Disclaimer: I do not own anything, I make no money or profit from this.

Chapter 2: I Worked For Team Rocket

[Loud Residents]

The family now sat in the living room with the parents and girls sitting on/or around the couch, with Lincoln sitting in a chair. The family was looking at him confused, while Lincoln wore a nervous expression. For a few minutes no one said anything, until Lincoln mustered up the nerve to speak. "I have something I need to ask" he voice was calm but nervous. "Why is Lily so young? Shouldn't she be a toddler by now?"

"What do you mean son?" Lynn Sr. asked, confused by his question.

"I mean Lilly's three years old right? Turning four this year right?" He asked, clarifying what he was asking.

"Lily is only two, turned three this year" Rita replied. She was now worried about her son's mental state.

Lincoln was shocked by this answer and was even more confused now. "Wait! That makes no sense!" He said, panic started to fill his voice. "I was gone for two years!"

"What are you literally talking about?" Lori asked, just as confused as him. "You've been gone for one year."

Hearing this caused Lincoln to stand up and start pacing. "No, no, no, I was gone for two years" he said, his voice was panicked and turning frantic. "I know it! I started working for Team Rocket in April and it's currently June! Admin Archer congratulated me on making it to an Elite Officer in two years. Saying I was the first member in a long time to achieve such a thing!"

The family watches their son/brother having a freak out, not knowing what to do. Lisa's curiosity overpowered her worry for her brother. "Tell me brother, how do they identify a year in that world?" Lisa asked calmly.

This question caused Lincoln to momentarily stop pacing and calm down. "Uh, same as us," he replied in a calmer tone. "Twelve months and three hundred and sixty-five days. As far as I could tell, they didn't have a leap year like us."

"I see" Lisa said thinking about this new information. "I got the data you've been sending me and I got some quest-" she was cut off by one of her sisters.

"What do you mean April and June? It's the last week of July" Lynn Jr. asked, confused.

"I believe I can explain this confusion" Lisa stated, gaining everyone's attention. "It's possible that even though our worlds have the same yearly calendar, time in our dimensions are different. As an example, one day here could be two days in the world Lincoln was in. That would explain the extra year Lincoln experienced. It could also be the means I used for transportation Lincoln to and from that dimension. Maybe Lincoln was gone for two years, but by traveling through the rift I had made, I had sent him a year back coming here. The fact of the matter is, no one really knows anything about dimensional travel or how it affects our sense of time."

The family still looked a bit confused, but understood the basics of her explanation. Hearing this calmed Lincoln down and he sat back down in the chair. "So who's this Team Rocket?" The athletic girl asked her brother. "It sounds like the name of a sports team or something."

"No it's not" Lincoln started to reply, his mood and expression became depressed. "They're…" he tried to say, but was struggling to get the words out. He fears what they will say once they find out. He eventually let out a sigh and bit the bullet. "...There's no easy way to say it. They were a criminal organization. They stole, kidnapped, blackmailed, ransomed, attacked innocent, threatened, sold drugs, was involved in sex work, and in some cases killed people."

His family stare at him with a shocked and disbelieving expression. This was the last thing they expected to hear. "Why would you join them bro?!?" Luna screamed, being the first to regain her voice.

"It's not like I wanted to join them!" Lincoln screamed back at his sister, voice full of fury and frustration. He saw his outburst, scared his family, and started to take some deep breaths to calm down before continuing speaking. "I'm sorry for that, this is a touchy subject for me" his voice is much calmer now. "I think it's best for me to start from the beginning."

"Back when Lisa's device didn't work to send me home, I started walking to find people" he started his explanation. "I made it to a city just after nightfall. I was glad the people there spoke the same language. So I started looking for the police for help. However when I was walking past an ally, some Rocket grunts grabbed me and pulled me down it. They knocked me out and when I woke up, I was tied up. They were planning to ransom me and they didn't believe me when I said I was from another world. Of course there was no one to pay the ransom, so they forced me to work at many of their businesses."

"I did everything from stress reliever to janitor, and everything in between" he said with a tired sigh. "I worked a legitimate business that was a front for the organization, to secret businesses like a brothel. After two months of being moved around and doing things I can't unsee, I was noticed by a higher up. It was Admin Archer and he saw I couldn't do things none of the grunts could. So he started to test my skills by sending me on missions with other grunts. These missions started small with petty theft, shakedowns, and property destruction. However I later got put on major heist, being sent as backup, and working for Elite Officers and other Admins."

"After pulling off some major scams, getting high value items for the boss, and escaping several failed operations that should've got me arrested…I got promoted." He continued depressingly. "I became an Officer and eventually an Elite Officer. This meant I was only taking orders from Admins and the boss himself. I was also sent on solo missions and would lead grunts in major operations. That was my position before you brought me back. Now I want to make it clear, I didn't join them willingly and did what I had to, to survive."

The family could only stare at him with looks of shock, fear, heartbreak, and disbelief. They couldn't believe what they just heard. Hearing that their missing brother/son was taking part in illegal activities. Not only that, he moved up in that organization.

"Why didn't you go to the police when you had a chance?" Rita asked as tears started to fall.

"It wasn't that simple" Lincoln growled through gritted teeth. He took and breathed to recompose himself. "The closest thing I could compare them to here is the mafia. That organization had been around for decades, they have ties with many people. They even had some members of the police on their payroll. Not only that, they killed people who tried to talk. I know this first-hand, when I was a grunt I was on a team to do just that. I didn't do the deed, but that aftermath was a cluster fuck. A shootout with police and 3 other grunts died in that mission, but it was a success. I had no choice but to do what I could, unless I wanted to die!"

Lincoln was starting to get distressed thinking and talking about things he saw. The family were even more seeing him like this, they had never seen him like this before. Normally his parents would've scolded him for his foul language, but they were too taken aback by his abnormal behavior.

"I've seen my fellow grunts die in front of me!" He said in a frantic tone. He stood up and began to pace like before. "I shot back at the police when something went wrong, hell I know I killed a few! I threatened and shaken down people, because if I didn't I knew what was going to happen to me! If I didn't contribute to the organization then I would've been sent on one of those suicidal missions! The best option for me was to climb the ladder and be one of the people in charge! It was that or die in some fucked up mission because some higher up thought I was useless!"

The family was now openly crying, seeing the Loud boy seeming to have a mental breakdown. None of them knew what to say or do. They had never experienced something like this before. They wanted to help, but didn't know how. Lincoln finally calmed down and saw the terrified, worried, and crying faces of his family. He then scowled down at the ground, angry and heartbroken that they saw that side of him.

"Can…we stop here for now?" He asked in a unsure voice, not looking at them. "This is just too much right now. We can talk more tomorrow, but right now this doesn't feel real. I still believe this is just a dream and I'm going to wake up and still be in one of the many bases. If this is real, then let me rest and I should be able to explain more tomorrow, please."

The parents looked at each other, silently debating what to do. They wanted to know more, but seeing him freak out. They don't have a clue on what they needed to do when it happened. "Alright son, you can go rest in your room" the patriarch said with a shaky voice. "Your room is the same as it was, we didn't touch anything in it."

"Thanks, and I'm sorry for what you saw" was the last thing he said before walking to his room. None of them said anything and just watched him sadly. Once they heard his door close, the parents turned to their daughters.

"Now girls, I think it's best to leave your brother alone for the time being," the matriarch told them seriously.

"Your mother's right," Lynn Sr. added. "It's clear something's going on with him. Hopefully tomorrow we'll-" he was interrupted by Lincoln's scream and sound of something breaking. They all ran up the room and about to open the door, when they heard him shout.

"I'M FINE" his voice sounded angry and panicked. "NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT, JUST…A LITTLE FREAK OUT. I'M FINE, DON'T COME IN!"

The family looked at the door worryingly, but did what he wanted. "Okay honey, but please be careful" was all Rita could say. Despite their guts and hearts telling them to check on him, they didn't and walked away to do other things. Before leaving, they all looked at the door. All of them felt worried about the boy, none more so than the 5 year old genius. Who's experiment made him this way.

[With Lincoln]

Lincoln had just closed his door and looked around his old room. He was feeling nostalgic looking at the place he thought he'd never see again. One thing caught his attention on his bed, it was his old plush bunny named Bun-Bun. He picked it up and smiled at it, remembering all the good times. He then saw his reflection in the mirror and gained a shocked expression, it was something he wasn't expecting. Instead of him holding his Bun-Bun, it was him 11 years old in his old clothes holding Bun-Bun. His expression then changed into one of fury. He put the plush rabbit into a drawer, as if to not show it what was about to happen.

He then let out a loud scream and punched his reflection in the face. The mirror cracked, leaving multiple and huge spider web cracks. He was panting after that loud scream, but then heard multiple footsteps coming closer. Not wanting to see his family faces like that again, he did the only thing he could.

"I'M FINE" his voice sounded angry and panicked. "NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT, JUST…A LITTLE FREAK OUT. I'M FINE, DON'T COME IN!" He didn't want to yell at them, but he didn't want them to see him like this.

"Okay honey, but please be careful" he heard his mother say, before the footsteps moved away. He waited to make sure they were gone, before removing his hand from the broken mirror.

"Dammit!" He whispered, looking at his now bleeding hand. He then started to pick the glass out of his hand, luckily none of the cuts were that big or deep. "I want to say because of this, it's not a dream" he said to himself with a scowl. "However I've had dreams that I hurt more than this, so I'm still not sure. I also don't have anyone who can use Heal Pulse on me."

After removing all the mirror shards from his hand, he pulled out one of his old orange polo shirts. After ripping a piece off, he used it as a band-aid for his hand. "That will do for now" he said, looking at his handy work. He then removed his belt and looked at the 10 black and red balls with a R on them. "If this is real, then what am I going to do with you guys?" He asked the objects. He then put the belt on his dresser in front of the broken mirror.

"I'll worry about that tomorrow" he said as he stripped down to his boxers. He left his clothes on the floor and put his handgun and shoulder holster on the dresser. On his chest and back were several bullet wounds, scars, and unknown burn marks. He then climbed into his bed and tried to get a good night's sleep.