*A/N: Please direct all requests for characters and worlds to me as Private Messages. I will then gladly consider them. Thank you!
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(Introduction)
The very concept of our existence has been threatened.
The Ilumari, or, Keepers of the Cosmic Light, existed solely to monitor and protect the barriers of every universe within the Multiverse, making sure that nothing disrupted their balance.
The Quantum Devourers, who were massive, living black-holes, on the other hand, were considered as the greatest threat to all life due to their constant need to eat through dimensional barriers. But the most powerful warriors of the Ilumari struck back, and imprisoned them within the most horrible, twisted, and long-dead dimension, known simply as the Dead Zone.
But power corrupts.
One of these great warriors soon sought to gain more power and glory for himself. Planning to usurp the Ilumari throne with the troops under his command, he created an infernal weapon of mass destruction that allowed him to destroy and absorb entire dimensional barriers, thus increasing his power much more than it already was, but at the cost of the existence of those dimensions. This unforgivable crime did not go unnoticed and resulted in the destruction of the weapon, and his being imprisoned, along with his men, within the Dead Zone.
He has since escaped, and with him, the Quantum Devourers were again free to lay waste to existence.
But unbeknownst to them was that a divine plan was put into motion. A plan to bring together both some of the Multiverse's greatest warriors, as well as a few unexpected heroes in order to combat this mad man's forces of darkness, and bring peace and balance to the Multiverse once again.
These diverse heroes would come to be known, and revered as the Warriors Next Dimension!
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(Opening theme: Dragonforce - "Heroes of Our Time" - 00:00 to 02:12)
Codename: Warriors Next Dimension
Season 1: Quantum Genesis - Episode 1: Jack's Duel of Fate! The Fall of the Eds
(****)
(The Island of Time, two years and two months after Samurai Jack, Episode LII)
The cool mountain breeze blew softly as the sun continued its descent towards the Earth's horizon and beyond. To the east, the stars were already prominent, and the various howls and screeches of the region's nocturnal creatures were clearly audible.
The infamous wandering-warrior who came to be known as Samurai Jack, as well as a hero and symbol of hope to most of Future-Earth's various peoples, strode through a wasteland of highly rusted and corroded remains of fallen robotic warriors from ages long forgotten. Warriors who had failed where even he had failed before. But he was sure that he would succeed this time. He had put himself through an intense training regiment for the past two years, and during the two months before that, he had gone on his most dangerous quest yet, but that's a story that will be revealed later. He continued through the wreckage as he saw a faint glow through the bullet holes of the front half of a particularly large, metal head. The head had obviously been sliced in half, which was no small feat considering that it was over thirty feet tall.
Not much farther, thought Jack as he quickened his pace. The wind, now gaining speed, chilled him as he made his way towards the wastelands' center, to the source of the surrounding metal corpses. Sprinting the final stretch, he then stopped, silent, focused, and determined. He had arrived.
In the middle of the wreckage, he beheld a familiar sight: a large, open area whose center consisted of a towering beam of light – his goal – and in front of it, a hulking silhouette. Standing in front of the time portal stood its protector. Not only was this the first man to even match Jack in single combat since Jack had first fought the Scotsman, but he was also the only man to ever actually defeat Jack - the Time Guardian. He was big (about eight feet tall), bald, blue-skinned, wore a pitch-black suit, and a pair of red sun-glasses. Not to mention the variety of deadly weapons underneath his suit.
"Oh, I see you're back for more, Samurai," said the Guardian in his deep, baritone voice, while his suit's coattails fluttered in the wind. "I sense that you've somehow altered your fate. This time, the portal won't stop me from finishing you off."
Jack just smiled and unsheathed his holy katana. This guy had plagued his nightmares almost as much as Aku, but not anymore. Jack was now confident. He was full of faith. Taking one more deep breath, he then charged and braced himself for one hell of a fight.
(The Cul-de-sac, Peach Creek, two days after Ed, Edd, 'n Eddy's Big Picture Show)
The spring afternoon sun blazed at its heavenly pinnacle as song birds continuously chirped their sweet melodies. The air was mildly arid, and almost seemed to swirl around the teens of the Peach Creek cul-de-sac as they made their way home from such a tiresome adventure.
Rolf, Kevin, Nazz, Sarah, and Jimmy, still carried the Eds on their shoulders while crossing the construction yard, which was full of construction equipment and vehicles, as well as soon to be finished houses. They were almost home.
The Eds consisted of Ed, who was the dimwitted, geeky, unhygienic, sci-fi loving, workhorse, and all-purpose multi-tool of the group, who was also unnaturally super-strong. Edd (or Double D, as the others called him) who was the frail, yet scientific and inventive genius of the group who always wore a black ski-hat, and Eddy, who was the group's self-appointed leader and everyman who was also extremely cunning and determined when he felt like it, but was usually a major slacker that, until recent events led him to repent and reform his greedy and selfish ways, used to obsess over scamming everyone in their community in order to buy Jawbreakers.
Then there was Kevin, the extreme sports and bmx-obsessed typical jock who used to bully the Eds, and Nazz, who was the girl-next-door and crush of every boy there except for Rolf and Jimmy, and was actually the only person to really treat the Eds with any form of respect, even before their recent rise to acceptance.
Sarah was Ed's fiery, spoiled and bossy little sister, who constantly beat the living crap out of anyone who made her or Jimmy angry, while Jimmy himself was her wimpy, effeminate, yet ruthless weakling of a best-friend who constantly hid behind Sarah for protection when he was threatened (usually for a good reason), and wore a retainer and head-gear due to a bowling-pin accident during one of Eddy's scams-gone-wrong.
And finally (Since Johnny isn't around), Rolf was the meat-obsessed, Eastern-European immigrant who referred to himself in the third person, ran his parents' small farm at the far end of the cul-de-sac, and constantly weirded everyone out with his strange customs and traditions, typically involving some manner of disgusting food or animals.
"Um, guys, you can put us down now." Said Double D, "and sorry about your bike, Kevin."
"It's cool, bro," chimed Kevin, "It's the least we can do for all the years of misery that we put you guys through. Oh, and about the bike, eh, I've got spares in my garage, behind the jawbreakers."
This is awesome! thought Eddy as they turned into the alley-way, they really like us!
Ed just giggled in his usual, seemingly absent-minded manner.
"It's just, well, you've been carrying us for the entire trek back from Mondo-A-Go-Go," replied Double D.
"Maybe he's right, Kevin," whimpered Jimmy, who, along with Sarah, had the supreme misfortune of being under Ed, and was struggling to keep him suspended.
Kevin seemed to ignore him as they passed Jimmy's backyard. There were many stuffed animals and a little table with an umbrella for tea parties.
"So are we still up for that party at my place or what?" Asked Kevin.
"Actually Kev, how about you let me host this one at my place? It's the least I can do to thank you guys," offered Eddy, reveling in his newfound social status.
"Sounds fun, Eddy! I'll be over after a quick shower and a change of clothing." responded Nazz, causing Eddy to almost pass out and basically have a miniature heart-attack from pure joy.
Everyone else excitedly agreed as well.
"Alright, I'm down," said Kevin, "I'll even bring a whole box of Jawbreakers."
I'm either dead or dreaming! This can't be for real! thought Eddy.
"Rolf shall bring his fermented two-meter turnip so that the Ed-boys may partake in the ceremonial dance of social acceptance!" laughed Rolf merrily.
"Um, Rolf, what's the turnip for?" asked Double D in confusion – along with everyone else.
"Why do you insult the son of a shepherd with your ignorance, which knows no bounds?!" yelled Rolf, annoyed, "you shall dance with Rolf's turnip!"
Everyone (including Ed) minus Eddy and Double D, busted out laughing.
Great! thought Eddy, dreadfully, I'm gonna dance with a freakin' turnip! He looked at Ed in confusion, "Why are you laughing, lumpy?"
"Because, um . . . I don't know! Ahahaha!" Ed continued to laugh.
They neared the remnants of the their last great scam-gone-wrong, which caused the Eds much discomfort, despite having received their friends' forgiveness.
There were blast marks and wooden debris everywhere, but the others seemed to pay it no mind.
Then they suddenly stopped.
"Guys? What's wrong?" Eddy asked, snapping out of his day-dreaming.
"Oh no!" said Double D fearfully.
"Cool!" yelled Ed in amazement.
"What?" yelled Eddy, but then he saw it.
On the ground, in the middle of the blast site, was a swirling puddle of both light and darkness, and something began to emerge from it.
"What is that thing!" yelled everyone, except Ed, who now bore a huge grin.
"I know what it is!" he yelled, much to everyone's confusion.
The black creature that emerged had no eyes, only a long head with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. It opened its mouth, and out protruded a long stiff tongue, only it wasn't a tongue, but another, smaller mouth with more teeth. It had a long and slender body with similarly slender limbs that culminated in sharp claws, and out of its back, there extended what appeared to be small tentacles and a long, whip-like tail that culminated in a spear-point. Finally, its skin looked very slimy and glossy.
Everyone held their breath and slowly backed away in horror as it turned towards them and began inching forward.
Dropping the Eds, they yelled "This has to be your fault!"
"What?! How?!" yelled Double D, from the ground.
"The explosion that you caused in your last scam obviously must have opened up some sort of wormhole in the space/time continuum, Double D!" yelled Nazz, surprising everyone, and this time causing Double D to also have a miniature heart-attack from pure joy. Her moments of brilliance, like Ed's, were few and far between.
But he quickly snapped out of it and said, "That shouldn't be possible! But enough on that, all of you, get to safety!"
The creature let out a very disturbing shriek, causing everyone but the Eds, who were still on the ground, to immediately run off.
"Everyone to my place!" screamed Kevin, for his house was the closest, "except for you three dorks!"
"Well, that was short lived," sighed Double D, sadly.
"Let's book it, boys!" shouted Eddy, frantically running in the other direction. The other Eds quickly got up and ran after him.
The creature was right on their tails, and gaining.
(Back on the Island of Time)
Jack swung his blade with incredible speed, but the Guardian still managed to unsheathe his own katana as well – which was completely white - from his back, and blocked the slash.
"Looks like you haven't learned much more since the last time you challenged me!" laughed the Guardian, holding Jack's sword in place.
"You could not . . . be more wrong!" yelled Jack as he pushed off the Guardian's mighty strength, and then flipped backwards while simultaneously slicing upwards with incredible speed. His blade sliced the Guardian's chest three times before he was out of reach, causing the blue giant to stumble back a few steps, out of intense pain.
Regaining his composure, the giant's face suddenly had a demented smile on it. "Interesting . . ." he said. Then he charged at Jack with his sword raised. Reaching him, he hacked downwards, and though Jack still caught it just in time, the sheer force of the strike knocked him back a good sixty feet, into the massive heaps of metal that surrounded them.
Jack quickly jumped onto his feet and casually strolled back onto the battlefield. He readied himself once again.
"Give up, Samurai," said the Guardian.
"I will not!" cried out Jack as he charged his hulking nemesis once again.
The Guardian anticipated his attack and held his sword in a blocking position, but Jack was nowhere to be found. Feeling more intense pain, he suddenly found Jack crouched under him, with his blade piercing into his gut.
Enraged, the Guardian slashed downwards but Jack pulled his sword out of him and successfully stopped his attack. The giant continued into a raging frenzy of sword attacks, but Jack blocked every single one.
Then, in an attempt to escape the blue man's rage, he began jump-dodging, trying to regain the opportunity to attack, but the Guardian kept up with him and continued his onslaught even when they were in the air. But then, out of his anger, he made a mistake. He made it a point to grunt in a frustrated manner slightly before every attack. Jack quickly took advantage of this and timed an attack in between the Guardian's grunts and sliced horizontally across the giant's chest, spilling a very small amount of "blood" – or actually, robot oil. That's it! But I'll need to spill more for this to work!thought Jack frantically as he tried to time another attack, but he was caught off-guard by one of the Guardian's insanely powerful front kicks, and was sent flying towards the tower of light, landing twenty feet from it.
"You're the first warrior in one thousand years to even land one good hit on me, and yet, not counting our last fight, here you are with a total of five," yelled the Guardian as he sheathed his sword and then crossed his arms, "but now, you're done for!"
Oh no! Jack thought to himself intensely as he scrambled onto his feet. He knew that pose well.
"Eat lead!" the Guardian laughed maniacally as he pulled out his twin pistols and began rapid firing.
Jack barely managed to avoid the first few shots, but one then majorly grazed his right shoulder before he managed to run around the beam of light for cover. It was slightly bleeding.
The shooting ceased as the Guardian ran out of ammunition, at which Jack quickly ran out to him and launched into a flying kick that knocked the giant onto his back.
"That is number six," said Jack.
The blue behemoth quickly sprung to his feet and pulled out a grenade launcher from seemingly nowhere.
"Then I suppose I owe you six grenades!" cried the giant in total fury. He began launching grenades at Jack, who ran around the battleground, trying to keep as far from each timed blast as he could, and though what he couldn't avoid didn't harm him much, he was still knocked around senseless by the pressure. But he quickly regained awareness of his surroundings just as the Guardian was loading more grenades into his launcher. He sprinted towards the giant, but was too far and too late.
The Guardian took aim and launched another grenade, but this time Jack was ready.
Timing it just right, he drop-kicked the grenade back to the Guardian, causing it to detonate at about two feet in front of him.
When the smoke cleared, the Guardian was nowhere to be found.
Jack, out of breath and in much pain, panted out a sigh of relief, and turned to his long sought-after goal.
He had finally done it! He was going to slay Aku and prevent this horrible future!
This is it. thought Jack as he made his way towards the time portal, I will soon live a normal, peaceful life. He soon reached the portal, which was blindingly bright, and stepped into it, but it didn't react. "What's going on here?!" yelled Jack in frustration, "why won't it work?!" He immediately ran out of it to examine it from the outside.
The entirety of the towering light's circumference was exactly the same. It was pure light.
Was it all just a cruel lie?! Jack didn't want to – no, he couldn't believe that all of this was in vain! Maybe I missed something! he thought frantically.
"I told you, Samurai, you can't pass through without beating me first!" boomed a voice from above.
Jack looked up and immediately jumped back, barely dodging the colossal, watermelon-sized fist that impacted the ground in front of him with such strength, that the shockwave knocked him clear across the battleground into the heaps of metal again, where he slammed against a gigantic forearm, causing it to tip over. He quickly jumped off of it before it landed on the ground, sending dust and debris everywhere as he ran back towards the time portal.
There was now a very large crater in the battleground's northern quarter, and in its center, stood the Guardian in mostly ragged clothing from receiving that grenade blast in such a close proximity.
"That makes two of my suits that you've ruined, Samurai. You know, these are specially tailored, so they're not cheap," The Guardian said angrily. "But at least my pants are fully intact this time," he said as he ripped what little remained of his shirt and coat, off. There were two steel rings that crossed his wounded chest in an "X".
"So if you were not wearing that, your chest wounds would have been much more severe." Jack pointed out.
"Don't flatter yourself! They would've been barely any bigger!" laughed the giant, reaching behind his back, "I had hoped not to be forced to use this style, but you're now a pest that needs quick extermination," he said as he unsheathed the completely white katana from before, followed by a second, completely black katana. "It's on now, Samurai."
(Back in the Cul-de-sac)
"This sucks! They hate us again!" shouted Eddy, running frantically, "please tell me you guys have a plan!"
"My house!" yelled Ed, who seemed to be enjoying the chase, as he had a big dumb smile on his face.
"That's fine and all, but how do you . . . fine gentlemen suppose that we'll lose that . . . abhorrent abomination of natural biology!" cried Double D, now panting for breath.
"Ed! Your shoes!" yelled Eddy as they turned onto the main road of the cul-de-sac.
"Got'chya Eddy!" said Ed, laughing in his oafish manner while taking off his shoes in mid-run. He then tossed them back at the creature, hitting it and stopping it momentarily as it investigated them.
"Aaaaagh! I was sure that their stench would knock it out!" yelled Eddy, almost out of breath.
"Now's our chance!" panted Double D.
Following his cue, they quickly jumped to their left through some tall bushes in front of Double D's house.
"We'll have to make due with my house for now," whispered Double D as they cautiously crawled through the bushes' length and scrambled through Double D's well maintained backyard to the backdoor.
Once inside his particularly well organized and extraordinarily clean home, they scrambled to Double D's room (which was also well organized and extraordinarily clean, but everything was labeled as well). It had shelves upon shelves of books, plus a small table with supplies and equipment for scientific experiments. For some reason, the bed was labeled "Sack", which Eddy always thought was funny for Double D.
"So, what do we do now, guys?" asked Eddy, catching his breath.
"Only two things to do: get rid of that monster, and then set out to clear our names!" announced Double D as he searched through his alphabetically categorized bookshelf.
Ed just stared out of the window.
"Good Ed, let us know if that monster shows up again, will ya?" said Eddy as he just relaxed on Double D's bed. "Yo Sock-head, find anything yet?"
"Maybe if you guys would help! But on the other hand, I found my set of encyclopedias on quantum physics, but they mention nothing on explosions of lesser power to a supernova distorting time or space, much less opening a blasted wormhole!" cried Double D angrily.
"Maybe we witnessed some sort of exception or a . . . special, rare phenomenon?" said Eddy in a (rare) moment of brilliance.
"Very good, Eddy! That may just be the case!" exclaimed Double D, "Oh dear! If only I had some printed information on the subject!"
Oh boy, looks like Sock-head's rubbing off on me, thought Eddy.
"Looks like I'm rubbing off on you, Eddy," laughed Double D.
"Just what I was thinkin'," sulked Eddy.
"Hey!" yelled Ed, "it's going into my house!"
"What? Your house?" said Eddy.
Ed suddenly had a look of terror on his face and yelled, "oh no, Sarah! We have to save her!" he tried running out, but both Eddy and Double D grabbed his green coat's collar (much to their disgust) and pulled him back to hold him.
"What are you yappin' about, Lumpy, Sarah's at Kevin's house!" said Eddy in mild amusement, "now you get serious, eh Ed?"
"Oh yeah! I forgot! Ahahaha!" laughed Ed.
"Loveable oaf," chuckled Double D, but then it hit him. "Ed, you said earlier that you knew what that thing was. Well, do you?"
"Yeah! I recognized it from -" just then, something shook the house underneath them.
"Oh crap!" yelled Eddy.
"Eddy! Language, mister!" yelled Double D.
"Can it, Sock-head, we're off the air, remember?" laughed Eddy, "sounds like you have an uninvited houseguest."
The sound of a vase breaking sounded from out in the hallway.
"Oh dear, Father and Mother will be so angry!" whimpered Double D.
"I think now would be a good time to make our escape!" yelled Eddy, opening Double D's window.
They all quickly jumped out, using a giggling Ed to break their fall, and then ran out onto the cul-de-sac.
They ran straight into Ed's house and pushed what they could in front of all of the windows and doors (it was already a mess due to the creature's earlier break-in), and then went down into Ed's room, which happened to occupy the basement. Creepily, his room always had a purple and green glow to it. Within, he had his walls plastered with posters of sci-fi horror movies and videogames. He had a shelf of Sci-fi monster comics and action figures, most notably, a particularly dangerous one that was a little horned monster that had a string on its back that when pulled, caused the toy to "breathe" out a dangerously huge stream of actual fire. Plus, his entire room was usually a giant mess.
"Can't tell if the monster wrecked Ed's room, or if it's just how it always is," laughed Eddy.
"Nope! It's just how I left it, Eddy! Ahahaha!" giggled Ed.
"Eddy, block in the light from the basement window!" said Double D, "Well, Ed?" he inquired, "what exactly is that creature?"
"It's a Xenomorph!" yelled Ed, excitedly.
"A Xeno-what?" asked Eddy, with a look of confusion, as he stuffed one of Ed's pillows into the window's small frame. It was mostly due to Ed actually knowing something.
"Xenomorph? An extraterrestrial?" pondered Double D, "but how do you know that Ed?"
"Movies!" said Ed as he popped an old tape into his vintage VCR, "this one's called Aliens."
"Now's hardly the time to watch a movie, Ed!" said Double D.
"But it might actually help us, Double D! Movie knows all!" said Ed, cryptically.
"I guess it's worth a shot, but keep the volume low! We don't want that alien to pay us another visit!" said Double D as all three of them squeezed onto Ed's recliner the way they usually did when they watched movies with him.
Ed suddenly lifted his leg, letting his pant-leg fall, and pulled a hard candy off of his leg hairs. "Snack?" he said, offering it to the others.
"Ugh! Don't start that again, Ed!" laughed Eddy as Double D gagged.
(Over at Kevin's House)
"I wonder if those dorks made it to safety," said Kevin, looking out of his second-floor room's window. They had barricaded the entire downstairs area.
"I still can't believe that you did that, Kevin!" yelled Nazz, in tears, "whether it was their fault or not, no one deserves to go like that!" she continued crying and sulked on Kevin's bed.
"But I -" Kevin just stopped. He really didn't know what to say.
"Did anyone else notice that Plank and Jonny have been missing since the whole incident with Eddy's brother?" said Jimmy, still trembling.
"Don't know, don't care!" said Sarah, "that creepy fat-head is probably down in some pit, plotting something against my stupid brother and his stupid friends, or something like that."
"Is the monster outside, Kevin?" asked Jimmy, now cowering underneath Kevin's bed.
Kevin looked out again. "Whoa! Sarah, that thing just came out of your house!"
"What!" yelled Sarah, her mouth growing to monstrous proportions, "If that monster messes up my room, then I'm gonna kill Ed if the monster hasn't beaten me to it!"
"It's now going into Double D's house! Choice! It just knocked down his door!" laughed Kevin, seemingly forgetting his guilt.
"Oh no, Double D!" squealed Sarah, tears now forming in her eyes.
Jimmy's eye twitched as he felt a twinge of jealousy and anger.
"The creature hungers for a virgin sacrifice!" yelled Rolf with a maniacal look on his face. He looked first at Nazz, and then Sarah, and then proceeded to pick Sarah up to carry her out of the room as she screamed and kicked.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Rolf what are you thinking, man?!" yelled Kevin as he and Jimmy tried to pry her from him, finally succeeding after a major struggle.
Rolf seemed to snap out of it, and then bowed down immediately, "forgive Rolf, loud-mouth Ed-girl! He was not in control of his actions! Spare Rolf your wrath!"
Sarah just trembled in a seemingly traumatic state.
"I'll kill you!" cried Jimmy as he launched himself at Rolf, but was caught just in time by Kevin.
"Calm down, Fluffy! We won't get anywhere fighting amongst ourselves!" yelled Kevin as he continued to restrain the ravenous Jimmy.
"I guess you would know that best of all, right, Kevin?" said Nazz somberly.
". . ." Kevin was at a loss for the right words once again, "Look, everyone just lay low, and try not to make any noise. I have a feeling that the dorks are alright. I don't know how, but I can just feel it in my gut."
(Back in Ed's Room)
The movie's credits began rolling when Ed suddenly got up and shut it off. "So? Was that cool or what, guys?"
"Well, I'll admit that it was a very good film. But first off, Ed, I'm very confused as to why a creature from a series of science-fiction films is tearing up our cul-de-sac," said Double D, who pondered to himself intensely.
"But did you see anything useful, Double D?" said Eddy, worriedly.
"Indeed I did, but it's only theoretical," Double D looked at his friends with a confident smile, "Fire."
"Fire?" asked Eddy.
"Did you not pay attention to the story?" inquired Double D quizzically.
"I think I did, but my deducing skills are obviously lacking," admitted Eddy.
"Deductive, and right, my apologies," said Double D as he sat on Ed's bed absent-mindedly, and then quickly shot up, remembering that it was basically its own eco-system in there. "Well on that note, I deduced that they don't like fire, simple as that."
"So we just have to trap it and light it on fire?" asked Eddy.
"That would be much too dangerous. No, we need a strategy to combat this foe indirectly, or from a distance, if you will," said Double D seemingly to himself, "because we'll also have to watch out for its acidic blood."
Eddy thought for a moment, and then grinned devilishly, "I have something that we can use."
(Eddy's House, several minutes later)
"Eddy, are you sure about this?" Double D asked worriedly, "About a week ago, this stuff turned us into the cul-de-sac's most wanted! What if we only end up having a repeat of last time?"
"It'll work, trust me!" assured Eddy as he dug through his brother's car.
They were in Eddy's house, specifically his big brother's room, searching through the trunk of his car (for some unexplained reason, he kept it in his room). His room also contained other oddities, such as a full-sized, blue taxidermy camel that wore a red and white striped top hat, a pile of beach-sand in the corner that had a lounging chair and an umbrella on it to look like a miniature beach, a window that was covered with bricks, and a roll-away bed that rolled into a fridge.
"That's what you said for each of our scams!" responded Double D, as he examined his most despised of substances. It was nitro glycerin.
Their last great "scam of the century" – as Eddy put it – involved freezing the other kids in place, and then using a giant piece of metal, which Double D magnetized, to take their money. But Eddy, having mistaken his brother's questionable stash of nitro glycerin for liquid nitrogen, fired it (thankfully it was a small amount) but the resulting explosion still blew up the immediate area, effectively angering those affected to almost no end, which then led to the Ed's immediate exodus and eventually to the crisis with Eddy's big brother.
"And how are we going to use this?" inquired Double D, "if we just throw these beakers, we'll only get two chances, and if we miss, we're goners!"
"Not if we have our Canadian squirt-guns," chimed Eddy.
Double D thought it over. "That may actually be stupid enough to work!"
"Then it's set. Lumpy will lure that Alien into the construction yard, and then we ambush it! Roll out!"
(Back in Kevin's House)
"Don't let it in!" Jimmy screamed from the stairs.
Kevin, Nazz, Rolf, and Sarah were pushed up against the front door barricade as the Xenomorph pushed and scratched from the outside.
"Maybe a little more . . . help would be nice . . . Fluffy!" strained Kevin, who pushed on an overturned table alongside Nazz.
The Alien screeched even louder as it gave a bigger heave, almost knocking them all back, but they quickly regained their footing and continued to hold.
Suddenly, a burning sound and smell were prominent, as was smoke, which rose from their barricade.
"Is that fire?!" yelled Nazz, pushing on a TV.
"Oh no," panted Kevin, ominously.
"What?!" the others yelled simultaneously.
"That smells like acid! It's burning through!" he yelled as he contemplated whether to run for it or not. "We've gotta hold up somewhere else!"
"Then let us go to Rolf's house!" yelled Rolf.
"Like now, man!" said Kevin as he began to run for his backdoor, as did the others.
Once outside, they took off around the side of his house, and booked it across the cul-de-sac.
The alien realized where they were, and immediately began trailing Sarah, who was bringing up the rear.
"It's almost got Sarah!" cried Jimmy.
Sarah screamed and ran with all of the speed that she could muster, but the alien just seemed to gain on her.
"Get away from her, you bitch!" yelled Ed from across the cul-de-sac.
"Did Ed just curse?!" asked Double D in genuine disbelief, while Eddy just laughed hysterically. They were both waiting in the construction yard.
"Hahahahahahaha! The Lump made a movie reference!" he was now on his belly, pounding the ground as he laughed.
The Xenomorph turned towards Ed, and decided to run after the unmoving prey instead, but Ed quickly ran and led it into the construction yard.
"Now, guys!" he yelled, running into one of the half-finished houses where the other Eds were holed up.
Eddy and Double D opened fire through a second story window with their nitro glycerin-filled Canadian squirt-guns, (which were really just turkey-basters) onto the alien, preventing it from entering. It shrieked as it caught various direct hits in the form of small, concentrated explosions on and around it. Ed joined them just as they refilled their weapons, and before they could squirt it again, it suddenly crouched, and then jumped onto the roof of the house. It screeched and begun breaking through.
"Abort! Abort!" yelled Double D, but it was too late, for it came crashing down and appeared to be oozing bright-green blood from various places all over its body.
"Curse my selflessness!" yelled Double D, "I hate to say it, but I think this is the end, dear friends! It's been an honor!"
The alien launched itself at them, but they miraculously dodged it, causing it to slam against the wall behind them, which in turn, caused more of the roof to fall down around them. The alien's acidic blood immediately melted small holes in the wall. Double D took note of this.
"I'm sorry for messing up most of your scams, Eddy!" cried Ed, trembling with fear.
"And I'm sorry for thinking of your mom as a MILF, Ed!" Eddy cried back.
Ed turned to him with a quizzical look on his face, "Wait . . . what?"
"Gentlemen, hit it with everything that you've got, now!" yelled Double D.
They all unloaded every ounce of nitro glycerin on the Xenomorph, causing it to bleed profusely, which, combined with the concentrated explosions, made the ground around it highly unstable. It soon fell through to the first floor, shrieking, until there was a crashing sound.
Then . . . silence.
"Oh, good lord! It's over!" cried out Double D with such intense relief.
"Come on, let's get back to the others," said Eddy. The others agreed and followed him back.
(Rolf's House, later that evening)
"A celebration, I say!" yelled Rolf in his usual, merry manner after hearing of the Eds' victory. Everyone else cheered as well.
"Wow guys! Thanks, like, so, so much!" squealed Nazz with tears of joy, "I'm so glad that you're all safe!" she then proceeded to give all three of them a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for being so brave!"
This time, all three of the Eds had miniature heart-attacks of joy, simultaneously.
Kevin glared at them intensely, though he couldn't help but feel thankful and relieved for what they had done. "This doesn't mean that you're off the hook, dorks," he said, "that worm-whatever is still open! Who's to say that another of those things won't show up again?"
"Of course, Kevin," said Double D sadly, "I'll see what I can do about it, but it may take some time."
Kevin continued his glare, "Well, when it comes to those Xeno-things, time's just something that we don't have, Double Dweeb."
After the celebration, the Ed's finally relaxed and agreed to stay the night at Ed's, just in case they were needed again. They settled down to talk over what had happened and made plans for in case another Xenomorph were to show up.
"I'm going to set up a security system around the worm-hole to warn us in case another entity comes through, but we still have to find out where to get more nitro glycerin," said Double D. "It's the only effective weapon that we have against them."
"Alright, I'll check my big bro's car tomorrow and see if he's got any more stashed away," yawned Eddy as he relaxed on Ed's recliner.
"Good, because we only have one 16 ounce beaker left," Double D yawned as well.
They continued talking, when a noise sounded outside of Ed's door.
"Ed, I think Sarah's here." said Eddy, relaxing on the recliner while watching TV.
"Sarah's at Jimmy's house," said Ed.
"Then whom, may I wonder, is outside of the door?" asked Double D, who was examining Ed's massive comic book collection.
Just then, something broke through Ed's door, sending debris everywhere, which caused the Eds to run to the opposite wall. The Xenomorph had returned, and it was not only severely wounded, but also severely pissed-off. Its blood burned Ed's carpet as it growled at them. The Eds quickly jumped onto the bed just as it shrieked and charged at them, causing the creature to crash through Ed's bathroom door.
"My gravy!" yelled Ed, trying to run to his bathroom, but the others held onto him. Ed quickly pushed them off and then ran to his shelf of action figures. He chose the little horned monster and then walked to his bathroom's doorway. The wounded alien was trying to get back onto its feet, but it kept slipping, for it had broken the bathtub, causing the gravy to spill. Ed didn't hesitate in pulling the string, causing a jet of flame to stream from the figure's mouth. "For my gravy!" he yelled, pulling the string again. The creature shrieked horribly with every blast, but Ed continued his inferno, until finally the shrieking stopped, and the alien was no more than a pile of bubbling ash. The room was filled with a foul, sour, yet meaty, smell.
"Jeez," said Eddy, "Ed, are you okay?"
Ed turned to them with tears in his eyes, and began sobbing profusely, "My gravy, guys! It's all gone!"
They were at a loss for words. Disturbing as it may have been, that tub of gravy had been Ed's treasure for years.
"Don't worry, Ed, after we clear our names, we'll help you to get an even better tub of gravy!" assured Double D.
Ed still sobbed, but he finally nodded and calmed down a little.
First our acceptance, now Ed's gravy, thought Double D sadly, what else are we to lose?
(Back at the Time Portal)
Jack and the Time Guardian both stood in the crater, exhausted and wounded. They both had their swords at the ready, and were heavily damaged, so Jack knew that this would be their final exchange.
The Guardian raised both his black and white katana and launched himself at Jack, who successfully blocked his double sword strikes. He then swung both of his swords at once, but Jack quickly ducked underneath them and tried to pierce him again, but the giant knew what he was playing at, so he swung his swords again, but lower, hoping to catch Jack, but missed once again as his small, evasive opponent jumped back and away.
Jack realized that he could not keep at this for long so he jumped over the giant, who anticipated this and kicked behind him, catching Jack on his side so hard, that when he sent him rolling away, Jack actually rolled up and out of the crater.
The Guardian immediately jumped after him and attempted to impale him on the ground, but Jack quickly rolled over and, pushing himself off of the ground, spun in the air, catching the kneeling blue giant on the back of the head with a well-placed aerial roundhouse, disorienting him. Then, immediately sheathing his sword upon landing, he ran up and followed with a Wing Chun Gatling barrage, which consisted of multiple, powerfully concentrated punches to the Guardian's face for three seconds (at more than ten per second!), and finally ended his onslaught by grabbing the back of the giant's head and rocketing his knee into him. The blue man toppled backwards and fell flat on his back.
Jack unsheathed his sword again and placed it at the Guardian's neck. "I have bested you! Now, will you allow me to pass?"
The Guardian swung his huge fist at him from the ground, but Jack just jumped back and stood in a readied stance as the giant slowly got up off the ground. "I'm not finished yet, Samurai," he then picked up his two swords and got into a fighting stance as well.
They ran at each other and exchanged slashes, blocking everything that the other could throw at the other. The giant grew furious in his attacks and made his mistake of grunting again. Jack blocked the white katana and waited for a grunt to signal the black one being swung before he jumped and spun in the air to avoid it and swung his sword at the same time. His blade sheared across the giant's neck, spilling more robot oil and bringing him down to his knees. He then attempted to deliver the final blow, but the giant crossed both of his swords in an X-block, holding Jack's blade in place.
Jack smiled, "I was waiting for you to do this!"
The giant looked confused for a moment, but then it dawned on him. He had lost.
Jack, with his blade still in between his foe's blades, slid it down quickly as he jumped back, causing it to spark on his opponent's robotic oil which in turn, caused a violent explosion.
When the smoke cleared out, the giant stood kneeling in the same spot. "How? I don't get it, why were you able to defeat me?"
"Simple, there is no such thing as fate or destiny," replied Jack. "About two years and two months ago, I came across the truth of this gateway from a reliable source."
The Guardian seemed not to understand.
Jack continued, "What I mean to say is that this portal had a hidden component that was designed to sap the energy from any and all who dared to confront you, and their energy was fed into you, allowing you to become stronger and stronger throughout the millennia. But it was designed to shut itself off if I was to confront you, to test me. But in a few years, it was going to shut down completely anyway to allow me to surpass you decades from now. After that revelation, I realized that I could not wait for twenty or thirty years to beat you, so I set myself upon a quest to destroy whatever it was that drained warriors 'energy at this portal. Then, through brutal, but necessary means that I would prefer not to reveal, I soon discovered its location at a heavily guarded ancient ruin, just two islands north of here. I then infiltrated it and destroyed that infernal machine. Then, just as I did in the past, I trained intensely with many masters of combat around the world for two years to be able to surpass you.
The Guardian just laughed, "And here I thought that I stopped getting more powerful from old age!" he then tossed his black katana to Jack's feet, and then raised his head, smiling, "You did good, Samurai! I'm glad that I was felled by your hand!" and then he slumped over, dead.
Jack looked down at his fallen foe's blade. It was intensely black, almost as if the light seemed to avoid it. It was as if it was the very essence of darkness.
Wait a minute! That was it! When Aku sent me forward through time, there were both darkness and light in the portal! Jack walked up to the tower of light, and pierced it with the black blade.
There was a sound like thunder and the light began to spin. Then, the black blade appeared to stretch completely into the swirling light, and it spread, encompassing half of the tower, and finally, it settled into a steady swirling tornado of darkness and light.
"I want to return to my own time!" Jack yelled into the portal. It then began to spin even faster in response. He was about to step through it, but then hesitated and turned back. He walked up to the Time Guardian's corpse and looked around. He soon found what he was looking for. It was the white katana. He didn't need it to open the portal since it already had light, but he wanted the blade to remember his most powerful foe. Taking the blade, he turned and ran into the portal.
Both light and darkness swirled around him as he both fell and flew through time and space. It was a feeling that he had not felt since his first battle with Aku. He felt so relieved that he was finally going home, finally going to destroy Aku for good, and finally going to live peacefully, the way he was meant to live.
But suddenly, something went wrong. The swirling in front of him split into two, and he veered off into the other worm-hole. His sense of weightlessness soon disappeared, and he found himself with only the sensation of falling.
Then everything went dark.
(The Cul-de-sac, At Approximately 3 AM)
"Alert! Alert!" echoed the speaker on Double D's security monitor that he had installed in Ed's room. It was remotely connected to the security system that he had installed out in the alley-way. The camera's view encompassed the entire section where the worm-hole resided.
"Hmm? What? Ugh. Oh, guys!" yelled Double D as he awoke, to the others. They were both still sleeping, but after a few small slaps to the face, they soon awoke.
"What, Sock-head?" Eddy yawned as he spoke.
"Come on, Double D, five more minutes!" complained Ed, turning over.
"We've got a breach!" yelled Double D, noticing that it was three in the morning.
The others quickly jumped up.
"No foolin'?!" asked Eddy, worriedly.
"I'm afraid not, Eddy," said Double D, pointing to his monitor. "Look there, what do you suppose that is?" he pointed to a long, shining object that flashed on screen, barely letting anything else be visible.
"I guess all that we can do is to check it out," said Eddy, putting on his shoes.
They all got dressed and filled their Canadian squirt-guns with nitro glycerin just in case they ran into any danger, and set out through Ed's window.
The Eds quickly but quietly, so as not to wake the others, made their way to the alley to investigate. But when they arrived, they found something completely unexpected.
"Simply astonishing!" cried Double D as quietly as his excitement would allow him.
"Whew!" said Eddy, in relief that it wasn't another Xenomorph.
"Oh! Oh! Can we keep him, Double D, huh, can we?" Ed yelled in complete excitement as he got closer and closer to their find.
"Ed, be quiet and get back here!" whispered Double D. "Don't you see those swords?! He could be dangerous!"
The stranger stirred awake.
"Where... where am I?!" said Jack, losing consciousness once more.
(Closing theme: Maon Kurosaki - "Return to Destiny" - 00:00 to 01:22)
To Be Continued. . .
Next Episode: End of the Multiverse?! Numbuh One's Ultimatum!
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