Disclaimer: I do not own anything, I make no money or profit from this.
Chapter 5: Meeting Old Friends
DREAM
Lincoln, in his Grunt uniform, was currently with 3 other Grunts. They were currently surrounding a 10 year old boy. The kid had borrowed money from Team Rocket with knowing, and they were there to collect. The terrified kid didn't have the money and was trying to make a deal. He then released Mawile, offering her to pay off his debt. One of the older Grunts shook their head, saying that wasn't going to be enough. He then offered all his Pokemon, begging as he did. Satisfied, he nodded in agreement before taking all the pokeballs. The Grunt then handed Lincoln Mawile's ball, telling him that's going to be his Pokemon. Lincoln was surprised by and looked at the 10 year old, only to see him running away. He then noticed Mawile reaching out to him, crying out as she did. The other Grunts started to walk away, while Lincoln tried to comfort the crying Pokemon.
DREAM END
"Lincoln, get up!" Lori's voice said from the other side of his door. This woke Lincoln from his dream. He grumbled and glared at his door. "You need to get up and go have a shower!" Lincoln sat on the edge of his bed, but said nothing. "Lincoln! Can you hear me?!" His sister continued, now banging on his door.
Having enough of this, he picked up a shoe that was in his room and threw it hard against the door. "YES I'M UP!" He shouted back in fury and annoyance. "NOW GET LOST SO I CAN GET READY!" Lori didn't say anything and quietly walked away. He rubbed his face before getting out of bed. He grabbed an orange shirt and black pants, then went to wait for the shower. For some reason Lori was dead set on him being up and dressed today. He would ask later, but for now just do as she wants.
As he stood in line, all his sisters greeted him. However something was off with his older sisters. Ever since last week when he talked with Luna, they showed him more affection. They gave him hugs and kissed him on his forehead, which was a bit difficult for Lynn. The younger ones treated him the same, which told him that they weren't told. Today though, they had a worried look and seemed nervous. While he thought of asking them what was going on, he didn't because he believed they wouldn't tell him anyways. So he stayed silent and waited for his turn.
Eventually he got his turn, showered, and was now wearing jeans with his belt and a white T-shirt. He went back to his room to retrieve his pokeballs, so he could go feed them in the basement. Just like many other times, Lana joins him in this chore. However as he and his younger sister went down there, all of his older sisters were having a hushed conversation.
"This is a bad idea dude!" Luna said quietly, so others wouldn't hear their conversation. "Bro obviously has a reason for not seeing them. We should respect that!"
"This will literally help him" Lori counters. "He needs more people to show they care for him. Who's better than his best friend and girlfriend?"
"But they're not dating," Lynn Jr. said, speaking up. This got her sisters to look at in confusion. "What? I've talked to him and by what he told me, it sounds like they are just friends. We might've jumped to conclusions before."
"I agree with Luna," Luan added her own thoughts. "What Lincoln is going through isn't something normal. I think we should tell our parents about what he told Luna, as well as him hitting Lynn and Lucy."
The last older sister, Leni, was looking around, as if to find something. "Leni, what are you looking for?" Lori questions her younger sister.
"I'm looking for any pictures of Linky," Leni replied simply, as if that explained everything. She then noticed her sister's questionable looks. "All the pictures of Linky have, like, been disappearing. Even the family picture he gave to mom and dad is missing."
The other sisters started to look around at all the pictures on the wall and noticed Leni was right. "You're right, how did we not notice before," Lynn Jr. commented.
"Where did they go?" Luna asked, wondering where they went.
"Do you think someone stole them?" Luan asked, a little nervous.
"Who would break in just to steal pictures of Lincoln?!" The sporty girl retorted with anger and annoyance.
"Well what do you think happened?!" Luan shot back with the same tone.
"We can figure out what literally happened to the pictures later!" Lori scolded her two younger sisters. "They are going to be here any minute!" Just at that moment there was knocking at the door.
"This is a bad idea!" Luna tried one last time to stop Lori's plan. The older sister only ignored her and went to open the door.
Opening the door revealed Clyde McBride, Ronnie Anne Santiago, and Bobby Santiago. Bobby smiled and hugged his girlfriend, while the other two looked around the room. "I'm glad you made it Boo Boo Bear!" Lori said cheerfully, returning the hug.
"Of course babe," Bobby replied after the hug. "So where is little bro?" He asked, looking around.
"Oh he's in the basement" she told nonchalantly. "He has some things to do down there and will join us in a bit. Let's just sit on the couch and wait for him." She then led them to the couch so they could sit. Lynn Jr., Leni, and Luan had a nervous expression, while Luna was shaking her head with an upset expression.
"This is going to be a mess," Luna muttered to herself. She then saw Lynn was going to go, she put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "I need you to stay here" she told her younger sister seriously. "When this plan backfires, I might need you to help get bro off of Lori. It took all of us to get him off you that one time."
"Do you really think this will go bad?" Lynn questions her, a nervous expression on her face.
"You didn't see him at Burpin Burger brah" the rocker sister replied seriously. "The only reason he didn't freak out there was because there were so many people. He knew if he did, the rents would've found out. But here at home, I don't think he'll hold it in."
"Which is why I say we tell our parents!" Luan said with a frown. "We should've told them when he punched Lucy. And we definitely should've told them when he thrashed Lynn."
"I know, and you're right," Luna said with a sigh. "But we can't change that now. All we can do is make sure he doesn't go berserk on Lori. Besides, I doubt we'll be able to keep whatever is going to happen today a secret from the rents." This worried the other sisters and they all exchanged nervous glances. They then moved to join the others and hoped Luna was wrong.
Bobby and Lori were happily chatting, Clyde had a nervous but excited expression, while Ronnie Anne was looking unhappy and annoyed.
"So why does Lame-o want to see us now?" Ronnie Anne asked the Loud sisters with a frown. "He's been avoiding us for the last three weeks, why see us now?"
All the sisters looked nervously at each other, they still didn't know why Lincoln was avoiding them. They all looked at Lori, silently telling her she needed to answer since this was her plan. "Well Lincoln has been going through some things since getting back," Lori replied with a nervous chuckle.
Luna let out a scoff at hearing her answer. "That's putting it lightly," Luna muttered to herself.
Lori glared at her, but continued. "But I think it would really help if he saw some of his friends!"
"What's wrong with him?!" Clyde asked in alarm. He was now worried for his best friend.
"It's best if he tells you," Luan nervously replied. This was because they really didn't know and Luna was the only one to hear anything from Lincoln. Now all three were worried about what was going on with their white hair friend.
Before they could ask anymore questions, the basement door opened. Lincoln, Lana, Mawile, and Crobat came through the door. Lana, Lincoln, and Mawile were smiling, but Lincoln's smile was gone when he saw who was in the room. Clyde immediately ran up to him, to give him a hug and barrage him with questions.
"What are you doing here!" Lincoln shouted at Clyde with a scowl. This caused Clyde to stop in his tracks, and stunned everyone else. He then made his way towards his sisters, not noticing he shoulder bump Clyde along the way. "Who brought them here!?" He shouted, switching his glare to each of his sisters. His shouting had drawn the attention of his other sisters, who came to see what was happening.
"It was Lori's idea!" Lynn quickly blurted out, while pointing to her. She noticed his expression was similar to the one he had when he went berserk on her. She didn't want a repeat. All the older sisters were now glaring at her, while Lana was hiding behind the couch. Mawile went to her trainer's side to attempt to calm him down, while Crobat flew higher up to watch what was going to happen.
"What the fuck Lori!" The boy continued to shout. His glare was now solely focused on his eldest sister. Hearing him curse got a round of gasps from almost everyone in the room. Clyde nearly fainted and the Santiago siblings' eyes widened.
"Lincoln, please calm down" Mawile pleaded with him, holding one of his hands. However this did nothing, as he didn't even notice or hear her.
Lori stopped her glaring at her younger sister and gave her brother a nervous smile. "Lincoln I know you're upset" she started, trying to calm him down. "But I thought it would help you to-" she got interrupted by her little brother.
"I don't need help!" He retorted, stepping closer to her. "I can handle it! You don't know anything I've been through! All you know is what Luna told you! This is why I didn't want any of you to know! You would try and meddle in my business!"
Lori was now intimidated and slightly fearful of him, but continued on. "You need help Lincoln!" She pleaded with him. "Maybe hanging out with your friend and girlfriend, you would-" she was cut off again by her brother.
"Oh for fuck sakes Lori, WE ARE NOT DATING!" Lincoln screamed, getting into Lori's face. "How many times do I have to say it! We're just friends! I had enough of you trying to play matchmaker and meddle in my love life!"
"Hey Lame-o, don't you think that's a bit too much?" Ronnie Anne said going to put a hand on his shoulder. Lynn grimaces at the girl using the nickname, while Luna and Luan try to warn her not to get close to him. "It sounds like she-" was all she said, before getting punched and knocked on her rear.
This earned gasps from Bobby, Lori, and Clyde, while all the sisters just winced at the hit. Bobby and Lori immediately went to the down girl, seeing if she was alright. Ronnie Anne was now holding her sore eye. She was about to start yelling at the Loud boy, but froze when looking up at him. The dark look in his eyes with the sneer on his face, it sent shivers down her spine. He looked nothing like her once dorky friend.
Lincoln didn't even realize he had hit Ronnie Anne. The moment she touched him, he saw her as just some angry trainer upset at a Team Rocket member. He threw the punch on pure instincts. However his rage cooled a bit, and he saw what he did. He saw the now scared Ronnie Anne looking up at him with fear, with Bobby and Lori worrying over her. She was then replaced with girls from the many brothels he worked at.
"I'm-I'm sorry," Lincoln said in a whisper. He didn't know if he was apologizing to Ronnie Anne for punching her, or to the girls for not being able to help them. He then looked around him. He saw all the worried expressions on his sisters faces, Clyde's and Ronnie Anne's scared faces, and Bobby's furious expression. He realized this wouldn't be kept from his parents, and he started to hyperventilate. As he was starting to panic, his eyes landed on Lori. His fear was replaced with rage. "Are you happy now Lori!?" He screamed at her, glaring at her. "This happened because of you!"
As Lincoln screamed at Lori, Bobby stood up to get mad at Lincoln. He wants to yell at him for hitting his sister and blaming Lori. However, he was stopped when Luna and Luan grabbed each of his arms. Leni was with Lana hiding behind the couch. While Lynn was near Lori, ready to step in if Lincoln got physical. "No! Don't!" Luan told him a fearful expression. "Linc is stronger than you think. Last time it took us, Leni, and Lori to get him off Lynn."
"But-" he was going to say more, but Luna interrupted him.
"We get it dude," Luna said to him with a serious expression. "You're mad because he hit your sibling. However we don't need you two getting into a fight." A scowl then appeared on her face. "I hate to say it, but bro is right. You two and Clyde wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Lori."
Lincoln stopped his screaming when he felt something around one of his legs. Looking down he saw Mawile hugging his leg. It was only now that the 3 guests noticed the strange creature. "Please no more," she pleaded. "You don't need to be like this anymore. Please calm down."
Lincoln, hearing the hurt in her voice, calmed down and hugged his Pokemon. "Thanks Mawile," he whispered, before standing up and looking at everyone with a frown. "I'm going to my room, no one bother me." He then started to walk up the stairs.
Unfortunately, Clyde tried again to talk to him. The older Loud girls shouted for him to stop, but he ignored them. "Lincoln, wait!" He shouted, grabbing one of his arms. This turned out to be a mistake.
Lincoln turned and looked to see who grabbed him. Only instead of seeing Clyde, he saw an angry Pokemon trainer. He shoved Clyde off and sneered at him. "Mawile use Flash Cannon!" He ordered pointing at Clyde. Mawile was sad, but knew she had to follow the order. She opened her venus fly-trap mouth, and an orb of light started forming in it.
Lana recognizes the name of the attack. As soon as she heard that, she came out of hiding and ran towards Clyde. Just before the attack hits Clyde, Lana pushes him out of the way.
Him seeing Lana snapped him back to reality. He just realized what he just did. "Clyde! I'm sorry! I just…" he quickly said nervously. His expression was terrified, hurt, and panicked. It then changed to fury and he glared at his oldest sister. "Is this what you wanted!?" He sneered at her. "I hope you're happy!" He shouted running to his room. Mawile followed him, while Crobat went to the attic.
"What happened?" Lola asked the older kids/teens scared. She and the other younger girls went to join the others after Lincoln stormed to his room. Before anyone could answer, they heard the sounds of banging and crashing come from Lincoln's room.
"What's wrong with Lincoln?" Clyde asked, getting up. He was now terrified and worried for his friend.
"Everyone sit down and we'll explain," Luna said with an exhausted sigh. Everyone did and she along with Luan, Leni, Lynn, and Lori started to explain.
[With Lincoln]
Lincoln was destroying anything that he could in his room. Old toys, comics, old clothing, damaging the walls and his dresser. "It's Lori's fault!" He growled out, smashing another toy. "If she didn't bring them, then I wouldn't have attacked them. Now our parents will know everything and send me to some doctor!" He then punched his wall, making a hole in it. "I don't need help! I can handle this on my own! I'm not weak!"
He started breaking more things while screaming at no one. Mawile had never seen her trainer like this before. She had seen him furious, sad, annoyed, nervous, and happy before. But she had never seen him like this before. She wasn't sure what to do in this situation. So she carefully walked up to him and gently took hold of one of his arms. This stopped his rampage and looked at her. "Please calm down master" Mawile pleaded with him. "I know you're upset, but please calm down master. You're starting to scare me and you're hurting yourself." She then pointed to his knuckles and hands, which now had small cuts and scrapes.
Lincoln stared at her with heartbreak. The only time she called him "master" was when he did something that terrified her, or in the presence of Team Rocket Pokemon. He kneeled down and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry" he apologized, starting to shed tears. "I promised you that things would be better. Now I'm doing things that scare you."
As he started to cry, the Deceiver Pokemon returned the hug. "It's alright Lincoln, I know you're stressed" she told him, happy to see him return to normal. "Let's take a nap" she said happily. This got a confused look from him. "You know there's nothing you can do now. Your sisters are going to tell your parents about what happened. We can take a nap and you will be calm for the talk that's going to happen."
Lincoln thought about it and realized she had a point. "You're right, let's do it," he said with a small smile. He picked her up, and laid on his bed, while Mawile on his chest. His room was a complete mess. Broken objects scattered the floor, ripped up clothes everywhere, holes in different parts of the wall, a damaged dresser, and in the closet were pictures with a certain white hair boy marked out with black marker.
[Downstairs]
The older Loud sisters had just finished explaining everything to the others. They were so shocked by what they just heard, no one noticed how quiet Lincoln became. "You can't be serious," Bobby said in a bewildered voice. He looked to his girlfriend to deny these claims, only for her to lower her head sadly.
"Why didn't you try to get him help?" Ronnie Anne furiously asked the family. All of them looked away, not sure how to respond.
"He said he could handle it," Lynn replied weakly.
"He punched one of you and beat up another!" The young girl shouted at the athlete. "What will it take for you to decide to get him help?!"
"Look we messed up, we know that, " Luna said, trying to calm her down. "We should've told our rents after he punched Lucy. But this whole thing is new to us. Linc never acted like this and we thought he could handle it. We have no choice but to tell them now, and they are going to get him professional help. Which he's against since he thinks getting help makes him weak."
"I might be able to help" Clyde spoke up with some sniffles. "He could go see Dr. Lopez, I'm sure she can help him. I'm sure I can get him an appointment with her tomorrow or the next day."
"That might help a lot," Luan said to him. "Honestly, I don't think our parents would know where to start looking for help."
"What about school?" Ronnie Anne asked everyone. "School starts next week. If he gets jumpy with people just surprising him from behind, how will he handle a building full of people?"
"We thought he would be back to normal by the time school started," Lynn said while scratching the back of her head.
"Do you think he meant what he said?" Lucy asked. This gained a round of confused looks. "About him not going back to the old Lincoln?"
"I don't think it's impossible, but it will be hard," Lana answered her older sister. This had everyone looking at her. "I saw him interact with Mawile the most. When he's with her, he acts like the old Lincoln."
"By the way Lana," Lynn spoke up. "How did you know what was going to happen? I mean, you knew what Mawile was going to do."
"Oh, that's because I've seen Flash Cannon before," Lana replied nonchalantly, surprising everyone. "She showed me several of her moves and told me what they're called."
"So you can understand her like Lincoln?" A shocked Luan asked.
Lana then made a so-so gesture. "I can't understand her like Lincoln, but I've picked up some words. Enough to get the gist of what she's saying."
"But why is he like that with just her?" Leni asked, upset that they don't have the Lincoln they were used to.
"I have a theory on that," Lisa said. "I suspect the reason why he's like this is because of his interaction with those members of Team Rocket. He was forced to work for them, they beat him, threatened him, and saw them kill people. This might have caused him to not trust people. While we don't know how he acquired Mawile, she has been with him for a long time. She has stood beside him through a lot of what he's been through. This made it so he can trust her above anyone else."
"But we're his sisters!" Lori said frustrated. "He should be able to trust us as well!"
"Should he?" The young genius counter with a raised eyebrow. "Before Lincoln disappeared, how did some of us treat him?" This question made the sisters think about their past interaction. "We have insulted him, threatened him, been rough with him, and ganged up on him. While we weren't as vicious, what we did was no better than them." This made all of them look down in sadness, including Ronnie Anne. "Perhaps he sees us as no better than Team Rocket members. Lynn certainly didn't help when she referred to him as Stinkcoln." This had said girl blush with embarrassment.
"You might be right dude," Luna said to the young genius. "Maybe bro just doesn't trust us. All we can do now is try to regain his trust. You guys should stay until our parents get home so you can help explain what happened. Everyone just do your own thing, but don't bother Lincoln. We don't need anyone else getting hurt." Everyone nodded and went to do their own thing, while the 3 guests stayed with Lori. No one knew what to expect when the parents returned.
