User blog:Heronimbus/On the Run: A Loud House Story - Chapter 4

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The gang's car pulled up at a large, seemingly abandoned warehouse, and Elijah was carried inside and laid down on a couch.

It took a moment for him to wake up. "Ugh... what happened?"

"You were knocked out for ten hours," Shelly answered. "The white-haired kid got away with his friends."

"Oh geez... any idea where he went?"

"Not really..." said Norman. "We let him go so we could bring you here safely."

Elijah looked as if he had just heard the dumbest sentence he'd ever heard. "You what?"

"We... let him go."

"Are you kidding me? If that kid rats us out, we're dead meat!"

"It was for your own good, boss!" Jay tried to defend him.

"Look guys, I ain't mad... I'm just scared that we'll get caught, y'know?"

As Gator ran around playing with the animals he'd found, Shelly gave Elijah a concerned look. "Yeah... we need to get as much money as we can before that happens. That way we can save--"

"I know, I know. But anyway... I need to stay here for a while."

"What can we do to help?" Norman asked.

"I want you to get out there and look for that kid. If you find him, bring him to me."

"You've got it, boss!" Shelly called out as she and her teammates got into the car. They drove off, and Elijah looked down at a photo of a woman about his age. "Don't worry, Eva. I'll save you... hopefully."

At the hotel, Lincoln, Clyde, and Cristina were sleeping soundly. Lincoln was the first to wake up, and the other two eventually followed.

"Morning," Cristina yawned.

"Alright..." Lincoln decided to make the plans for the day. "We'll get something to eat to start us off, and we'll keep moving."

"Wait a minute. I thought we were just hiding from those criminals. I thought we were just looking for your brother!"

"Well, we are... I'm pretty sure he's really far from here, though. And, uh... he might not be real."

Cristina looked irritated. "...excuse me?"

She pulled Lincoln outside by the ear as Clyde carefully followed them. "You're telling me you're running away from home to look for someone who probably doesn't even exist?"

"Well, I feel like I need to make sure..."

"I'm not wasting my time on this! I need to get home! My family might be worried sick!"

Clyde attempted to distract them from their argument by pulling up some information on his phone. "There's a guy named Linus who goes to Imperial Grove University... you think that might be him?"

"Linus could be anyone!" Cristina reasoned. "Besides, Imperial Grove is really far away... I'm not even sure you'll survive a trip like that."

"If this Linus guy really is my brother," Lincoln explained, "I need to find him and bring him home. That way, the rest of my family will be able to get to know him and we'll all be happy!"

"Lincoln... what do you mean 'happy'? What even happened at your house?"

Lincoln looked down at his feet, stuttering as he tried to explain. "Well... I-I..." He started to cry a bit. "I tried to explain the possibility of a lost brother to my sisters, and... Lori mocked me for it and tore apart my favorite comic."

"So let me get this straight... you're running away and looking for a brother that might not even exist because your sister ripped a comic book?"

"It's not just that, Cristina!" Lincoln started yelling at her. "Your moronic twin brother? He was part of it too! Ronnie Anne leaving has been bothering me for a long time as well! But you wouldn't understand because you're not constantly bogged down by ten sisters!"

"Is that seriously what you think?" By this point, Cristina was furious. "You think I don't know how you feel because I don't have a huge family? I... I just... maybe Chandler was right."

"Oh, so you're siding with him now? Do you not know how many times he's made me feel miserable?"

Lincoln and Cristina locked stares as Clyde stood at the side, trying not to get too caught up in the argument.

Cristina finally started to turn away. "If all you care about is yourself and your stupid 'brother'... I don't want any part in this."

"Fine! We don't need you!" Lincoln yelled. "Me and Clyde are going out on our own!"

"FINE!!"

Lincoln quickly turned around and ran off, with Clyde chasing after him. As Cristina walked away, she turned back for a moment and watched them leave. Imperial Grove University? she thought. ''That's where my sister goes... I never got to say goodbye to her...''

She watched the boys hop onto a train, and just kept watching as it passed by.

Lincoln sighed. It had been five hours since he and Clyde had hopped on the train. He knew that they were several miles away from Royal Woods by now, and hopefully he would be able to convince Ronnie Anne to help him. But the argument with Cristina had him feeling down.

Clyde put his hand on Lincoln's shoulder. "Hey... sorry about Cristina."

"It's fine," said Lincoln. "If we can get Ronnie Anne to come with us, that'll make up for it."

The sun was starting to set now, and the boys gazed at the golden horizon. Who knew what else was going to come their way? Only time would tell.

"Crud!" Clyde realized. "My dads! They're probably worried sick..."

Lincoln suddenly had a thought -- a thought that seemed to distress him. "Clyde?" he prompted.

"What's wrong?" Clyde answered.

"What... what if Cristina's right? What if I really don't have a brother and I basically dragged you into this for nothing?" Lincoln's face was filled with a sort of dread and guilt. "Would you... hate me?"

"What? No!" Clyde tried to comfort him. "I would never hate you for that. You're my best friend! ...You're like a brother to me, Lincoln."

Lincoln smiled and gave him a hug. "Thanks, Clyde..."

The train arrived at an urban plaza. One of the buildings sported a glowing sign that read, "Casagrande".

"Woah," Clyde marveled the sign. "Is that her house?"

"Yep..." Lincoln replied, almost blushing. "That's Ronnie Anne's house."

The boys grabbed their bags and leaped off the train. They approached the Casagrande building, but soon realized it would be difficult to get in.

"The front door has a bell attached," Lincoln explained. "We'll need to find some other way inside."

"I dunno," said Clyde. "Do you have anything in your bag that could work?"

"Hmm..." Lincoln dug through his bag and pulled out a pair of gloves and some sticky foam darts. "Maybe I could stick these darts onto the fingers of these gloves and use them to climb up the wall."

"Not a bad idea, actually."

Lincoln slipped on the gloves and attached the darts to the fingers, then put his hand against the wall to see if it would work. Sure enough, it did.

He started climbing up the wall as Clyde stayed down below, watching for any intruders.

A black cat leaped onto a box in front of Clyde and sat down, staring at him.

"Hey there, little fella," Clyde greeted the cat. But it just kept staring.

Within the next ten seconds, more cats showed up -- and they all looked the same. Their cold stares made Clyde's heart stop with fear.

One by one, the cats approached Clyde as he started slowly backing up.

"Nice kitty... nice kitty..." He attempted to calm them down, but found no results.

Lincoln was almost up to Ronnie Anne's window by this point, and he saw Clyde backing up close to the door. "Be careful, Clyde..." he said nervously. He was about to climb back down and help him when suddenly--

"Lame-o?"

Lincoln gasped. Ronnie Anne was looking down at him, confused.

"Uh..." Lincoln felt embarassed. "H-hey, Ronnie Anne..."

She pulled him up through the window. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Well..." Lincoln stuttered a bit. "S-some bad stuff happened back home, and... I might have a lost brother. So... I came here to get you."

Ronnie Anne blushed at the sound of the last part. "Y-you... you came all this way... for me?"

Lincoln smiled. "Yeah..."

After a few seconds, Ronnie Anne embraced him in one of the warmest hugs he'd ever been given. Lincoln returned the hug; his feelings for her had finally been released to their fullest.

"So..." Ronnie Anne said as they let each other go. "Are you going to say goodbye?"

"Well, I would," Lincoln answered, "but there's one problem."

Ronnie Anne gave him a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm kinda sorta on the run from a gang of criminals."

"...you what?"

"Yeah. The leader's trying to catch me and make me part of his so-called 'family' or something."

Ronnie Anne glared at the thought of Lincoln being threatened. She grabbed a suitcase and a bunch of clothes, saying, "Uh-uh. No way... no one is going to hurt my friend... and no one--"

They suddenly heard meowing and hissing from the halls. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne looked out her door and realized that Clyde had accidentally let the cats in.

"Oh geez," Ronnie Anne cried. "They're gonna tear up the furniture!" She rushed to the kitchen and quickly grabbed a can of tuna out of the fridge, then pulled a piece out and tossed it out the window. The cats promptly leaped out.

A few moments later, Ronnie Anne zipped up her jacket as Clyde pulled the last cat off of him. Lincoln turned to them and asked, "Should we stick around for the night?"

"No, we're leaving now," Ronnie replied as she picked up her bag. "If I have to kick somebody's butt, I will."

"That's good to hear, Ronnie."

Another train was coming close to the plaza. The three kids ran as fast as they could, leaping over every obstacle in their path and eventually hopping onto the train.

"Hoo boy..." Ronnie Anne panted. "I don't think I've ever run that fast in my life..."