Vilos barged into that gnarled tree without knocking.

"HEY!" she yelled, her hands on her hips as she glared around the dark room. Floros peeped in the curtains behind her, but she could barely see a thing in the low light. "What's the big idea, barging into our universe like this?!"

"Vilos, what are you talking about…?" Floros asked, her voice barely a squeak underneath her sister's barrage of complaints.

After much more yelling from Vilos' end, a ghostly figure emerged from a hole in the far end of the tree. He had a twisted mask, a skeletal build, and horrible teeth. His eyes glowed in the dark and Floros could practically feel them piercing right into her soul.

Floros squealed and hid behind Vilos, shaking like a lost Kittyfloss in the rain.

"Relax, Floros, it's just an idiot…" Vilos reached over her shoulder to pet her sister's curly blue head.

"Vee!" The figure opened his arms and floated forward. "That's no way to greet your counterpart, you know. Do you have any idea how much I've missed you?" He was uncomfortably close to Vilos now, nose to nose with her mask. "I certainly didn't expect to have you barge into my tree so early in the morning. I was sleeping, you know."

Vilos smacked the creepy guy so hard he spun.

"That's it? You just do your usual act and don't even care that we're suddenly in the same universe again?!" Vilos leaned forward, planting her hands on her hips again. "God, Dastardos, you're just as impossible as ever!"

"Geez, woman!" Dastardos rubbed the spot Vilos had so unceremoniously smacked him. "Cut me some slack; my judgment's impaired in the morning!"

Vilos huffed and rolled her eyes. "This is probably your-"

"We can worry about that later," Dastardos flew around Vilos until he had a good view of Floros, who grabbed onto her sister's sweater as hard as she could. "I have questions for you, too. For starters, who's this little lady?"

Floros shrunk away from Dastardos' penetrating gaze. He had said something about Vilos being his…counterpart…could he be the guy who came from the alternate universe all those months ago? Ugh… Floros had expected him to be much more handsome. She couldn't imagine her beautiful sister having an equal in another universe who looked so ugly! He was so creepy too…he looked like a villain right out of one of Floros' childhood storybooks! They always gave her nightmares…

"That's my little sister, Floros," Vilos tugged herself out of Floros' grip and draped an arm across her shoulders. "I told you about her, remember?"

Dastardos gave Vilos a suspicious squint. "I thought you said you hated her?"

"You haven't been here for months," Vilos squinted right back, the glowing light beams coming out of their eyes making contact with each other in the dark. "A lot can happen in that amount of time."

Or in one night… Floros ached to add, but she didn't dare speak. She didn't like how Dastardos was sizing her up.

After giving Floros a few up and down glances, Dastardos came to a conclusion. "She's cute." He nodded approvingly. "Much cuter than my little brother. Wanna trade?"

Vilos' chastising glare broke Dastardos out of his jokey mood. He flopped over like a broken marionette.

"Fine…I have no idea how I got here…In case you forgot, I left the gun with you!" Dastardos jabbed a finger in Vilos' very flat chest.

"Oh, don't you dare pin this on me, buddy!" Vilos poked Dastardos right back.

The two of them began bickering loudly. Floros had no idea what to do, so she just kind of stood there until more light began to stream in through the curtains.

"I'll just…" Floros pointed to the tree's front opening. "…be going now, if you don't mind."

Of course, Dastardos and Vilos didn't hear her over their bickering. Floros sighed and headed out the curtains…

…and her jaw nearly dislocated herself once she got a load of the Village.

It had apparently doubled in size overnight, or rather; each building somehow produced a copy of itself with a slightly different paint job. Even the garden that was close to Vilos' house had doubled in size, and Floros' own house had a clone of its own! No one was milling the streets, but Floros instantly became worried about how everyone would react. Obviously the two universes had merged somehow!

Floros whirled around and entered the tree again. Vilos and Dastardos were still loudly arguing about who was to blame for the incident. Floros cleared her throat and shouted: "HEY!"

Vilos and Dastardos instantly ceased their argument, their heads whipping towards Floros. They each wore an identical baffled expression. Floros could certainly see their resemblance to each other now…

"There's something you guys should see…" Floros pointed outside. "It's really important!"

Vilos and Dastardos glanced at each other, nodded, and then followed Floros outside.

They took in the doubled-up Village and became very, very quiet.

Dastardos finally spoke up.

"No fucking way."

"YES way!" Floros nodded frantically at Dastardos, her curly blue hair going wild with the motion. "I don't know how this happened, but it looks like both universes have become one!" She slammed herself into a nearby tree, hugging it dramatically. "This could cause the fabric of space and time to rip at the seams! That's how it always goes in my sci-fi novels…we're all doomed!"

Floros sobbed a bit until she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder.

"Floros…" Vilos said sternly. "Calm. Down. There's no space-time fabric rips anywhere."

"I think the most we'll have to deal with is a ton of confused Villagers…" Dastardos bit his lip, his one good eye rolling back towards the larger Village.

"Hmm…" Vilos rubbed her chin, a mischievous glint in her eye. "Now that could be funny! I have to see how this goes down!" Without warning, she sped off towards the Village before anyone could stop her.

"I'm going to go back to bed…" Floros jammed her hands into her pockets, dragging her feet in the general direction of her house. "…maybe this was all a dream…"

Dastardos shrugged and figured Floros had it right. More sleep did sound pretty good…

He headed back into his own gnarled tree. He could worry about what happened in the morning.

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Eddie, as always, was an early riser…but he felt really off this morning.

As soon as he stepped out of bed, a feeling of dizziness took over his body and he fell to the floor. He barely dragged the trash can over to himself before vomiting up last night's dinner into it.

He had no idea what could have caused this sickness! He knew he didn't eat anything bad, no one he knew was sick, and he never skipped washing his hands…but he woke up feeling like he had stepped off the world's largest roller coaster anyway!

"Ugh…" Eddie wept softly to himself once he finally finished getting sick. "Of course this has to happen when my father's out of town…" Clutching his stomach, he shakily rose to his feet.

Guess I'll pay Patch a visit… Eddie slowly put on the first clothes he could find, taking care not to move too quickly and set his quivering stomach off again. He should have some stomach medicine…

Eddie grabbed his wallet off of his desk and headed out into the Village.

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Dizzy and still feeling ridiculously ill, Eddie was barely aware of his surroundings. His vision was blurred because he neglected to put his contacts in, too. He stumbled into the clinic and sat down on a chair in the waiting room. There was no way in hell he could make it to the service bell after that long walk…

"Doctor Patchingo?" Eddie called out weakly. "Are you awake? I need something for my stomach…"

Much to Eddie's relief, the door leading to the rest of the clinic opened quickly, revealing a monkey-headed silhouette.

Wait a second…

When the silhouette stepped forward, a shocking realization came over Eddie.

Those striped stockings…that skirt…that pink monkey helmet…that beautiful, baffled face…

"Eddie?" The cute, high pitched voice confirmed Eddie's suspicions. "Whuh-what are you doing here?!"

Eddie threw up again out of sheer shock.

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This doctor might have seemed like a dumb blonde to most people in her home village, but she worked fast. She had Eddie cleaned up and on a medical cot in the blink of an eye.

"Oh, Eddie…" she sighed as she poured some thick purple medicine into a spoon. "I thought I'd never see you again! Buh-but…why are you here?" Her one visible baby blue eye narrowed with confusion.

"Give me the medicine and then we'll talk, Patrice…" Eddie was too sick to even contemplate how he felt about seeing his alternate universe flame again.

Doctor Patrice obliged, shoving the spoon just a bit too eagerly into Eddie's mouth.

Eddie swallowed the medicine with minimal effort. Bitter medicine was a rarity on Piñata Island, thankfully. Eddie would have had a hell of a time if the medicine hadn't tasted tolerable. He laid back on the cot and closed his eyes, waiting as his stomach calmed down.

Patrice stood up and walked to the other end of the bed, placing a palm on Eddie's forehead. "No fever…" she sounded relieved. "That's good…but…um…we still don't know why you're back here."

"That's a mystery to me," Eddie said thoughtfully, keeping his eyes closed. "But…I came from my house, for sure. Edith wasn't around, and I'm sure her room would have looked different than mine."

Patrice's hands flew to her mouth. "Your whole house came to this universe with you?!" she squeaked.

"Seems that way," Eddie shrugged. He was finally starting to feel a bit better, so he opened his eyes and turned his head towards Patrice. "God knows what else came here too…ugh; I had a P-Factor round to run tomorrow!" Eddie sniffled. "My father's out of town; what if he comes home to find me and the whole house gone?! He'd think that he went insane!" Eddie flipped over and buried his face in the pillow, punching the cot in frustration. He sobbed without shame, not even caring that he was crying in front of a girl. This was a big deal!

"Oh, Eddie, please don't be sad…" Patrice got all choked up herself at the sight of Eddie's despair. "H-hey, you never know! Maybe your house isn't the only thing that came to the universe with you…" Eddie felt Patrice's warm, delicate hand cover his balled up fist.

"I'm…I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing…" Eddie murmured, his words muffled.

"How are you feeling? If you can wait a few minutes, I can go outside and, um…size up the situation for you…" Patrice's voice was as sweet and comforting as ever. Eddie smiled into the pillow. A voice like that could take the edge off the worst of bad news.

"I'd really appreciate that, Patrice…" Eddie rolled over to give her the best smile he could. It seemed to work, because she blushed and averted her eyes away.

"I'll, um, get right on that!" Patrice nodded and left the room with a courageous vigor.

Eddie closed his eyes, expecting Patrice to take a while scouring the Village for people or places that didn't belong. His eyes popped back open when he heard her scurry back into the room one minute later.

"Patrice?" Eddie sat up, his brow furrowing with concern when he got a load of her face. She had gone sheet white, and even her monkey mask had taken on the same shade.

"Eddie…" Patrice wrung her hands, her voice shaking as much as she was. "I-I'm not sure how you'll feel about this…but…yuh-your whole Village came with you…"

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Eddie had let out an extremely unmanly scream upon receiving that news, but he stopped short after a few seconds, his eyes wide.

"Wait…wait…that's not such a bad thing!" Eddie laughed a little and Patrice took a step back. That sounded like the chuckle of a madman…

"How so?" Patrice cocked her head, her earrings swinging with the motion.

"Sure, people will be shocked…but we can make this work!" Eddie, feeling a whole lot better from Patrice's medicine, hopped down off the cot. "The Village will have twice as many people in it! Heck, we'll barely be a Village anymore, we're a town now!" Eddie clapped his hands. "That means I have more participants in the P-Factor, you have another doctor to help you out, and not to mention more customers!" Eddie took Patrice's hands and his expression softened. "And…I really missed you. I never forgot you, Patrice…"

"So, you're saying…" Patrice's cheeks turned pink. "…we can actually be together because of all this?"

"Exactly!" Eddie beamed at her. "We have no reason to try and 'fix' this, since it isn't a problem! Plus…we can see if we can make…us work."

Patrice laughed triumphantly, flung her mask aside, and planted an enormous kiss on Eddie. Eddie reciprocated the smooch, despite a bunch of sudden worries hitting him all at once. Did his mouth taste like vomit or medicine? Was he out of practice? And, most of all…

What about Maxime?

She had started to warm up to him recently. She stopped looking away from him whenever they were in the same room together, sometimes even conversing with him. If they were going to get together, it would have been within the month, Eddie was sure.

Eddie dismissed the pangs in his heart. No matter what he would do, he'd have to leave one girl behind. Patrice was beautiful, smart, and…much safer for his mental health than Maxime was.

It was too late to change his mind. In his heart, Eddie finally, after so long, did something he thought he would never do. He let Maxime go.

Once Patrice broke the kiss, Eddie pulled her close into an affectionate embrace.

"Patrice…" he said under his breath. "I think I know how we can break the news to everyone gently…"

"How?" Patrice blinked her beautiful eyes. "I-I think that no matter what we do…there's going to be people who…um…freak out."

"That's where you come in, my dear!" Eddie released her from the hug, but kept his hands on her shoulders. "You have the sweetest voice I ever heard! No one could react badly to words that came from your mouth! I'll grab the bullhorn that we used to use for the P-Factor from my house. You can break the news about what's going on to everyone in the Village!"

Patrice paled again and Eddie frowned, obviously disappointed. "No-go?"

"I-I get really bad stage fright…" Patrice looked down at her little pink shoes, trembling a bit.

"Well, then…" Eddie backed up and placed his hands on his hips, doing his best to look as valiant as possible. "I'll take on that challenge for you!" He smiled at Patrice, lifted her chin, and added: "You don't even have to stand on the platform with me. How does that sound?"

"Great!" The color returned to Patrice's face as she nodded. "I sure hope this works…good luck, Eddie."

"With you cheering me on…" Eddie leaned in and gave Patrice a quick kiss on the mouth. "…I feel like I could do anything."

Patrice almost melted into a puddle right then and there.

Eddie headed for the door, his usual spring in his step. He was obviously feeling much better. "Go wait in the Village square, Patrice!" Eddie winked at her, his hand on the doorknob. "I'll be back in a snap!"

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Everyone in the Village received the rudest awakening of their lives.

Eddie had begun calling the names of whatever people popped into his head while standing on a stone platform surrounded by flowers in the middle of the Village Square. His goal was to wake everyone up, and it worked.

Everyone came out of their homes and shops, some still clad in their pajamas, barely aware of how the Village had changed or the strange masks around them.

"What's the big idea, Eddie?!" Maxime, wearing an oversized wool nightgown, shook her fist at Eddie, her loud voice heard clearly over the crowd. "This better be good, since you woke all of us up!"

"Wait a second…!" a male voice that Eddie didn't recognize exclaimed in the crowd. "Who the hell is that?!"

"Ex-cuse me, but what are you doing back here, and who do you think you are waking everyone up?!" Ah, that was a voice that Eddie knew, it belonged to his own counterpart, Edith Lizard. Eddie wasn't too big on the pantsuit-wearing lipstick lesbian who ran the opposite universe's P-Factor. She was way too abrasive for him.

"Wake up and take a look around you, people!" Eddie gestured at the Village with the arm that wasn't holding the bullhorn, his voice amplified. "The Village has doubled in size!"

"Great Scott!" Bart and Beth exclaimed in complete unison from opposite sides of the crowd.

Everyone in the crowd finally got a good look around –and at each other- and began frantically talking. Eddie scanned the crowd to see how everyone was reacting.

Freddie and Fannie had wound up next to each other and they both seemed completely repulsed with one another. Seedos was pinching his own arm, trying to convince himself that this was some kind of crazy dream. Doctor Patch looked about ready to fall to the ground and have a nervous breakdown. Lottie was yelling at Willy-no doubt complaining about her newfound competition- and Petula seemed barely fazed at all. She was practically falling asleep where she stood, clad in naught but a tank top and panties. Eddie was momentarily appalled that she'd even go out in something like that, but he had more important things to worry about.

"CALM DOWN, everyone!" Eddie didn't raise his voice often, but the bullhorn really helped add to his attempt to shut the crowd up. He succeeded, and the crowd silenced and fixed their gazes on him. "This isn't the end of the world! This is just the melding of two worlds!" Eddie took a deep breath and did his best to relax. He usually had no problem speaking in front of crowds, but a confused and angry crowd was a totally different story. "I don't know what caused this, or how we can fix it, but we should make the most of it!" The crowd cast nervous glances at one another. "People from my Village! I know you heard about what happened with Pester's portal-"

"And looked at the pictures on my Maskbook!" Yoto shouted, hopping up and down in the crowd like he was on an out of control pogo stick.

"-so you already heard about the people from the other universe!" Eddie gestured in the general direction of a building that crossed over. "I really hope all of you can get along…um…" Dang, Eddie didn't think of how he would wrap this up…he decided to go with one of the classics. "Any questions?"

Storkos' hand went up. Eddie was impressed with himself for a moment; he wasn't aware his voice carried all the way up into the mountains!

Truth be told, Storkos was out doing early morning rounds and heard him when she was flying over the Village.

"Does this mean there are two Pesters and two Dastardoses now?" She asked, folding her arms and glaring. She obviously didn't like the idea of there being twice as many villains to deal with.

"Well…yes and no…" Eddie scratched the back of his head. Damn, how did he forget about Mistress Mayhem? He had almost married her, for God's sake!

The crowd grew restless at that answer, talking nervously under their breaths. Damn, what could Eddie say to deter their anger away from him? Uh-

Before he could open his mouth, he felt someone shove him. Hard. As he toppled over, someone swiftly grabbed the bullhorn right out of his hand. Luckily, Eddie didn't fall off of the platform, but he slammed down right on his hip. OW!

Once Eddie got his bearings back, he felt his blood grow cold when he saw who exactly snatched the microphone from him. It was a floating, skeletal figure, but not the one that Eddie was used to seeing around town and in poorly taken newspaper photos. This one had a curvy waist, long flowing silver hair, and an uncovered mouth, which was smirking at Eddie.

Vilos… Eddie smacked his head against the stone. Great. So much for resolving this peacefully!

"Unlike this fop here…" Vilos pointed at Eddie with a striped toe. "I don't beat around the bush. Yes, you'll have to deal with twice as many jackasses at one time. There are twice as many of you though, so I think it's only fair." She put on a false sweet smile for the crowd. "My name is Vilos. I'm looking forward to smashing your sick piñatas!" She burst into a bout of evil laughter, obviously enjoying how it sounded amplified.

The crowd was scared silent, apart from Maxime, who pushed through everyone and pinched Eddie's arm.

"Do ssssssomething!" she hissed into his ear. "Everyone's going to go nuts!"

It was too late. Once the crowd got over their initial shock, they began throwing all kinds of colorful words in Vilos' direction.

"Fine, I can tell when I'm not wanted," Vilos faked a pout and floated over to Eddie, her scarves dragging on the ground behind her. She unceremoniously dropped the bullhorn next to him and leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Good luck with these guys, sweetie."

With a wink, she was gone as quickly as she came.

Eddie rose to his feet, brushed himself off, and looked to the gaggle of people to see that the vast majority of them were glaring daggers, spears, and harpoons at him.

Eddie swallowed and he felt his heart drop down into his stomach.

Fixing this wasn't going to be fun.