Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lincoln hated a lot of things, like math and history homework, hot days, even waking up early on Sunday, but if there was one thing he hated even more than all those things, it was how he got sick over the years.

His bed was more present in his life over the years than many of his acquaintances. The ease with which his body fell ill was worrying. Perhaps it was due to his body's lack of melanin and natural protection because of his albinism? Or maybe it's because of his body's lack of fight in response to viruses? He doesn't know, and he doesn't want to know right now.

His focus is on a small orange cake with passion fruit icing on the dining table, with a note he memorized a long time ago.

“We wish you well.”

The handwriting was all messy and sloppy, he could easily see that it had been done in a hurry before they left. It was like this most of the time, he would get sick, his ‘friends’ or his family would buy him a cake, and they would have to leave to sort out their ‘urgent business’ as they liked to call it.

Looking around the room, and not hearing any sounds in the house, he sighed as he opened one of the cutlery drawers and took out a knife and a spoon.

“Once again, they've gone out and left me here...” Cutting a piece of the cake and putting it on the pile of plates next to him, he turned to leave the kitchen and went into the living room, turning on the TV news. “At least it's a nice cake this time.”

The program was predictable up to that point, it was another one of the alien/monster attacks that started a few years ago. He didn't know how to feel about the information that there was life outside the earth, but he vividly remembered when the first attack happened, shouting at the top of his lungs 'I was right' to all his colleagues who called him crazy for thinking aliens existed.

Lincoln today doesn't know how to feel about the thought that there might be more races of aliens seeking planetary domination of his planet, but he does know how to feel about those who fight against them.

The Power Rangers

Lincoln thought it was cool that real superheroes existed, but he's not going to lie, he thought the name of their team was pretty lame, not that he hadn't seen worse names, hell he easily remembers the names of superheroes from the comics he saw when he was 10 years old. But now, re-reading them at the age of 15, he could easily tell that they were awful.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he concentrated on the fight on his television. He found it strange that most of them were women, even stranger that no one ever had an inkling of who they were underneath their uniforms.

Shishi Red was supposed to be the leader, as the media showed, but it didn't really seem that way. Seeing the way they gestured, it seemed that the real leaders were Tenbin Gold and Houou Soldier.

Lincoln really liked the way Houou Soldier fought, it was almost like an anime character with the opening song in the background, she just wouldn't die, there were so many times he saw her save the other Rangers from death, because she wasn't afraid of her own death. On the rare occasions that the Rangers did interviews after fights, he remembers how Houou Soldier revealed on national television that he was simply immortal.

The Rangers were like anime characters brought into reality, and the fact that their names were in Japanese helped a lot with this vision.

“I still wonder if they're really foreigners...” Many speculated that the Rangers were some kind of group of ancient global defenders hidden from society, which was fueled by their names being mostly Japanese mixed with English.

Despite this, Lincoln didn't give much credence to this theory, they didn't have a foreign accent, it was more of a very American accent, even fluent Japanese couldn't speak like that.

His thoughts were interrupted when he realized that the battle was coming to an end, with the monsters trapped in an enclosure of energy arrows falling from the sky. Courtesy of Tebin Gold, who was firing frantically, while Shishi red raised his sword, with the blade being covered in a red aura, and attacked them with several meteors materializing around it, following the stroke of the sword, exploding as they impacted on the monsters.

With that last sequence, the footage of the fight had just been shown on the news, and it was back to the pair of reporters who were announcing what news was minimally relevant.

"And that was the end of this week's fight, my good citizens. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting another monster attack this week!" The reporter was now smoothing his collar around his neck as a small bead of sweat ran down his face. “Anything to say about their new approach, Cassidy?”

"Just concern, Eric. The monsters hadn't changed their strategy in the last two months. It was always them trying to conquer a small country town, or a big city. But now, they suddenly decide to change their strategy, and target not only a big city, but also a beach coast? That doesn't sound very good."

Lincoln felt obliged to agree with the reporters. The monsters didn't usually attack two places at the same time, and this worried him, as the team had to split into two groups to deal with both attacks. Such a simple but effective change in the monsters' mode of action frightened everyone who knew about this threat.

Deciding that he had had enough of action, he turned off the TV and headed for his room, not before leaving the dirty plate and spoon in the sink. Laying down on his bed and picking up his laptop, Lincoln logged onto a site specifically for talking about the Rangers, and although he didn't want to admit it, he was a big Rangers fan. Big enough to be recognized on the forum with an administrative position.

Logging on to his account, Lincoln went to the public groups and began his conversation with the other members, many speculating what the monsters would want with this confusing attack, since from what was shown, they didn't have the same amount of soldiers as before in this attack and none of the strongest and most unique monsters that appeared.

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Topics: Monster attacks.

In Forums > Sightings > Royal Woods > Power Rangers.

Public chat A-2.

Dog-Small-237: Do any of you have any idea what this attack might be? What Orange-Orange says makes some sense. There weren't many of them, even split into 2.

Ranger-lover: The most I can think of must be looking for something, since for most of the “attack”, the Rangers had to chase the monsters all over the place, while the monsters were basically running and hiding all the time in the power plant.

Lincoln thought carefully about his fellow Ranger-lover's hypothesis, what he said might be somewhat coherent, but there's not much more they can theorize about without the camera footage. Looking at the clock on the wall in his room, he would have to look at it later, after all he still had to go to school, a few more messages and he would have to go

Orange-Orange (Founding member of the PR fan club) : RG may be right, the group of monsters from the power plant avoided combat at all costs, from what little we saw, but we need more to say that, since the footage hasn't been released (aka leaked or hacked) yet, but judging by the behavior of the monsters in the few camera recordings we have, they were looking for something big, about the size of a person. But I think that by the end of the day, our dear colleague, whom we can't name due to possible violation of the state's investigation laws, will get them for us, completely legally.

I'd-date-the-Oushi-Black: I still fear for this site if this guy is caught and we're taken with him. The police have been very ruthless about leaking information lately.

Orange-Orange (Founding member of the PR fan club): You're not the only one, but he's somehow the only one who gets the recordings, whether from the cameras or the field reporters. Anyway, I'm off, I've got things to do now. See you later.

Dog-Small237: See you later, Oh great sucking ranger.

Orange-Orange (Founding member of the PR fan club): Go to hell :p.

Closing his laptop, Lincoln grabbed his towel and a razor from his room and headed for the bathroom.  He had to be quick, as he only had an hour to shower and get ready for school.

As someone living with 12 people in one house, showering quickly had never been a problem, but having to shave constantly was another story. A few weeks before the monsters appeared, Lincoln had an outbreak of hair growth all over his body, and this outbreak continues to this day, even after 3 years. He honestly didn't care about his body hair, he cared even less about it being as white as his hair, but it got too hot under his clothes, and it also grew too much.

Ignoring his past difficulties, Lincoln had finished shaving and went straight to putting on his clothes. Dark baggy pants, an orange blouse under a yellow sweatshirt, and white sneakers.

Going down to the garage, he got on his bike and started pedaling through Royal Woods. The city had changed a lot since the arrival of the Rangers, and now resembled a capital city. Royal Woods was huge now, more streets, stores, houses, roads to go to school.

He liked that his town was becoming a bigger and better place, but it was a pain to have to take a completely different route than before because the town now had four giant shopping malls that forced him to rethink his routes. Heck, two of these malls were on the list of the largest malls in size in the state.

Finally arriving at school, he was already a little tired after so much cycling. Even his school had changed, not that he was complaining, after all, it ensured that he had at least one less thing to worry about in his future.

Leaving his bike in the bicycle-only parking lot, Lincoln sighed as he prepared for the day ahead. He walked through the doors and tried to slip into the corners of the school unnoticed, which only worked for a short time.

“Hey, Less!” Lincoln shuddered as he heard the shout of one of his classmates, looking back to see him running towards him. “I didn't have time to tell you yesterday, but you forgot it in class.”

Grabbing his backpack, the classmate took out a locked notebook and handed it to Lincoln, who looked at it with a slight tremor in his hands. “I don't know what you keep in it to have a lock, but you'd better be more careful with it, it's a close call that Chandler didn't take your notebook.”

Lincoln suppressed a frown when he heard Chandler's name mentioned. “Thanks man, I'll try to be more careful...” Picking up his notebook, he quickly put it in his backpack while his colleague nodded. “Is the infirmary already unlocked, or hasn't the nurse arrived yet?”

“Well, the nurse is off this week, but her replacement should be there by now.” The student shrugged as he turned and started to leave. ”Take care, Less. I'll see you in class.”

“ Less, huh..." Sighing and saying goodbye to his classmate, Lincoln turned to start walking towards the infirmary. He doesn't remember when they started calling him that, but he sure as hell hated it.

Ever since he had started to get sick, he had been increasingly covered by the shadows of his sisters. He never felt as bad as he did lately, his comparison with his sisters reaching the point where many called them "Less Loud ” for their constant weakness. But the nickname didn't come from that specific factor.

“My friend, Less!” Lincoln grumbled as he resisted the urge to roll his eyes when he felt a hand grab his backpack, forcing him to stop.

“For God's sake, what the fuck do you want, Chandler?” Lincoln's eyebrows furrowed as he saw Chandler's debauched face.

“Nothing much, I just wanted to ask you, do you remember the favor I asked you to do my homework?”

“Oh yes... I remember, here it is!” Now it was Lincoln's turn to grin debauchedly as he pulled out a set of papers from a separate bag in his backpack.

Handing it to him, Lincoln resisted the urge to laugh at his bully's disgruntled face when he saw the questions on the blank sheet. Chandler crumpled the sheet in his hand as he grabbed Lincoln's collar and brought it close to his face.

“What the fuck, Less? Didn't I tell you to do that?!”

“Yeah, and I ignored everything you said”

“You son of a...!” Chandler threatened to punch Lincoln with his fist.

The only boy in the Loud family didn't bother, since the bully didn't have the ability to do that, just threaten and hope it worked, but Lincoln's surprise came next when Chandler's wrist was held by Stella.

“What are you doing, Chandler?” Right behind Stella was Clyde, with a baseball bat resting on his shoulder, staring at Chandler like a bull stares at a bullfighter.

Loud was surprised to see the two of them together. Over the last two and a half years, Clyde and Stella have become somewhat distant from Lincoln and his other friends... In fact, all his other friends have become more distant, but he avoids thinking about it.

“Nothing much, Stella. Just catching up with my friend Less… I mean, Lincoln!”

“Yeah, I heard...” Stella narrowed her eyes at Chandler's words. “So how about you let our friend Lincoln go, Chandler?”

“...Oh! Yes. Of course, of course!” Chandler quickly turned away from Lincoln as he took steps back, looking around for an escape route.

“Now I think you can go, you don't have classes with us until after lunch.” Clyde commented, casually lowering his baseball bat.

“Right! Yeah, you're right, I'll see you later!” Starting to run away from them, Chandler hoped to get a good distance between them. “I'll talk to you later, Less!”

Lincoln watched Chandler walk away calmly before looking at Clyde and Stella. The two of them had changed a lot in the last three years.

Clyde was now part of the school's baseball team, currently the team's star hitter, Lincoln believes his physique has changed a lot because of this, Clyde was noticeably chiseled. His clothes are a set of black and white checkered pants, a gray button-down shirt with a pair of black stripes on the left side, a pair of white sneakers and a baseball cap.

Stella, on the other hand, hadn't changed that much, just gaining a few more curves and a hip that, in Lincoln's words, was the bane of any man's life. Stella was now vice-president of the school's student council. Stella was currently wearing white denim shorts with a red belt with a gold buckle, a green cropped top under a black vest, and a pair of colorful bracelets on her right wrist, and a pair of high-top boots.

“You didn't have to do that, but thank you. See you later.” Lincoln straightened his backpack and turned to leave.

“Why did he call you Less?” Stella was direct, grabbing Lincoln's shoulder, her eyes still narrowed at where Chandler ran. “I don't remember you having such a...curious nickname.”

“Oh, that... It's just a new nickname they gave me, after I fainted in some physical education classes.” Lincoln shrugged.

“You what?! When did this happen?!” Clyde was frowning in surprise, just like Stella.

“...Two years ago.” Lincoln now looked at them both with a disgruntled and frustrated frown before pulling his shoulder out of Stella's grip. “Look, it was nice seeing you two again, chatting too, but I've got places to go, so I'll see you later.”

Lincoln didn't wait for the two of them to say anything before he started walking briskly on his way to the infirmary

As Lincoln walked away, Clyde and Stella stood motionless in the same spot, exchanging glances with each other, Clyde covering his mouth with one of his hands while keeping his gaze down.

“Two years...” Clyde muttered as he lifted his gaze to Stella. The girl wasn't much different from Clyde, in fact she seemed genuinely lost in shock at what she'd heard.

“How could we not...but...” Before any other words could be spoken, the two teenagers' phones rang at the same time, they already knew what it was supposed to be, but they were conflicted as to whether they should see what it was in the face of the situation at hand.

“...We have to go.” Clyde declared after a few seconds of staring at the phone.

“But...he...” Letting out a frustrated sigh, Stella pulled herself together as she made her way with Clyde.

“Don't worry, we can always talk to him later, during lunch.” Clyde followed Stella through the corridors as she looked at the message on her cell phone.

Back with Lincoln, the annoyed scowl was still present on his face. Did they really not realize how he had been treated by the other students for two years? Lincoln didn't want to believe it, but he couldn't.

"Why does everything always end up like this? With the others always turning away from me?" Lincoln reflected on his now almost empty social circle.

Many things happened when the Rangers showed up and the town began to grow. Starting with Rusty and his father's clothing store, which, since the arrival of more people, had seen their business capital increase quite nicely at first. Duds for Dudes grew to the point where it became a well-known franchise in the state, and Rusty's father, Mr. Rodney, decided that further expansion was necessary, resulting in both of them moving to New York with the intention of raising their brand even higher.

Of course, Lincoln still keeps in touch with Rusty online, but fitting his schedule around this is quite complicated, as Rusty, in addition to studying and helping his father at the store in New York, has also started a course in graphic design and accounting to further help his father. Lincoln won't lie, even at a distance, he's happy for the recognition and success that their brand is enjoying.

Liam also ended up moving away, but there was no great reason or change in his life for this. It was just a normal situation of renewing his social cycles when he entered high school.

But Clyde and Stella were unknown to him, they just slowly drifted apart, Lincoln tried to continue his friendship with both of them, but nothing worked, at some point he just stopped trying and allowed himself to drift away from both of them.

“Fuck...” Grumbling as the scowl on his face intensified, Lincoln didn't notice his eyes flash yellow-orange before returning to normal, making his way to the infirmary in the silence of his frustration and discontent.

-

“I was sloppy...” thought a woman looking out from behind a pillar at a group of creatures rummaging through a warehouse in search of something, or someone.

The woman was tall, wearing what looked like a threadbare cloak that covered her entire body, she had pale skin with purple eyes and snow-white hair. She knelt down briefly, narrowing her eyes before sighing, it wasn't going to be possible to escape without some kind of fight, after all it was difficult for the Power Rangers to appear there with the signal jammer set up with one of the monsters.

Slowly she emerged from her hiding place, coming into view of the creatures who stopped when they saw her.

“I'm only going to warn you once, stay back... And you won't be killed.” The seriousness in her voice was enough to make several of the creatures look at each other and hesitate to start a fight.

A tense silence permeated the warehouse until the monsters attacked the woman, who only sighed at this. She quickly moved out of the way of a punch and moved her leg, causing her opponent to stumble and fall to the ground, after which she moved her other arm, striking another creature in the chest with the back of her hand, knocking it to the ground.

She moved with practiced grace, dodging each blow and countering with a quick punch or kick, it didn't even look like she was fighting, but dancing. A sigh escaped her lips as she walked towards the warehouse door before stopping and looking at the creatures getting up.

“You should have given up.” Commented the woman as she raised her arm showing a kind of fine gold bracelet around her wrist, that single piece of jewelry made each of the creatures take a startled step back. “Remember that I gave you a chance to survive...”

At that moment, a kind of purplish aura came out of her fingers as the whole warehouse seemed to grow darker.

“Incredible...” muttered one of the monsters, looking at the woman who was now holding out her hand to them with purple energy surging. “So that's the void...”

“Get lost.”

Outside, all the windows of the warehouse glowed with purple light for a few seconds, until the light suddenly disappeared, but at the same time the structure began to decay, as if it had turned to dust. In the middle of what had once been a warehouse, only the woman remained, calmly looking at several pairs of eggs on the floor as dust flew around her.

She soon turned around and pulled a hood over her head and walked away, taking advantage of the smoke to disappear from sight.

--

Lincoln was picking up his tray with his lunch, moving away from the queue behind him, looking around the tables for something. Seeing in the distance a raised arm swinging, letting out a relieved sigh, he headed towards the table.

“What's up Zach, food from home again?” Lincoln cracked a small smile as he sat down at the table, leaning his back against the wall behind him.

“You know I'm not going to eat that slop you call food.” Zach shrugged at Lincoln's question as he ate a plate of mashed potatoes with chicken, sausage stuffed with cheddar and a fruit salad.

“What a choice... curious for lunch.” Lincoln's smile flickered as he saw what his friend was eating. “I can understand the chicken and mashed potatoes, but... why exactly sausages with cheddar and a fruit salad?”

“You wouldn't understand...” Zach looked at Lincoln with frightening seriousness.

Lincoln felt a bead of confused sweat run down his neck. Zach was the only one of his old group of friends who was still around, he was the co-creator of the Power Rangers website, and was easily the greatest theorist the site could have. He also took care of most of the site's programming, and now, they were both developing their app for the site.

The app was still in beta, with only a few users to test the performance, but from what they'd done so far, they were doing very well.

“So, how are we doing with the app? Any bugs to report to me or design flaws?... Or do you want to talk more about username777? I still think it's a boy like us and not a girl.” Zach was finishing his chicken while drowning the sausage in the mashed potato.

“You're not going to stop this, are you?” Lincoln's eyelids were drooping as he took a bite of his burger.

“Lincoln, I'll stop when I prove myself right and have a good laugh that'll get me into the infirmary.” Zach was serious as he spoke, but Lincoln could tell that his friend was having fun with what he said.

“I'm not on a web date, Zach.” Lincoln picked up his spoon and plunged it into Zach's mashed potatoes, knocking the mashed potatoes into his burger. “Do I look like an asshole for dating someone I've never seen before?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

“Shut up!”

“Sure buddy, whatever you say, just don't ask me to borrow money to buy you a present.” Zach's eyes narrowed before he sighed and looked at Lincoln. “Are you sure you don't want me to put a choose-your-sexuality system in P.R.O.F?”

“The last thing I want is information that encourages people to force approaches through gender. Have you forgotten the classic examples I used to cite? Discord, twitter, facebook...4chan.” The last site mentioned sent shivers down the teenagers' spines.

“Okay, good point... But now on to a more urgent matter, Chandler seems restless all day and we both know what that means.” Warns Zach calmly, glancing discreetly at Chandler in a chair on the other side of the cafeteria. “And since he knows better than to go after me, I recommend you keep your wits about you.

“He's up to something, and you can be sure that I'm the target, but we can relax a bit...Clyde and Stella gave him a hard time.” Lincoln seemed a little distant as he mentioned the two acquaintances

“...Clyde and Stella?” Zach asked, raising an eyebrow, as if to ask 'What the hell'.

“Chandler was about to punch me, but Clyde and Stella showed up. You can see where that was going, right?

“...Lincoln, did they ask for something? Or I don't know, something like that? This isn't normal.” Zach was frowning, which made Lincoln sigh.

Being away from the group had affected both of them, but Zach... He took it worse than Lincoln, becoming more withdrawn and suspicious of practically everyone except Lincoln. In fact, that was something Lincoln liked about Zach now, he became a better friend to him, despite having a more acidic and strange humor, but he was a good friend and his confidant...

Even knowing things that Lincoln had never told anyone, not even Clyde when they were friends.

“No, Zach, they're not like that, we know that...”

“We know? Lincoln, we haven't spoken in two years and they haven't even tried to talk to us, people change and not always for the better.” Zach continued his argument.

“Now you're being more paranoid than you usually are. As much as I don't like it either, they have more duties. Clyde's become the lead batter on the baseball team and Stella's the vice president of the board, man. They've got a lot on their plate, so it's normal for them to drift apart.”

“Girl Jordan, remember? She's the 'queen bee' now, the head cheerleader and of course Chandler's girlfriend, she's also a bully now.” Zach continued with narrowed eyes. “Do you also want me to remember when she cheated on you on a date and you were humiliated by her, Chandler and his friends?”

“It's not my first romantic humiliation...that didn't turn out as well as I thought. Wait, Chandler has a girlfriend?!”

“Lincoln, you're naive and always think positively. That's why I'm negative, remember? I think of worst-case scenarios.” Zach grumbled, rolling his eyes before pointing to Chandler's table, which had several people sitting there, as well as Jordan Girl.

“Well, if you're negative, it's my job to be positive, right?” Lincoln joked with a shy smile on his face.

“I'll remember that when the baseball team decides to lock you in a closet.” 

“Man, that's...!” Suddenly, Lincoln felt his head heavier than usual, his vision blurred for a moment before everything returned to normal. Loud was now leaning his head on his palm while trying not to fall into his tray.

“Lincoln? Lincoln? Shit!” Zach exclaimed, abandoning his food and looking around the cafeteria. “Lincoln, can you walk?”

“Yeah, I'm fine, it was just...just a sudden dizziness...oh my head.”

“Fine my ass, let's go to the infirmary now.” Zach grumbled, taking Lincoln's arm and slipping it around his shoulders before helping his friend walk out of the cafeteria.

“I hope the infirmary got its shipment of aspirin this time.” 

Zach didn't say anything, but Lincoln knew he was annoyed and wouldn't hear anything else from him if it wasn't important. The two of them continued walking for a while towards the infirmary, at a slow pace so as not to worsen Lincoln's situation.

“Lincoln?” Both Zach and Lincoln felt their eyes widen when they heard Lynn's voice.

“You've got to be kidding me...” Grumbled Zach angrily, closing his eyes.

“Hey Lynn. Need something?” Lincoln tried to smile at his sister as Lynn looked at him curiously.

“Er...I guess I should ask you that. You look paler than usual. Do you want to help?

“...He was a bit unlucky, he ate something that upset his stomach.” Zach replied almost immediately with a scowl, which made Lincoln wince at hearing bad luck.

“No need to worry. Lynn, we're already on our way to the infirmary...you can tell the professor that I'll be in...” Before he could finish speaking, Lincoln began coughing furiously into his free hand, his body bending with each loud cough. “...In the infirmary?”

Zach looked even more irritated staring at him, but there was also a worried glint in his eyes.

“Enough about you, now let's go to the infirmary.” Zach was serious this time and Lincoln knew that at such times it was best to just obey his friend.

Seeing her brother's condition, Lynn made her way to the teachers' lounge to let him know that Lincoln would be in the infirmary for a while. Taking her cell phone from her pocket, Lynn quickly dialed a number and waited on the call line. “Hello. Mom? I think you'd better come and get Lincoln...the coughing fits seem to be coming back.”

On the other end of the call, Lynn could have sworn she heard her mother choking on something. 

“I'll be right there!” As quickly as she spoke, the call ended and Lynn could only look back to see Zach and Lincoln disappearing up the stairs.

“For God's sake, Lincoln, I told you to shut up when you started getting like that, you know it makes your cough worse. You idiot...” Zach kept complaining to Lincoln quietly all the way to the infirmary where he threw his friend onto one of the stretchers.

“Keeping quiet makes me look worse...” Lincoln grumbles as he watches Zach use the call button for the nurse to appear on the ward.

“Oh, right... how silly of me, it's not like you didn't cough so much once that you even spat blood in my face.” Zach now looked even more annoyed with his friend before sighing and walking over to the medicine cabinet, not caring that the nurse wasn't there.

“Look on the bright side... does that show I didn't give you an STD?” Lincoln gave a crooked, shaky smile. Trying to make fun of his situation.

Zach just grumbled in response, grabbing some medicine before tossing it to Lincoln.

“I'd be happy without a stupid friend who thinks it's better to hide the truth instead of contacting a fucking hospital and forcing his asshole family to pay for his treatment.” Zach was now looking directly at Lincoln, his eyes narrowed, which made the boy realize that seeing Lynn had probably turned him from angry to furious, not a good combination.

“...Can we change the subject and get back to the site?

“Can I also have a healthy friend again?” Zach rebutted sarcastically.

“That's... a good question.”

A few minutes passed as Zach furiously pressed the nurse's call button, Lincoln could swear he could see his friend almost ripping the button off by the friction.

“When you need her, she disappears, doesn't she? Now to make half the school waste time with health check-ins every two weeks, she's always there!”

“Something against my check-ins, Zach?” Zach felt his spine jump out of his skin when he looked back and saw the nurse at his back, with her arms crossed and a sharp look on her face.

“...Lincoln.” It was all it took for Zach to stop the nurse focusing on him, his eyes widening before he looked at Lincoln.

“For the love of… do me a favor and get the separate pink pitcher from the cabinet under the sink.” The nurse, who everyone called Felicia, was quick to grab her tools from the drawer and get close to Lincoln. “Keep coming here and I'll put a sign on a stretcher just for you.”

Felicia was already used to Lincoln coming into her classroom constantly, this was only her first year at Royal Woods, and she could say with certainty that she had consulted Lincoln more times than at least ¾ of the entire school.

“Kid, I'm not going to lie, you're a mystery to me. You always have a high fever along with a cold, which pardon the bad word, is fucked up. But you keep coming to school and you seem like a normal person. Have you thought about going to the hospital? There's not much I can do apart from a few pills and a rest.”

Lincoln swallowed, realizing how Zach stared at him after hearing what the nurse had just said.

“Your position is bizarre, it's like you have an antibody, and a virus in a constant fight to see who will adapt to the other first.”

Grabbing a clipboard from the drawer, she jotted something down and handed it to Lincoln, who stared at it in confusion.

“I'm putting you on sick leave for a week, I'll also call your mother and have her take you to the hospital. If I see you here during any working day of this leave, I'll pick you up myself and throw you in an ambulance.”

With those final words, Felicia left the infirmary and headed for the principal's office. Leaving Lincoln and Zach alone.

“Sensitive, isn't she?” Lincoln looked squarely at the door.

“...Lincoln, shut up before I punch you.” Zach looked exasperated rubbing his face with his hand, exhausted.

Before Lincoln or Zach could exchange any more words, Lincoln's mother, Rita Loud, arrived, opening the door with enough force for the two boys to be absolutely sure that they saw the pins of one of the hinges flying out of the window.

“A joke...a joke about how your mom got here and I'll throw you out the window.” Zack pointed dramatically at Lincoln, with a look that swore death to enemies of war.

“Lynn called me and said your cough is back, come on. I'm taking you to the hospital right now.”

Hearing what Rita said, Zach looked at his friend for a few moments, but didn't say anything, which Lincoln was grateful for, so he could try to convince his mother.

“Look, Mom. I know this looks bad...”

Lincoln wondered where he'd gone wrong, where he'd erred in his choice of words to now be having an x-ray at the Royal Woods central hospital. The x-ray was the last thing he had now.

First it started with a simple check-in of his condition. Then his heartbeat, then his temperature and more other processes that he didn't really pay attention to.

“Kid, your situation is simple but worrying. Fever and flu, but your fever is much higher than it would normally be, 46.9 degrees, I'm surprised you're still alive with a temperature like that.” The doctor concluded perplexedly, looking at the tests piled up on his desk. 

“From what your mother also said, you've had this flu for at least a few months. This appointment isn't going to be enough for us to know how to treat you, I'm going to give you some prescriptions to at least relieve you so that we can continue seeing you.” He picked up a prescription pad and listed a short list of medicines and painkillers.

“Take them every three hours, but with a ten-minute break between each medicine.”

Lincoln held the prescription, not at all aware of the look his mother gave him as the doctor said things he didn't bother to listen to.

The last thing he remembered before going home was talking to his mother in the car. Soon he was home, just lying on his bed, and once again falling into the best feeling he'd had in the last two years. 

Sleep.

“We can always talk to him later at lunch...” Stella mocked Clyde's words, as the two of them walked down a corridor with a metallic floor and a glazed ceiling, giving a view of the dark sky surrounded by stars.

“At least we looked for him, that should count as something, shouldn't it?” Clyde tried to defend himself alongside Stella. They were both a little depressed at not being able to have a conversation with their old friend, but unfortunately, they had duties to attend to.

Stella only sent a disgruntled glance at Clyde, who shuddered and turned to the left, finding the moon rocks quite interesting...it's the only thing anyone would find on the moon anyway.

At least that would be the case if there wasn't a giant base on it, which is where Stella and Clyde are now.

Arriving at a specific door, Stella placed her thumb on a digital panel, and with the recognition done without a hitch, they both entered a room that they could summarize as a control center for one of the games Clyde usually plays on his computer.

Sitting in a chair at a rather large digital pentagonal table was a person with whom they were already quite familiar.

“Mr. Loud.” Both teenagers greeted the father of the Loud family, who had a tablet in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other.

Lynn Loud, was the father of Lincoln and all his sisters, he had fair skin with curly dark brown hair with a few white strands, wearing a purple sweater with simple pants and sneakers. 

Blowing on the coffee in his hands, Mr. Lynn greeted the teenagers by raising his mug which read 'The best dad in the world'.

“Kids. You're here earlier than I expected.” Mr. Lynn had a few more mugs on the table, and with the arrival of Stella and Clyde, he lightly pushed two of the mugs onto the seats in front of him. “Don't worry, I haven't forgotten your references. Iced tea for you, Stella. And a black coffee for you, Clyde.” 

“Thank you, Mr. Loud.” Clyde thanks him with a smile, taking the mug, trying to ignore Stella's annoyed and disappointed look in his direction.

“You look unhappy, Stella. Is something wrong?” Mr. Loud raised one of his eyebrows in confusion at the annoyance of the teenager in front of him.

“...It's nothing, we'll sort it out ourselves.” Assured Stella with a practiced smile.

“Shouldn't we wait for the others? Lisa called us anyway.” Clyde took a long sip of his coffee as he sat down and rested his elbows on the table.

Just then, they heard a door opening and turned to see a new person entering the room.

A purple humanoid dragon with golden horns on his head, with red eyes and gray hair and beard. He wore an elegant red overcoat with golden shoulder pads, as well as a white suit underneath, with a small tail swaying behind him, and in his hands he used a metal cane to balance himself as he approached the three humans.

“I see you're the first to arrive, Stella, Clyde, Lynn.” Greets the dragon in a gruff voice with a small smile.

“Mr. Ronpo. How are you? Any improvement in your back?” Clyde asked innocently, while Stella gave Clyde the look of a mother scolding her child.

“...Unfortunately, I don't get any younger, a small side effect of time, but I'm still fit for a 400-year-old Dramon.” Ronpo laughs a little when suddenly everyone hears a pop, making the dragon stop laughing, bend down a little and put his hand on his back.

“Hmm! If I complain about back pain at my age, I can't imagine how much worse yours are than mine.” Mr. Loud ran his hand down the middle of his back in an empathetic sign for his colleague's situation 

“...At least you have the ryu kyuutama, the youth it offers would be a real blessing for your back.” Ronpo declares with good humor, but he still approaches the table before sitting down in one of the chairs and letting out a sigh of relief as his back relaxes. “But I believe the others should be arriving now, the teleports have already been activated.”

As Ronpo had said, a few seconds later, Ronnie Annie arrived next to Lucy, both with a skewer of meat in their hands.

Ronnie Annie was a girl with dark tanned skin, black hair tied up in a low ponytail, freckles on her cheeks, she was wearing an orange and black sweatshirt with dark shorts, orange socks and simple shoes.

Lucy was a little shorter than Ronnie, with pale skin, her hair was short and straight to her chin and cut in such a way that her bangs covered her right eye, she was also wearing a sleeveless silver shirt with a black vest, sleeves that went halfway down her arm, simple pants and sneakers.

“How surprising to see you two arriving together.” Stella commented with a small smile on her face.

“Sid was excited about a message from the forum, you know how she is when she gets a message from them. I didn't want to wait for her to finish her endless messaging session so I decided to go ahead.” Ronnie couldn't help rolling his eyes when he thought about how his best friend was addicted to that site, or rather, everyone seemed to have an account on it.

“I only bumped into Ronnie while I was buying my kebab, and I offered her one.” Lucy shrugged as she sat down at the table. With Mr. Loud once again lightly pushing mugs towards both of them.

“A cappuccino for you, Lucy. And your vitamin, Ronnie Annie.” Mr. Loud offered them both a smile as he took another sip from his mug.

Ronnie gave the mug a quick glance before picking up her drink and walking away towards her own chair, which had an image of a scorpion on it. The girl sat down and began to drink silently.

Lucy, thanking her with a nod, took the mug in both hands and stood, while picking up her cell phone and checking her things.

“Hi guys!” Greets Luan as he enters the room with a smile on his face, followed by his sisters Lori, Leni and Luna.

Luan Loud is one of Lincoln's sisters, she has light skin with loose, curly brown hair that reaches her shoulders with a clip on the left side, her eyes are light brown, and she is wearing a cyan blue jacket with a dark shirt underneath, a blue checkered skirt, dark socks and red sneakers.

Lori Loud was the oldest of her sisters, with fair skin and blue eyes, her blonde hair was short and tied in a small ponytail that barely reached her neck, she wore a dark red shirt with a black jacket, some necklaces with dark pants and brown boots.

Leni Loud was the second eldest sister in her family, fair-skinned and light-eyed, blonde with long hair reaching halfway down her back, with a pair of sunglasses placed there and pink earrings, she wore a stylish pink jacket with a white shirt and gray shorts, with light sneakers

Luna Loud was another of the Loud sisters, she too was fair-skinned with a few freckles on her face, her brown hair was covered by a gray beanie, she was wearing a dark leather jacket, a blue shirt with her band's name on it, and she was also wearing simple shorts with dark shoes and long black socks that went halfway down her thigh.

“Girls.” Mr. Loud offered all the newcomers their mugs, instead of being different drinks, they were just coffees with whipped cream and three blocks of sugar scorched on each one.

“Thanks, Dad.” Lori slumped in her chair as she drank all the coffee quickly in a few sips. Leni and Luan moved their mugs away from Lori as cautiously as possible, taking small sips from their own mugs.

“...Mr. Ronpo, how are you? Have you found a karp to adopt and take up the waterfall?” Luan laughed at his own joke while the others ignored it. “Oh come on, that's a good one! I had to research legends about dragons to come up with that one!”

“As much as I find your jokes quite...creative, I don't think they're as funny as they used to be.” Ronpo clearly saw a saddened aura around Luan. “But well, they're still funny and...”

“Don't encourage her, then we're the ones who have to put up with her attempts at new jokes.” Ronnie Annie spoke calmly, but anyone who paid a little more attention would have noticed a slight plea in her voice. Lucy, who was standing next to her, just snorted in agreement.

“Aren't Lynn and Sid here yet? They're usually the first to arrive.” Luna looked around the room for the two.

“Lynn said she was going to be late, something to do with Lincoln.” Lori explained with a small worried frown, something her sisters and father shared when they heard the reason.

“Lincoln...Oh, yes! Your brother.” Ronpo squinted, trying to remember the only boy in the Loud family who had ever been a recurring topic with the Louds. “How's his health? You always say that he seems to have been up and down ever since we met.” 

Ronpo still remembers the times he's had to hear about the unique and curious condition of the Loud family's middle brother.

“Well, he recently had a slight relapse, but on the whole, everything is fine...” Mr. Loud sighed as he looked at his darkened reflection in the coffee in his hands.

“Wait a second, what's this about his health being bad?” Ronnie Annie asked, suddenly standing up and looking at the Louds.

“Yeah, why are we only hearing about it now?” Stella asks with narrowed eyes, crossing her arms as Clyde nods beside her.

“You didn't know? You're always hanging out with him.” Leni kept her gaze neutral in the midst of the three's doubts.

“...I moved to Great Lakes, it's hard to keep in touch.” Ronnie Annie mumbled, putting her hands in her pockets and looking away.

“I haven't hung out with him in a while, actually... Since I became a ranger and my job as student council leader, I've hardly had any time to hang out with our group of friends.” Stella looked away, rubbing her arm with a guilty expression, remembering the incident with Chandler and Lincoln earlier.

“Same with me, baseball practice and games are taking up too much of my time.” Clyde sighed as he dropped his now empty mug into the cup holder on his chair.

“Then you can settle up with my brother...” Looking at the doorway, Lisa appeared in her baggy green pants and gold vest under a lab coat.

Lisa Loud was one of the youngest sisters in the Loud family, which was reflected in her size as well, being one of the shortest in the group, with pale skin, large glasses under her eyes, with short, messy brown hair tangled all over the place.

“Now we have more important things to deal with. Like the monsters' new modus operandi.” He moved his hands across the newly erected holographic panels on the table. The filming of the monsters began.

“Hold on four eyes, don't change the subject, what's happening with Lincoln? And you can't start until we've all gathered, Lynn and Sid are still missing.” Interrupts Ronnie Annie with a scowl directed at the girl.

“I'll talk to them later, it's not like it's the first time this has happened. Now we should focus on something more urgent and worrying.” Without taking her eyes off the screen, Lisa constantly zoomed in on key moments in the battle. “First I think I'll start with the obvious. The monsters are getting stronger, of course, it's not a big problem for us during the fights, but it's an added difficulty when they decide to attack cities again.”

However begrudgingly, Ronnie Annie, along with Clyde and Stella, decided to focus on filming their fights early. Coincidentally, Sid arrived at that very moment, Sid was panting as he leaned on his knees.

“Sorry I took so long, I was at the P.R.O.F... have we gone over something I should know about?” Sid, still panting, sat down in his chair and relaxed his back on the cushions. Sid was a slightly pale-skinned girl with brown hair down to just above the nape of her neck. Her clothes were red jeans with a slightly baggy black belt, a yellow cropped T-shirt under a black denim vest, and on her feet, a pair of equally yellow high-top sneakers.

Lisa didn't respond verbally, just stared at Sid for a few moments before sighing and turning her attention to the screen showing Shishi red, Houou soldier, Tenbin golder and Washi pink facing off against various infantry monsters in a Royal Woods park. 

“As you can see, this fight in Royal Woods was easy, we only had a few infantry monsters against them, but we didn't have any of the stronger ones show up. That alone was strange, since Emperor Episanari isn't one to spare his forces in an attack, but they didn't seem to want to face us, before we arrived they weren't even destroying anything, but rather looking for something.” Lisa pressed a button showing a recording from before the battle, which now showed the monsters running around the park and searching through bushes, garbage cans and toilets, looking increasingly frustrated.

“And that's not all... If you look at this other footage at the port and Great Lakes, you'll notice that the pattern repeats itself before we arrive.” With that two new screens appear showing how the monsters seemed to be conducting an extensive search of the locations before engaging in combat with the rangers, but instead of being focused on fighting they seemed to be running away more than fighting.

“Wait a minute Lisa, aren't they too far away to be a single search party? Great Lakes is a good distance from the first group there.” Ronnie Annie squinted as she thought more deeply. “Looking at it from that angle, then maybe they don't have an exact search point.”

“That's what I thought... it doesn't really make sense for that to have happened, the distance between the groups is too great.” Lisa reflected with a frown, looking at the locations of the fight before letting out a sigh when she realized how animated Sid had now become, the younger girl removed her glasses while rubbing her eyes with her other hand, preparing herself for what she was about to say. “What did your virtual boyfriend theorize this time Sid?”

“First of all, he's not my boyfriend yet.” Sid pointed at Lisa with a critical eye

“If you say so...” muttered Ronnie Annie, rolling her eyes and ignoring her best friend's gaze, who then continued talking.

“Anyway, he just thinks it's something as big as a person, or even. But when he left, the rest of the chat took his note, myself included, and we compared it to the searches. And well, it looks like he's really close, look at the recordings of the most popular spots.” Sid began to use the holographic keyboard in front of him, and once again played back the recordings, this time with the approximate images of the monsters.

“Closets... closed off but still wide enough for someone to pass through...” Clyde concentrated on the monsters opening any door that appeared in front of them

“The ceiling beams and inside holes...” Mr. Lynn zoomed in on the paused recording on his own holographic monitor in front of him. “They're not looking for something big like a person. They're looking for a person.”

“A person? That's new.” Ronpo found this curious, resting his chin on the palm of his hand, Ronpo pondered what they were looking for.

“But... why?” Stella turned to Lisa, as did everyone else. “Any idea why?”

“That's a good question and...”

Suddenly an alarm echoed through the room they were in, startling them, at the same time as a red light flashed around them, making everyone widen their eyes and turn to Lisa, who pressed a button that made a new screen appear.

This time they saw several of the enemy soldiers gathered together, but next to them was a larger monster with several tentacles on its shoulders as well as parts of marine predators ordering the soldiers to look around a kind of destroyed warehouse.

“But already? That's the third time today!” Lori shouted, grabbing her hair as her face molded into an angry scowl.

“Yes, but... why are they in the warehouse area? And why are they only in a destroyed warehouse?” Lisa asks with narrowed eyes, but she sighs before looking at the people with her. “Any news about Lynn? She might be useful now... her powers of luck are something we can't ignore with a Xenokotite like that.”

“I'm already in touch with her, you can go!” Ronpo ordered as he typed furiously on his own keyboard, with an image of Lynn running, already transformed towards the warehouse as she touched a button on her helmet.

"Be quick about it! My luck works with allies, not solo, so you know what will happen if I go alone!" Lynn informed via her communicator, sent to the base's speakers.

"Get ready!" Lisa exclaimed as she raised her left arm to reveal a red and blue digital watch before inserting her thumb into the screen, which began to emanate a golden glow that intensified when she withdrew her hand.

At that moment the device was covered by the light and expanded to form an even larger bracelet that looked like a red gun with a star in the middle with a large black strap that remained on Lisa's wrist. The girl took out her kyutama, a golden sphere with a silver base that extended to the top, and turned the sphere to reveal the constellation of Libra.

"Tenbin Kyutama."

Lisa then inserted her kyutama into the star and gave it a push forward before moving her arm, pointing the tip of her bracelet at the ground and with her other hand held the holster of her gun.

"Star change."

With that she fired, causing a golden light to surround her and small points of light to appear around her, similar to the stars that soon formed a design, it was the constellation of Libra. The image approached her and in a flash formed a golden uniform with silver details and a dark golden breastplate, with a helmet with a visor in the shape of the Libra scales.

After that, everyone else did the same thing with their watches changing to a Power Ranger shape, except for Lori and Mr. Loud who brought out their cell phones, pressing one button causing the devices to be covered in a flaming aura and the other by a purple light before changing shape.

In Lori's hands was a shield with a sword in it, crimson in color with a metal frame with a design of a phoenix with its wings spread, Mr. Loud on the other hand, now had a walking stick with a golden dragon's head on top. The two of them promptly took out their kyutamas, inserting them into their morphers.

"Houou kyutama."

"Ryu kyutama."

"Star change." Announced Lori removing the sword from the shield, with some flames coming out of the weapon, circling harmlessly around her.

"Garyo tensei!" Mr. Loud raised his cane as the dragon's eyes began to emanate a purple glow before it hit the ground creating a few sparks.

At that moment, several stars appeared around them until they formed the constellations of the phoenix and the dragon which made their bodies glow before the stars moved towards them revealing their uniforms.

The same process happened with the others in the room, and soon all the humans ran to the transporters while Ronpo took a chair in the center of the table, which opened, with one of the panels opening and making room for a green display. He quickly picked it up and put it on. "I'll inform the police while I take care of the drones and check for people nearby, you already know what to do. Go, my stars!"

Arriving at the transporters, the Rangers let out a war cry, confirming Ronpo's order. They quickly disappear in a beam of light and appear on the roof of a small building, with a view of the warehouse a few meters away. Wasting no time, everyone runs quickly to stop the threat as they watch four pairs of golden drones advancing in front of them in the sky. Little do they realize that after this attack, the whole situation they've been dealing with for two years will be completely different from before.

"Staying at home, humpf! You'd think..." He muttered as he pedaled his bike along the empty sidewalk of the warehouse district. Lincoln liked it there. It was quiet most of the time, and he almost always had a way in without having to rely on the entrance street, which, by the way, was unnecessarily protected by three pairs of security guards. 'Wasn't this city supposed to get smaller with constant monster attacks?'

Throwing his question to the winds, Lincoln stowed his bike in a bush while lifting the hood of his sweatshirt and putting a paper mask over his mouth. Crouching down, he passed through a large hole in the wire fence and began to ride freely.

He used to worry about the guards at the site, but he realized that they didn't really care that he was there, of course as long as he didn't go where he wasn't supposed to, he had already memorized which areas he shouldn't even consider going near.

Finally spotting a large spray paint hazard on the back wall of one of the warehouses, Lincoln jumped into the trash barrel and used it once again to climb onto the roof of that warehouse.

"Let's see how long I can stay cool before Jason comes to kick me out of here." The sarcasm in Lincoln's voice had a tinge of amusement as he remembered the times the same guard always showed up to ask him to remove himself from the rooftops of the district.

The minutes passed, and became hours. Now Lincoln was playing on his portable console that he had brought in his backpack, totally focused on his game, until...

"Shit, I forgot to charge it before I came here!" Grumbling, Lincoln put his laptop away in his backpack, checking the time on his watch. Lincoln was already getting up and ready to leave, but as soon as he took the headset out of his ears, he heard strange noises. "What's that?"

Lincoln turned towards the source of the noises as he pondered whether or not to go and see what they were. Shrugging, he climbed down from the roof and walked towards the noise.

The closer he got, the louder the sound got, Lincoln didn't like it, but his curiosity was taking over at the moment. Climbing onto one last roof, he approached the edge, and he didn't like what he saw.

A battle between the Power Rangers and the monsters in what was supposed to be another warehouse, he could see that most of the rangers were dealing with ordinary infantrymen, but Shishi, Huouo, Ryu, and Sasori were fighting one of the larger monsters, which was attacking them with its tentacles.

Sasori and Huouo were keeping the tentacles busy with the scorpion tail and sword while Ryu was shooting with his sniper hybrid cane, while Shishi was taking the lead, facing the monster in hand-to-hand combat.

"I need to get out of here!" Stepping off the edge of the roof, Lincoln only had time to take three steps before an infantryman fell in front of him, apparently shot. Lincoln stood motionless, watching the monster's body, missing its tail as he turned it around as slowly as possible. And then, the alien soldier opened his eye, and moved it towards Lincoln. "..."

"..."

"...oh shit." Lincoln jumped onto the roof as he saw the infantryman almost grab him by the leg. He then began to run and jump as fast as he could across the rooftops in front of him.

To the misfortune of the only Loud boy, the infantryman was right behind him. "Hey hey hey! Why are you behind me?! The rangers are back there!"

Lincoln jumped over garbage cans, garbage cans, piles of boxes and even fire escape ladders as he tried to outrun the monster that insisted on chasing him. It seemed that his body had decided to help him this time, since his weakness and shortness of breath were not present during his jumps and landings...at least until he missed a jump and hit his chest on the ledge of the warehouse, falling into the garbage can and rolling to the ground.

"Oh...fuck." Lincoln mumbled as he squeezed his sore chest.

But there was no time to lament, after all, the monster had caught up with him. Lincoln crawled away from the monster, but didn't gain much ground, and it wasn't long before the monster grabbed him by the arm and lifted him up to come face to face with him.

Lincoln was terrified, his face paler than ever, in front of him was his invitation to the other side of life, dressed up as an alien creature.

His whole body was trembling with the knowledge of his fate, his body hair had been standing on end for ages, his eyes were crying out for a way out of this situation while his heart was beating fast... much faster than it should have been. 

His blood was heating up and circulating even faster inside him, Lincoln's right eye began to flash fiercely as it took on a yellow-orange color. His held arm began to mutate. A bark-like armored shell grew to take the place of his skin, in a predominantly black pattern, with a blue second layer, while his hand acquired a white scaly texture, replacing his nails with elongated claws.

And in one electric pulse, the monster let go of Lincoln to avoid being cut by the armor on the boy's arm. The boy's gaze was no longer that of a cornered prey desperate for a way out, but an inconsistent, practically instinctive look, not turning away from the creature in front of him while a savage growl was emitted by the boy, his teeth already pure white fangs, shining even in the absence of light directed at them, along with the drool dripping uncontrollably from his mouth.

Suddenly, Lincoln disappeared, causing the monster to open its eyes wide before spitting purple blood as it noticed that he had now lost one of his arms. Slowly the creature turned around and noticed Lincoln standing there, holding the missing appendage with his monstrous arm.

The boy growled before a few sparks flew out of his hand, causing his arm to explode with a shockwave that caused a slight tremor.

The monster grunted, but then began to run, not noticing how its body glowed orange. Looking back, he saw the boy, now with his arm stretched out behind him, as if waiting for just the right moment to advance on the monster, and when the monster tripped over its own foot, that was the moment the boy thought was perfect. With a dash, Lincoln was already ahead of the monster.

Time slowed down for the infantryman, in front of him, the world no longer existed, it was just a big, empty black space, while Lincoln was a colossal giant, his eyes glowing, totally free of his iris or pill. As the blow descended towards the monster, he had a very familiar feeling, it was a unique sensation that he would never forget or even feel the same. It was an authoritarianism that he had only felt once in his life, when he was made a soldier at his training colony.

"I salute you, young prince..."

These were the last words uttered by the monster when he felt the blow hit him. He felt no pain, let alone the impact, his body no longer existed for him to receive that sensation, since he had been dismantled, along with everything behind him. The shockwave from the impact traveled far, and continued on its way.

"Time to end this!" Shishi Red announces, raising his sword as the blade begins to glow red.

"Regulus impact."

The girl smiled under her helmet, ready to unleash the last attack when suddenly, everything stopped, a strange sensation permeated the battlefield, causing her and everyone else present to stop fighting, looking around in confusion and caution. Shishi Red slowly lowered his sword with the red hue disappearing.

"What the hell is that?" 

A few moments later, a sound was heard, it sounded like the sound of a wall being demolished, but it hadn't stopped, the sound kept repeating itself, louder and louder, until a few seconds later, Shishi Red felt his hair stand on end, jumping to the side, startled by what he saw happening in front of him.

The warehouse behind the monsters simply imploded as if something giant had punched it, and then all the monsters were cut down by what seemed to have been a shockwave, the monsters had no chance to even think about running away, and their bodies were all destroyed in an explosion of purple blood, while the remains glowed and took the form of eggs.

The trail of destruction in front of the Rangers was something they found astonishing. The large amount of dust kicked up made it difficult for the other Rangers to recognize them.

"RED! RED?! ARE YOU THERE?!" Ryu commander shouted through the smoke, looking for Shishi Red.

Shishi Red groaned, brushing the dirt off her, her previously bright red uniform was now covered in dirt having taken the shine off it, but one thing that surprised her was a crack in her helmet, something that had never happened since she agreed to become a ranger.

"Here!" Warned the girl before coughing a little as she stood up with difficulty, thankful for her luck, it was probably what had saved her from whatever had happened.

"What the fuck?" Sasori Orange watched with wide eyes from under his helmet, all the destruction caused in front of them.

"Kajiki! Sasori! Come with me, let's see what caused this! Oushi, talk to Ronpo to see what happened from the drones. You do the same for the cameras, Tebin!" Ookami Blue put his initial shock aside as he ran up and ordered the group, everyone soon obeying as the rest followed Ookami Blue and split up halfway, looking for anyone who might be nearby.

However, what none of them noticed was a figure in the air staring at them, with a pair of dark wings keeping it in the air with a long cloak covering it with a hood up. The figure suddenly lurched forward at high speed towards the smoke, drawing the attention of the rangers who saw only a blur as it entered the smoke before leaving almost at the same time, carrying something in its arms.

"Washi Pink, go after that!" Ookami Blue, shouted to Washi Pink in the distance, who spread her wings and took off, only for the figure, in a flutter of wings, to force Washi pink back to the ground, falling and dragging her back on the already destroyed ground.

"Washi!" Hebitsukai ran towards her fallen companion, while the rest either continued on their way, or stopped to help Washi Pink.

The figure continued flying away until it reached a wooded area and walked over to a bench hidden among the trees and a small pond, where it revealed that it was holding Lincoln, with his arm still transformed and the entire sleeve of his arm missing.

She calmly laid Lincoln down on a bench and removed the hood revealing it to be a monster, a head full of feathers with a face like a bird's bone mask with glowing red eyes and purple sclera.

"I can't believe it, after 15 long years..." Murmured the creature as its body began to change a layer of human skin began to cover its face, a human face appearing along with long white hair. "I've finally found you..."

She ran her fingers through Lincoln's white hair, a tender, loving tone in her voice as she spoke the next words.

"My dear son."

Chapter Text

Once again, on the moon base, there were the rangers, now all in the infirmary, while Ronpo tended to Lynn, putting some bandages on her forehead.

“I told you, I'm fine, I may have been caught short and left with a cut on my forehead, but I'm fine!” Lynn complained as Ronpo ignored Lynn's statements.

“I'd even take your words as a final act, but the fact that a shockwave, even after traveling such a long way, was able to break your helmet and damage you, leaves me only with the option of leaving you with at least a bandage.”

Ronpo pulled out an x-ray panel and placed it in front of Lynn. Seeing if there was any more damage that Lynn might not have noticed or felt.

With the group furthest away from the two, leaning on the walls or sitting on stretchers, were the Rangers. Lynn hadn't seen them earlier, but after everything cooled down, she saw that she wasn't the only one who had been hit by the shockwave. Almost everyone was hit by the mysterious wave. Some more than others.

“So... any idea what that was all about?” Leni asked her colleagues, as she got up from the stretcher she was lying on with her back up, with Luna, who was rubbing an analgesic ointment on her back.

“What thing? The shockwave, the monster that flew away, or the violent slap in the face?” Ronnie Annie raised an eyebrow. Lucy elbowed her lightly in the ribs. Ronnie groaned as Lucy's blow hit the bandages under her sweatshirt.

“We can already rule out that it was that monster who made the wave, he came from the opposite direction of the destructive trail.” Clyde took a holographic screen out of his pocket and showed the recording of the drones.

“Man, getting the eggs in that smoke was annoying...”  Sid groaned in frustration at the memory of having to scour most of the warehouses. “There were a few that were thrown away by the shockwave.”

“I still think we left some behind...” Stella frowned as she looked down at her hands, she had a small bandage on her left cheek. 

“Unfortunately, we can't do anything about that now.” Lisa commented, walking through the ward with a small plaster on her arm. “Our paternal unit has already agreed to offer an apology to our maternal unit about our injuries, the cover story is that he was taking a new shortcut when the explosion occurred and we were all with him.”

The Loud sisters nod distractedly, having expected something like this from Lisa when she started calling her father her paternal unit, it was something she only did when she was stressed. Unfortunately, this would bring other problems for the other rangers in the room, not all of whom could come up with an excuse like this to get out of trouble.

“And what do you recommend? Or rather, what should I say when I get home?” Ronnie Annie asked with a scowl as she stood up and showed the bandages on her right leg. “It's easy to make excuses for your arms, it's hard to make one for your leg. I can just wear pants until I take them off, but the chances of them catching me changing the bandages are high.

“I'm fine, it's just a scratch on my back and...ah, Clyde's all right.” Sid shrugged as Clyde looked at his messages on his cell phone.

“Huh?”

“How come you didn't get hit by that? You were literally behind one of the monsters.” Mr. Loud asked genuinely curious.

“Luck, maybe?” Clyde scratched his neck at the envious looks of his intact feat.

“Talk about luck. Just don't steal my catchphrase, it's my trademark!” Lynn joked with a wry smile as she stood up and did some light stretching. “Now, I just want to go home, have a nice hot bath, and go to sleep. Today has been a busy day.”

“Full on, three strikes in one day, two wins and a draw... does that count as a hat-trick?” Luan put his chin between the fingers of his hand, getting into a thoughtful pose.

“That wasn't a draw. Technically we weren't beaten...although we let one of them get away.” Luna was bitter about this result. “When was the last time we let one of them get away? Months?”

“Six months ago.” Ronpo, in front of a monitor and with his back to the others, they couldn't see his frown.

In fact, they were very competent and were used to working as a team by now, with few defeats or enemies escaping. That's why this last battle came as such a surprise to Ronpo; the unknown explosion was something to worry about, especially with the damage it had caused to his young pupils.

“You can go home, I'll be investigating exactly what that energy was. It's familiar to me in a way, but I can't say where it came from... any guesses, Lisa?” Ronpo waited for an answer from the younger woman, but all he got was a barely suppressed sigh as she kept her eyes on the monitor, watching different angles of the security cameras.

“...Unfortunately, yes.” Lisa spoke up, making everyone stare at her, noticing how apprehensive she looked looking at her cell phone. “I've just received the results from the drones we sent to investigate the site of the explosion, they detected a strong indication of energy corresponding to the void.”

Lisa's words made the others pay attention to the revelation, especially Ronpo, who now seemed to have his scales paled by the response.

“Wait, the void? You don't mean it's the...” Stella began fearfully.

“No, he wouldn't appear like that...and that's also weak compared to what he usually does...it just makes everything more worrying...” Ronpo reached for a handkerchief as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“Besides, we're still alive, if it had been Emperor Episanari, he would surely have gone to kill us.” Lori frowned as she put her hand on Lucy's shoulder, who seemed startled by the news.

“Don't even remind me, I still have nightmares about the first time I saw that monster.” Clyde couldn't help but shudder as he remembered that battle.

The memory of that battle haunted them all to this day, that single blow, a single clawing blow in the air, almost killing them all. The deep wounds, their blurred visions struggling to stay awake, the metallic smell of their blood and what was once a small Argentine town, was now nothing but ruins.

“We survived by luck...a lot of luck.” Clyde rubbed his neck, that ghostly pain still present in his memories.

“We're only still here because Luan and Leni's kyutamas chose them. If it weren't for that, we wouldn't even be here anymore...” Lynn's fists were clenched as she lay on the stretcher while her mind sank into her complete defeat.

“Don't be like that. That was when we had four months as Rangers, today is different. It's two years of combat experience from twelve different warriors. We were only taken by surprise this time, there won't be a next time!” Lori exclaimed as she raised a shaky smile to her face. She was trying to lift everyone's spirits... trying.

“...Don't get so confident.” Ronpo scolded in a low tone as he leaned on the table. “Remember what I taught you. Confidence is good, but never let it go to your head, it's what killed the previous Kyurangers, my battle brothers and sisters.”

“Enough, Ronpo. You don't have to torture yourself with these memories to teach them a lesson. Lori is trying to cheer us up.” Mr. Loud put his arm around Ronpo's shoulder in a reassuring way.

“I apologize.” Ronpo turned to face the current Kyurangers. “I'm just worried about the presence of the void on Earth, since, as you know, last time it wasn't a pretty sight. Anyway, you should go home and rest now, I'm going to investigate Lisa's data and try to find out what happened in that warehouse before the patrol got there.”

Everyone nods as Mr. Lynn's phone starts ringing, causing the man to raise an eyebrow when he sees that it's his wife, Rita Loud, calling. Without worrying too much, he promptly answered it while the other rangers tried to relax before heading home.

“Hello, dear? Don't worry, we're near the port, but everything's fine, we've already talked to some doctors and we should be heading home soon.” Assures Mr. Lynn.

"That's good to hear, dear, but have you seen Lincoln?! He's gone!" Rita shouted down the phone as loudly as she could.

“...What?” asked Mr. Lynn with wide eyes.

"I've been calling him all afternoon, but he's not answering. In fact, you're not even answering your phone! I've been calling you non-stop!"

“What!?” Mr. Lynn's shout caused the others to turn to him, noticing the man's shocked and frightened look.

“Eh, something wrong, pops?” Luna asked, looking at her father a little worriedly.

“Lincoln.” Mr. Loud put his cell phone away as he picked up his kyutama.

“What's wrong with Lincoln!” Lynn Jr. quickly got out of bed, and approached his father. “Has his condition worsened?!”

“...He's disappeared, his mother can't reach him.” Mr. Lynn slowly hung up the phone while his daughters' eyes widened as Lynn Jr let go of him and took a few steps back.

Suddenly she pulled out her kyutama, inserting it into the morph.

“Shishi kyutama.”

“Star change!” Lynn exclaimed, firing the morph forward as she began to run, covered by the Shishi Red costume. Everyone was stunned to see how she left the infirmary doors, probably running towards the teleport room.

“Everyone follow junior's example!” Mr. Lynn does the same as his daughter, and runs after her, seeing everyone else doing the same. He stops and points at Lisa. “Lisa, you stay here. Help Ronpo look for his brother through the cameras and the drones!” 

Lisa frowned, but nodded slightly bitterly at her father's order, not complaining considering it was to help find her brother. Running alongside Ronpo into the central room, the two of them were already pulling up several monitors showing various locations in the Royal Woods.

“What's your brother like? What should I look for?” Ronpo asked, turning to the monitors.

“White hair that goes down to just above the nape of his neck, about 1.70 tall, he's always wearing heavy clothes like a yellow thermal sweatshirt!” Lisa didn't even turn around as she gave a description of Lincoln to Ronpo, who nodded and started sending the drones across the late afternoon sky of Royal Woods.

“How exotic~” joked Ronpo as he started checking out the main streets. “I'll check the busiest streets and stores, you take the alleys and clean streets.”

Lisa nodded and snorted in agreement, her focused and busy eyes going over each camera as she commandeered a few drones.

The others were now arriving back in the city by teleport. Leni wasted no time and took off while the others split up and took their distance from each other. Everyone continued on their way with only one thought in mind: to find Lincoln.

(Scene break.)

Lincoln didn't know what had happened, he didn't remember what had happened, but now he was just confused.

He was nothing, nothing but a pair of floating eyes in a large empty space that constantly changed from blue to red. In front of him were two things that he was trying to understand what each meant. A bright blue human silhouette, and facing it, a monstrous red silhouette with a large tail that looked fuzzy.

Both silhouettes were in a confrontation, both with their hands clasped as they tried to push each other, every time one took the slightest advantage, the void took on its color, and when both were equal, the space turned white.

Each blink made him less tired, the first time his vision cleared a little, the second time the space began to shatter, the third time his eyes became cloudy, and the fourth time he was no longer in that strange place. Now he was on a bench in the middle of the city park.

He knew this place, he used to come here to be alone to rest and clear his mind when there were problems at home. But now, alone was all he was not. After all, he was lying on the lap of a woman who was looking at him with a nostalgic smile.

Lincoln found her hair strange. It was short, but still had a ponytail on her shoulder that came down a little above her heart. It was white, but had a brighter tone than his own, which he found surprising, there were few he had seen have this hair advantage over him. He also noticed that the inside, along with a few strands, were a pale blue.

The woman had somewhat pale skin, but not as pale as him now, quite similar to him before he fell ill. Her eyes were a deep blue, as deep as the sea. Lincoln only found two things strange about the woman's face.

'The eyes looked like drops... wait, is that an ahoge? ' Lincoln focused on the woman's raised lock of hair. She was still staring at him in silence.

“Uh...hello?” Lincoln tried not to look worried, after all, he'd been in the warehouses running from a monster before. And now he was in the city's secret bank while a stranger stroked his hair. He wasn't just worried, he also had a certain fear in his chest.

“Hello!” He greeted the woman with such a happy smile that it surprised Lincoln; no one, not even his parents, could show such emotion when they smiled at him.

He could only think of one thing.

'I need to get away from here... this isn't normal. Lincoln tried to stand up, but his body felt heavy.

“You don't have to worry, no one will hurt you while I'm here.” The woman's assurance was so calm and confident that it surprised Lincoln, it was as if she was stating a fact.

The assurance that no one would hurt him scared the only Loud boy even more, this was far from normal for him. His mind flashed back to a specific lesson when police officers went to the Royal Woods schools to warn them what to do in the event of a kidnapping due to a wave of disappearances that happened three years ago. He had to take out his cell phone and send his location to as many people as possible, and call emergency with key words.

He had to do it... but he didn't want to.

He didn't know why, but the words and presence of the woman in front of him calmed him in an unknown way. He didn't know who she was, but here he was, believing her while ignoring the logic of what he should do in this kind of event. His brain screamed at him to do something, but his instincts and heart responded with reassurance and affection.

The woman smiled, running her hands through Lincoln's hair affectionately, further calming the boy's inner conflict. 

“I can't believe that after so many years I've finally found you... But I wish it had been sooner, not with you unlocking your bloodline for a weaker worm.” Suddenly the woman's tone turns hateful at the end, not directed at him, but at something else.

And strangely, this only made Lincoln feel safer with her.

Finding the woman's words in front of him strange. He tried to stand up once more, but he still felt heavy, his arm felt much heavier than it should...and then he looked at his arm.

His blood ran cold as his eyes shrank into an almost transparent point. His arm wasn't normal, it looked like giant shells, black, blue and white. Rolling on the ground and falling away from the woman, Lincoln leaned on the tree next to him to get up, he looked at his arm more closely, it was now much more than normal size, not only was it like that, but it reached his knees and pulled all his weight onto it.

Lincoln was hyperventilating as he tried to pull the bark off with his normal hand, failing miserably as he continued to try to pull whatever it was off, his hand and fingernails were already bleeding from the accidental cuts due to his desperation. Lincoln could feel his eyes moistening as he was in his panic attack.

“Careful, you haven't fully matured yet, my baby.” The woman held him calmly, not seeming to mind his arm or the orange aura that seemed to emanate from the boy.

“Back off!” Lincoln shouted, not noticing the aura intensifying around him. The tree he was leaning on was slowly starting to decay without him realizing it.

“There's no need to worry, darling, I wouldn't abandon you for the world, especially now.” The woman smiled gently at Lincoln, pulling him away from the tree that had fallen on the other side. “I've been looking for you for 15 long years, it's not going to be something like your power that's going to take me away from you. What kind of mother would I be if I didn't accept every characteristic of my son?”

“What are you talking about?! You're not my mother! Who are you?! What's happening to me?!” Lincoln shouted as he pulled away from her and fell to the ground, crawling away while still holding on to her black arm, it was weighing him down and hindering his failed and desperate attempt to escape.

The woman smiled at him as she suddenly began to change from before Lincoln's eyes, her human form becoming bird-like, with a pair of dark wings appearing on her back. She calmly approached him before kneeling down, taking both of the boy's hands, helping him to his feet, noticing how he seemed to stare at her in surprise and fright.

“I am Berivun, Duchess of the great Xenokotita empire, and I am your mother. What you're going through now is our primary stage of maturation. It's our natural process, there's no need to worry.” Berivun explains calmly, holding Lincoln and looking into his eyes with affection and concern. “I don't have any physical proof, but you know, just like me, you can feel it, can't you? The bond between us, the bond that only a mother and son can feel.”

“...What the hell is this shit.” Lincoln muttered as he slowly pulled his hands from Berivun's grip, once again being pulled down by his arm, but now standing up. “What exactly are you...what's going on?!” Lincoln was still terrified, a monster was in front of him. 

Worse, a monster that could take on human form that claimed to be his mother was standing in front of him. That's not something he can handle.

“I'm a Xenokotite, just like you, or rather, part of you. Your father was a human, so you must have lived as a human for most of your life.” Explains Berivun, picking up his wings. “You're maturing, but not in a good way. That war worm started the process when it touched you, and possibly the fear of dying started the first stage of maturing in a forced way. But for us, it's the parents who start the process due to genetic matching, so if you want I can fix what that worm did.”

“...what the fuck is a xenobo...xenokoji...xeno...that name.” Lincoln was still apprehensive, this was too much information for his poor head to process at this dreadful moment.

“A Xenokotite, dear. It's the name of our species... What would your name be, anyway? Have you chosen one yet?” The monster woman seemed strangely excited to discover his name.

“My name is Lincoln. That's the name... my mother gave me?” Lincoln was trying to be careful with his words, he didn't know how he should respond to this situation.

“What!?” The woman suddenly exclaimed, her calm appearance changing to a wild one with her feathers becoming blade-like. “Someone chose your name for you! But what about your elements?! What does your name mean? And if it doesn't match your elements... Your father had agreed that we should follow the tradition of my people for your name.”

Lincoln backed away frightened by Berivun's sudden outburst, cowering on the ground while using his normal arm to try and protect any part of himself.

“I'm sorry about that... Lincoln, I didn't mean to scare you... it's my fault. I should never have hidden you, I should have found a way to kill our pursuers.” The woman wails as she sits down against a tree, hiding her face with her hands.

“What...what are you talking about?” Lincoln's trembling voice was full of doubt. “Do you...do you know my father?”

“Your real father, not the human who took his place. He was such a strange human, but so kind, caring, resourceful and intelligent, always having a plan for everything...creating so many ideas to make me smile, he planned a whole future for us.” Berivun seemed to be immersed in memories with a light but melancholy tone.

“That's...strangely relatable...” Lincoln was gradually calming down, his heart was still beating fast, and he certainly wasn't going to get any more sleep tonight.

“...Do you make plans too?” The monster woman turned to him, this time her monstrous features were no longer scaring him, but having the opposite effect, he was calmer.

“I’m...Lincoln Loud, the man with a plan...If you have a problem, call the white Loud.” Lincoln repeated what they used to say about him back in the day, even today they still call him that.

“Oh dear, I imagine you must have had a lot of adventures to have a nickname like that, a lot of plans and ambitions.” The woman commented as Lincoln sat next to her hugging his legs, while looking at his transformed hand.

“More than I'd like to admit... Living with 12 people in one house isn't easy.” Sighing, Lincoln now scratched the white skin on his arm. This conversation is strangely pleasant and comforting for him. “What's left for me to do is...adapt, I guess.”

“Yes, it's something I imagine will be difficult... there was a time when I lived with hundreds of our relatives in the castle on our home planet.” Confesses the woman wistfully, smiling at Lincoln. “Adapting is part of living as a family... How I wish I could have lived with you and your father.”

“I'm sorry but... I'm still having doubts about you being my mother. Even though that...feeling you said was true, I...I just can't believe it right now. Fuck, I can't believe I'm staying calm with my arm all weird like that!” Lincoln tried to move his black arm, it was difficult. Even his fingers were hard to move, he could only shake them.

“...It's okay, Lincoln, I would never blame you for this, not when it's mostly my fault.” The woman declared without noticing as one of her wings moved around Lincoln like a blanket, he thought about warning her about it, but... it was so warm and comfortable, he just leaned closer into the contact of the wing. “Do you want me to do your ripening properly?”

“What happens if I... mature?” Lincoln felt dread move into his heart at Berivun's question.

“You would have your Xenokotite form unlocked and would be able to switch between it and your human form like me. As well as being able to access your three elements.” 

“Okay, okay. Okay...what exactly is a Xenikotite? Monster...alien...whatever”

“Eh...imagine a species of human from an alternate reality, but with the ability to transform into monsters by being closer to our inner elements. We came to this reality after the old one began to self-destruct, almost five millennia ago.” Reveals Berivun as he returns to his human form.

“...how's that for a story? Alternate reality?! Does that even exist?!”

“Believe me, I didn't believe it either for a long time. Until my great-grandmother explained more and showed me the portal on our home planet... or what was left of the portal. Honestly, that was the explanation I was given and I wasn't even born then... I wasn't born until almost five hundred years later.” Berivun shrugged in a way that Lincoln couldn't help but recognize was exactly how he did it.

“Damn, science fiction stops being fiction every day...WAIT, HOW MANY YEARS?!” Lincoln turned to his mother's face faster than he could remember. Did she look younger than five hundred years? Yes, but she looked absurdly older. She barely seemed to be in her twenty-sixth year.

“We Xenokotites have great vitality and are, in a way, immortal, even if we die we can come back some time later.” Berivun smiles at his son's surprise.

“...so that's why you want to conquer the planet! You're suffering from overcrowding!” Lincoln instinctively raised his black arm, only to realize that his strength let him fall back to the ground and open a small hole with his fist. “...Ignore that. But back to the point, that's why, isn't it! Your planet can no longer support your population, right?!”

“Yes, you're really clever, you took after your father.”

“But why?! Why conquer the planet?! Wouldn't it be better just to contact us via signals in space? We could help you find a planet to live on. Heck, we've been studying off-world life for decades, we've even got a few planets on the habitation list!” Lincoln pointed accusingly at his mother while his frown deepened. That same aura was starting to emanate from the boy again, but smaller than before, similar to steam. “There's a planet called Super Earth, which is basically our planet, but bigger!”

“Lincoln, why do you think I'm on this planet? I was sent to offer a peace treaty, your father and I got closer thanks to my mission... But the leaders of your race didn't want to help. They hunted us down, killed your father and would almost have killed you if I hadn't hidden you.” Berivun reveals with a scowl. “Normally I could have dealt with them, but I had just given birth to you and I was too weak, all my strength was spent to conceive you in this world.”

“Peace treaty... that sounds very strange to me... it would have leaked out at some point. The existence of life wouldn't be fought, especially with the treaty being offered to us, and not the other way around, what would be the point of an inferior race refusing a treaty from a more evolved race?”

“Lincoln, if there's one thing I've learned about humans, it's their arrogance. So many of their leaders wanted a more one-sided agreement that my people and I would just concede our benefits and they would give almost nothing in return, not to mention those who wanted me to be experimented on or used as a basis for designing weapons against our people.” Berivun sighed wearily, having already had this debate several times while looking for Lincoln. 

“There's something else that brings out the arrogance, think me...Berivun. A race from another planet, picking up our signals in space, not only picking them up, but responding and finding us. We see that they are absurdly more evolved and stronger, to the point where our weaponry is compared to a lump of beans hitting a steel wall, and they offer us a peace treaty! And we seek an attack?! Against an emissary?! This is ridiculous! There's no human arrogance that goes into that! Fear doesn't make you go against it! And how come it wasn't leaked?! Any document of this caliber would at some point be discovered and thrown to the public! That's... that's just... Shit!” Lincoln, once again, was entering a mental conflict, his mind didn't want to, let alone believe in such an act of ignorance against a natural rule of survival. An orange energy began to cover him, resembling bright levitating waves. 

His hands were running all over his head and scratching his hair furiously. Lincoln didn't notice his transformation extending to the left side of his face, half of his face being covered by the same black shell, with a second black elevation originating from his eye and slowly growing into a horn.

Stopping his hands, Lincoln finally felt the new phase of half his face, furiously touching the bark and trying to rip it off once again by its horn. Once again, he was panicking.

“And why does it keep growing?! Shouldn't it be stopping? How can I still see that way if I don't even have an eye anymore?! How do I make it stop?”

“You're maturing inappropriately. But I can help, give me your hands.” Berivun asked, changing into his monster form and spreading his wings as he stood up and held out his hands to him.

Lincoln had no choice but to place his hands on Berivun's, he was desperate to stop his ripening.

Suddenly a feeling of calm came over Lincoln, and at the same time a glow began to cover them both. This time the boy could feel every one of his five senses heightening as well as his body, it was an incredible feeling as if he was in his happiest moment ever.

In addition, Lincoln could feel the bond that Berivun had mentioned earlier, it was unbelievable, he could feel everything she felt for him, her love for him was immeasurable, it was pure... He had never felt so loved before.

Flashes began to pass before his eyes, memories of Berivun, he could see a white castle as she ran through the corridors, gigantic mountains that she flew around, he could see another monster beside her as the two of them sat on thrones side by side. The scenes continued to play out in his mind's eye until he saw a storm unlike any he had ever dreamed of, so strong that it seemed to destroy entire cities.

Lightning struck in bursts, each bang sounding like the impact of an earthquake as the storm approached him, making him close his eyes and let himself be caught up in the storm.

His entire body cracked, emitting light through several cracks. From the cracks, the black bark once again dominated his body, throwing pieces of the crack onto the ground. His entire body was covered in the blackened material, from which more of this substance emerged, but in different colors. His right arm was divided into four colors, the blue layer extending like spikes, with a smaller white secondary layer also forming spikes as it formed from the blue shell. His right side was almost all black, with only a blue top layer forming in a similar way to a blue shin guard.

His left side was already the opposite extreme, his leg bark was already large in size, along with a white coloration, with a third blue layer forming in the center of his natural shield. A tail of full dark orange fur was forming on its body, with half of its fur taking on a pale blue hue. On its back, five black stripes appeared, with its underside displaying a neon red color. The horn of its left eye had already formed, and now the one on its left side was taking shape, growing in blue with a light layer of white extending from it. From his chest, at the divide between blue and black, a slit opened up, giving sight to a pulsating red shell.

In its head, a glow extended from where its eye should be, its bright yellow light reflecting off the blue of its shell.

Lincoln and Berivun separated, the glow fading around them, while the glow still covered the boy. And when the light dispersed in all directions, and revealed Lincoln's form, Berivun felt his eyes widen, as if he had seen this form before.

'That appearance...' Berivun's feathers fluttered and stiffened, his eyes quivering with complete disbelief.

In the next second, a piece of Lincoln's shell cracked off, his mouth split open like teeth, a sigh full of smoke and energy came out. Raising his body upwards, his aura once again covering him, in a brighter orange than before, similar to the sunset, the inside of his mouth glowed, and then, the decree of his existence was born.

RWHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Lincoln roared to the heavens, a large purple beam shot out of his mouth and into the clouds, creating a shockwave that came along with his roar, the air could easily be seen being cut and compressed with his newfound strength.

Lincoln's body went limp, and he then started to fall, but Berivun held him up, seeing how he was completely unconscious, all the power he had shown before gone.

“It's just like him... exactly like him!” Berivun's smile was growing wider than she thought possible. Just as she was about to start looking more closely at her son, her eyes moved to the side.

Berivun could see and hear from a long way off those rangers running towards the park. Looking up at the sky, she noticed that it was already dark

“How long did the ripening stage take? Well, that doesn't matter now. At least it makes it easier to hide in the sky!” Spreading his wings, Berivun lifted Lincoln into his arms with a surprised snort. “He's a bit heavy now...”

Ignoring her son's weight, she flapped her wings as hard and fast as she could across the sky.

—

“You haven't found him through the drones yet?!” The people on the sidewalk could only see a flash of red passing them by. Shishi Red was speeding along on a motorcycle, her eyes scanning the streets in front of and to the sides of her as fast as she could, looking for any indication of resemblance to something Lincoln was wearing today.

“You'd be surprised how many boys matching Lincoln's description there are in Royal Woods. We've already found at least fifteen who match your brother's description.” Ronpo explained to Lynn.

“And it's also complicated when it's only me who's still looking for the cameras and drones!” Tebin Gold's face was contorted into a deep scowl; anyone looking at her now wouldn't think she was a child, but a dwarf working as a chemistry teacher with exams for a hundred students to grade.

“What do you mean you're the only one looking for him?” Ryu Commander, who was leaping across the rooftops, along with Oushi Black, stopped their runs to open their communicators and talk to Ronpo. Even with their helmets on, you can tell that their faces are contorted with rage.

“What the hell are you doing, Ronpo?!” Oushi Black now shouted at Ronpo, while helping Ryu Commander adjust his back.

“I'm looking at the cameras from the moment he left the school until now and trying to see if anything happened, see if anything happened and he's standing somewhere.” Ronpo explained calmly, as he sped up all the recordings of Lincoln.

“Oh...sorry.” Ryu Commander groaned in pain as he felt his bones crack while Oushi Black gave his back a work out.

“Ryu, Oushi, don't lose focus. We must find Linky, he must be so scared...” Washi Pink sounded heartbroken with her tone of voice as she flew through the sky. 

Below her, on the roof of the buildings, Ookami Blue moved like an animal with her arms and legs, although they couldn't hear anything from her, they could hear how much she was gasping and snorting, using their enhanced senses. Which was quite useful for them now, since Luna had become a ranger, she had made a point of memorizing the scent of every member of her family... which had led to some embarrassing moments that no one would ever mention again.

Suddenly, Ookami jumped onto another roof before stopping and punching the concrete beneath her, creating several cracks. She stood up angrily, growling like an animal if she walked forward and looked at the full moon. 

“I can't smell Lincoln! Ah Little bro, when I find you, I'm going to give you such a nasty beating and then I'm going to buy you a bloody collar!” Ookami roared at the heavens in frustration, raising his fists.

“Ookami, no collars, we'll find him, don't worry.” Houou Soldier sighed as she ducked her head exhaustedly out of one of the city's comic book stores, ignoring how most of the children and teenagers wanted her autograph.

“Is Ookami acting like an animal again?” Shishi Red asked with a big frustrated grumble.

“Yes, she is. And Shishi, you should slow down, you're overheating Akira.” Tebin Gold glanced quickly at a panel separate from the others, showing a 3D blueprint of the bike Shishi Red was riding.

“Valiant Lion!” Shishi Red pulled deeper on the accelerator, hearing the loud roar of the engine and exhaust.

“I built it! I named it!” Tebin Gold slammed his closed fist on the table hard enough to echo through his microphone and reach the Rangers' ears.

“Not that again...” Ronpo complained as he tapped his forehead on the panel in front of him. He couldn't remember when it started, maybe when Lisa found out about them?

He only remembers that a few days after Lisa had taken over as Tebin Gold, he woke up in the base to strange noises, and after searching the base, found Tebin Gold building that motorcycle, or Akira as she called it.

Ronpo struggles to believe that she took the model from a drawing. What was his name again? Akira? Well, he didn't care.

“I should never have let you take Akira!”

“Vali...”

“Enough of this motorcycle bickering! Then you'll argue about the name for the thousandth time. Now focus on finding Lincoln!” Chameleon Green, who was hanging from the flagpole of a large building, remembered why there was so much focus. Everyone was focused on different points.

Hebitsukai Silver was looking for the suburbs, Oushi and Ryu Commander were looking for the area around the school, Chameleon Green was searching the center by jumping through the buildings while Koguma Skyblue was in the alleys.

Sid and Ronnie Anne weren't looking for him, they were both at home. Of course, they could use the teleporter to get back to Great Lakes, but showing up late at night out of the blue wouldn't ease their situation with their families.

“Pe-personal. I have good news and bad news.” Ronpo stammered as he stared wide-eyed at one of the panels. “The good news is that I found Lincoln...”

At that moment, everyone stopped what they were doing. Hebitsukai stopped on the roof of a poorly built and possibly abandoned house, Chameleon Green let go of the mast and fell to her feet on the sidewalk, scaring the civilians at first, but soon being stared at and surrounded by some fans.

Ookami Blue remained still, waiting anxiously for whatever Ronpo had to say. Ryu commander and Oushi Black stood in the same way as the blue ranger, still and waiting anxiously.

Koguma Skyblue approached Houou Soldier, a brief nod as they both stopped in the nearest alleyway. Washi Pink continued to fly, focused on the streets below her.

“So talk, where is he?!” Shishi Red skidded down the road on his motorcycle. On the helmets of all the Rangers, a recording from a security camera started up, and the shock and awe began.

Lincoln was in the warehouse during the attack. What's more, they saw him approaching and observing the fight.

“How could we not have seen him then?!” Shishi Red turned around and sped down the street.

“Hey! Hold on, Shishi! There's more for you to see.” Ronpo warned as Tebin Golf pressed a button and Valiant Lion had its engine switched off.

Shishi Red was about to complain more, but stopped just as a monster fell behind Lincoln.

“That... that's the monster I threw...” Koguma Skyblue held the helmet as if it were her own head, quickly panicking as she saw Lincoln trying to escape the monster by jumping from rooftop to rooftop. “Oh no...”

The worst came at the moment when they saw Lincoln fail a jump and fall on top of the camera, ending the shot. But then Ronpo put on another shot, from the radio tower camera, showing the beginning of the shockwave.

“That wasn't the...” Houou Soldier shivered and forced himself not to run straight into the warehouse.

“The corridor that your brother fell down...but that's not the bad news...that is.” Ronpo focused on the monster, which was Berivun, quickly descending amidst the large amount of dust, and flew off with something in his arms...now they understood, that monster hadn't caught something, it had caught someone.

Lincoln had been caught.

“...I'm going to kill him.” Ookami Blue growled like an animal, his claws lengthening as his fur became wilder. “If that ugly little bird messes up a single strand of his hair, I'm going to kill that damn monster, I'm going to cut open his guts, I'm going to feast...”

Everyone was silent as they listened to how Ookami Blue seemed more furious and planning the death of the monster that kidnapped her little brother, which was understandable and sometimes frightening how Ookami Kyutama influenced her in her behavior.

“To base, everyone. Now let's look for this monster everywhere. Cameras, drones, satellites, whatever the means, let's find that damned pigeon...and dismember it!” Shishi Red exclaimed as he felt Valiant Lion coming back to life, speeding up to try and distract his mind before heading back to base.

“I agree with Shishi Red. I also want to go on record again that this wouldn't have happened if you had allowed me to keep the locators I inserted into you active!” Liza tapped the controls in annoyance and confusion, she was a logical and quite intelligent person, she knew it was only a matter of time before she found her brother and rescued him.

So why was she so frustrated by the lack of information about where he was?

“I'm calling Ronnie and Sid!” Oushi Black called tirelessly to her two companions.

“Is the teleporter ready?” Ryu Commander was short and snappy, his voice low but visibly angry. Anything that was a threat to his son's life wouldn't have another second to live.

“All set! You can come!” Ronpo saw the teleporter icons indicating that they were already up and running. But they didn't have time to get there, as something else happened.

Suddenly, another tremor shook the city, causing most of the rangers to stumble or lean on something nearby to avoid falling. Soon everyone could see a large beam of purple light coming from somewhere in the city towards the sky.

“Guys, you won't believe what I'm seeing now!” Washi Pink announced, raising her arms to protect herself from the wind that the beam was causing while her wings tried to keep her in the sky.

“I'm detecting a strong manifestation of the void in the city, our brother will have to wait, I'm sending the coordinates!” Lisa's voice echoed in the helmets of all the rangers.

“What? But! Lincoln! He...Fuck!” Shishi Red roared at the top of his lungs as he advanced towards the coordinates on his helmet. Ferociously overtaking any car or motorcycle that stood in his way. At the same time, all the other rangers began to move towards the coordinates.

Washi Pink was a bright beam heading towards the coordinates, the pressure of the wind crushing his helmet. “Most of us are going, the rest are still after Lincy!”

“Washi, but the void...” Ronpo began, but there was no continuation, Washi's response was enough for him to fall silent.

“Younger brother! Priority! Understood?!” Washi got his answer in several snorts of agreement. Houou Soldier, Hebitsukai Silver and Chameleon Green went straight to the base to help Ronpo and Tebin Gold look for Lincoln. Washi Pink arrived first, landing on the ground while the others still had a good distance to go to catch up with her. “Flying has never been as advantageous as it is now!”

Washi Pink wasted no time and shot off into the park, she wanted to fly freely to the coordinates, but flying in an enclosed space never ended well, she just used her main skill now to move faster.

“I'm entering the park and approaching the marked location! If you can get there faster, I'd appreciate it!” Washi Pink heard the sound of something breaking behind her. Looking back she saw Shishi Red, with his Valiant Lion, crossing everything in front of him, the pink ranger could see her companion's eyes behind his helmet glowing furiously as he advanced and ignored everything in his path.

“Get out of my way, Washi! I'll destroy everything in front of me!” Shishi Red thanked him silently as Washi Pink moved to the left and let the red ranger go, smashing everything in sight. 

When Washi Pink rejoined her sister, she saw Ookami Blue, right behind the two of them, but his growls echoed back at her loud and clear.

“Hunt, hunt, hunt, hunt!” Ookami Blue's mood reflected her completely aggressive stance. The blue ranger was already on all fours, like an enraged, out-of-control animal, and somehow catching up with Washi Pink and Shishi Red quickly.

The two sisters stepped aside, allowing the wild ranger to pass them when she suddenly stopped, skidding on the ground until she fell completely to the ground. The girl got up soon after, all her anger gone as she looked around looking scared and more terrified than ever.

“No, no, no, no, no, no!” Ookami exclaimed as his nose did its job. “Fuck, don't do that to me Lincoln! Where are you? Lincoln!”

“What?! Lincoln was there?!” Ryu Commander was still advancing alongside Oushi Black, both ignoring their exhaustion.

“Yes, his scent is here, but faintly! He was here! He was here less than a minute ago!” Ookami Blue searched his surroundings as the pink and red Rangers arrived. Both already noticing the current scenario, Shishi sighed impatiently as he took the lead for himself.

“Search! Just search! If Ookami's right, he could be nearby! We're starting at the front. Ryu, Oushi, when you arrive, you'll take the other side of the park!” 

The three soon dispersed across the park, resuming their relentless search for their brother. Ryu Commander and Oushi Black soon arrived, joining the search once again at the same pace as the three. Ronpo couldn't say where the wave of emptiness came from, but it didn't matter now, seeing as the rangers' helmets showed that any sign of who had done it had disappeared.

But now, seeing the rhythm of his Rangers' search for their lost family member, he realized something he hadn't noticed in the two years he had been close to them.

“That family is very noisy...”

--

Lincoln felt like he had gone back to his physical education classes years ago. Fainting like that was a situation that had occurred to him a lot, but which he didn't like to remember experiencing. Strangely, he felt his mind running through memories of those past situations.

“Am I feeling nostalgic about my fainting spells?” Muttering, Lincoln opened his eyes, or eye, he didn't know how to describe it, it felt like his two eyes were one. Ignoring this fact, and leaving him to think about it later, Lincoln once again found himself lying on Berivun's lap. “Wasn't that a crazy dream?”

“No, it wasn't.” Berivun laughed softly as he set Lincoln on his feet, facing him. “You look amazing, I've always dreamed of seeing your Xenokotita form and even though you don't have wings like me, you're still perfect.”

“I...I can't move!” Lincoln might not look it, but he was having trouble with his body, the weight was beyond what he thought a person could have. His limbs shook in an unconscionable effort, only to start falling forward. “Man, it's hard to move!”

Berivun was about to grab Lincoln once again, but before she could do so, something happened. In an instinctive move, his leg dragged, putting his weight on it, preventing him from falling, then his body shimmered, starting from his chest and quickly spreading to the rest of his limbs. Lincoln once again stood with a confused expression, and to his own surprise, managed to get up feeling much lighter than before. 

His glowing eye widened slightly as the boy looked down at his limbs, shaking his hands and small pulses of shock being released. 

“All right... what was that?” Taking a closer look at his own body now, the boy poked himself, getting used to the new sensations. 

“My skin, does it feel...armored?” Lincoln lightly punched his arm, it didn't feel soft or flabby, it was actually quite hard. 

“What's that behind...” Lincoln turned his face briefly, and noticed his ass, swaying gently. “...oh.”

“A tail, dear.” Berivun clarified with a calm expression, seeing how impressed his son seemed with his tail. “And it looks much fluffier than the rest of your body...”

Suddenly, Berivun reached out and ran his fingers through the tail, making the pair realize how fluffy and soft the fur was. “... Your tail is fluffy.”

“I never thought I'd hear that at any point in my life...” Lincoln felt his tail wagging faster. He grabbed the base of it in an attempt to make it stop. The attempt was unsuccessful. “How do I calm it down?”

Lincoln spun his body around as he tried to get his two hands to grip the base of his tail, failing miserably as he felt his fingers always letting his fur slip.

“...Is this some kind of ritual from this planet? Creatures with tails trying to catch you?” Berivun looked genuinely confused as he watched Lincoln trying to hold on to his tail.

“I refuse to answer that.” Lincoln was already stressing out, his tail wagging more and more as despair slowly entered his mind, without noticing that his feet hit each other and he dripped. The next event came as quite a surprise to the pair.

Lincoln didn't just slip, he ended up falling, not surprisingly, but because of the impact of his tail, which ended up hitting a piece of concrete on the ground. During the fall, his tail seemed to get denser, and when it hit the ground it ended up creating several cracks. “...The fuck?”

“Oh, it looks like you can change the density of your tail, very similar to what I do with my feathers.” Berivun looked excited as she looked at Lincoln, helping him to his feet. “I'm so proud of you.”

“Yeah... that's nice.” Lincoln stared at his tail with a slight twitch in the gleam of his eye. “...Wait, what did you say?”

“That you know how to change the density of your tail like I do with my feathers?” Berivun repeats in surprise at his intensity as he stares at her. “It's something very few people know how to do, in fact if you want I could help you refine your technique.”

“...ah, yes. Of course, of course!” Lincoln stood up while still staring at Berivun, his gaze returning to its normal brightness. “I think it would be good to refine it. I...wouldn't want to hit a wall with it and knock it down.”

“It's good that you're eager to learn. My son wants to learn my trick, this is the happiest day of my life.” Berivun suddenly perked up, surprising Lincoln who noticed how her feathers moved and a sort of melody came out of her throat. “I'm so proud that even though I couldn't raise you, you've become such a wonderful boy.”

'Proud... " His bright eyes widened at that statement. Someone was proud, proud of him.

When had he last heard such words directed at him? He honestly couldn't remember when. Flashes of memories flashed through his mind, every time he heard his “parents” declaring their pride in his sisters' achievements, more and more of them popping up around him in a hallucinatory way. He didn't resent their achievements, he wasn't bitter about it... but when did he get used to it? When did he get used to living with other people's pride far from being aimed at him?

“Lincoln? Are you all right?” Berivun approached him, a worried look on his face, noticing how silent he was.

“Oh, it's nothing! It's just me... distracted.” Lincoln coughed into his clenched fist, the memories around him coming flooding back as he returned to his realistic state.

“...It didn't look like you were distracted, it looked like you were sad.” Berivun suddenly reached out and grasped his son's cheeks, looking at him intently. “I may not know what's going on in your head right now, but you're not alone, I'm here with you and I'll never let you go willingly. Whatever it is, you can tell me, nothing will change the love I feel for you.”

"...Thank you." Lincoln relaxed as his glare tightened, almost resembling a narrowed gaze. A shiny liquid in the same way as his gaze was collecting below his eye, falling and slowly making its way down his face.

Berivun moved one of her fingers to wipe away a tear that had fallen from Lincoln's eye before spreading her wings to cover them both and embracing Lincoln as a melody echoed in her throat. "It's okay, Lincoln, you don't have to hold back your feelings, not with me."

Lincoln didn't know how or when he did it, but his arms hugged Berivun tightly, his face falling onto her shoulder as a wheeze emitted from her throat.

"What are those emotions?" Lincoln asked, his voice laden with a tearful tone. "I can't stop or identify..."

"It's your instincts, you're going to get more emotional over the next few weeks." Berivun explained, smoothing the back of his neck, not bothered by the tears on his shoulder. "But don't worry, you won't have to go through any of this alone."

Lincoln sank his face further into Berivun's shoulder, sniffling deeply as he tightened his embrace even more. How could he sniffle without a nose? That was just another question for him to ask himself in the future, but now? He didn't give a damn.

"Thank you... Thank you so much... Mom."

-

"You haven't found him?!" Rita exclaimed with her eyes frighteningly wide, it seemed that the woman had seen a haunting appearing in front of her while her daughters and husband explained the situation.

It was already 2:00 a.m., and so far, no news of her son, she asked everyone she knew in the neighborhood, even grabbed her son's laptop to go through his contact list and call his friends, asking if they had seen Lincoln anywhere.

"I'm sorry, dear. But we haven't found him anywhere..." Mr. Lynn sighed as his eyes constantly blinked in exhaustion. They had worried about the boy without a break since his wife's call, and even with Kyuutama's energies, Mr. Lynn had exhausted his strength, more mental than physical.

"...Yes, nowhere." Lynn Junior repeated head-down and impatiently, which surprised Rita, but she tried not to think too much about it. Lynn simply loved her brother and must have been more worried than she realized.

Lynn on the other hand was terrified, controlling herself not to look into her mother's eyes, the fact that she hadn't found Lincoln was eating her alive and she didn't know what she would do if she looked at her mother or her younger sisters knowing that her little brother, her only sibling, had been kidnapped by an alien.

"What are we going to do?! We have to go to the police and..." Before Rita could finish her words, they heard the front door being unlocked.

Suddenly, everyone turned towards the door, relieved at who they saw there, while part of the family was shocked. Lincoln returned home.

Lincoln walked through the door with a big, silly smile on his face, not even seeming to notice his family there. Strangely, everyone noticed how different he looked, as if he were healthier than before.

"LINCOLN!" 

Lincoln's happy expression changed to surprise when two of his younger sisters threw themselves at him, wrapping their arms around his waist.

"My back!" The only Loud boy complained when his back hit the wall with the sudden impact of being hit by two missiles, which he fondly recognized as two of his sisters. It obviously didn't hurt, but he couldn't let something like that pass by normally. "What?!"

"Where were you, little boy? We've been looking for you all night!" Mr. Lynn arrived, pulling the two girls off Lincoln, a pained sigh was suppressed in his throat as his back groaned in a pop. "No, not now! Why are you back so late?"

"What do you mean? It's not that late!" Lincoln stood up as the rest of the family gathered around him.

"It's two in the morning!" Lori shouted pointing at the digital clock on the wall while Lincoln put on a surprised face..

"Oh, really? Wow, we seem to have lost track of time." Lincoln laughed softly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You didn't lose track of time, you punched it! Where were you?!" Lynn grabbed Lincoln's shoulders with a desperate look on her face, squeezing her brother's shoulders to make sure he wasn't their collective delirium.

"Oh, I was... busy." Lincoln was surprised by Lynn's animosity, his sister had always been more aggressive, but this was completely new.

"Little brother, answer the question, or I swear to God I'll put a leash on you and lock you in the house for the rest of our lives!" Luna emitted a dark aura behind everyone, her eyes shining like beacons as she held the dog's collar in her hands... Was she serious?

"I was with someone special." Lincoln replied, blushing a little, not realizing how these words made Lisa's eyes widen with a horrified expression.

"No, no, no..." The girl was hyperventilating in disgust if she was right.

"...What?" The rest of the family members had a synchronized reaction. Lynn took her boot off her foot and flicked on the switch, turning on the lights. With the lights above them on, they now took a closer look at Lincoln, and the blue lipstick kiss mark on his cheek.

"...were you on a date?" Rita asked with a small smile of relief forming on her face as her gaze took on a dreamy glow.

"...In a way..." Lincoln commented, looking away without realizing how much of his family seemed to be having trouble digesting the information. "I was walking around Royal Woods, until...I sort of got into a bit of trouble."

The party that was already having trouble digesting the information began to lose color from their faces. The image of Lincoln naked next to a raven woman appeared in their minds... some had to cover their mouths with their hands to stop themselves from vomiting, but the continuation eased their spirits.

"Somehow, which I'm still struggling to figure out, I managed to get away from this problem and...I bumped into her. We started chatting, had a bite to eat, and the next thing I knew, I was on an impromptu date...pretty weird, huh?"

"Ownt, Lincy has a girlfriend, how cute!" Leni coos with a smile, receiving a look from Lori. 

"And how was your date?" Lana asks excitedly, not noticing the looks she gets from her sisters and father.

"It was... I can't say. I just loved it!" Everyone could see the silly smile return to Lincoln's face, a twinkle turning his eyes as the boy's face took on a pinker hue. "I just met her today, but I already feel connected to her. Almost as if she were a valuable piece missing from a French museum!"

Suddenly Lynn Junior let go of his brother with a shocked expression on his face as he trembled. His brother even sounded like someone else, no one would have imagined Lincoln making such a comparison in their lifetime.

"I still don't know her name, in fact we forgot to ask each other's names...but I'm sure I can find her again. Maybe I'll meet her again this week?" Lincoln laughed humorlessly as the smile trembled on his lips at Rita's astonished gaze upon him. He never thought he could lie so openly and brazenly like that in front of his family, but if that was going to remove their suspicions of him, then he would keep improvising.

Luna and Luan looked even more disgusted by what they were hearing, their faces taking on a greener hue before they ran into the bathroom together. Lori, for her part, stared at Lincoln dumbfounded, her left eye twitching like a nervous tic. Next to her, Lisa and Lucy were pale, staring at their older brother.

"How wonderful! My son has finally found someone after all this time!" Rita gave Lincoln a hug. The boy looked at the gesture with...a certain discomfort, but didn't say anything, just waited for Rita to let him go.

"Thanks, Mom. But I'm tired now, so...bye!" Lincoln wasted no time and dashed for the stairs, the faster he got away from them, the less he would need to talk.

"I think we'd all better follow your brother's example, it's already so late, and we all have to get up early tomorrow." Rita turned to her daughters and her husband, some of whom were staring at the stairs with a certain fear in their hearts, but Rita didn't notice. "Let's go. Everyone to bed! We'll see you tomorrow."

One by one, the girls climbed the stairs, some more disturbed than others. Soon the echoes of the stairs ceased and were replaced by the slamming of bedroom doors.

Suddenly a bang echoed and Mr. Lynn took advantage of it to vent everything he was now feeling.

"Ah! My back!"