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 was co-written with dubb1.
Chapter Twelve
"Here we are."
Like before, they had arrived at the safe zone. So far it looked unchanged, which ultimately was good. Nothing bad had happened. Not that Lincoln had expected it to, but the world he had come back to was not the same as the way he had left it.
They got over the barrier wall and into the sanctuary. No one was there to greet them, but Leslie was amazed by how shiny a lot of things here were.
"Where is everyone?" Ronnie Anne asked, looking around as she got off Lincoln.
"This is the perimeter wall. Did you expect people to hang out around it?" Sid asked.
Lincoln turned back into a human while Ronnie Anne did the same. No one else transformed.
"Why are you guys staying this way?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"We can't turn back. We don't know why, but most of the time we're stuck in element form." Clyde told her.
"It's amazing that you guys can control it." Sid added.
Lincoln rubbed his chin. "Hmm…"
Ronnie Anne recognized that sound. "What are you thinking about, Lincoln?"
"Nothing important right now." He said, then tickled Leslie a little. "Want to go see your grandma?"
"Who?" She asked, not too familiar with the word.
"You'll see."
Lincoln tried to lead them back to where he remembered seeing the Santiago matriarch last time. Like then, there was a long line of sick-looking people waiting to be treated, with newly refreshed people leaving to go about their day. It looked like there were about sixteen people waiting.
"Let's give her a moment. Let her finish her job before we go in."
Ronnie Anne sighed. "It's been five years, what's another fifteen minutes?"
"I might as well go recharge the panels back at the bunker then. Be right back." Lily said, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
"Hey guys, where's the rest of Ronnie Anne's family?" Lincoln asked.
"I think I remember where they reside. Let's see if anyone's there right now." Sid offered.
The wax girl led them down what seemed to be the main road of the safe zone.
"Why is everything made of stone and gems?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"Obviously Luna and Lynn's groups did most of the building here." Lincoln guessed.
"Yeah. Besides, most of the people here aren't exactly the pillage and plunder types. So it's not like they can go around and take what they need, unlike Chandler's troops." Clyde added.
Ronnie Anne looked over to the west, seeing a stretch of land that looked like a large garden, with people tending to the plants. They must have been growing their own crops as best they could. She then looked to the east and saw the same thing, with a few trees included. What looked like a small canal ran down the middle of the small community, connecting the two gardens. Fortunately there were bridges over them, which they walked over.
"You know, when you get past the stone material, this place isn't really that different than Nowhere was." Ronnie Anne claimed.
Lincoln looked around. "Huh, I can see it. Almost makes you feel at home, doesn't it?"
Ronnie Anne stopped for a moment. "When did Nowhere start to feel like home?"
Lincoln looked a little mournful, mirroring her own expression. "Five years, it could have happened at any time. But yeah, a part of me wishes we could have brought them here with us. But maybe Doc and some of them survived. Maybe they can still get here."
Ronnie Anne hung her head. "I doubt it. I'm pretty sure our old friends are gone for good."
He told hold of her hand. "People could have said that about us, and here we are."
"Mama?" Leslie asked.
Ronnie Anne smiled and gave her daughter a small kiss on the forehead. "It's okay sweetie. Nothing's wrong."
"Hey look!" Sid spoke up, prompting the couple to remember the world around them. They saw someone, an elemental made of some white mineral, rushing their way. Ronnie Anne gasped, recognizing the shape of this person anywhere.
"Carlota?"
"Ronnie Anne?"
The younger girl handed Leslie over to her father so that when her cousin got in close the two could hug each other. It was a tight hug, enough that Ronnie Anne turned to slime and was oozing out Carlota's arms, but neither attempted to end it.
"I can't believe it's you. Look at how big you've gotten."
"And you haven't changed at all Carlota. Well, except for the obvious."
Carlota laughed and let her go. "I could say the same for you. You have to see everyone."
"That's what I'm here for. But first, who all is an elemental like us?"
"Oh, Carl, CJ, Carlitos, and your mom. The rest are still human. Oh, I've got a big surprise for you. Brace yourself."
"Same here." Ronnie Anne said, coming back by Lincoln and gesturing to the little girl in his arms. Carlota gasped, immediately seeing the resemblance.
"Oh my gosh, you're a mom?!"
Ronnie Anne nodded proudly. "Yup, this is Leslie Loud."
"She looks just like you when you were a baby! But she's got Lincoln's hair! Your parents are gonna freak out when she sees this cutie! You gotta follow me!"
Not giving her cousin a chance to refuse, Carlota practically dragged Ronnie Anne with her. This prompted the others to follow. Ronnie Anne didn't object at all, she knew that Carlota was going to get excited, and she wanted to see everyone again anyway.
'Wait, did she say parents?' She thought, confused.
Carlota led her back to the medical area, this time the line was almost done. Maybe it was due to the time of day, but either way, there was only one person left.
"Should we wait?" Ronnie Anne asked.
That question was ignored when they saw Rosa Casagrande walk out, looking like she was getting some fresh air.
"Abuela?!"
Startled, Rosa turned towards the call, seeing several of the elementals and among them one seemingly normal young man with white hair. The voice had been familiar but at the same time one unheard for a long time. So Rosa carefully looked them over, recognizing Carlota the most but not so much the others. Then one colored purple came over towards her, starting at a slow pace but getting quicker.
Then the purple girl, made out of some kind of slime when viewed closer, came up and engulfed the older woman in a firm hug. The slime stung a little, like ointment on a sore, and for a moment Rosa was quite uncomfortable, but she couldn't get free. Right now, she kind of felt like a victim of the Blob.
"Ronnie Anne, be careful not to burn your grandmother." Sid said, coming up to her friend.
"Wait, Ronnie Anne?" Rosa asked, looking down at the slime girl.
"Abuela…" She said, not sure what else to say.
Ronnie Anne retracted her slime and turned back to her human form, making herself much more recognizable now.
Rosa gasped. "It is you! Dios mio you're back! Wait, are you an elemental?"
"Yes, poisons and acids. Sorry if I hurt you."
Rosa hugged her back. "It's worth it. But do be careful with the others."
Lincoln and the others came up too. At the same time Maria came out of the healing area, wiping her forehead and thus making some bubbles float away.
"Ronnie Anne?!" Maria all but screamed. Lincoln jumped back a little, expecting the soap bubble woman to explode again. Instead she rushed over to her daughter.
"Mom?"
Without another world, the two Santiago women embraced in a hug that both had been wanting for a little over five years. Or they tried, Marie's body couldn't handle it too well, it was like trying to hug shampoo. Lots of her bubbles popped but for the most part her body turned to suds and seeped around her daughter's body as if washing her.
"Sometimes it sucks to have questionable density, doesn't it?" Sid remarked to Lincoln, who nodded.
"Where have you been?" Maria asked.
"On another planet."
Maria looked annoyed. "Do you expect me to believe that?"
"Mom, you're made out of soap and you spend your days washing zombies. Me being on another planet should not be that hard to believe."
"Okay okay, you have a point."
Suddenly, Leslie started making little fussing sounds catching Maria's attention, whose eyes immediately lit up.
"Ronnie Anne, is that…?" She asked, her eyes tearing up with joy and shedding little bubbles like they were tears.
"This is my daughter, Leslie Loud."
Maria tried to pick her up but her arms weren't strong enough to support her, so instead Lincoln set her down and allowed Maria to sit down in front of her. Leslie seemed fascinated by the bubbles she was producing, trying to catch and pop them giggling all the while.
"Can you say abuela?" Maria asked in a cooing tone.
"Ab-wha?" Leslie repeated as best she could.
Maria giggled. "It's so cute when they get words slightly wrong."
"Do you know where we can get something to eat? We're trying to wean her now." Ronnie Anne asked.
"Oh, absolutely. Follow me."
Maria led the teens to another part of the safe zone, to a building that like the others was made of stone but more humble by comparison. Outside Ronnie Anne could see what looked like a small whirlwind going around like a little Tasmanian Devil, and the fact that it moved with purpose told her that this was likely another elemental.
"Carlitos, we have company." Maria said to the whirlwind.
The whirlwind stopped and turned into a person made out of dust and debris, not unlike Lana. But while Lana was clearly made out of dirt and soil, Carlitos looked more like he was made out of pocket lint or what you pulled out of a clogged vacuum cleaner.
"Hola everyone." Carlitos said happily, greeting the newcomers.
"Oh wow, Carlitos, you really could use a bath." Ronnie Anne said happily.
"Do I know you?" He asked.
"Does the name 'Ow' ring any bells?" She asked jokingly.
"It's your cousin, Ronnie Anne, she's back." Maria said. "Go get everyone, we're going to have our first complete family dinner in five years."
Carlitos nodded and turned back into a whirlwind before darting off into the little town. Maria meanwhile let the others into the stone house, and immediately Ronnie Anne was hit with a wave of nostalgia.
"It's just like home."
"It should, we brought everything we had here. Everything that we could recover." Maria claimed.
The living room looked just like their home back in Great Lake City. The same furniture, except for a few obvious replacements, and even the walls were set up the way Ronnie Anne remembered. Seeing it made a few toxic tears come to her eyes.
"We should contact Luna's group and see if they can add on another room for you now that you're back." Maria mentioned, heading for the kitchen.
Ronnie Anne paused and looked confused. She turned to Lincoln who admittedly had the same expression.
"Uhh… Mom? Lincoln and I need to discuss this before you start remodeling."
The soap woman froze and looked towards her daughter. "What?"
"Mom, we've been living on our own for the last five years. I'm glad to be back, I really am, but me and Lincoln need to decide where we're going to live now that we are back. No one else is going to decide that for us."
Maria looked at Lincoln and it hit her that her daughter wouldn't want to live apart from him if they had been together since they left.
"Sorry, I guess I always assumed that when you came back that you'd want to be with your family."
"I do Mom. But Lincoln and Leslie are my family too. We're a package deal now. And with everything going on, we need to decide where we're going to be."
Maria looked hurt, but she didn't push the issue.
"C'mon, let's get to making that welcome back party." Sid stated. "What can we do to help?"
"Help me with the food. I don't want to get soap in it." Maria told her.
Back at the bunker, Lily took some time to make sure the panels were fully charged. If she was guessing correctly, they'd be good for another two hours unless someone here decided to turn on every electronic device at once.
"We really need Lisa back." She muttered, getting ready to leave. But before she could, she saw one of the monitors give off an alert.
"Huh?" She asked, going over to it. This was part of their security system, which unfortunately had to be cut down on over the year to save power. But it was picking up something. It looked like an elemental had arrived in the detected perimeter.
"Lincoln's group can't be back already, can they? But that must mean…" She thought out loud, getting worried. Then, feeling rather annoyed, she rushed out the exit and decided to sweep the area, looking for anyone who was heading this way.
Being light, it did not take her long to find what had set off the alarm.
Four elementals were coming through a forest, moving like they were looking for something. Lily immediately recognized them and grit her glowing teeth.
Carol Pingrey, the magma elemental. Margo Roberts, the rust elemental. Scott Boyd, the moss/algae elemental. And Haiku Fukamono, the aurora elemental.
The four who had betrayed the Louds to Chandler and allowed Lisa, Lana, and Lola to be captured. The four who were the reason the last base had been raided and the machine that could contact Lincoln had been taken away. The four who were the reason Lily had to spend all day every day being a battery to the only place in the world left to call home.
Lily made a fist and began to glow too bright for anyone to safely look directly at. Unfortunately, that meant these four were now aware that someone was in the forest with them.
"We've got company." Scott warned.
With speed that even Sonic the Hedgehog would be proud of, Lily darted into the group, moving so fast that to her they were all still as statues. Grinning deviously like Luan back when April Fools Day was still a thing, Lily bounced around them all like a pinball with fists, hitting each and everyone one of them in rapid succession.
From the perspective of her targets, one second things had been normal, then there was a flash of all and each of them felt like they had been slugged in the face by a brick or two. They stumbled and grabbed their noses, and the light made them fall over on their rears.
"It has to be Lily!" Carol warned.
"I've got this!" Haiku said, then from her perspective time seemed to slow down and she saw the youngest Loud sister more clearly, who was socking Margo in the stomach. Haiku rushed at her and tackled her to the ground.
"What the heck?"
"You're not the only one who can move at light speed, Lily." Haiku warned, pinning her down. "Aurora's are light too."
Lily glared and shot beams of light out of her eyes like Cyclops of the X-Men. They hit Haiku in the face and dazed her, allowing Lily to escape, but Haiku then surprised her by extending a hand. Suddenly Lily found herself slowing down. Too slow.
"What? How can you do this?" She asked, feeling like there were invisible chains trapping her.
"Aurora's are more than just light. I have powers you don't."
"Sheesh, one little kid did all that?" Scott asked, slowly getting back up as the two glowing elementals resumed normal speed.
"Scott, contain her." Haiku ordered.
The plant elemental nodded and his torso opened up to reveal a hollow interior. Haiku manipulated Lily into being put inside, and Scott sealed it. From within, Lily could move a little, but she was surrounded by pure darkness. No light was getting in or out, and the worst part was the feeling of moss trying to grow around her.
"She's putting up a fight." Scott noted, feeling the little Loud struggle. "This must be what it feels like to be pregnant."
"We must be close." Carol said. "Back to searching."
All of a sudden, Scott winced and knelt down.
"What's going on?" Margo asked.
Scott didn't answer, but he began to change. The moss making his body began to glow, almost like it was bioluminescent. Not only that, but his body shrank and took on feminine features, ultimately making him look like a plant elemental version of Lily.
"Whoa, what just happened to me?" Scott asked, but there was a little of Lily's voice in there too. It was like the two were speaking in unison.
"Scott?" Carol and Margo asked.
Scott looked at his hands. "Weird, it's like I've fused with her. I can hear her, but it's like her element is now mine too."
"We were told that we'd have new powers now. That stuff the doctor gave us must work."
"We're close, I can tell." Scott said, looking around.
'Stay the heck away from our place!' Lily screamed in his head. She kept trying to break free but she felt like she was drowning in coleslaw, or buried in the chia pet cemetery. For some reason, she just couldn't get the stuff off her.
"Then let's get looking." Carol said and the others nodded. "Haiku, you can move the fastest and cover the most ground, you go ahead."
"Very well." The aurora elemental said before vanishing.
All of the Casagrandes were gathered together, and Ronnie Anne felt very much at home. Everyone was so happy to see her and hugged her to the point she had to become slime just to avoid getting her bones broken. And when they saw Leslie, it was like they wanted to make up for every missed birthday and holiday all at once. Lincoln was just glad that no one gave him dirty looks for getting Ronnie Anne pregnant. Perhaps the thrill of her coming back alive was enough for them to not care, or perhaps they were saving that for later.
Ronnie Anne was surprised by how many of her relatives were elementals as well. Maria was obviously a soap one, Carlota was a pearl one, and apparently Carlitos was a dust elemental. CJ was made out of tar and Carl was made out of glass, but the rest were still human like Carlota had told her.
"How did you all become elementals? I don't think there were that many cupcakes Lisa made at the science fair." Lincoln asked as they ate dinner.
It was pretty accepted by everyone that the cupcakes Lisa had shared years ago, laced with that thing of hers called Compound L, had been at least somewhat responsible for everyone becoming an elemental. The portal her malfunctioning machine had created was likely responsible too, but not enough by itself. Otherwise everyone at the fair would have become an elemental.
"During the first year of the pandemic, Lisa tried using Compound L to make a cure. She inoculated us with it, but as you can see it changed us the same way it did everyone else. But not all of us." Carlota explained.
"We all had it, but the rest of us never changed." Rosa claimed.
"Maybe some people are just immune to it." Clyde added, having some soup.
"Or maybe we ran out of elements." Sid remarked. "Think about it, no two elementals so far have been identical. Similar, yes, but not identical. Maybe there's a limit to how many there can be in the world."
"I wonder what Dr Pine would say about that idea." Lincoln said, looking at Ronnie Anne who nodded.
"I feel bad that we were the only ones to get out of there." She said, a little melancholy. Lincoln felt a little mournful too.
"Where's Lily? Shouldn't she be back by now?" Clyde asked.
Lincoln looked around. "Yeah, she should have."
Ronnie Anne frowned. "Something's not right. There's no way it would take her this long to come back here."
Lincoln rose from his seat. "Excuse me everyone, but I need to check on my sister. I'll be back as fast as I can."
Before anyone could object, he rushed outside, literally as fast as the wind.
"Should we go after him?" Clyde asked.
Ronnie Anne shook her head. "We'd never catch up. He'll be back."
"Has he ever had to go away like this before?" Rosa asked.
Ronnie Anne nodded. "Never without telling me of course, and never if I ever told him not to. Not like Bobby."
"Hey! Don't insult your brother like that!" Maria said, offended.
Ronnie Anne frowned but kept her mouth shut. Everyone kept eating, but it was clear the mood was ruined now.
Haiku came to a stop in a field, eyes peeking a little over the tall grass. Up ahead she saw a silo, the standard kind you'd see in a farm back before the L-Virus changed everything. But something about this felt different.
'Something's off, it's like I can just tell there's more here than just a silo. Maybe this is part of my new powers? Either way, I should take a closer look.'
She ducked back under the grass and floated towards it. Due to her glowing body, she needed the cover. The closer she got to the silo, the more she felt there was something different. Like a vibe she was getting from underground.
The grass came to an end and so she paused to see once more if anything stood out to her. Because of that, she wasn't caught off guard when a shadowy claw came out from behind a rock at her. Haiku immediately backhanded it away.
"Hello Lucy." The aurora elemental said casually.
Rather than respond verbally, Lucy lunged from behind the rock like a ninja, stretching her limbs and trying to claw at her. Haiku just stood there, doing nothing as Lucy's limbs were unable to make direct contact with her.
"I already told you, the darkness cannot touch the light."
"I wasn't trying to touch you." Lucy remarked.
Haiku raised an eyebrow, and then Lynn came out from behind along with Girl Jordan. Jordan swarmed Haiku as a sand cloud while Lynn morphed her hands into Wolverine claws and dug them into the aurora. Haiku screamed in pain and then Jordan scoured sand over her, as if she was rubbing salt in the wound.
"Got you, traitor!" Lynn said, feeling like a winner. She tried to remove her claws, but they were stuck. Now confused, Lynn pulled harder but they still wouldn't leave.
"Hey! What's going on?" Jordan asked, trying to pull away too. Her sand felt slow but stuck, as if she had stepped in a huge puddle of honey.
Haiku noticed this too, and despite the pain she wanted to test something. She put her hand over Lynn's face, grabbing her. Lynn muffled a protest and tried to pull away but she couldn't break free. Not even when Haiku wasn't even grasping her anymore.
"Impressive. I seem to have evolved into a magnetism elemental." She surmised, smiling deviously.
Lucy got worried. Haiku now had magnet powers? And she was right here? Where all the important machines were? This was going to be bad.
"Lucy do something! I can't get off her!" Jordan said, on the verge of panicking. Apparently her sand was more metallic than she had expected.
"I can feel so much metal underground. This is where you've been hiding, haven't you?" Haiku said, smirking.
'I can't fight her directly, but I can talk to her.' Lucy thought, an idea coming to her. "Tell me Haiku, when did you become evil?"
Haiku stopped grinning. "What?"
"Back in school, we would always say that light is not good and dark is not evil. You claim to be on the side of good, yet you are the one working for a genuine dictator and you're here willing to put my dying parents at risk. Were you always evil, or did you sell your soul to Chandler?"
Haiku grimaced and grit her ethereal teeth, but at the same time Jordan's sand began to crumble off her and Lynn's face got free of her hand.
"I was never evil!" Haiku insisted.
"Then what did you come here for?" Lucy challenged.
Rather than respond, Haiku released both her captives and floated over towards the silo. Lucy rose into the air to intercept her, holding out her hands as if to barricade. Haiku extended a hand and the silo began to groan and bend little by little. Lucy immediately rushed in to try and enshroud her, hoping this would provide some kind of a barrier to her abilities.
Haiku emitted more light, forcing Lucy to release her. But rather than continue, Haiku just looked at her.
"This is more than just a hideout you have in there. There's something you don't want me to see, or damage. Oh, I know, this must be where your parents have been kept since they got sick."
Lucy grit her teeth and what looked like dark purple steam began to emit from her.
"I'm not unreasonable. Just come with us to Haven and give Chandler what he wants. Then you can go free and we won't care what you and your sisters are doing here."
"Tell that to Lisa."
Haiku stared at her without any clear expression, then she floated away from the silo and into the unknown.
"Yeah you better run!" Lynn shouted, shaking a fist.
"That was too easy." Jordan commented while Lucy landed on the ground beside them.
"It is. She's not escaping, she's getting reinforcements."
Lynn did not like the sound of that. "So what do we do? We can't evacuate this time. Mom and Dad won't survive it."
"Get everyone. This time, we fight."
Lynn and Jordan nodded before going back into the bunker, alerting everyone. Lucy remained outside, hidden in the shadows, awaiting Haiku's inevitable return.
Lincoln continued to fly, going at a much faster pace than before. This time he had no passengers to worry about, no one to follow, and a growing sense of worry. Clyde and Sid had brought along headsets so it wasn't like anyone at the base couldn't get ahold of them if something had gone wrong. Whatever happened, it either happened just to Lily or was already over.
He wasn't sure which version he preferred.
"Lincoln? Is that you?"
The wind elemental came to a stop, which was weird for living air to suddenly do. He looked around, and soon found something that looked a lot like himself, except smaller and dustier.
"Good, I caught up."
"Carlitos? What are you doing here?" Lincoln asked.
"Everyone's a little worried, and I'm the fastest back home so they asked me to catch up to make sure you weren't doing something stupid."
Lincoln raised an eyebrow. "They said that?"
Carlitos looked slightly awkward. "Well, they told me not to repeat the words they used, but they did want me to come with you. We're not going to fight someone, are we?"
Lincoln smiled and patted the dusty boy's shoulder. "If we're lucky, we won't have to. If we do, I'm fighting dirty."
Carlitos grinned and nodded. "Fighting dirty, I'm okay with that."
Feeling better, the two went back to flying. Lincoln was a little slower just to make sure the dust elemental could keep up, but fortunately Carlitos could move through the air pretty effectively. Not as fast as him, but not so slow that Lincoln felt he was sacrificing too much speed.
Lucy stood atop the bunker, watching the four come into view. They walked slowly, in full element form, looking like a united front, but none of them looked ready to fight right away. Lucy descended the silo and went up to them, making them stop in place.
"So it's come to this." Lucy said, eyeing all of them. "We called you all friends. We fought those that called us monsters and terrorists. Then the biggest dictator in the world offers you something shiny, and that all goes away. And now you're here, willing to kill my parents, and you have the audacity to claim that you four are the good guys."
"Kill your parents? We're not going to do that." Margo objected.
"We just need some of your blood. After that, you can either keep hiding out here and Chandler will ignore you all from now on, or you can move to Haven with us and have a real life again." Carol offered.
"What about my sister Lisa? Why can't she leave?"
"Staying in Haven will require you putting your abilities to good use for the city." Carol added.
"We all do it. It's not that bad." Scott claimed, and right now Lucy noted that he looked more like Lily than his normal self.
"I repeat, why can't she leave? Do you expect me to believe that Lisa is staying in Chandler's city by choice?" Lucy asked, not wanting to draw attention to Scott's form. If she did, odds were one of her sisters would react too soon.
Margo stepped forward. "The truth is Chandler is using her as leverage against you guys. As long as you resist his request, she stays. But once you all give him a small bit of blood, he'll let her go. He won't need her anymore."
"It's not that bad. It's no worse than a nosebleed." Haiku assured her former friend.
Lucy made a fist. "And what if we refuse?"
"Why refuse? It's just blood. Why not give it to him? We did." Carol asked.
"And what does he want with it?"
"He can cure the L-Virus once and for all if he has the blood of all elementals together."
"And you believe him? The same Chandler who got us abducted by aliens?" Lucy challenged.
"The elementals created the L-Virus, surely they can cure it too." Haiku suggested.
"The answer is no." Lucy insisted, her outline shimmering.
"Well then you really are the terrorist people say you are." Haiku remarked, glowing a little more.
All of a sudden, ice formed around Carol, or rather it tried to. Everyone turned and saw Luan attempting to freeze the magma elemental, and while they were distracted everyone else sprang out of hiding to swarm them.
Scott extended his arms out and looked around, with light coming out of his hands and eyes. These beams hit several of the Louds and knocked them back, as if they were being punched.
"What the hell was that?" Lucy asked, having avoided the light.
"Since when could Scott do that? And why does he look like Lily?" Luan also asked, trying to keep freezing Carol. But the magma girl turned up the heat and broke free while smirking.
"We all have some new tricks up our sleeves. Want to see mine?"
All of a sudden, Luan felt herself being compressed. As if someone had wrapped a heavy blanket around her tightly, making it very difficult to move. She toppled over, struggling to do anything.
"Wh… what is… this?" She asked, feeling like she could barely breathe.
It wasn't just Luan, everyone was forced to the ground struggling to stay up. Everyone except Carol, Haiku, Lucy, and Adelaide.
"Stop it!" Adelaide shouted, going right for Carol. Haiku moved to intercept, but Lucy moved to intercept her.
"You're not going anywhere!" Lucy yelled, enshrouding her former friend again.
Adelaide had the right opportunity and jumped at Carol. The magma elemental tried to block her, but Adelaide went through her and into her head. Carol yelled and clawed at her head, as if trying to dig the young girl out, and in doing so released the others from whatever she had done to them.
"I can move again!" Luna announced, getting up and turning her hands into stony hammers. Sam, Darcy, Rusty, Zach, and Liam did the same, with gem variants. All of them charged at Scott, who blinded them with multiple beams of light. One of these beams hit Lucy forcing her to disperse for a bit, freeing Haiku.
"Not cool creep!" Lynn shouted, turning her hands to blades and coming at the moss elemental, cutting his arms like a lawnmower.
"But this is!" Luan added, throwing some large icicles that skewered him.
Lola and Lana got behind him, the former sprouting thorny vines and the latter diving into the ground. Lola threw her vines around Scott, strangling him as he regrew his missing parts. Lana also came up from below, dragging him into the topsoil.
Haiku fought Lucy from within, managed to get some light flashes to break through. Lucy was doing her best but sadly darkness tended to cave into light sooner or later. Girl Jordan and Stella decided to give her a hand, with Jordan turning into a sandy whirlwind to cover her and Stella ejecting ink to dull Haiku's shine and darken Lucy's darkness. Neither girl could do much to hurt the aurora elemental, but they could at least make sure she couldn't hurt anyone else.
Lynn went in to cut Scott down the middle, but Margo intercepted by grabbing her arm. Right away rust spread from her touch, which to Lynn felt like a burn. She tried to pull away, but Margo's grip was too strong. So Lynn instead tried to cut at her old friend too, but her aim was way off. Still, Margo released her and then moved towards the others, leaving Lynn to cradle her now rusted right arm.
'Damn, this hurts. It's like my entire arm is dead but can still feel pain.' The athletic Loud grimaced, glaring at Margo. Memories of good times in the past flashed in her mind, making her feel bad for how things had become since L-Day, but right now she had a job to do. If Margo got anywhere near her parent's life support, Rita and Lynn Sr would have minutes left to live, at best.
Luan got in close to Scott to better avoid accidentally freezing Lola too, making her hands normal again so she could grab him and cause a very bad case of frostbite. She grabbed one of the cuts, where more light was emitting from, and she began to freeze it. But then a small hand of light came out, catching her off guard.
"Help!"
"Lily?" Luan asked, letting go of Scott. The light hand was pulled back inside and the wound sort of stitched itself back together. Scott looked at the ice elemental and fired another beam of light at her. It hit Luan in the chest, hurting her but also reflecting off her into the sky.
"What was that?" Carlitos said, seeing what looked like a spotlight in the distance.
"It must be Lily signaling for something." Lincoln replied, changing course towards the origin of the light.
Carol kept spasming, flinging globs of lava all around her. Everyone was careful to avoid being hit, except those that couldn't be hurt by magma in the first place. Everyone had to back away from her, even those that magma couldn't hurt preferred to not suffer an accidental hit.
Luna resumed freezing Scott, and with Lola and Lana restraining him he didn't have much in the way of escape. A few more light blasts were sent at them, but they missed and he was slowing down. Soon enough, the moss elemental was encased in ice and half buried in the ground.
"One down." Lola said, having snapped her vines from the frost but now regrowing them.
"Not quite. Guys, I think Lily is inside him." Luan told her younger sisters.
"What? You mean like he ate her or something?" Lana asked and Luan nodded. "That explains the new look."
"But how do we get her out without getting him out?" Lola asked.
"Lana, can you cut him open from below ground?" Luan asked.
The dirt elemental grinned and dove underground. She found Scott's leg and tore a hole in it before seeding some dirt inside, essentially attacking him from the inside.
"Let me out of here you jerks!" Lily roared.
'I heard that.' Lana thought, then she intensified her onslaught. She tore into Scott like a rabid badger. He tried to scream but couldn't do so. Lana soon felt something warm and then saw something bright.
"Lily? It's me, I've got you!"
Lana reached out her hand and Lily grabbed it too. Lana tugged and tugged, but for some reason her little sister could not move. Moss was engulfing her, though it was also freezing.
"I'm stuck!" Lily claimed. "It's like this jerk is using me as a battery!"
"These guys have new powers. So we're going to have to fight dirty." Lana declared, pulling harder. "And no one can fight dirtier than me!"
Lily tried fighting back, and so the frozen moss around the light elemental began to break, letting her shake free. Lana got in and tore through the tendrils, soon setting her little sister loose. Right away she flew out of her floral prison, bypassing her sister. Lana saw that the moss was trying to engulf her in Lily's place, so she retreated as quickly as she could.
Lily erupted from the ground, glowing like a lighthouse. Everyone couldn't help but look at this scene, those that could at least. She was shining like the sun, almost too bright to look at. Lucy was forced to flee the scene entirely, her body practically burning as if being dipped in acid. The light reflecting off the gemstone elementals only made it much worse for everyone. Right now, the only person who wasn't legally blind was Haiku, and she was horrified.
Lily floated there in the air, but she didn't look like a little girl anymore. Instead she looked like a big bug, close to a butterfly or moth but Haiku thought maybe there was some firefly in there as well. Colors were inconsistent and shifting, like a rainbow coming out of a prism. But the one detail that was crystal clear was that Lily was mad.
Haiku tried her new magnet powers, since they had an effect on Lily earlier for reasons that didn't make sense to her. This time it did nothing but get Lily's attention, prompting her to swoop in swiftly and try to bite her like a furious wasp.
'That was too close. Magnet powers won't help here.' Haiku thought as she dodged. She was aware of the concept of 'hulking out' as they put it, and she knew this was going to get ugly. Especially since in the last five years, none of them had ever been able to do it on purpose.
'I can't match her like this, so I'm going to have to fight light with light.'
Haiku flew over to the youngest Loud and tried to tackle her. Lily spat out beams of light like spotlights out of her mouth. Haiku got hit by them and pushed back a little.
"What the heck was that?! That hurt!"
Lily roared in a way that would have made Mothra proud and came back at her after turning around. Haiku was not fast enough to dodge a second time and got caught. She tried everything to fight her off, but the only thing she could do was compress herself and slip free from Lily's jaws.
"I've got to get her away from here! Maybe she'll get less angry then and power down!"
With that in mind, Haiku traveled as fast as she could across the world, with Lily going just as fast. Aurora tried to outrun light itself, and all too soon it was clear that this was not going to be a race that Haiku could win.
Back at the fight scene, everyone struggled to regain their vision. With Carol dazed Adelaide took full control over her and saw something. A memory, told like a summarized flashback. She saw the four traitors given some kind of stone by Dr Linneaus herself, which they consumed somehow, like it was hard candy.
'Now the four of you will reach your true potential. You are no longer just elementals, you are now-'
The memory cut off and Adelaide returned to the normal world, still in Carol's body. Seeing them all trying to orient themselves, she threw some magma at Margo, knocking her back. Margo screamed bloody murder, with there being a hole seared into her torso now.
"Uh oh, that was stronger than I intended." Adelaide said.
The Louds and their companions surrounded the lava girl now that she was the only threat remaining.
"Guys it's me! Adelaide! I've taken control over her!"
"So it's over?" Lana asked, poking her head out of the ground.
"Not quite. We have to contain these three." Luna claimed.
"How can we contain lava?" Lucy asked.
"Ice her over really good? Diamond cage? A really deep hole?" Luan suggested, getting some weird looks. "Well I don't see any of you offering up ways."
Adelaide spasmed and grabbed her head. "Guys, she's fighting me off! Whatever you do, do it fast!"
"On it!" Lana said before going under the magma elemental and rapidly trying to create a sinkhole.
Unfortunately she wasn't fast enough and Adelaide was forced out of Carol's body, literally flung back like someone throwing off some unwanted clothes. Carol huffed and wheezed, and everyone threw an attack at her, hitting her. Carol winced and on reflex did her special attack again, increasing the pressure all around the and making them unable to stand up. Except for Lucy and Adelaide.
Carol grit her teeth and looked ready for a showdown as she stared down the dream elemental. "That was a dick move little girl."
"I'm not afraid of you. You can't hurt me." Adelaide replied, with Lucy nodding.
"But I can hurt them." Carol replied, gesturing to the others who were struggling to break free. "Now, are you going to surrender or do I have to-?"
She didn't finish, for she got hit in the head from behind, knocking her on her face in a splat on the ground. Even Lucy and Adelaide were surprised. Carol turned and saw an angry Lincoln floating above.
"Li-Lincoln? You're alive?"
"I am… but in a few moments, you and your idiots might not be."