The idea of the L-ementals was originally collectively created by AxelGripp, Khalalat, juribelit, Bry-Guy-1996, and Syfyman2xxx.
The cover image belongs to AxelGripp on DeviantArt and is used with permission.
This story is co-written with dubb1.
Chapter Eight
After leaving her brother's arms, Lucy peeked outside the building they were in, trying to see if anyone was looking for them. There were a few passersby, but no one was actively on the hunt. Once satisfied, she closed the door.
"We'll need something to blend it." She said, moving to the back end of the shop and digging through some boxes. They looked sort of like the kind that had been labeled 'charity' earlier.
"Any spare clothes?" Ronnie Anne asked, eyeing the holes she had burned in her new shirt and pants. Nothing embarrassing was shown, but the clothes looked very worn out.
"No, but you'd be surprised how many people in this place have to walk around with holes in their clothes too. No one will think you're out of place." Lucy told her, then she came up to them some medical masks and gloves.
"We have to wear these?" Lincoln asked.
"No, but you will be harder to recognize with them on and if you act natural. Trust me on this."
"Why not just go elemental?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"Taylor will expect that, so she'll call for back-up. Let's just use this opportunity to fly under her radar when she's not looking for our blood."
"You're the expert here Luce, we'll do what you say." Lincoln claimed.
Lucy smiled and after they put on the masks and gloves she led them outside.
Walking down the street made Lincoln and Ronnie Anne feel a sense of nostalgia. Despite how unsettling this whole situation was, it was nice to be in the kind of city they had grown up in. Sure, Nowhere had been homely, but they never intended to spend the rest of their lives there.
The buildings themselves were rather odd now that they had a chance to actually see them up close. Several of them looked normal, but at least half of them were more shoddy and amateurish. It was like if a kid tried to sculpt a building out of clay instead of a professional designing or constructing it. These half-baked buildings were always one or two floors at most and often looked like they were at risk of collapsing in on themselves. Whatever city they were in, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne could only hope this was the slum district and not how the entire place looked.
They also got a better look at the people wandering the streets. For the most part, they were completely normal. It was as if to them, there was nothing at all odd about living in a domed city where Chandler McCann was publicly beloved for some reason. Yet what did stand out was that many of them wore masks or gloves like the kind that Lucy made them wear. Some did not, and like Lucy had said, many of them wore clothes that looked like they were the ones in need of charity.
'Suddenly I feel bad about taking clothes from the donation boxes.' Ronnie Anne thought.
Lucy took them around a few corners, often looking up and around as if she expected someone to be watching her. But she came to a stop by what looked like a construction site. They could see bags of cement mix, but there were no tools. Also the girders in view didn't look like they were made out of steel, instead they looked like they were made out of weird red stone. Unpolished and uncut stone too. Whoever worked construction here either had very limited resources or didn't care enough about quality to give people what they needed in a building.
Lucy looked around some more, then nodded and continued, moving around the site. She led them to a building and then turned into darkness before flattening herself against the ground and sneaking under the door, opening it from the other side.
"Somehow it's super fitting that you'd become a shadow elemental." Lincoln said to his sister as he went inside.
"I take it you know a few things about elementals." Lucy commented, closing the door once they were inside.
"You could definitely say that."
The interior of the building looked a lot like a bunker or a garage. Boxes were everywhere but most of them were empty, and there was a map of the city on the wall with a few areas marked in pen. There were a couple of chairs so they took a seat.
"Before you start asking questions, I've got one of my own that I've been dying to ask." Lucy started, looking towards Leslie and smiling. "Who's this little one?"
"This is Leslie." Ronnie Anne said, holding her out. "Leslie, this is your aunt Lucy."
Lucy took hold of the infant who seemed a little nervous but soon smiled.
"Loo?"
"Awww." Lucy said, tickling her and making her laugh.
"Lucy, where are we?" Lincoln asked.
"This city is now called Haven, but it used to be Great Lake City."
"What? No, this can't be Great Lake. There weren't enough skyscrapers or any of the places I would recognize." Ronnie Anne argued.
"When he took over, Chandler tore a lot of them down. Claiming he needed the resources." Lucy explained.
"How did he come into power? Why would people let someone like him be in charge?" Lincoln asked.
Lucy sighed and handed Leslie back to her mother.
"The day we lost you was the day everything changed. A day that's now known as L-Day. Lisa's experiment caused an explosion, and you two were the only casualties. But on that day, something else started. The beginning of a pandemic."
"A pandemic?" Lincoln repeated.
Lucy nodded. "Within the first twenty-four hours, dozens if not hundreds of people in Royal Woods started to get sick, all showing the same symptoms. Then it happened in Great Lake, Hazeltucky, Beaverton, and even Detroit and Lansing. Within a week, it got out of Michigan and started appearing everywhere on the planet. And I mean that literally. Somehow this illness appeared in every major city on Earth after spending one week in Michigan."
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne looked at each other, both wondering the same thing. Was this related to the disease elementals?
"People started turning into walking piles of puss, and acted like zombies determined to seek the flesh of the living. It was like something out of a nightmare. No one was safe, and no medicine was effective. With it appearing everywhere, people panicked and reacted accordingly. Countries fought each other, it wasn't quite World War III but it was on the verge of becoming that. At first, help was given out but spread thin, and then at some point all help just stopped. No one offered aid or accepted it from anyone else. All help or charity that remained became 'at your own risk'."
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne checked their clothes, wondering if maybe taking them had been a bad idea. What if they had been contaminated? What if Leslie had been exposed?
Ronnie Anne checked her daughter closely, seeing nothing visibly wrong with her and she couldn't sense any toxins on her, but that was only a small comfort for her.
"Everyone isolated themselves, determined to wait the pandemic out and let anyone unlucky enough to get infected suffer the consequences." Lucy continued. "At some point, bombs and missiles went off and took out some of the worst places, including Royal Woods. Our home, all that remains now is a crater. Or more specifically, with all the lives claimed in the explosion, all that remains now is an open unmarked grave."
Lincoln was too shocked to gasp.
"Most of the major cities in the world no longer exist. Haven, or Great Lake City, is pretty much the only major city left on the planet. There are multiple radioactive areas, ghost towns, and forbidden zones scattered around the earth. The death toll rose greatly over the years, even without the L-Virus. At absolute most, there are a million people left in the world right now."
"A million?!" Lincoln and Ronnie Anne repeated, aghast.
Lucy nodded. "Most victims of the L-Virus die within a year. Or at least, they used to. The infection keeps changing, but it's always been contagious and debilitating. Countries that survived the plague and the bombs soon fell apart because they just couldn't support themselves anymore. Supply routes couldn't be maintained anymore on a regular basis, medical resources were stretched razor thin until depleted entirely, and the economy soon collapsed with so few people able to work anymore. Soon governments collapsed, and laws became little more than a memory. Nowadays, this city is all that remains of civilization. Those that live outside it either live in small farming communities or are nomad tribes warring with each other. We have truly been living in the apocalypse for five years, going out not with a bang but a cough."
"Reminds me of Nowhere." Ronnie Anne whispered.
Lincoln nodded. "It really does."
For a while, there was nothing but an uncomfortable silence. What else was there to say after a history lesson like that?
"Lucy, where does Chandler fit into this?"
Lucy went quiet, as if hesitant to continue on this part.
"Lucy, you've gotta tell us what's going on now. What happened to you all while we were gone?" Lincoln asked, trying to sound comforting rather than insistent.
Lucy sighed. "Okay. You remember when Chandler sabotaged Lisa's project at the science fair, right?"
"Remember? How could we ever forget?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"Well, keep in mind that when people started seeing other people turning into slimy zombies, they wanted to know who was to blame for it. He went to social media and told everyone that this was all Lisa's fault. He said that her machine unleashed a mutant pathogen into the world and that she was responsible for your deaths."
"You guys thought we were dead?" Lincoln asked.
Lucy nodded. "We all did, and Lisa was blamed for it. But we didn't have time to mourn or defend her because that day, while everyone else was getting sick, we started to develop powers."
Lucy turned herself into darkness as if to demonstrate, making her look like a three-dimensional shadow. Then she returned to human form.
'Wait, her clothes, I just noticed that they changed with her. But how?' Lincoln thought.
"While everyone was getting sick, we had gotten stronger. And scarier. Everyone saw us turn into elementals, we couldn't hide it on such short notice. Everyone was just as afraid of us as they were of the pandemic, and they were quick to realize that both changes started around the same time. How much of a coincidence could it possibly be that something triggered by Lisa Loud could hurt everyone except her family? To an outsider, it looked as if Lisa had gone full mad scientist wanting to take over the world."
"If I didn't know any better, I might have reached the same conclusion." Ronnie Anne admitted.
"We tried to defend her, but everyone called us accomplices. To them, we were in on it. After all, we had gotten stronger while so many others got sicker. Everyone who had something bad to say about us spoke out in volumes, dragging our names through the mud, and it worked. Soon, the whole state, the whole country, and then the whole world were convinced that Lisa had done this deliberately and we were all going to destroy the world and fill it with more elemental mutants like ourselves."
"Didn't anyone defend us?" Lincoln asked.
"Of course. We had allies, but they were few in number compared to the haters. Not to mention their own credibility was tarnished when a few of them turned into elementals too. Ultimately we had to go into hiding as the world collapsed around us. And then…"
Lucy trailed off, gripping her clothes like the next part made her very uncomfortable.
"We've stayed here long enough. We need to keep moving, get as far away from our enemies as we can before they catch us."
"How are we going to do that? Is there a way out of this city?" Lincoln asked.
Lucy nodded and then got up to move some boxes, revealing a hatch hidden on the floor. "We can get out through here."
"Wait, what about Lisa, Lola, and Lana?" Lincoln added.
"Right now, I think getting Leslie somewhere safe and undetectable is a bigger priority. Then if you want, you can help me save our sisters from Chandler and his hell-ementals."
"She's right." Ronnie Anne said, to which Lincoln nodded. Then she looked back to Lucy and smirked. "Hell-ementals, that's a good one."
"It was Luan's idea."
"Of course it was."
The two went down the hatch into an underground tunnel, Lucy going in last so that she could use shadow tendrils through small holes to reposition the boxes over the hatch in case anyone came in. There was no light in the tunnel, but that didn't seem to bother her at all. They held hands as she guided them down the tunnel, which judging from the turns they made wasn't a straight line.
"We're not in the sewers are we?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"No, we worked on this to have a way in and out should we need to take down Chandler once and for all. I mostly use it to try and get stuff in and out of the city for us. My element is particularly good at sneaking around. I must admit I'm surprised that the two of you became elementals."
"It was quite a shock for us as well." Lincoln admitted.
All of a sudden, Lucy froze, resulting in the other two tripping over each other and her until they landed in a heap. Ronnie Anne immediately checked on Leslie, who if anything seemed amused by the whole thing.
"What's the big deal Lucy?!" Ronnie Anne asked, now angered due to maternal worry.
"We're not alone." The goth girl said before turning into a shadow.
Up ahead they could see a faint glow of light get just a little bit brighter.
"I'm guessing that's not supposed to happen, is it?" Lincoln asked.
Lucy ignored him and stood protectively in front of her brother, like a dark superhero. After a dozen seconds or so, the glow came into better view, revealing themselves to be a person. Or rather, another elemental.
"Hello Lucy. Long time no see." The glowing elemental said, showing no real joy in their tone.
"Hello traitor." Lucy replied with a hiss.
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne couldn't see this elemental, but they could hear that it was a woman around their age. Neither could recognize the voice at all. But they worried about the fact that Lucy had called this person a traitor.
"Lucy, I don't really like Chandler either, but it was either work for him or stay fugitives with your family. Sure, that was fun for a bit, but it got old very fast. I have a stable home now and guaranteed food every day. Non-elemental food too. I don't think you or your family are the bad guys, but I'm not apologizing for wanting to live in comfort rather than like refugees anymore."
"You sold us out for a bed and a burger. That's how much thirty pieces of silver mean to you. It's your fault that my sisters…" Lucy started, only to stop.
Lincoln gasped. Was this person the reason that Lola, Lana, and Lisa had been captured in the first place? A former ally had sold out the Louds to Chandler? Then shock gave way to anger and he turned to air, but Ronnie grabbed his hand. Or rather, tried to since she was still flesh, but she got his attention. The look in her eyes said wait, and he complied, turning back to flesh.
"Lucy, I don't want to fight you, so I'm going to make you an offer." The traitor said. "All I really need from you is a small bit of blood. That's all Chandler really wants from you or your family. If I can get him that, then you'll basically be in the clear. He'll no longer care what you do from that point on. Sacrifice a little of that so I can bring it to him, and I can let you leave. Refuse, and sadly it's my job to bring you to him so he can get the blood directly from the source."
'Why would Chandler want our blood?' Lincoln asked.
"You want my blood Haiku? Come and make me bleed." Lucy declared, expanding to engulf the entire tunnel in pitch blackness.
The traitor sighed. "Never mind." She then turned and walked away.
Lucy was thrown off but lashed out with what looked like a shadow claw at the glowing girl, but the claw couldn't actually strike at her. It was like there was some kind of barrier.
"We both know that darkness cannot touch the light, only get around it. But like I said, I don't want to fight, so just this once, I'm going to let you and your companions get away untouched. But just this once, and for your own safety, don't think about using this tunnel again. It won't be here the next time you come back."
Haiku shimmered and sort of floated away, looking very much like the northern lights as she did so, until she was so far down the tunnel no one could see her.
Lucy returned to normal and stood by her brother, sighing and hanging her head. She looked like that had really taxed her.
"Wait, wasn't that your friend?" Lincoln asked, recalling who Haiku was.
"Keyword being 'was'." Lucy answered. "A few of our allies got tired of defending us and decided to work for the other side. She was one of them."
"Who else?" Ronnie Anne asked, not sure she wanted the answer.
"I'll tell you when we get somewhere safe. Right now, I want to get out of here."
After some time, Lucy led them to another hatch and opened it, revealing a forest that was just outside of the dome. But she didn't get out right away. She peered through, as if looking for something.
"See anything? Is Haiku still out there." Lincoln asked.
"I don't see anything yet, even her, but turn elemental just in case."
They all transformed, except for Leslie, and slowly left the underground tunnel. They looked around like rabbits expecting a fox to appear out of the brush and attack them.
"Chandler's goons aren't the only ones we have to deal with." Lucy told them, moving to the shady side of a tree.
"Why does he have goons in the first place? Why do people-?" Lincoln started, only for her to hold up her hand.
"Not until we get somewhere safe."
Lucy extended numerous tendrils from where her feet would be, which spread out over the ground using the plants to provide more shadow and cover for her. Despite the fact that she had no discernible face right now, she still looked like she was concentrating on something. After a while, the tendrils retracted and she sighed.
"So far it looks clear. But I'm still going to call for back-up."
With that, Lucy took off into the air like a big crow.
"She can fly too?" Lincoln asked.
"Lucky." Ronnie Anne muttered.
After some time Lucy came back down. "They're on their way."
"Who's they?"
"You'll see."
It took some time, but the sounds of people coming their way through the trees could be heard. Then they saw two people, actually jumping from branch to branch like ninjas, except they weren't moving like normal people. If anything, they were moving like stretchy substances. In a way, it was not unlike how Ronnie Anne could move around a forest if she tried doing so.
After a bit, the two newcomers got on the ground by Lucy and immediately saw her extra company. One of which was a boy made out of rubber, and the other was a girl made out of yellow wax. They both gasped.
"Lincoln?"
"Ronnie Anne?"
"No way, Clyde?"
"Sid? Is that you?"
Right away, Clyde and Sid went in to hug their returned best friends. They returned the hugs, the contact feeling weird for a moment.
"Clyde, you feel like a balloon."
"Yeah, well you feel like a cloud."
"Look at you Ronnie, we're slime sisters."
"Are you wearing perfume Sid? Or do you just naturally smell like a candle now?"
"Mama? Papa?" Leslie asked, confused by this and not liking being ignored.
Sid looked down and saw the little one there, making her squee. "Oh my gosh you're a mom Ronnie? When did that happen? What's her name? Can she transform too?"
"Guys, we should get out of here before trouble shows up. The aurora already knows where we are, and we're in radio's territory." Lucy warned.
Clyde and Sid nodded, releasing their friends. "We haven't seen the radio yet in our patrols, but we know he's around. We saw the swamp, but we led him away from here."
"Swamp is here too? Crap." Lucy rued.
"What are you guys talking about?" Lincoln asked.
"Never mind, you guys just follow us. You can keep up, right?" Clyde asked.
Lincoln nodded and turned into a cloud, which Ronnie Anne got on top of along with Leslie. Lucy scooped up their clothes. Without another word, Lucy took to the air while Clyde and Sid jumped through the trees again, with Lincoln following close behind. Clyde was swinging like a gibbon and contorting his body to avoid all obstacles, while Sid's body contracted and expanded from tree to tree like some kind of amoeba. Both looked like they had done this a million times already. Lucy flew much like Lincoln did, but her path was a bit more erratic, preferring to stick close to the shady sides of the trees.
After about an hour, the forest thinned and gave way to an open field, one that looked like it used to belong to a farm. Everyone came to a stop on the ground, including Lucy, but Lincoln remained hovering just above.
"Are we waiting for something?" He asked.
"No, just taking a breather. It's exhausting having to run for an hour, even if you have no muscles." Clyde said, literally stretching his legs.
"We're almost there." Lucy said, melting onto the ground and moving to below Lincoln.
"Something wrong Lucy?" He asked his sister.
"I'm a shadow, I don't do well in direct light."
After fifteen minutes, the group trekked through the fields of tall grass. Lucy found it more comfortable to move with some cover now, but Lincoln made sure to stay above her anyway. They made it to a silo that looked abandoned, and in unison Clyde and Sid began to climb up it. Sid just stuck to it like Spider-Man while Clyde grabbed onto small pegs poking out randomly, otherwise impossible to climb with if you didn't have stretchy rubber limbs.
"This is the front door. No one who isn't an elemental can get in or out." Lucy informed her remaining company.
"Please tell me there's a hidden bunker underground and we're not actually going to be staying inside a cramped silo." Ronnie Anne asked.
"Of course. Before she was captured, Lisa had plenty of time to design us hiding spaces, and Lana and Lynn were good at helping to create them."
With a look of determination, Lincoln rose up into the air while Lucy slithered up the side of the silo. Everyone came to a hatch hidden as a panel in the side and Sid pulled it open. It looked like the hatch was sealed with wax, so apparently she was the only one who could lock or unlock it, unless someone else had a more effective way to do so. With it open, everyone one by one went inside, with her going in last to reseal the door from the inside.
There was a ladder inside but no one was using it. Lincoln wondered if it was a leftover from when the silo was actually used as a silo or if it helped someone who couldn't move like these guys could. Either way, everyone went down into a hole much deeper than the silo was intended to be, until they came into a cavern with two metal doors in the side. One of them said 'Do Not Enter' and the other said 'Please Use Other Door'.
"Wait, what?" Lincoln asked as he set down Ronnie Anne and Leslie.
"Luan's idea. In case one of our enemies manages to find this place, this should throw them off. And give us some extra time to fight back." Clyde answered.
"So which one do we actually open?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"Neither, they're both alarms to alert us. The real way through is here."
Sid moved to reveal a pipe sticking out of the wall, one that would have gone overlooked if you were just focused on the doors.
"Are you kidding?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"We all can squeeze through it." Sid told her.
"But Leslie can't. That thing's the size of a trash can."
"Sorry, but we weren't exactly planning on having non-elementals come inside. But as long as she crawls she should be fine."
Ronnie Anne still looked uneasy, so Lincoln knelt down towards his daughter. "Leslie, can you be a brave girl?"
"Papa!" She said with a bright smile.
"Then follow Mommy, just follow her. Can you do that?"
Leslie clapped and laughed, trying to be a good girl.
Lincoln took hold of her. "Go on ahead Ronnie Anne, she'll be right behind you."
Lucy went through the pipe, and after some hesitation Ronnie Anne oozed her way through it too, but not all the way. "Leslie? Can you hear me?"
"Mama?"
"That's right, come to me."
Lincoln set Leslie down at the front of the pipe and nudged her to crawl. Leslie was a little bothered by the darkness and coldness of the pipe, but her mother's voice prompted her to go to something soothing. As Leslie got closer, Ronnie Anne crawled backwards, until she fell out of the pipe entirely and onto a stone floor. She recovered quickly enough when she saw Leslie poke out of the pipe and scooped her up before she could fall out too.
"See, that wasn't so bad." Lucy said.
Lincoln, Clyde, and Sid soon followed, emerging in a bigger underground room that was clearly designed by Lisa for long term habitation. How she built this with limited resources without being discovered was unclear, but then again that was typical of the genius Loud.
"Hey, that corner reminds me of our old Action News work." Lincoln said, pointing towards an area that had a desk and lights around it.
"We still do that. If Chandler's going to use propaganda to make us all look like villains, we ought to try and hit him back. Of course it's risky so we only film and air briefly." Clyde said.
"The rest of your crew is here too. But not right at the moment though." Sid added.
"Wow, it'll be great to see everyone again." Lincoln said.
A door opened and out walked a girl who sighed and lurched as if she just got done exercising and wanted nothing more than to collapse on a comfortable couch. She looked to be about twenty and was currently in human form, with long brown hair and a white jumpsuit with orange stripes.
"Oh, you're back, please give me some good news. I really need it." She said, rubbing her eyes and barely seeing who was there.
"Oh, we have good news alright. Look who we found." Lucy said.
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne returned to flesh, though Lincoln was gasping. After she focused her vision, the older woman did too.
"Lincoln?"
"Luan?"
Immediately the prankster Loud tackled her little brother in a hug.
"Is it really you? Please tell me this isn't a cruel sick joke." Luan cried.
"No, it's not. But Luan, why are you cold?" Lincoln asked, feeling a chill. He could even see his breath.
"Oh, sorry, guess I haven't warmed up yet." Luan replied, reluctantly releasing her brother. "Where have you been Lincoln? How did you get back? Why couldn't you get back any sooner?"
"I'll gladly fill everyone in on the long, long story. But is everyone here?" Lincoln asked, looking around.
"Lily is with Mom and Dad, Luna and Lynn haven't been here for a few days since they restocked, but I can call them back."
"Good, but first I'd like for you to meet your niece Leslie Loud."
Luan blinked and looked confused, but before she could ask for clarification Ronnie Anne stepped up, holding up her child. Seeing this new bundle of joy made Luan gasp and then knelt down to make eye contact with the little girl.
"Hey there cutie!"
Leslie smiled and giggled, making Luan's heart melt.
While this was going on, Sid was over by what looked like a radio, hitting a few buttons. "Hello? This is Base Theta trying to reach the raiders. Anyone in?"
There was a crackling sound for a moment before a woman's voice broke through.
"This is Team Metal. All clear where we are. What's the big emergency?"
"Head back to base ASAP. We've recovered two missing people, and you're going to want to be here to see them."
There was silence for a moment.
"Roger that, Team Metal will make their return."
"Thank you." Sid said before ending the call. She then resumed on another frequency. "Team Rock, this is Base Theta. Can you read me?"
There was no response, not even crackling.
"Team Rock, this is Base Theta. Can you read me?" Sid repeated, adjusting the frequency a tiny bit.
There was still no response.
"Guys, I think something's wrong with Luna's group. I'm not getting anything from them." Sid warned the others.
"What were they doing before you lost contact with them?" Lincoln asked.
"They went off on a mission to intercept a convoy that was supposedly delivering supplies to the city today from what used to be Detroit. The goal was to skim off some of the supplies and bring them back here."
"It's kind of the only way we can survive anymore." Clyde clarified for his friend.
"They could be going radio silent, to keep from being detected." Ronnie Anne reasoned. "Where's the convoy route?"
"It's along the bridge on the north side of Great Lake, for context we escaped through the south side." Lucy explained.
"So if we had to go rescue her, we'd have to go to the other side of the city without going through it?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"Have faith in Luna. I'm sure she's having a rockin' good time. Get it?" Luan said with a little laugh.
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne just gave her a blank stare.
"Oh, right, you haven't seen her element form yet. Speaking of which…"
Luan then transformed, turning into a human made out of solid ice. As if she had been sculpted from it. Oddly, her attire disappeared completely, creating the illusion that she was naked just like all the other elementals. Illusion because like everyone else, nothing actually inappropriate was visible. No genitals, no nipples, not even a belly button. Though her 'snowballs' certainly stood out in this form.
"What do you think? Cool?" Luan asked with a grin.
"Somehow you being an ice elemental is just perfect. What other element could possibly give you more jokes to work with?" Lincoln replied.
"How did you get your clothes to change? All this time we've had to deal with them the hard way." Ronnie Anne asked.
"Lisa made them using what she called unstable molecules. Don't ask me how, but at least this way we don't have to worry about ruining what we wear. Oh, while we're waiting for Lynn to get here, I want to show you something."
Luan then rushed into one of the storage areas and opened a box. She reached in and pulled out two full body jumpsuits. One was all black with some orange stripes and the other was all black with purple stripes.
"Lisa made these after she found out you two were still alive. She hoped when you got back, if you two were elementals like us, then you'd be able to help us in the fight for our freedom."
"Are you kidding? Of course." Lincoln said.
"Thanks Lincoln." Luan said, handing the two their suits. "Go ahead, put them on. They should adjust to fit your sizes and measurements. Sorry for Leslie, we don't have them in her size."
"Well she's not going to be involved in any fights." Ronnie Anne insisted.
"I get it, I wouldn't want this little cutie-pie fighting either." Luan cooed, making Leslie giggle.
The two returned teens went into separate rooms, and soon stepped out in their new suits.
"How do we look?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"Like you're home." Luan said with a smile.