Disclaimer: Based on The Loud House created by Chris Savino and owned/published by Nickelodeon. I am not and do not claim to be the creator. Also inspired by Bleach created by Tite Kubo. An AU to the Loud House canon.

Chapter 6

First Hunt

Leaves fell from trees as Lincoln and Stella moved through Royal Woods forest. They were moving down a covered, sloped hill to an open valley separated into two by a brook scattered with rocks. It was so small that a long step would allow a person to cross from one side to another. Despite its small size, the river had a ferocious flow. It smashed upon the rocks threatening to annihilate anything in its way. Noise bounced from hill-side to hill-side filling the small valley with echoes of restless movement.

Lincoln reached the bottom and began looking around. It was a slow and quiet night. The river's coolness reflected off Lincoln's face as he took it all in. He began to think about the first night Pop-Pop brought him down here. It was his last year of middle school. The river was busier that night with at least thirty rangers there. They slowly made their way towards the brook with many rangers stopping his grandfather to say hello. Once they got to the river, his grandfather grabbed his shoulder and gave a supportive squeeze. He slowly released him, allowing Lincoln to kneel towards the river.

His memory was broken when he heard a crunching sound coming from above. He turned his head to see Stella about two-thirds of the way down leaning back with her arms stretched out to control her wobbling movements. Her tongue stuck out slightly as her eyes concentrated on her steps. Her eyes had yet to adjust to the moonlight, and the dark uniform made it difficult to see where exactly she was going. In order not to slip, she took small steps down the hill. Eventually, she reached the bottom and looked at Lincoln. He tried to tell her something but the echos blocked him out. "You'll have to speak up," she loudly said, "I can barely hear over the river."

He walked towards her until he was a yard away from her. "You've got something in your hair."

Stella's eyes widened as she quickly moved her hand through her dark, raven hair ripping a spiderweb out. She frantically flicked it off as she combed through the rest of her hair. "Is it gone?!" She squeaked.

"Yeah, I think so," Lincoln replied.

Stella shook, crossed her arms over her chest, and deeply breathed. "Good, I really don't like spiders." She looked down to see a small smile appearing on Lincoln's face. "What? Arachnophobia is a common fear," she defended turning her head away to hide her embarrassment.

Lincoln began to scratch the back of his head. "You just reminded me of someone."

"Oh, who is it?" Stella asked, turning back.

"It's not important right now." He turned around and walked down towards the river while giving her a wave to follow him.

She followed him as she felt the water splash across her face. The temperature around the river was much cooler than the rest of the valley, causing Stella to shiver despite her clothes' warmth. The moonlight reflected against the river, allowing Stella an easier time to see everything. She watched as Lincoln pulled the contract out of his pocket and turned towards her. "Stella, welcome to Royal Woods' River of Souls," he said.

"River of Souls." She said, She shrugged and sighed deeply, "Alright lay it on me. What is a River of Souls?"

"It's not that hard to explain," Lincoln began shrugging his shoulders. This river is the link between the physical world and the spiritual world. Think of it like a subway connecting one place to another."

"Alright, that's simple enough" Stella watched as he kneeled and bent towards the river. "What's the purpose of it?"

"Here, watch." Lincoln dipped his arm into the river up to his elbow. He closed his eyes,

"In the depths of night

Answer my plea

Aid me in my sight

I call upon thee,

Leviathan,"

Lincoln pulled his arm out quickly with his hand now gripping the handle of a long blade that glimmered in against the lights of the stars. One edge was incredibly sharp with a magnificent glow against the night sky dulled out by a flat edge. It was at least three feet long excluding the handle Lincoln was grabbing.

Stella took a small step backward focusing solely on the blade as Lincoln pushed it into his belt. "Whoa, how did? What just? Alright, you've got to explain what just happened."

Lincoln finished putting the sword in his belt. "Remember how I told you about inomium?"

"Um, yeah," Stella said, stepping forward and leaning over admiring the blade. She reached out with her finger to touch it. Her reflection was in sync as it started with great interest in her. "It's the material this sword is made from."

"Yeah, so inomium can be stored in the spirit world. These rivers transfer it from our world to the spirit world."

Stella leaned up and looked at the river. "So what, I reach down and pull out a sword?"

"Um, no." Lincoln scratched the back of his head. "You are a new seer. You don't have a family weapon yet."

"What?" Stella said, looking back at him.

"Most weapons seers use are passed down through generations. Since you are the first seer in your family, you don't have a weapon yet." He saw her eyes widen before her head dropped. "You'll eventually get one, we just need to get you some experience first." He took a deep breath in and held out the contract. "Here grab on."

Slowly she reached out and grabbed onto the contract. Lincoln held on to the other side before motioning for both of them to kneel. The ground was solid and cold as they knelt before the river. Slowly their hands moved toward the river until they were submerged. Coolness surrounded them causing Stella to shiver slightly. Her eyes focused on the contract as it turned from a light yellow to a dark tan with the black ink melting off the paper flowing into the cool blue disappearing down the river. It rammed between the rocks encountering the tiny rapids until it met the smooth river path just out of sight. Stella's gaze was focused on the ink wondering where it would end up.

Suddenly she noticed the middle of the paper twinkle as pieces of the contract flaked off revealing white lettering underneath the top layer. The flakes flowed down the same path the ink took, flowing around the rocks leaping from rapid to rapid. Pieces of the contract tear away until Stella notices the names now emboldened on the paper: Lincoln Albert Loud and Stella Maria Zhau.

She let go of the contract and sharply looked at Lincoln as he removed the paper from the river. "What just happened? Why is my name there?" Her voice felt small as against the river flow and she was afraid Lincoln might have missed her questions.

"We just signed the contract." Lincoln stood up and dusted off his knees. Stella imitated him as he finished his explanation. "We signified to the world of seers that we agreed to track this soul."

He began walking down the river, turning around and smiling at Stella, "Well, what are you waiting for?"

Stella quickly caught up with him, noticing his pace had increased compared to their walk to Flip's. "So, where are we going?" She asked, moving a bang behind her ear.

Lincoln put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. "The creature we are after is called a Chimera. It's basically the rabbit of the spirit world. I've tracked plenty of them in the past, so I know a good spot that's around a mile and a half from here."

"Oh, alright." Stella listened to the river as they walked. The river flow smoothed out, and the moonlight grew stronger as the moon rose to its peak. Stella tilted her head downwards and crossed her arms, "What was it like?"

Lincoln opened his eyes slightly and looked at Stella, "What do you mean?"

"What was it like growing up in this world? I've barely been in this world for less than twelve hours and was forced to accept all of this just to keep my sanity. I'm supposed to believe in spirits and believe that it is my responsibility to hunt them down. I almost died to one of them last night, and now I'm supposed to save them." Stella took a small breath, "Everything is happening so quickly. But you, you've grown up in this world your whole life. You've been able to adapt to this throughout the years. I just want to know what it was like for you to experience this."

Lincoln scratched his cheek trying to think of a response. "Well at first it was lonely. My grandfather and I are the only observers in my family, so I couldn't talk to my parents about what I saw. Before my grandfather moved to Royal Woods, I thought something was wrong with me. I didn't know any other observers, so I dealt with the spiritual world for six years by myself. Monsters came out in the middle of the night causing me to freak out, which in turn freaked my parents out. It caused problems during my early childhood, with them trying to make me understand what I was seeing was fictional. We got into arguments about what I was seeing and that I was being difficult just to get attention from my parents."

He turned and walked towards one of the side hills. "The field is a little bit over this hill." Lincoln took a couple of slow steps up the hill continuing his story to Stella, "Well my grandfather moved down here when I was six, and he explained everything about being an observer and the responsibility of the rangers. To be honest, it just made things worse. The knowledge that not only what I was seeing was real, but I was to eventually fight them caused me to become even worse. I was paranoid and jumpy around the house. I refused to sleep because I thought monsters were going to come after me. However, Pop-Pop came back day after day to explain the more complicated parts of the world and how spirits acted. After a couple of months, I began to calm down. He actually made me fascinated about the spirit world."

"Most Rangers start around 14, so he began training me after about nine months of moving back. But I struggled. I hated physical training, trying to find every loophole I could find to avoid it. If I were to run for three hours, I would dunk my head in water to imitate sweat. To get out of weightlifting, I would tell my grandfather I had chores to do back at my house. Heck, I even tried to get out of doing simple stretches. It took almost three years to start taking my training seriously."

"What caused that?" Stella asked, taking his offering hand that helped pull her up to the top. They continued to walk past the woods avoiding the roots that were exposed from the soft, black dirt.

"He introduced me to one of the top families in town who had a daughter my age. It's common for observers to spar, so they thought it would be great for us to have a practice match. Well, the problem was that she's been training since she was five and took it seriously. Needless to say, she kicked my ass." He took a deep sigh, "It was humiliating, I couldn't even touch her." A slight smile graced his lips, "But it was also enlightening. I saw firsthand what the training could do. From that day on I started to follow my regiment. Heck, I started avoiding my chores at home to train. I think I'm one of the strongest rangers left in this town"

"Really?" Stella's eyes glanced at his thin body.

"What?" Lincoln stopped his pace and stared at her.

"Nothing," Stella said quickly, looking away.

"No," humor laced his voice. "You said that far too quickly for it to mean nothing. What did you mean?"
"No, nothing," Her hands raised in front a small smile growing across her face.

"Oh, come on. You gotta tell me."

"Alright, alright. Don't be offended, it's just you just don't show it, that's all."

Lincoln let out a laugh as he scratched his head. "Unfortunately, you are not wrong. I've never been able to show muscle." He looked around then pointed towards a mess of bushes, "The field is right past there." They walked towards the bush, the smile disappearing from Stella's face. She bit her lip as Lincoln slipped between the branches slowly following him. The small prickly leaves struck her face slowly pulling across her clothes. Her feet sank across soft ground, her eyes glued to the end of the path. She pushed her hand forward and pushed the remaining branches out of her way revealing herself to the open field.

She faced a gleaming field of sparkling moonlit grass surrounded by soft gray creatures gathered in clusters as they moved across the grass. It appeared to her that they glided almost like figure skaters around the wide-open green. If she hadn't looked closer, she would have missed their tails wrapped around their backs, separated into columns. There must have been thirty-five to forty of the creatures there. "Wow," Stella looked over at the sight, "what are they?"

"They are called chimeras." Lincoln said looking over the field, "Small but quick little creatures that are commonly used to train new rangers. Think of it like chasing chickens. If you chase them, the worst they can do is scratch you, but they're fast as hell." Lincoln looked back at her, "You run track, right?"

"Yeah, I've run it for the past four years, now."

"Good, you don't have to worry about the basics then. Alright, um, try to catch one."

Silence filled the space between them as they stared out into the field.

"You can't be serious," Stella said.

"Well yeah," he replied, "You've got to catch one."

"What do you expect me to do, run up and grab one?" Stella questioned.

"Yeah, I do." His voice was serious. "I want you to try and catch one."

Stella looked to see that he was stone-faced and had his shoulders straight. She huffed bending down into a track stance whilst taking a few deep breaths. She had her head down, slowly pulling it up with her eyes locked on to the small creatures.

Suddenly, she dashed forward wind grazing her face as she moved across the grass, the whooshing of the wind filling her ears. She was close to the creatures and she leaned down to grab one of the small creatures when it darted away to the right. It went almost six feet in less than a second running into a small hoard. Stella quickly turned running towards them. However, they all dashed to the left. She quickly changed direction. Just as she took a few steps, they dashed to the right. She turned around and bent down but missed as they dashed around her. Stella spun on her heel and darted forward to grab one, but missed. They dashed back and forth avoiding her for almost ten minutes.

Stella's breath shortened as she kept chasing them at her fastest speed. Suddenly, she dashed forward in a last gust getting within a foot of the creature. She leaned down and grazed the fur of it before her leg tightened up causing Stella to fall behind. The pain in her leg caused her to lag further behind watching as the creatures ran one yard, two yards, three yards, further away until she couldn't catch up. She collapsed to the ground watching as the creatures disappeared behind the brush.

The sound of squeaking wet grass came from behind her. Lincoln was standing behind her. She was unable to turn around. That was her chance to prove to him that she could live in this world, and she blew it. But she was so close to catching it. She failed against something children catch. She wiped her eyes waiting for Lincoln.

"That went better than I expected," he stated

Stella whipped around to see him with a smirk on his face. He was looking down at her with his arms behind his head.

"What?" Stella whispered.

He squatted down to her level elbows resting on his knees, "You almost caught one just based on your physical traits." He extended a hand which she slowly took. "Heck, I thought you had it on that last burst." Stella squinted her eyes as Lincoln scratched the back of his head. "Would have ruined my plans if you did that."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Stella inquired.

"Well, to be honest, I kinda never expected you to catch one." He watched as her face morphed from inquiry to confusion before annoyance laced her face. Suddenly, she shoved his shoulder slightly causing him to stumble.

"What do you mean you never expected me to catch one? Why did you have me chase those rabbit things?"

He looked up at the moon taking a small breath with a slight smile, "You were right about me not showing any muscle. During the day, I can't even dunk a basketball. But last night I jumped over that creature."

"Yeah, yeah, I remember," Stella whispered with a confused face. "How did you do that?"

"As a ranger, we are part of the spirit world. We're connected to the night. When the sun goes down, we can enhance our physical traits. Here watch."

Stella watched as Lincoln stepped away from her, taking a small breath. He took a small squat before leaping fifteen yards into the air. His white hair reflected the stars as he stayed in the air before returning to the ground landing with soft feet before standing up to look at her.

"Whoa," Stella said.

"I know it's pretty cool right," Lincoln said with a chuckle. He looked around with a wide smile, "My original plan was just to show what happens if you accept the spirit world, but I think you might be able to catch one. Normally, it takes a few years to get that speed, but you just need some acceptance." He looked at the bushes the creatures ran behind. "Alright, they typically come back out in a few minutes so let's get you ready."

"How do I, um, get 'ready?'" Stella asked, giving him a small stare.

"You've got to seclude yourself from the physical, and fully embrace the spirit one. You have to have no ties to this world. Push your emotions down and away. Think of yourself as weightless without any worry about this world. You'll feel it then. Your body runs cold and a burst of energy pulses through your veins. That's when you're connected. The best rangers can leave everything from this world and connect fully to the spirits."

There was a crunching sound coming from the bush. They turned their heads to see a small chimera hopping out into the field. Lincoln grabbed onto her shoulder shaking it slightly, "Alright, here's your chance."

Stella stared out into the field wondering if she was able to do it. She was so close to the first time when she had all her energy, but now she was winded and had a cramp. He didn't even have confidence in her to catch one in the first place. It was supposed to be a demonstration of his skill. He never had faith in her.

"Hey, are you alright?" Lincoln said quietly, causing Stella to look at him.

She grabbed her bicep and rubbed it. "What if I can't do it?"

"Don't think like that. Just have faith in yourself."

"Yeah because you had so much confidence in me the first time." Stella glared at him.

Lincoln paused scratching the back of his head. With a small breath, he said, "I'm sorry about that. It's difficult to explain the difference in the feeling, so I thought that showing you that someone like me could do it would inspire you. Just like." he looked away, "Just like Ronnie-Anne did for me."

"That's her name?" Stella questioned, causing Lincoln to look back at her.

"Yeah. She helped me take it more seriously. I guess I hoped to do the same for you, but you're right. I should have been upfront with you. That's why I'm telling you now that you can do this. You just need to let everything go, even for a few seconds, and you'll catch it. So you ready to give it one more shot?"

Stella looked back at the creature. It was eating the grass, not paying attention to either of them. "Yeah, I think so."

"Alright, when you're ready to connect to the spirit world take a few breaths and let everything go."

Stella looked at the creature before moving down into her track stance. She had to let everything go. She closed her eyes and saw her mother's face. Her deep brown eyes staring at her yearning for success. Stella took a deep breath as the image faded from her mind. She opened her eyes and took off.

The ground barely touched her feet as she ran. The wind rushed into her ears sounding like a jet. She never felt anything like this before. She was almost twenty yards away from the creature and now she was ten, no, eight yards away. She bent down and grabbed something soft pulling it to her chest. She clutched the creature into her chest before coming to a stop. She looked down to see big dark black eyes and a small nose looking at her.

"I did it," She whispered before looking up to see Lincoln running towards her with a smile. "Did you see that? I did it!"

Thank you all for reading.

I want to first apologize for the wait. Personal matters came up while writing this, so I had to take a hiatus in writing. The matter has improved this past week, so I am back to a regular schedule for writing.

I am open to comments, questions, and critiques. Everything you say is greatly appreciated since it helps me grow as a first time writer.

If you have some suggestions for future chapters, please post some ideas that will be taken into consideration. There is a loose plan for this with future plot lines, but the plan can change if I feel like it. Some of the chapters could be filler or could be adapted into the main story. I will try to give credit to people who change some parts of the story.

Again thank you for reading.