Disclaimer: I do not own anything, I make no money or profit from this.
Chapter 4: A Brother and Sister Talk
DREAM
Lincoln was in a washroom, he was currently washing a 16 year old girl. The girl had blue hair and was naked in a bathtub. She was currently crying, hiding her face in her hands. While he was feeling uncomfortable, he felt worse for the girl. He didn't try to talk to her, he just silently washed her as she cried.
END DREAM
Lincoln was awoken from his dream by his sisters being noisy. It has been 2 weeks since he's been back, and he's slowly finding a routine. So far only a few people knew he was back and no one knew about his Pokemon. However his 2 best friends, Clyde McBride and Ronnie Anne Santiago, were some of the few that did know he was back. They went to see him, but he got his sisters to make excuses to get them to leave. When they asked him why he didn't want to see him, he just said he didn't and walked away.
He sat up in bed, body covered in sweat. He rubbed his face, trying to erase the memory dream he had. One of his duties when working at one of the brothels was cleaning the place and some the new girls. While this embarrassed him, seeing them breaking down stopped any of it. While he talked to a few, most of the time he gave them silent comfort as they cried. He hated working at those, the girls reminded him of his situation.
Getting out of bed, he started to put something on to go wait for the shower. He put on a simple orange T-shirt and black pants. Leni had made him a bunch of new clothing, while his parents bought some as well. He managed to keep the gun he had hidden, but not the scars and burn marks on his torso. While they asked and worried about them, they stopped asking when he told them he didn't want to talk about it. Of course no one was happy about that, but they stopped so he didn't have another freak out.
He left his room and stood in line for the washroom. His sisters gave him a cautious glance and gave him some space. This was expected, given what has happened in the last 2 weeks. During one of those weeks, Lynn fell into old habits with Lincoln. She started mocking him and calling him Stinkcoln. This caused Lincoln to snap, causing him to tackle her to the ground and start punching her. It took Lori, Leni, Luan, and Luna to get him off her and hold him. She had a black eye, bloody nose, busted lip, and some bruises on her face. When he came back to his senses, he started apologizing. He then begged them to not tell their parents about this. They didn't, but hesitantly so. Even since then Lynn has shown more respect for him, as well as watched what she says about him.
The other week something different happened. One time he was waiting for the washroom, Lucy appeared behind him and scared him. However instead of just making him jump in fright, he turned around and punched her in the face. All he did was give her a bloody nose, but it gave the little goth a good scare. Again he apologized and begged for them not to tell their parents. They didn't since this was the first incident of something like that. However this was what made the weary of their brother.
He eventually got his turn and walked out freshly showered. He now wore a blue T-shirt under an opened white long sleeve button shirt and black jeans with his old belt. His parents bought him the jeans and Leni made the shirts. Now that he was clean, he went to feed his Pokemon. He went and grabbed their pokeball and started to head towards the basement. That was the safest place to let them all out and feed them.
"Are you going to feed your Pokemon?" A voice asked from behind him. He looked to see his younger sister Lana. She was standing a few steps behind, just in case he punches like with Lucy.
"Yes, I'm guessing you want to help?" He replied with a raised eyebrow. Lana nodded enthusiastically, then gestured to her to follow. She did and they made their way to the basement.
Once there, Lincoln released all of them and was met with hissing, growling, and glares. However, that all stopped when Lana started to give them their food. Lana had helped him make the food taste better. Because of this the Pokemon seemed to grow fond of the young girl. Lana was the only person they all were friendly with.
Lincoln silently watches his sister feed and pet the Pokemon. He couldn't help but smile at the scene. He knew if Lana was in the other world, she would've been a great Pokemon trainer. He waited for them to all finish eating and Lana to have her fill of them, before returning most of them to their pokeballs. The only ones who weren't called back was Crobat and Mawile. Crobat mostly stayed in the attic where Lucy would visit him. Mawile would go around the house and interact with different members of his family.
"Come on Mawile, let's go out back" Lana said excitedly. "We can make some mud!" Mawile looked to Lincoln, seeing him nod she agreed and followed the girl.
Lincoln smiled at them and put all the pokeballs back on his belt. "Hey bro" a voice called out to him as he exited the basement. He looked and saw it was his older sister Luna. "How about we go get a bite to eat? My treat."
This took him by surprise, but was glad one of them wanted to hangout with him. "Sure, where are we going?" He asked with a smile.
"Let's go to Burpin Burger" Luna replied in a cheerful tone. With Lincoln nodding in agreement they both left for the fast food restaurant. However Lincoln didn't see Luna give a subtle nod to the girls on the top of stairs.
The two walked in silence, both in deep thoughts. Lincoln was trying to think of what to say. Luna was thinking of how to bring up a certain subject. This wasn't a spur of the moment thing. She invited her brother out for a reason. The older sisters have become very worried about the little brother's behavior, and they knew it had something to do with the other world. However every time anyone would ask about it, he would get defensive and become angry. Because of some of his past actions, they drop the subject after that. This time, they're trying a different approach. One of them is going to take him to eat and relax him, hoping he'll talk to her about what's going on with him. Luna volunteered to be the one to invite him.
They reached their destination, got their food, and sat somewhere away from anyone in the place. The 2 ate in silence, still not sure what to say. Finally Lincoln was the first to speak. "So how's things with Sam and the band?" He asked in a unsure tone.
"Good, things are going good," she replied with a shaky voice. The awkward silence returned, Luna let out a sign and bit the bullet. "Bro, what happened over there?" Her voice was full of concern.
Lincoln froze just as he was about to take another bite. He put his burger down and let out an annoyed sigh. "Luna, don't!" He replied with a frustrated tone. "It's over! I'm not going back there! You and the others don't need to know what happened over there!"
"Please Lincoln, you need to talk to us" Luna pleaded. "You really beat Lynn that one time and punched Lucy. While I'm now a little surprised she hasn't gotten hit before now, with her scaring random strangers. These things only happen because you keep everything bottled up. All of us are worried about you!"
"What will me telling any of you do!?" he shot back, rage now filling his voice. "What good will you knowing do?!"
"We can carry some of the burden!" Luna shot back, becoming frustrated with her brother's refusal. "We're family, and family helps each other. We're Louds, and Louds stick together!"
Lincoln looked to the table and let out a raged filled growl. He looked at the doors and considered just bolting, but decided against this. His sisters overlooked his 2 previous episodes, but they probably wouldn't this one. "I can deal with it" he told her through gritted teeth.
"Can you?!" The musical sister asked with a raised eyebrow. "In two weeks of being home you isolated yourself, stayed cooped up in your room, broke a mirror, and hit two of your sisters! All because you won't talk to us! Why won't you let us help you! Why?!"
"Because asking for help will make you weak!" The young boy snapped back. "I refuse to be that weak eleven year old boy again, never again!"
It was then the siblings realized their voices had started to rise, getting the attention of some of the people and employees of the burger joint. Luna immediately started apologizing and claiming everything was okay. Lincoln looked down to the ground with a frown, feeling ashamed and embarrassed. After people lost interest in them, the young boy spoke up.
"Do you really want to know?" He asked his sister seriously. "I have done monstrous things. Things you've only heard or seen in works of fiction. Once you know, you might not see me the same way again. Are you willing to take that risk?"
Luna was taken aback by this, but gave him a serious expression. "I want to help you bro" she said firmly, but with a caring voice. "I can handle whatever you're about to say."
Lincoln gave an exhausted sigh, before beginning to speak. "Alright, then let's start at the beginning. Before I was a Grunt, I was an errand boy. The first place they had me working was a brothel." Luna let out a loud gasp and covered her mouth. "I wasn't having sex for money, I was cleaning up. I clean the rooms after clients were finished with the girls. Move any bodies of any clients who suffer "unfortunate" accidents. Do the laundry for all the girls, and if necessary clean any of the girls."
"What do you mean bro?" Luna asked hesitantly.
"Some of the girls were people that owed Team Rocket and were there paying their debt" he replied sorrowfully. "Many of them were Pokemon trainers and forced to do that kind of work. Some would be in such a shocked state, I would have to physically move them into the shower or bathtub. They would snap out of it halfway through, then have a mental breakdown. There was nothing I could say or do to make them feel better, so I cleaned them and got them ready for the next client."
"But you said a ten year old could become a Pokemon trainer!" Luna said with a shaky voice.
"None of them were that young, but I did meet a fourteen year old" he replied with a growl, before calming down. "Anyways, after that I was moved to different hideouts to do odd jobs. Honestly I rather work at the brothels, at least there I wasn't randomly beaten. Anytime any Grunts had a bad day, they would use me as their punching bag. They beat me until I couldn't move, then used a Pokemon to use Heal Pulse on me. The move would heal any injuries they inflicted, but the pain from them would remain. I would be on the floor for the next few minutes suffering from phantom pains, with no way to stop them."
Luna was starting to go pale. She was also feeling a mixture of rage, disgust, fear, worry, and disbelief. She knew whatever happened over there wasn't good, but wasn't expecting this.
"It was around then when Admin Archer noticed I could handle the captured Pokemon" her brother continued. "He made me a Grunt and I started doing more serious jobs. Going with others to shake people down or collect debts. Participating in heists and fighting with police. Going on missions to kill traitors from talking. Be given my own assignments and jobs. While also training the stolen Pokemon to listen to other members. There were times I was also other Grunts would still use me as their punching bag. However, my most hated job was dealing with disobedient Pokemon."
Lincoln then put his head in his hands, his expression was a mix of fear, traumatized, and rage. "When Pokemon refused to listen at all, they had them put down." This earned another gasp from his sister, but he continued. "I preferred when I could just use my handgun, I always made it quick. However when they wanted to send a message to the other Pokemon. They had me use any Pokemon that knew Flamethrower, and deal with them that way."
Luna was starting to turn green and felt like throwing up after hearing that. Then she noticed her brother was starting to tremble. She got up and sat beside him and started to hold him. "I still see them," he said in a whisper. His voice was shaky, soft, and full of guilt. "Every night I see their scared, sad, nervous, crying faces. I hear their cries of pain, agony, and fear. I can't escape them! They haunt me! I will never get rid of their faces and cries!" He then looked at Luna, a broken expression on his face. "You asked me why I trained Pokemon for Team Rocket? I did it so they wouldn't suffer that exact fate."
He took some calming breaths and went back to normal. He stayed in his sister's embrace and continued speaking. "As I rank up, I continue with many of the same things," his voice becoming more neutral. "The only difference is I was leading those missions and doing less of the Pokemon disposal. Then when I became an Elite Officer, I was given more responsibilities. I was put in charge of whole bases, doing important missions directly from the boss, doing paperwork, and leading major heists. Some of the members glared at me and gave me a stink eye, but they couldn't do anything. I was a higher ranking, attacking me was like attacking an Admin or the Boss."
Luna continued to hold her brother, slowly digesting everything she was told. However, now was the time to ask something she noticed earlier. "What did you mean 'by you'll never be that weak eleven year old'?" She asked him carefully. She didn't want him to blow up here at Burpin Burger.
Lincoln looked away and scowled, but eventually answered. "I was too weak to handle anything," he said with a growl. "I used to cry every night, begging for it all to be a dream. Hoping that I would wake up in my bed, in my room. But it never happened. I needed to get stronger to take the beatings! Stronger to take all the insults! Stronger to shoot at police! Stronger to kill! Stronger to survive!" He then looked his sister in the eyes. "I will never be that old, weak Lincoln again!"
Luna was taken aback by his declaration. She saw the serious look in his eyes. She was now realizing how messed up her little brother was. She then hugged him close to him. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that bro" she said, shedding some tears.
"Look, it's alright" he said with a sigh, staying in his sister's grasp. "Things will work out, we just need to wait. I'll get better in time, I just wanted to try to forget most of the things I did over there." He then forced himself out of her hug. "Can we go back home now?"
"Sure bro" Luna replied with a sad smile. They cleared up any garbage and started to walk back home, with Luna holding onto his hand. 'Hopefully Lori will rethink her plan for next week after hearing this' Luna thought as she walked home with her brother.
