determine the fate of the world. It was a clash between the forces of good and evil and he knew which side his siblings and mother would (indirectly) be fighting for.
'You can do this, Lincoln,' he thought to himself, 'You know your family better than these demons do. You can beat them.'
Sharing one last look of support with Clyde, Lincoln led them into the maze.
Strangely, the noise and force of the storm seemed to diminish inside the actual maze. Every corridor was bathed in the mystical glow and the corn stalk walls rippled and danced in the wind.
"Hello?" Lincoln called out as they ventured further and further in. "Lori! Leni! Lucy! We're baaaaaack!" "And we brought treats!" Clyde added.
A particularly loud boom of thunder and flash of lightning stopped them in their tracks, followed by a thunder roar that sent shivers down their spines.
"FETCH ME THEIR SOULS!"
The boys once again went back-to back, turning in circles as the sound of rustling corn stalks came from all around.
'This is it,' Lincoln cocked his gun. ' Don't get scared now.'
The rustling grew closer and louder.
Closer.
CLOSER….
…
SLAM!
Something burst through the corn stalk wall and tackled Lincoln to the ground. The gun was knocked out of his hands.
"Eghhh!" He looked up to see the masked face of Lynn, her chainsaw spinning in fury. Clyde turned his gun on her, but something jumped in his way and seized him.
Before he could even struggle, he found himself leaving the ground. "Wha?"
"Hisssssssss!" Now in midair, the Lisa/Lily wereroo threw the boy to the ground, causing him to land painfully on his back.
"Ow!" He saw the beast coming down at him, both mouths open wide. In just the nick of time, his legs shot up and hit them square in the stomach, causing them to roar in pain.
Meanwhile, Lincoln rolled to the side, missing the spinning blades of Lynn's chainsaw by a mere inch. She started to raise it again.
"Oh, no you don't." Jumping to his feet, the boy sprang behind her, grabbed her arms, and pulled them behind her back, trapping his sister in a full Nelson. The chainsaw fell to the ground and shut off.
"Shouldn't have-ugh-used me for practice," Lincoln strained, but maintained his hold as his possessed sister thrashed and screamed in protest. "Clyde, a little help?"
"Kind of busy here," Clyde responded. Lisa was swiping at him, her claws mere inches from his face. Worse, Lily had started popping out of Lisa's pouch to try and bite him. The force was causing his knees to shake, threatening to buckle.
Lily lunged out for another bite. She was so close; Clyde could practically smell her baby breath.
"Wait a minute." He reached back and pulled out a Sugar Bomb. Aiming, he waited for Lily to come up for another bite and then launched it right into her open mouth.
"NOOO!" Lisa shrieked, jumping back in horror as Lily suddenly started glowing. Clyde grabbed his gun and fired, hitting the wereroo right in the chest with gumballs. She froze and started glowing along with her joey. There was a flash of light, a demonic scream, and two forms of black mist shot out of their bodies and vanished into the night sky. The wereroo fell onto her back and poofed back into a kangaroo-suited Lisa Loud. Sticking out of her pouch was Lily.
"Yes!" Clyde cheered.
"Clyde!" Lincoln yelled. Lynn was now flailing and shrieking like mad, desperate to escape the fate of her fellow demons. "Hurry! I'm loosing my grip!"
Clyde took aim and hit the maniac with a volley of chocolates. With a flash, a shriek, and a poof, the demon was gone and Lynn was back to normal. She collapsed into her brother's arms and he gently laid her down on the dirt path. Just to be safe, he pulled up her mask.
"She's unconscious," Lincoln said. "but I think okay."
"Yeah, them too," Clyde pointed over to the forms of Lisa and Lily.
Lincoln picked back up his gun. "Three down…"
"Eight to go."
They continued on, poised and ready for the next batch of exorcisms. After trekking down a few corridors, they turned and were struck by a blinding light.
"Back for more, are we?!" the possessed Luan cackled, her monster station alit with power. "GET EM', FRANKENNUTS!"
Before the boys could respond, the monster doll leaped from his table and landed on Clyde's face. "AHH!" Clyde ran around, firing his gun randomly. "Get him off! Get him off!"
"Hang on, buddy!" Lincoln fired at him, but all his shots missed.
"It's not just him you need to worry about!" Luan stepped away from the station, a sharp blade in either hand.
Lincoln raised his gun, but was grabbed from behind by the zombified Rita. Laughing manically, Luan charged at him.
"Sorry about this, Mom." Opening his mouth, Lincoln bit down hard on Rita's remaining arm, causing it to snap off. Now free of her grip, he pushed her to the ground and dodged Luan's attack.
"Clever boy, but that's not going to CUT it!" The mad scientist advanced on him, forcing him back down the path as he dodged her blades.
"Ooh, what's with all these pretty lights?!" Lincoln glanced over and saw Leni's headless corpse strolling towards them. "Hey Linky, head's up!" She tossed her severed head at him.
Lincoln ducked and Leni's head struck Luan's with a painful crack . With a moan, she collapsed, Leni's head landing in her lap. The headless body began walking around in a circle, trying to find it's missing cranium.
Standing over the two, Lincoln shook his head in pity. "You really should have quit while you were ahead." He fired and the demons were no more.
Meanwhile, Clyde was still struggling with Frankennuts, failing to notice Rita crawling towards him. She rose to her feet, her mouth opened wide.
"I said…" Clyde finally got a hold of the doll, "GET OFF!" He threw the doll off him, hitting Rita and knocking her back to the ground.
Clyde picked up his gun, his face now covered in cuts and bruises. "Stupid puppet."
He fired and Rita was freed, while the doll feel limp.
"Nice job, Clyde." Lincoln congratulated him. "Oh, and Mom's arm has grown back, thank goodness." Clyde readied his gun. "Six down…"
"Five to go."
As they continued on, the wind started to grow stronger and the thunder and lightning louder.
"I think we're getting close to the center of the maze," Lincoln said.
"The only thing you're closer to…" a scratchy, monotone voice said, "is DEATH!"
It was Lucy. The miniature Grim Reaper stood ahead, pointing at them with the blade of her scythe. "Get them!"
On her command, the ghostly forms of Lola and Lana arose from the ground. The boys fired their guns, but the candy passed right through the twins' bodies.
"Uh-oh," Lincoln muttered.
"Well, look on the bright side," Clyde said halfheartedly, "This means they can't touch us, right?"
At that moment, the twins opened their mouths and projectile vomited all over the boys, covering them from head to toe in slimy, green ectoplasm.
"You were saying?" Lincoln said as the twins laughed and pointed at the messy duo.
"Sigh." Lucy shook her head. "Fine, I'll do it myself."
She charged forward, her scythe slicing through the corn stalks behind her.
"Look out!" Lincoln and Clyde ducked as Lucy jumped through the ghost twins and swung, her blade slicing through the air just above their heads.
The tiny Grim Reaper swung again and again, pushing the boys back down the path. She was moving so fast that they barely had time to dodge, let alone try and aim their guns. Eventually, one swing at their feet caused the boys to lose balance and they fell on their backs.
"Your time is up," Lucy raised her scythe. "Any last words?"
"Yes," Clyde whimpered. He pulled a pony doll out of his pocket and hugged it to his chest. "Goodbye Glitterhooves."
Lucy froze and let out a loud gasp. "Glitterhooves? From Princess Pony: Sparkle Rainbow Adventure?!" Clyde nodded.
Lucy's scythe clattered to the ground as she lunged forward and grabbed ahold of the doll. "Give her to me!" "No!" Clyde pulled it back.
"I MUST HAVE HER!" Lucy yelled.
"NOOOOO!" Clyde wailed.
"GIVE! HER! TO! MEEEE!"
Bang! Bang!
Lucy collapsed, black mist shooting from her chest and vanishing into the night sky. Lincoln blew off the barrel of his gun and got to his feet. "Wow Clyde," he said, helping his friend up. "How'd you know Lucy likes Princess Pony?"
"It's okay sweetie, the mean lady is gone," Clyde whispered sweetly to the doll. Kissing it on the head, he carefully stuffed it back into his pocket. "What was that, Lincoln?"
"Oh never mind," Lincoln sighed. "Let's just get on to the center."
"Ahem."
The ghost twins were floating ahead of them, both looking irritated at being ignored. "Oh yeah," Lincoln muttered. "Forgot about them."
Opening their mouths to reveal rows of sharp, jagged teeth, the ghosts began gliding towards the two boys. "What are we going to do?!" Clyde asked.
To his surprise, Lincoln grew a grin and calmly stepped forward. "Oh girls," he said, speaking with a singsong tone of voice.
The ghosts halted, looking just as surprised as Clyde.
"Great job with the whole ghost act. You really scared Clyde and me." His words were coated with overenthusiasm. "I was just wondering: Which one of you is scarier?"
"Oh," Lola perked up, giving one of her perfect princess smiles, "Well obviously, that would be me." "Wha? Na-uh," Lana sputtered. "I'm a thousand times more scary than you!"
Lola blew a raspberry in disbelief. "In your dreams!"
"Hey, it was MY idea to do the slime thing!" Lana argued.
"Yeah and it was gross!" Lola scoffed. Besides, I can glide more elegantly than you!" "Well, I can scream louder than you!" Lana yelled.
"NO YOU CAN'T!"
"YES, I CAN!"
"NO! YOU! CAN'T!"
The twins' bodies suddenly became tangible and Lincoln opened fire. Both dropped to the floor and solidified as the demons left their bodies.
Clyde turned to Lincoln. "Let me guess, episode I38?"
"The Wraith of the Raging Wraith? Yep," Lincoln replied. "Thank you Spector Hunter." Brushing themselves off, the two continued on, growing closer and closer to the center.
"Okay, so that's three more down for the count," Clyde counted off his fingers as they ran. "So… that should leave us with Luna and-"
The wind whipped the back of the boys' heads and they were grabbed and pulled through the corn stalk wall. They tumbled and rolled before landing on their stomachs.
"Lori," Lincoln wheezed.
Sure enough, the eldest sister stood by the wall, her form wrapped in shadows except for her piercing red eyes.
"Welcome back, boys." Her voice was a soft yet seductive whisper. "I've missed you."
The boys raised their guns, but Lori was on them with supernatural speed before they could fire. She sent Clyde flying with a kick to the stomach and seized Lincoln by the collar, lifting him to face her. With a single swipe, she knocked his gun out of his hands. Her lips twisted into a wicked smile.
"Such a brave little boy," she teased, running a clawed finger down his cheek. "Coming all the way back here just to try and save your family." Lincoln yelped as her claw pierced his cheek and drew a tiny bit of blood before bringing it to her lips.
"Yummy."
Lincoln gulped.
"Oh, don't worry Linky," Lori snarled. "Dormus wants you alive. I'll just take a few sips." Her jaw unhinged and Lincoln screamed as he watched rows of razor-sharp teeth unfold and move towards him.
Nearby, Clyde struggled to get to his feet, clutching his stomach in pain. He watched in horror as Lori prepared to drain his best friend.
'I-I have to do something,' he thought to himself. 'But what can I do? I don't have my gun and Lori's so much faster and stronger and…'
His eyes widened as he found himself staring in awe at her form.
'and stunning and beautiful and-'
He suddenly felt something building up in his nose, something he thought he'd been rid of for a long time. ' That's it. '
"HEY LORI!"
The vampire swung around to face him and Clyde unleashed a huge torrent of blood from his nostrils, covering the ground in a huge puddle.
"B-B-Blood?" Lori whimpered. Unable to control herself, she instinctively released Lincoln and sped over to the puddle, lapping it up like a parched dog.
Grabbing up his gun, Lincoln approached her, looking on with disgust. "Ugh," he aimed. "I think I'm gonna' be sick."
He fired and Lori collapsed face-first into the puddle, black mist spewing out of her back. "Thanks Clyde," he said, giving his friend a quick hug. "You okay?"
"Other than my nose and I think about 6 ribs, doing great," Clyde replied.
Heading back through the wall, they got back on the path. After a few more turns, they could hear organ music.
'This is it,' Lincoln thought, 'Time to deal with Dormus.'