Chapter 6...

The loud girls stood in front of their parents stunned after their parents heard the last message on their answering machine. Rita slowly begins to calm down.

"WELL?!" Lynn Sr. shouted demanding an answer.

Lola was the first to crack...

"I had nothing to do with it! They did it!" she pointed her finger toward her sisters as they glared at her and shouted...

"LOLA!"

"Did what?!" Lynn Sr. demanded again growing impatient.

"We don't know, Lincoln got mad at us for some reason and stormed out of here." said Luan. "Lori went out to look for him, only to find out he was nowhere in town."

"And then Clyde showed up and showed us a security tape of Lincoln boarding a bus heading toward a town called Iron Trail." Luna explained. "Lori, Lucy, Lynn, Lana and Lisa took a bus over there to find him."

Lynn Sr. facepalms and said...

"You should have called us when Lincoln went missing!

"But Lori didn't..."

Luna quickly cover Leni's mouth and said on her behalf...

"What she said is "But Lori said she can handle this, she's an adult.. Well, nearly." Luan gestures a "Zip It" sign to her ditzy sister.

"Lori might become an adult next year, but this is no excuse for her or any of you to leave this house without our permission or without calling us if anything goes wrong!" Lynn Sr. scolded his daughters. "Does anybody have any idea what caused all this?!"

"Actually, i do." said Leni as she shows them the pieces of Lincoln's quilt. "I found one of these here and the rest in the twins' room while we were cleaning up the house. Seems like he was going to make a quilt."

"A quilt? But i thought he was gonna make me a new gown." said Lola. The other girls glared at her again, realizing this, she said... "What, you don't think a beauty queen like yours truly prefer a pink gown all the time?"

Taking a deep breath Rita calmly said to her daughters...

"Girls, of all the petty reasons you and your brother fight over... THIS IS THE WORST!"

"Oh, boy." Lynn Sr. said as he fainted at the sight of his wife newfound temper. Lily (awakened by her mother's outburst) climbs out of the playpen and crawled toward her father.

The loud girls trembled in fear at their mother's booming voice as she shouted...

"I told Lori to remind you girls not to disturb your brother when he's working on his school project, but she obviously did not do so and you all had to destroy it otherwise! You all have gone too far this time!"

"We know we messed up badly, mom, and we're really sorry." said Luna.

"Save it for your brother when we find him.' said Rita. "And you all are going to replace the quilt you destroyed afterward."

"Like, technically, mom, Lola and Lana are the ones who tore it apart." Leni pointed out. "I am the one who lent him the materials for it, you know."

"For your information, you stupid idiot, Lana ruined my gown! If's anyone's to blame, it's her, you hear me?! Her fault!" Lola yelled.

"That's enough, young lady!" Rita yelled at her daughter. Lynn Sr. regains consciousness and joins his wife with Lily in his arms "Your father and i have let you kids do as you please for a long time, and you have taken advantage of our good nature and stomped all over us, and we have had enough. It all ends now.. TODAY!"

"Couldn't agree with you more, hon." Lynn Sr. agreed with his wife. "Your days of lawlessness and unruliness are over, ladies, and we are putting our feet down, right here, right now! As soon we find your brother, your mother and i will discuss an appropriate punishment for all of you..." Lynn Sr. looked at Lily and said with a smile.. "All except you, sweetie pie."

Lily breathe a sigh of relief as Lynn Sr. kiss his baby daughter on the cheek. Rita said...

"Everybody to the van, we're going to Iron Trail."

"But mom..." Lola was about to whine but was cut off by her mother's angry glare which scared her so much she ran outside.

The loud family goes out and hurries to Vanzilla.

"Uh, pops? I don't think our van can make the trip over there." said Luna.

"It may have broken down several times, honey, but it's no quitter." said Lynn Sr.

But before they climb in, they hear a honking sound. The family turned to the street and see a minibus approaching their house and soon parks in front of it. Their neighbor, Mr. Grouse stepped outside of his house to see what's going on. The bus's door opened and coming out of the vehicle is Jancey Yates.

"Hi everyone." Jancey greeted as her husband Bumper Yates Sr. exits the minibus.

"Honey, is it me or is that a bus parked near our house?" Lynn Sr. asked his wife.

"It's a minibus, sweetie." Rita replied.

"Going on a trip, Louds?" asked a curious Mr. Grouse.

"You can say that." Lynn Sr. said to his neighbor.

"Pardon us for asking, but where in the world did you two get this?" asked Rita.

"Oh, our family won this baby here on a game show called "Family Fun"." said Bumper Sr. "We were gonna give it to you two on your anniversary, but after Jancey told me what happened to your son, we decided to give it to you a bit early."

"Oh, how very kind of you." said Rita.

"We'll use this bus now, because we have to, but afterwards, we're giving it back. Vanzilla's like family! Ain't that right, family?" Lynn Sr. asked his remaining children and wife.

"But daddy, you can't throw away a free bus like this one." said Lola. "Look at it, it's perfect."

The other loud girls agreed with Lola... until Lynn Sr. said...

"Sorry, girls, but we're sticking with our old pal and that's final."

"I know the van means so much to you, hon, but sooner or later, that car will give up the ghost." Rita told her husband.

Lynn Sr. lets out a frustrated sigh and said...

"Alright, i'll give it some thought, but right now, we need to find the rest of our kids."

The loud girls boarded the minibus.

"Hold on." Bumper Sr. interrupted."I hear the woods near that town is dangerous, you better let us take care of little Lily here while you're gone."

"Good idea." Rita agreed as she hands over her baby daughter and baby supplies to Jancey. She then said to Lily.. "Don't worry, sweetie, we'll be back as soon as we find your brother and sisters."

Bumper Yates Sr. gives the minibus keys to Lynn Loud Sr and once the family is onboard, the minibus departs to Iron Trail.

"Happy trails!" Mr. Grouse shouted, who then said to himself.. "And hello peace."

Back at Train Grave Forest, Lincoln stepped outside the cabin after breakfast, he was about to leave when Cherry stopped him and said...

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I gotta get to that campground and find a ride back home." Lincoln replied.

Catalina and Jackie stepped out of the cabin, Jackie said to Lincoln...

"Not on your own, you ain't, it's too dangerous."

"Look, i appreciate what you done for me, i really do, but i have to get back before my parents find out i'm gone and i'm not planning on getting in trouble." said Lincoln.

"For making your familia worry to near death? You might be in trouble already." Catalina jokingly said.

"You don't say." Lincoln replied with a bit of snark. "Well, i'm not letting anything or anyone stopping me from getting out of this joint."

Catalina whispers something to Jackie, then Jackie groans and said...

"Tell you what, kid. Let's all go there together."

"Wait, what?" said a confused Lincoln.

At the Mandrake Estate, Lana is watching a wildlife documentary show on TV while her sisters enjoyed the pleasures the mansion had to offer. Mr. Mandrake walked in holding a photo album and sat next to Lana. Mr. Mandrake said to Lana...

"You know, i don't get a lot of visitors anymore since the town's troubles started."

"What happened?" asked Lana.

"Some outlaws came to town 50 years ago and started stirring up trouble." Mr. Mandrake explained. "Then in '76, some wolves, bears, cougars and other nasty predators migrated to the woods and started hunting animals from local ranches when they ran out of prey to eat, then they started attacking people afterward. Most of the town moved away when things got worse and the Train Graveyard was closed down. It took a decade or two for everything to settle down. Most of those beasts moved somewhere else, but Iron Trail itself is still in ruins. Today, there's a few people left trying to get by, but with the state this town is in, it's never easy."

Mr. Mandrake opened his photo album and looked at the old pictures of his family, Lana took a peek herself. Mr. Mandrake said...

"Still, what i miss the most is my son, my daughter-in-law and grandchildren."

"What happened to them?" asked Lana.

Before Mr. Mandrake can say anything, they heard a crashing sound upstairs.

"What in the world?" said Mr. Mandrake as he goes out of the living room to investigate.

Once in the hall, Mr. Mandrake goes upstairs, but halfway there, he hears an alarm on his watch and with haste goes back down and races to a closet near the stairs. Lori enters the living room and frantically paced back and forth saying...

"No reception, no phones here... I can't stand it, i need Bobby now!"

Lori stopped pacing and get an idea: Lisa. She asked Lana...

"Where's Lisa?"

"Upstairs." Lana replied.

One hour earlier, Lisa Loud sneaks into Mr. Mandrake's bedroom to do some reading in peace and away from the racket her sisters make. Lisa spent half an hour lying on Mr. Mandrake's bed reading the books from his bookshelf full of spy novels, agriculture books and survival guides when she heard a loud banging sound in the next room following by a crashing sound.

"Leave it to Lynn to ruin the silence with athletic recreational devices." Lisa growls as she grabs her book and moves to the closet.

The closet inside was dark, Lisa takes a pen flashlight from her pocket and turns it on, with the light she finds two light switch on the wall near the door, Lisa then flicks the second switch on, but no light comes on, a few seconds later a wall of glass slides in and seals the genius inside, then the whole closet begins to descend like an elevator. A minute or two later, the secret closet elevator comes to a halt and the glass wall slides away. Lisa exits the hidden elevator and stumbles into what it appears to be a secret underground lair. The secret lair was full of metal walls. As she got further in, she noticed beakers on tables and beeping devices. She found a rope and a pit on the floor leading to darkness. Lisa's eyes soon turned to a strange hi tech computer across the room and next to it was a telephone on a end table. Lisa goes to investigate the strange computer and examines it for a bit and said to herself...

"Intriguing."

Lisa looks around and said to herself...

"Maybe i'll fiddle with it for a bit, just to see what it does."

Lisa climbs into a chair and tampers with the computer. She sees two login profiles on the screen, one said "21" and the other "Guest". Lisa takes out a white top hat from her pocket and digs inside of the hat until she takes out some sort of plugin.

"Good thing i brought along my White Hat Hackie." Lisa told herself. "It was created to hack systems and computers in the name of good. AND to further my knowledge."

Lisa plugs her device into the computer and attempts to hack her way inside. Unfortunately, she never expected the security to be so high and a short time later, an alarm goes off.

"Obviously, i still have a few bugs to work out." Lisa told herself as she quickly unplug her device and runs to the dark pit she noticed early, and turns on her pen flashlight to find some means to climb down, the light shines on a rope and Lisa quickly climbs down the rope into the dark pit, just in time for Mr. Mandrake to enter the lair to investigate.

Mr. Mandrake turned the alarm off after searching his lair, but he soon hears the secret elevator coming down to the lair and after a bit, sees Lori Loud exiting the hidden elevator and enter the secret lair. Mr. Mandrake clears his throat to get Lori's attention, which he said afterward...

"Young lady, this area is off limits, you must leave now."

"Wait, i can literally explain." Lori pleaded. "I been trying a find a phone to call my boyfriend."

"Well, there is only one phone in this house, and it's over there." Mr. Mandrake pointed at the phone near the computer.

"What?! Why do you have the only phone in this house down here?" Lori demanded.

"I don't like to mess with any more technology than I have to. In other words: I'm old." Mandrake explained.

"Huh. You're worse than my Pop Pop." Lori commented.

"Who?" Mandrake asked.

"Never mind!" Lori backed off. "Can i use your phone, please? I need to call Bobby."

"Fine, go ahead." Mr. Mandrake replied. Lori goes to the phone to call Bobby.

Mr. Mandrake sighs and taps on his spy watch and said to it...

"Carrie, we have a 101, report to the lair at once."

"Right away, monsieur." said Carrie.

Back at the forest, Lincoln returns to the bridge with Catalina, Jackie and Cherry in tow, only to find out that the teenage boy guarding the bridge is gone.

"That's strange." Lincoln thought to himself.

The group crossed the bridge and continued onward, eventually reaching the campgrounds. The campgrounds was surrounded by a tall chain link fence, and had a couple of cabins, a mess hall, a fire pit with a grill grate and a playground. Upon entering the campgrounds, they see a black haired man in a scoutmaster uniform talking on a pay phone. After a bit, the scoutmaster hangs up, takes his hat off and slams it to the ground in anger before storming off.

"Earl..." a red haired woman called out, but the scoutmaster ignored her kept stomping away.

Catalina and Jackie approach the woman who had brown hair and a scoutmistress uniform.

"Hey, Bridget." Catalina greeted the woman.

"What's up with Earl?" asked Jackie.

"I have no idea. I do know that one of the scouts from my group vanished last night." Bridget explained.

While the three women talked, Lincoln asked Cherry...

"Who are they talking to?"

"Mrs. Walbridge." Cherry answered. "She's the scoutmistress of the Acorn Scouts, and Mr. Walbridge is Scoutmaster of the Chestnut Scouts."

"But what do they do when they're not leading boy and girl scouts, job wise?" asked Lincoln.

"Glad you asked, young man." said Mrs. Walbridge as Lincoln jumped in surprise. "Me and my husband worked at a youth group for underprivileged kids and teens in Great Lakes City. In fact, there's a few scouts here who is members of our group."

"You and your family live in Great Lakes?" asked Lincoln.

"Oh yes, we live in a nice small house there." Mrs. Walbridge answered. "Anyway, it's a pleasure to meet you, Lincoln Loud."

"Same here, ma'am." said Lincoln.

"Come on, i'll introduce you to the scouts." said Mrs. Walbridge.

"You two go on ahead, we have to take care of something" said Jackie as she and Catalina leaves.

"Okay." Cherry said as she sighs.

Mrs. Walbridge leads Lincoln and Cherry to the playground where five girl scouts are seen moping around instead of playing.

"Acorns, assemble!" Mrs. Walbridge commanded the girl scouts.

The girl scouts groaned as they slowly gathered toward Mrs. Walbridge.

"Girls, i'm sure you already met Cherry." Mrs. Walbridge announced. "But i want to introduce you to her new friend, Lincoln Loud."

"Dang it, Mrs. Walbridge! Some of us are grieving here!" said one the girl scouts. The girl scout was african american and had dark brown hair.

"Do you want a funeral? Because I have a sister who does those. Maybe when we're not fighting, though." Lincoln replied.

"No, not that, doofus, Sue Mae has been kidnapped!" The girl scout answered bitterly. "We have to find her!"

The other girls clamor in agreement.

"Come now girls, it's dangerous out there." Mrs. Walbridge addressed the girl scouts. "We should let the authorities handle this once they arrived."

"Wait, How do we even know she was kidnapped? She could just be lost." Lincoln told the ladies.

""Because they left a note!" Mrs. Walbridge answered Lincoln's question.

"Well, i'm not gonna sit here and watch those scumbags do horrible things to my best friend." the girl scout protested.

"That's enough, Merida. you're staying put, end of discussion." said Mrs. Walbridge. She turned to the other girl scouts and said..."That goes for the rest of you."

Afterward, a boy scout appeared, the kid had short black hair.

"Ah, Peter, good timing, i want you to meet..." Mrs Walbridge stopped for a moment and noticed the scoutmaster and another man packing some stuff in a minibus with the other boy scouts. She then said... "Wait, where is your father going?"

"Dad and the others are going fishing at Loner Lake with uncle Phil." said Peter.

"Figures." said Mrs. Walbridge. She turns to a red haired girl and said... "Judy, i need to talk to your father, can you help our new friend get acquainted with everyone?"

"Sure, mom." Judy answered as her mother leaves. "Ok, uh, Lincoln, is it?"

Lincoln nods.

"Great, you already know my name, so i'll introduce you to everyone." said Judy as the boy scout approached them. "This is my brother, Peter, and these are my fellow scouts, Merida..."

Merida rolls her eyes and scoffs.

"Delia..."

"Hello.". Delia greeted, Delia is a japanese american girl with short auburn hair.

"Azalea..."

"Hey." Azalea is a brazilian girl with brown hair wrapped in a ponytail.

"..and Crystal."

The blonde haired girl said nothing as she plays a game on her smartphone.

"Nice to meet you." Lincoln greeted.

"Come on, i'll show you around." said Judy as she leaves with Lincoln to give him a tour of the campgrounds.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note: Okay, i'm gonna stop here, but i must say, we met a lot of new folks on this story, including the Acorn and Chestnut Scout groups and Mr. Mandrake. Just a reminder, The Acorn Scouts are a girl scout group and the Chestnut Scouts are a boy scout group and Judy's brother Peter is a member of that group. Anyway, but you're probably wondering: Why does Mr. Mandrake have a secret underground lair in his mansion? That question will be answered in the next chapter, so stay tuned, and thanks again for reading.