Kanto Gets Loud
Chapter 36: Interlude II
Back at AJ's gym,
"Thanks for showing us around, AJ. I learned a lot from how you run things here," Lincoln said, as he, Brock, Misty, and AJ exited the tent.
"Anytime. It's nice have company every now and then. And I gotta say, you three were some of the best company I've had in a long time. The same goes for that Samurai kid too," AJ replied.
"Speaking of which, where is he?" Misty asked, noticing that Samurai wasn't with them anymore.
"He left a few hours ago. He said he was going back to Cerulean City to try challenging the Gym again," AJ replied with a shrug, "Speaking of which, where are you guys headed to now?" AJ asked.
"Vermillion City. I'm hoping to challenge the gym there and earn my next Gym Badge," Lincoln replied.
"I see. Well, I wish you the best of luck there. I heard rumors the Gym Leader there is tough. Soon as I win my 100th battle, I'll be setting out myself," AJ replied.
"Thanks. Here's hoping we cross paths again," Lincoln replied. Just then, a bell began ringing, "What's that?"
"That bell means I've got a challenger. You guys feel like watching me get my 100th win?" AJ asked.
"Might as well. So, who's your next challenger?" Lincoln asked.
"We're about to find out," AJ said, facing the gate, "You can enter now, whoever you are!"
The gates began to open, revealing a familiar figure to Lincoln. One that he hadn't seen since Pallet Town, "It's Red," he commented.
"Someone you know?" Misty asked.
"Not personally. We didn't get much time to talk back in Pallet Town," Lincoln replied.
"I happen to know him. He challenged the Pewter City Gym a while before you guys came along," Brock added, as Red made his way over to the four of them, immediately recognizing Lincoln.
"Hey there, …Lincoln, was it?" Red asked.
"Yeah, that's right," Lincoln replied.
"Haven't seen much of you since Pallet Town, though I had heard about you from Leaf and Gary. Gary… didn't have very nice things to say about you, or your Ralts and Steenee," Red replied, scratching the back of his head.
"I'm not surprised, given how much of an egotistical prick he is," Lincoln replied.
"Too true. Well, after I finished up in Vermillion City, I decided to swing by here to see if the rumors about this place was true," Red stated.
"Wait, when you said Vermillion City, does that mean…?"
"Yep. I had a Gym Battle there and won myself a Thunder Badge," Red replied, showing his badge case, which had three badges, including the Boulder Badge. His other two included one that looked like a pinwheel, and another that looked like a sunflower. Red pointed to the latter, "This here's the badge you get from Vermillion City."
"So you've managed to get three badges already?" Lincoln asked.
"Yep. And if I remember correctly, Gary and Leaf both have three badges too," Red replied.
"Man, that means I've got some catching up to do. I'm still at two," Lincoln commented, sounding a bit disappointed.
"Take it one step at a time. You'll catch up with us in no time," Red replied. He then turned his attention to AJ, "Am I right in assuming you're the guy in charge here?"
"That's right. You ready to give me my 100th win?" AJ asked confidently. Just as Red was about to answer, a ruckus was heard from inside the tent. A Rattata rushed out and up to AJ.
"Boss, we got trouble! That crazy Meowth is back again!"
Lincoln looked perplexed, "You guys have been having trouble with a Meowth?"
"Oh for the love of… that damn thing's back AGAIN?!" AJ exclaimed, a look of annoyance etched on his face, "That little thief has been showing up here causing all kinds of trouble for us since we set up shop. This is the third time this week and it's only Tuesday," as if on cue, a Meowth had bolted out of tent with several of AJ's Pokemon in pursuit. In the Scratch Cat Pokemon's arms were a number of CD shaped devices that looked vaguely like TMs to Lincoln, "Ack, and now it's stealing my TRs! It took me years to collect those!"
"CATCH IT! CATCH IT!"
"DON'T LET IT GET AWAY WITH THE BOSS'S TR'S!"
AJ's Pokemon did their best to stop the thieving Meowth, but the Normal Type Pokemon was too crafty, and was able to give them the slip long enough to make it off of the Gym grounds, "DAMN IT!" AJ cursed, giving Red an apologetic look, "Sorry kid, but I'm going to have to take a raincheck on that battle," he said.
"There's no need, AJ. You go ahead and battle him. We can go and track down that Meowth," Lincoln offered.
"You'd do that for me?" AJ asked.
"Of course. We'll not only get your stuff back, but make sure this never happens again. Is that Meowth a wild Pokemon by any chance?" Lincoln asked.
"It is, but are you…" then it dawned on AJ, "You're going to try and catch it, aren't you?" Lincoln merely nodded his head, "Well, it doesn't matter much to me what you do, as long as that little troublemaker never bothers us again. Just be sure to get my TRs back, would you? I paid a ton of cash to get them."
"Don't worry, we'll get your stuff back," Lincoln replied.
"Thanks kid. That really means a lot to me."
"Anytime," Lincoln replied, turning to his traveling companions, "Well, shall we then?"
"Like you even need to ask," Misty replied, as the three of them made their way into the forest, after the Meowth.
"Will they be alright out there?" Red asked.
"They'll be fine. That white haired kid is one of the craftiest opponents I've ever had. I'm certain they'll get my stuff back. But enough about them. You ready to give me my 100th victory?" AJ asked, holding Sandshrew's Pokeball.
"Confident, aren't you? Well, we'll see how far that confidence of yours will take you," Red replied, holding up a Pokeball of his own.
"Alright, let's get this battle started!" AJ said, sending out Sandshrew.
"Yes, lets," Red replied, tossing his Pokeball, which released a Pokemon that looked like a Bulbasaur, but it was a little bigger, and the bud on its back was a large, budding flower.
"An Ivysaur, huh? Don't see too many of those around here. I'm guessing that's your starter Pokemon?" AJ asked.
"If you mean the one I got from Professor Oak, then yes. But my real starter is in this Pokeball," Red replied, holding out a different Pokeball, "Besides, Saur should be more than enough to take on your Sandshrew."
"'Saur,' really? Kind of unimaginative, don't you think?" AJ asked, trying to stifle a chuckle.
"Well, he seems to like it," Red replied, with Saur nodding in agreement, "But enough about nicknames. What are the rules for the match?"
"Since I want to get this done quickly to go help the others out, how about one Pokemon each?"
"Sounds good. You ready to battle?"
Uncurling his whip and cracking it, AJ smirked, "Like you even need to ask. Get'em Sandshrew!" and with that, the battle began.
Meanwhile, at the Loud House in the wee hours of the morning,
Lynn was lying in her bed, trying her hardest to stay awake, despite how exhausted she was. Her inability to sleep didn't come from anxiety or insomnia. Rather, she was biding her time for the perfect opportunity to make her move on her plans for the night, 'Just hang in there a little longer, Lynn. You can't afford to have anyone trying to stop you, especially with a chance like this,' she thought to herself. She then looked at the clock in her bedroom, watching the hands tick by, one right after the other. After hearing no one else in the hallways, she got out of bed, and grabbed a few things she had lying around – some planks of wood, a hammer, and a bucket of nails, "I don't care if that witch of an ex-mother of mine says not to, I'm going to save this family from the curse Stinkcoln placed on us!" she vowed, as she slowly an quietly crept out of her room, only to find her father, as well as Lori, Luan, and the twins all making their way to the upstairs hallway, each with tools of their own in their hands.
"Oh, uh… Junior, you're certainly up rather early," Lynn Sr. commented sheepishly, only to find his daughters all staring at him, "I guess you're all here to seal up Lincoln's room too, right?"
"Well, it is Lincoln's fault for leaving us to deal with his stupid bad luck. It cost me MY hair and MY date with Bobby, so I want to be done with this as soon as possible," Lori replied.
"And I can't keep wearing Lana's filthy clothes much longer. I want to feel like a princess again, and not some… pig farmer! So, if this is the only way for things to go back to normal, then so be it," Lola declared.
"I haven't had much of my comedy mojo lately, and with my gig at the Chuckle Hut coming up, I can't take any chances. Even if I do love that little dork, I can't have Lincoln's bad luck ruining things for me," Luan added.
"Well, I've been sick of that rotten jinx's bad luck ever since he ruined my game against the Lions. I don't know why things have gotten worse for me when I'm CLEARLY the one in the right about the whole thing. I just want to get back to playing sports like I should be doing. Watching them on the black and white TV just isn't doing it for me," Lynn ranted.
"Well, hopefully things will take a turn for the better once we're done here," Lynn Sr. reassured his daughters, before turning his attention to the door, "Now, how do we do this? I doubt we can do this quietly."
"Well, Lisa recently soundproofed her room so Lily can stay asleep, so I doubt we'll have any issue there," Lori mused thoughtfully, "The only problems I can foresee getting in our way would be Mom, Leni, and Lucy."
"You might want to add Luna to that too. She's still in bed," Luan replied, turning back to look at her shared bedroom, "I guess she's still bummed out from thinking that we've been holding Lincoln back."
"Oh for the love of… she's STILL on that? Her focus should on helping us out with this, not moping about Stinkcoln and his bad luck!" Lynn snarled irritably.
"Junior, watch the mouth of yours. Bad luck or not, I am reaching the end of my tolerance of you calling your brother 'Stinkcoln'," Lynn Sr. warned, before turning back to Luan, "So, will Luna be a problem?"
"I don't think so," Luan replied.
"As for Leni and Lucy, I'm sure we can keep them quiet," Lola said vindictively, "We may have to rough 'em up a bit, but I'm certain we can keep them quiet."
"That just leaves Mom, and we all know how opposed she is to the very idea of this. We'll be dead meat if she catches us," Lana pointed out, causing her twin's wicked smirk to vanish into a look of dread. She may be willing to push around and manipulate her siblings, but her mother was a different story, especially with how irritable she's been lately.
"Who cares what she thinks? Once she finds that the bad luck is gone for good after we reseal that room, she'll be groveling at our feet, begging us to forgive her," Lynn replied.
"Yeah, that's wishful thinking at best," Lori retorted.
"If your Mother does come up here, you girls duck into the twin's room while I finish up," Lynn Sr. ordered.
"But that would mean…" Lori realized what their father was doing.
"Yes, I would be taking the fall for you girls. I think I can manage sleeping outside in Vanzilla for a few nights. Besides, hopefully, if what Junior says is true, once everything starts turning up for us, she'll come around and see that it needed to be done."
"Ok, fine! Now that we got the situation with Mom settled, for whatever reason, can we PLEASE get back to resealing this door?" the younger Lynn rudely pleaded. With that, they started working on the door.
Meanwhile, in Luna and Luan's room,
While her father and sisters were getting ready to reseal Lincoln's room again, Luna was laying in her bed, thoughts about her brother ran through her mind. Thoughts not of joy, sorrow, anger, or any other type of emotion, but thoughts on how she was going to make it up to Lincoln after everything she's done to him – the bad luck fiasco and everything else in the past. That, and what she had brought up to Luan a few days prior kept running through her head, about how she and the others were holding back Lincoln, and did little to nothing to support him and his goals when he needed it. Of course, there wasn't any malicious intent behind it since Lincoln was always there supporting them at their events while never being able to taste success himself.
That being said, it did nothing to ease the guilt Luna was feeling from knowing she had a hand in keeping Lincoln from succeeding, 'Tsk, some loving big sister I am. Lincoln's always been there for me and the others when we needed it, but when he needs it, we can't even be bothered to give a second thought to helping him. Throw in the fact I went along with this whole 'bad luck' bullshit, and I don't even deserve to call myself that,' Luna bitterly thought to herself, as her thoughts went back to earlier in the day, 'I need to take Sam's advise and try to find a way to patch things up.'
Earlier in the day,
It was a partly cloudy day in Royal Woods, and Luna was making her way through the streets to a single destination. It was a place she went to whenever she was feeling bummed out. It was a secluded spot on the outskirts of town that only she and a few of her friends knew about. She went there to help forget about her woes, 'And with all the crap I've been dealing with back home, I need it,' she thought. After maybe half an hour, give or take, she finally arrived at her destination: A lone tree sitting on top of a hill. The location was nice and quiet, which was perfect because that's exactly what Luna wanted.
"Alright Luna, let's try to figure out…" she cut herself off when she heard the sound of an acoustic guitar, "The bloody hell?" she went to investigate, then came upon a sight that made her heart skip a beat. It was her best friend and girlfriend, Sam Sharp, strumming away on a guitar, "S-Sam."
Normally Luna would be happy to see Sam sitting there, because not only would she have someone to talk to, but as she was right now, she was unable to have any sort of thoughts of joy, especially with all the thoughts running through her head. Sam then noticed Luna standing nearby, "Hey Lunes, come on over and sit with me," Sam invited. Luna, having no intention of leaving now after just arriving, wordlessly complied with her girlfriend's request. Sam's eyes widened at the haggard state Luna was in, "Geez Luna, what happened to you?!"
Luna could only give Sam a tired look, "Had some trouble sleeping last night. Just couldn't nod off enough, you know?"
"Looks like there's more going on than just a lack of sleep," Sam replied, eyebrow raised, "I'm here for you Luna, so please talk to me."
"Well, it's a bit… complicated. You know my brother, Lincoln, right?"
"Sure, white hair, chipped tooth, affinity for the color orange, kind of cute."
"Yeah, that's him. Well, there's something that's been bugging me the past few days, and it's kind of making it hard for me to fall asleep."
"Well, you can always tell me. Maybe I can provide some advice?" Sam offered. Luna froze up. Sure, she trusted Sam, but this kind of information could severely hinder their relationship. But then again, she could use some advice.
"Alright, but what I'm about to tell you has to stay between us, ok?" Luna asked.
"I give you my word, Luna. So, tell me what's up," Sam replied. With that, Luna explained everything, about the bad luck mess, about Lincoln being shipped off to Kanto and his newfound career as a Pokemon Trainer, and about her most recent thoughts about how she and the rest of her family had been holding Lincoln back from succeeding. Sam was shocked at all this information, "Dude, that's some heavy stuff. How could you go along with treating your brother like that?"
"I don't know, alright?!" Luna choked back a sob, "It's just… everyone else was on board with the whole 'ban Lincoln from the house' thing, but now I just want to make things right with him."
"I see. In that case, the only bit of advice I can possibly give you is to try to talk things out with him and clear the air," Sam replied.
"That's what I was thinking and all, but after the last call he made, I doubt he'll even be willing to call again," Luna replied.
"I'm sure he will once he's had time to clear his head," Sam replied.
"Maybe you're right about that. But what about the other problem I told you about? The one about how the rest of us are holding him back?" Luna asked. Sam leaned back against the tree, crossing her arms.
"Well, what makes you think that?"
"Because from all the progress reports we got from the Professor, Lincoln's been doing exceptionally well for himself, having caught several rare Pokemon in only a few short weeks. He's never been able to do anything like that when living with us," Luna replied.
"Are things really that bad?" Sam asked with her eyebrow raised.
"We have a trophy case back home with little cubbies dedicated to each of us. Lincoln's the only one who doesn't have an actual trophy. Sure, he has the one we made for him after he posted that embarrassing video compilation of us, but that's only a pity trophy at best. The only other things inside his space are a few dust bunnies and cobwebs," Luna explained.
"Ouch, that's kind of rough," Sam winced.
"More than you realize. But now that he's in Kanto, he's winning Gym Badges, kicking ass with those Pokemon I mentioned before, and he even has three hot girls fawning over him," Luna replied, lowering her head, "He's always been there to support us, but when he needed our help, we couldn't even be bothered to lift a finger to help him. If anything, he's actually suffered more at our hands than we realized."
"Damn, that's some pretty heavy stuff, Luna. And your genuinely bothered by this?"
"Without question. Having thoughts like that racing through my head, along with the guilt about what we did, I don't know how much longer I can deal with this," Luna replied. Sam then rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"Well, you already know what I have to say about this whole 'bad luck' mess Luna. As for this other problem of yours, I have one idea that might work."
"Well, tell me!" Luna pleaded.
"This trainer thing your brother's doing, is there some kind of goal he's going for?"
"Now that I think about, the Professor did mention some kind of tournament Lincoln can enter once he has eight of those badges," Luna replied.
"Then my advice is for you to support him in his endeavor to make it to that tournament. After all, as you said, he's been there for you, now it's your turn to be there for him," Sam stated.
Luna took a moment to lull over what Sam had just told her, "You're right Sam. Thanks for the little pep talk. I definitely needed it."
"Anytime, Luna, anytime," Sam replied.
"Though I have to admit, you took it all in rather well. I thought you were going to think of me as some kind of loon from what I told you," Luna commented.
"Lunes, this is your family we're talking about here. Weirdness is what I've come to expect from you guys," Sam said with a laugh.
"What do you mean by that?" Luna asked, eyebrow raised.
"Well, considering how your four-year-old sister has a power reactor in her room, and how another one sleeps with animals, and how Luan acts on April 1st, that's pretty much the definition of weird," Sam clarified.
"Touche."
Realtime,
Luna turned to face her window, 'It's high time for me to support you, bro, just like how you've always supported me,' she thought, letting out a yawn, before looking at her alarm clock, "2 in the morning… gotta try to get to sleep," she said, turning over in her bed, 'I need to try and convince Lisa to let me talk things over with Lincoln. Maybe in the morning,' she thought, as she fell sound asleep.
Back in the hallway,
While Lynn Sr. and Lola acted as lookouts at the top of the stairs, Lori pointed to the pile of boards, "Alright, I'll hold up the first board, while the two of you hammer it in," she said, going to get a board. However, she failed to notice that the board she was grabbing was positioned right under her father, or more accurately, right between his legs. She stepped on the board, which cause the board to shoot up at a high speed, nailing her father in the family jewels. Lynn Sr. grabbed his aching coconuts, trying to stifle a painfilled scream. (Un)fortunately for him, he wouldn't have to suffer for long, because Lori mistakenly swung the board behind her, nailing her father in the head and knocking him out.
"Looks like Dad's out of commission. We got to hurry and finish this," Luan commented. Lori then placed a board up to Lincoln's bedroom door. Lynn and Lana then each grabbed a hammer and some nails, getting ready to nail up the board. However, when Lynn was getting to hammer it in, she somehow miscalculated, and smashed the hammer against Lori's hand. Lori yelped in pain, causing her to drop the board, which landed on hers, Lynn's and Lana's feet, causing the three of them to cry out in pain.
"The hell, Lori?! Didn't you say you were holding the board?!" Lynn snapped.
"Well, excuse me for letting MY hand be in the way of YOUR hammer!" Lori snapped back.
"Guys, focus! We need to get this done before any unwanted attention falls out way," Lola ordered. Lori once again held up the board, this time, making sure her hands were clear of the line of fire. Lynn and Lana once more proceeded to try and hammer in the nails, keyword being "try". Upon making contact with the nail, not only did it not get driven in, but the hammer bounced back and smacked Lana right in the face, knocking her out.
"Great, now Lana's out!" Lynn bitterly said, as Luan cleared the little grease monkey out of the way. She then picked up the hammer to take Lana's place.
"Luan, try to make sure the nail actually goes in," Lori demanded irritably.
"Hey, I'll have you know I can nail such a simple task! *giggle* Get it? But seriously, I happen to know how to use a hammer, Lori!" Luan retorted in a matter-of-fact tone. Lori rolled her eyes, as she went to pick up another nail, not noticing the ones that Lana had dropped, one of them being pointed upwards, and positioned directly beneath her foot. Upon feeling the sharp, piercing sensation running up from her foot, she felt a pain unlike that of the one in her hand. She lifted her foot to find the nail had been driven into her shoe, causing her to hold her foot in pain, which caused her to fall on top of Lynn, pinning the athlete down.
"Get your fat butt off of me, Lori!" Lynn demanded, trying to force the older teen off of her, only to fail. Lori kept screaming her head off, still agonizing over the nail in her foot.
"Lola, hold Lori's leg down, would you? I got to get that nail out," Luan requested. Wanting this to get done faster, Lola complied, as she walked over, and wrapped her arms around Lori's leg, holding it in place. Luan then positioned the hammer so that she could pry out of the nail. However, she saw that the nail was really wedged into the shoe, "Hmm, this may be trickier than I thought," she said, as she tried to hook the hammer under the nail. However, all it did was cause the nail to shift position, causing Lori to scream in even more agony. Just then, the swarm of wasps that had taken shelter in Lana and Lola's closet buzzed out into the hallway, clearly angry with all the noise that was going on.
"You have got to be kidding me," Lynn groaned, as the wasps began to swarm her and her still conscious sisters. While they were getting stung, one thought crossed their minds.
'This is going to be tougher than I thought.'
Later that morning,
Rita was making her way up the stairs to take a shower before she had to go to work. However, upon reaching the top of the stairs, she was met with a most baffling sight. Her husband, along with Lori, Luan, Lynn, and the twins were all scattered across the floor, looking worse for wear. She took note of several tools, boards, and nails on the floor as well, all in the vicinity of Lincoln's bedroom door. Leni, Luna, Lucy, and Lisa were all looking at the group as well with amused smirks on their faces, "What happened up here?!"
"If I had to take a guess, I'd say that they were attempting to reseal Lincoln's door," Lisa deduced.
"Nice of them to check to see if anyone was in there," Lucy commented. Her mother and sisters could tell she was being sarcastic.
"Well, at least their attempt failed miserably," Lisa pointed out. Rita only groaned in annoyance.
"I told them NOT to reseal his room, then they go and try to do it anyway!" she grumbled. Though she couldn't bring herself to be too angry with them, given the state they were in, "Geez, looks more like they were fighting with each other and that swarm of wasps than they were trying to reseal the door."
"Looks like… you know, 'it' strikes again," Luna commented, causing her mother to look questioningly at her.
"What are you talking about Luna?" Rita asked.
"I don't really want to use the actual term, given what you told Lynn the other day," Luna replied.
"Does this have to do with bad luck?" Rita asked. Luna reluctantly nodded, "Alright, I'll allow the use of that term for the sake of conversation."
"Ok, well, I don't know if you've noticed, Mom, but we've been getting pretty hammered with bad luck lately, and I mean getting hit really hard," Luna explained, pointing to Lynn, "Lynn seems to think that the cause is coming from Lincoln's room. She thinks that because it was unsealed, the bad luck was leaking out and messing things up for the rest of us. And it looks like the others agree with her. That being said, I had nothing to do with this whole operation."
"Given how you're not covered in stings, I believe you," Rita commented.
"Quite the irony, wouldn't you say? Lynn goes on and on about Lincoln being a jinx, only for her luck and the other's luck to turn even worse with him gone," Lisa commented.
"So, he really was faking it, huh?" Luna asked, casuing her mother and sisters to look at her, "Kind of figured it while you all were listening to the last progress report."
"Well, now you know. Lincoln told me all about it when I talked to him last time. Guess you found out too, huh?" Rita asked.
"Yeah. But that's not the only thing that's bothering me," Luna replied.
"Well, would you like to share your thoughts?" Rita asked.
"Yeah, I will. The truth is, I believe that we've been holding Lincoln back while he's lived with us in Royal Woods," Luna replied. Rita and the others were very surprised.
"What makes you say that, Luna?" Leni asked.
"Well, think about it for a moment, Leni. Lincoln has never once had a chance to taste success like we all have while he's supported us at our events, but now that Lincoln's away from us, he's currently making a name for himself in Kanto. He's never been able to do that while living with us. I haven't been able to get that thought out of my head," Luna explained.
"Hmm, well, I'd say the best way to get closure about those thoughts of yours is to actually hear what Lincoln has to say. Why don't you join us the next time he calls and try to work things out with him?" Lisa offered. Luna perked up.
"You'd let me do that?" Luna asked.
"Of course. You have just as much a right to try and apologize to Lincoln as the others do. You're just exercising said right, unlike them," Lisa replied, casting a disapproving look at her unconscious family members.
"Speaking of which, are you still going through with punishing them, Mom?" Leni asked. Rita took a good look at them, before shaking her head.
"No, I think they've had enough for one day," Rita replied.