"So, it's just Loud?" Agent Jay said. "That's all it says is Loud?"

"It would appear that way." The scientist said.

"But what does it mean?" Jay said. "Loud could mean anything? Is it a code? Are we being to loud? I want you to find out everything you can on the word Loud."

...

Lincoln got up and stretched his arms.

"Well first day of summer." Lincoln said. "What shall I do today?"

He heard a knock on his door.

"Lisa?" Lincoln said as he opened the door.

"Greetings brother." Lisa replied.

"Can I help you?" Lincoln asked.

"I understand you and the twins encountered a rather unsettling gentlemen adorned in white facial wear." Lisa said.

"You mean a creepy guy in a white mask?" Lincoln said.

"Yes." Lisa said. "I just wanted to request you don't tell mom or dad about that."

"Why not?" Lincoln asked.

"Well, if our parents know some potentially dangerous hooligan is on the lose they might cancel our camping trip." Lisa said. "That meteor shower last night, some meteors landed in the park, and I must get samples."

"Gee I dunno." Lincoln said.

"Come on brother, I'm sure the police have found the guy by now." Lisa said. "Crime rates in Royal Woods are very low, I'm sure this criminal is nothing more than some weirdo who likes to watch people."

"Ok fine." Lincoln said. "I'll keep this a secret, but I don't want you, or any of the other sisters to go off on your own tonight, ok? If you wanna go into the woods to search for meteor fragments, you're gonna have to bring me with you."

"Deal."

"And we'll take Lynn with us too." Lincoln added. "She can handle herself pretty well, and I want to take as little chances as possible. I don't want any of us to get hurt."

"Come on Lincoln." Lisa said. "What's the worst that could happen?"

...

Prawly made his way out of the woods. Now under control of an alien metal bug. On his way he passed a stray dog. The dog growled at Prawly, sensing he wasn't human.

A small device extended from the back of Prawly's hand. Flames shot out of the device. The dog whimpered and ran off.

Prawly turned his palm to the sky. A red light shined from his palm creating a hologram of what seemed to be a red orb.

"Red King, my liege." Prawly said, getting on his knees. "I have reached the planet earth and assumed the identity of a human named James Prawly."

Alien words unlike any language on earth emanated from the orb.

"No sir I have not found the targets yet." Prawly said. "I just got here."

More alien words.

"Well yeah, I may have sort of, destroyed the entire civilization of the last planet I was on. But you have to admit they kind of had it coming." Prawly said.

More alien words, this time angrier.

"Ok, sorry my lord, I'll be discreet this time." Prawly said. "Don't kill the targets, duly noted."

The hologram disappeared.

Prawly got back to his feet. "Man, that guy can be a real potty mouth."

Prawly walked into the car lot that his host worked at.

"Hey, you're on time today." One of his co-workers, Craig said. "Please tell me you brought your own lunch this time."

Prawly said nothing, he headed into the boss's office.

"Prawly, what's going on?" His boss said.

"Well," Prawly said. "I just came here to tell you, that I no longer work for you, Ross."

"You're quitting?"

"Yes and no." Prawly said. "I work for someone else now."

"Who?" His boss whose name is Ross said.

"Someone you and everyone else on this planet will refer to as the Red King." Prawly explained.

"Who's the Red King?" Ross asked.

"The Red King is the new Boss, Ross." Prawly said. "You could say he's buying out this company."

"Who is this Red King? What's his phone number?" Ross asked. "I gotta call this guy and get this straightened out."

Prawly grabbed Ross's hands and pinned them to the arms of his chair. Metal coils extended from Prawly's hands and wrapped around Ross's wrists. The coils detached from Prawly's hands and remained wrapped around Ross's wrists and the arms of the chair.

"What's the meaning of this?" Ross said.

Before Ross could call for help, Prawly stuck some duct-tape on Ross's mouth.

"The Red King is not someone you can call, and get things straightened out with." Prawly said. "He is far beyond your human comprehension."

A metal spike came out of Prawly's palm. He lightly touched Ross's forehead with the spike.

"The human brain is a wonderful thing isn't it?" Prawly said. "All the neural connections and signals. It all dictates what the entire body does. You could say the brain is your true self, and the rest of the body is just a suit that you live in. Like a fleshy mech, however much less impressive than a real mech. If the human soul truly exists, the brain is where it would be."

...

Prawly came out of the office some time later.

"The boss decided to take a vacation." Prawly said. "He left me in charge. Now I seem to have crushed my car, I mean crashed my car. I think I'll take one the cars we have on the lot."

"Uh we're not allowed to take those cars." Craig said.

Prawly went back into Ross's office and pulled out a black garbage bag. "Hey, you know where the keys are for that pickup truck. I need to dispose of some garbage."

Another coworker named Becky gave Prawly a set of keys. "here you go Jimmy, these should work."

"Thank you darling." James Prawly said. He dragged the large stuffed black garbage back to one of the brand-new trucks on the lot. He stuffed the load into the back of the truck and drove off.

Becky walked up to Craig. "Yeah so Jimmy totally killed Ross."

"Definitely." Craig responded.

"Should we call the police?" Becky asked.

"Nah." Craig said, then he took a sip of his coffee.

...

The Louds set up camp in the forest around tall timbers park.

They had set up 5 tents. The parents and Lily would sleep in one tent. The other four were for the kids. It was mostly the same order as their rooms at home. Lori and Leni would be sleeping together, and Luna and Luan would be sleeping together. However, Lincoln would share a tent with Lynn and Lucy, and Lisa would share a tent with the twins. And again Lynn sr. and Rita would be keeping Lily in their tent that night.

...

Leni and Lori sat on the beach in bikinis, working on their tans.

Meanwhile Lana swam in the pond hoping to find her fish friends she charmingly refers to as "The Fishmens."

"Hey guys I can't find the Fishmens!" Lana said as she resurfaced.

"I'm sure they're just hiding in the weeds or something." Lori said.

"Yeah it's not like they can just get up and walk away." Leni added. "Wait, can they?"

"Unless something ate them." Lola, who was building a sand castle added.

"Unlikely." Lisa said. "The Fishmen are lake sturgeon, and there are no predators in this pond large enough to hunt them."

Lana dove back under water. She looked around and didn't see anything swimming in the pond. Not just the Fishmens, but no animal life at all. Just murky water and seaweed. Lana thought she saw something moving in the water. She swam toward it. Nothing.

Suddenly she got this panicked feeling like she was in danger. She gasped as she exploded out of the water and swam to shore.

"Lana what's wrong?" Lori asked

"Are you ok?" Leni added.

"Yeah... it's just..." Lana gasped for breath. "I don't know." She looked out at the pond. Something was greatly wrong with the pond that once brought her great joy. Something beneath those waves was... not right.

...

Lincoln and Lynn joined Lisa to go hunting for meteor fragments.

"So, what's so special about a rock from space anyway?" Lynn asked.

"It could have rare elements not found on Earth." Lisa responded.

"Hey, I think I found something!" Lincoln announced. The three came up to a small creator with a small rock in the middle of it.

"EEEEEE!!!!" Lisa yelled with glee. "It's a meteor!"

"I don't see what's so great about a dumb old rock." Lynn said.

"Hey Lisa." Lincoln said, pointing into the woods. "Is that normal?"

There in the middle of the woods, was a staircase. A staircase you would find in any home, except that it was in the woods. Like someone had cut and pasted it from a house, into this very forest. The staircase stretched high into the trees.

"No Lincoln." Lisa said. "That's not normal."

"Man, there's no dirt on it." Lynn pointed out. "Almost like it was just put there a few moments ago."

Something didn't feel right. The three kids all had a very uneasy feeling. Something about the staircase felt... evil.

"But who would place a staircase in the middle of the woods?" Lisa questioned. "Their doesn't seem to be any other signs of a larger structure here. No trees have been cut down to clear an area for construction..."

"I dare you to climb it." Lynn nudged Lincoln.

"That would be highly unadvisable." Lisa pointed out.

Lincoln gulped.

"Come on Lincoln, you scared?" Lynn taunted.

"I'm not scared." Lincoln said. He walked over to the staircase.

Lynn smiled, but her smile soon faded as her brother neared the stairs. This was wrong, VERY wrong.

"Lincoln WAIT!" Lynn shouted. Too late, Lincoln didn't here her, and had already begun his assent up the stairs.

"It's just a staircase, it's just a staircase." Lincoln repeated to himself over and over again. His heart was pounding. Why was he so afraid of a staircase? Because it was in the woods?

He disappeared into the trees.

Once he reached the top, the sour feeling in his gut grew stronger. He noticed that somehow the entire forest was completely silent. Not even the sound of birds or crickets. Not even the wind. Even his own breath was silent.

It was like he had entered a bubble of complete silence. The stairs didn't lead anywhere. They just dropped off at the top. Lincoln stood at the top for a few moments.

He could feel the presence of something. Like something was watching him from, somewhere. He couldn't explain it, but atop the mysterious staircase, the little white-haired boy was not alone.

He tried to ask, "Is anybody there?" but no sound came from his mouth. He could feel someone or something with him, yet somehow it was also extremely far away at the same time. It was a dark and antient presence, yet one that was somehow... familiar.

Amongst all the silence, it was subtle, but it was there. A deep breathing.

"Lincoln." A deep dark voice called out. A voice that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. It was a menacing and powerful voice, yet it wasn't angry, and it wasn't yelling. It was calm. And somehow the calmness just made the voice even scarier. But again, somehow it felt like the voice of someone he knew.

At the same time, he heard the voice, an image flashed in his mind. It appeared to be a face of some sort, but completely covered in shadows with the only visible features being a pair of glowing red eyes. Red fire burned behind the figure.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Lincoln screamed as he tumbled backward down the stairs.

...

"Lincoln!" Lynn yelled as Lincoln tumbled down the stairs, and landed face first on the ground. Normally Lynn would laugh at the site of her brother falling down the stairs. He had fallen down the stairs many times back home, and Lynn would laugh at him every time. She always new he was alright. But this time however, it looked like Lincoln might actually be seriously hurt.

"Oh my gosh are you ok?" Lynn said, as she and Lisa helped Lincoln back to his feet.

"Yeah I'm fine." Lincoln said.

The three of them headed back to camp.

...

"LINCOLN! LYNN! LISA! You're ok!" Leni yelled as the three got back to camp. Leni grabbed the three younger siblings all at once and gave them a tight hug.

"Nice to see you too Leni." Lynn said.

Leni let the three of them go.

"Where the heck have you three been?" Their father questioned.

"Just in the woods over there why?" Lincoln said.

"You three had us worried sick!" Their mother joined in.

"What's the big deal?" Lynn asked. "We were only gone like 20 minutes."

"You were literally gone the ENTIRE day!" Lori informed them. "It's five o clock. You were missing since 11 in the morning. We were hoping to have a fun time today, but instead we had to spend the day looking for you dweebs!"

"And Lola told us about that guy stalking the playground at your school." Rita added. "Why didn't you think to tell us about that. What if he was hiding in the woods? What if he took one of you?"

"I apologize for that, mother." Lisa said. "I told Lincoln, Lola, and Lana not to tell you. I didn't want to risk you cancelling this trip. See I really need to get samples of those meteors from last night for..."

"And you thought rocks from space were more important than our safety?" Lori scolded.

"It's my fault." Lincoln interrupted. "I'm the older brother, I should have taken responsibility and told Lisa that I wasn't going to keep this a secret."

"Well I'm older than both of you." Lynn said. "So, if anything this is my fault."

"Guys it's ok." Lynn Sr. said. "We're not mad. We were just worried."

"We're just happy you three are safe." Rita said.

"Yeah, it would be a bit more boring around here without Lynn breaking everything, or Lincoln being a dork." Lori smirked.

"besides, we still have time for some fun." Leni added.

"Hey, I see you found those missing kids." A man walked up to the group.

"Uh who's this?" Lynn asked.

"Oh, this is James Prawly." Lynn Sr. replied. "We met him while you were gone, he helped us look for you guys."

"Glad to see everything turned out well." Prawly said. "I actually ran into your sister Lana the other night. Regrettably I was a bit rude to her, but I was going through some rough personal things you see. But I apologized, and now things are hopefully all good."

"So, you're camping in this park too?" Lisa questioned.

"I'm on a bit of a fishing trip." Prawly said. "Like I said, my home life is a bit rough lately, and I needed a break from it all. And I did NOT come here to dump a dead body into Fishmen's Pond, because I did NOT murder my boss just this morning."

"That's oddly specific." Lisa pointed out.

The siblings went to join the rest of the group in the camp.

"Hey boy." Prawly whispered to Lincoln. "You saw him, didn't you?"

"Saw who?" Lincoln asked.

"You did, I can see it in your eyes." Prawly said. "Magnificent, isn't he?"

"Well it's been nice meeting you guys!" Prawly called out. "But I gotta get going."
"Sure you can't stay for dinner?" Lynn Sr. asked. "I'm a great cook."

"Nah, I got some business to attend to." Prawly said.

...

Lynn Sr. started cooking some burgers and hot dogs over the fire.

Lana sat down by Lincoln.

"So, you met Prawly huh?" Lana said.

"Yeah, he seems um... I'm not sure." Lincoln responded.

"I don't trust him." Lana said. "Yeah, he apologized for what he said to me the other day, but something seems off about him. Not sure what."

"Apparently he's a car salesmen." Lynn Sr. interrupted. "Those guys can be kind of strange sometimes."

"Hey Lana, you come out here a lot, right?" Lincoln asked.

"Yeah."

"Have you ever seen any random staircases in the woods?" Lincoln asked.

"Staircases?" Lana said. "No."

After supper Lana decided she was going to take one more dip in the pond, see if she could find the Fishmens.

She snuck off when no one was looking.

...

Lana took a deep breath and dove once again below the waves. She searched and searched for what seemed like hours. Not only could she not find the Fishmens, but she didn't see a single fish at all swimming in the water.

The sun was going down, and the sky was turning orange, but Lana wasn't going to give up just yet.

She swam deeper and deeper. She saw something in the bottom of the pond. She swam closer. It appeared to be a large black garbage bag. Big enough to hold a person.

Lana was shocked as something came out of the murky weeds and grabbed the bag, pulling it into the darkness.

A huge red glowing eye appeared in front of Lana. Lana screamed and swam to the surface as fast as she could.

She broke the surface and gasped for breath.

Water started to rise behind her as a massive creature began to surface. Lana swam faster than she knew she could.

She scurried onto shore as a huge bug-like limb rose from the water and crashed down in the sand beside her. Lana got to her feet as the behemoth rose from the depths. It's body was a mountain of fat covered in green slimy skin. It had ten glowing red eyes. Fat little arms with sharp claws stuck out from the front of its body. Its mouth took up almost the entire front of the fat ball that was its body. It seemed to be grinning, showing off rows of sharp pointy teeth. It walked on eight crab-like legs that stretched out almost twice the size of its body.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Lana let out a shrill blood curdling scream that sounded more like it would come from Lola than Lana. Then she ran away as fast as she could.

Lana hid behind a tree and her pet frog Hops peaked out of her front pocket.

"hey maybe I'm over reacting." Lana said. "Sure, it looks hideous and terrifying, but maybe its friendly."

Then a deer walked by. The monster's ten eyes narrowed on the deer. It opened its mouth, and a giant sticky tongue shot out and stuck to the deer. The monster pulled the deer into its mouth, chewed it up, and swallowed it.

"Ok, NOT friendly!" Lana said, then continued to run.

The sun was going down and it was getting darker and darker. As Lana ran she soon realized that she no longer could tell where she was going.

"Where's the camp!" Lana said in a panic. She could hear the monster's footsteps getting closer and closer.

The little girl's heart raced faster and faster. Tears started running down her face as she blindly ran through the dark woods.

"Gah!" Lan tripped. Hops fell out of her pocket.

"Run boy!" Lana yelled to Hops. "Save yourself!"

Lana got back to her feet but was struck in the back by the monster's thick sticky tongue.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Lana yelled as she was yanked through the air.

The monster sucked poor Lana into its mouth. Lana was then swallowed into the monster's dark gullet where she will be digested.