Chapter 3
"So you fought that alien thing before?" Eddy asked Kevin as the five boys made their way through the forest.
"One of them, anyway," Kevin replied. "I'm pretty sure there's more where both of them came from."
"Well whatever they are, it looks like their priority isn't setting the woods on fire anymore," Edd remarked. The fires around them were dying down, and they had to worry less about planning their way around burning areas as they passed by. However, the once-lush trees were now replaced with glowing embers, charred wood and smoke that stung the boys' eyes and lungs. The sky was black from the smoke, so the only source of light came from the fires that were still burning.
Still shaken from the battle, everyone was on high alert, scanning the area for any unusual sights or sounds.
"So you killed the first one with the same kind of magic mumbo jumbo that you healed your leg with?" Eddy asked, trying to distract himself from the feeling of the hair on the back of his neck standing up and the general uneasiness swimming around in his head.
"I guess."
"You lucky duck you," Ed said cheerfully.
"There! Up there!" Jonny shouted. The group came upon a clearing where they could see a large cliff bisect the land. Near the top was a depression, an unusual dip in the otherwise flat stone that made a jagged V pointing downward to a pile of boulders and rubble below it. "Plank and Rolf and Jimmy are in here!"
"Good thing we brought Lumpy with us," Eddy said. Pointing to the rocks, he gave the command, "Ed, go dig a hole there!"
"Oh boy!" Ed shouted. He jumped onto the top of the pile and began scooping rocks out with his hands, chanting "Dig a hole, dig a hole, dig a hole!"
"Need some help?" Kevin asked, taking out his wrench.
"Where did you get that?" Eddy asked.
"I always carry this with me, in case something happens to—" the boy paused for a moment, staring blankly into space. When it came to him, he nearly dropped the wrench and suddenly shouted, "My bike! I left it behind in the lane!" He made a beeline for the forest, but Edd and Eddy quickly grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back.
"Worry about your bike later, Kevin!" Edd said.
"But I—"
"It'll last a night in the lane. Rolf and Jimmy need our help now though!"
"…Alright, alright," Kevin sighed. Nervously, he looked back and fourth at the forest and the rock pile, shifting his weight from one foot to the other until he said, "Ed, can't you dig any faster?!"
"Dig a hole faster!" became Ed's new chant as he started chucking heaps of rock between his legs. Kevin scrambled up the pile and started breaking apart the larger rocks with his wrench. Jonny and the other two Eds helped move rubble away from the pile as Kevin and Ed dug down from the top.
As he worked, Eddy couldn't help but glance behind him uneasily every few seconds, almost positive that something was watching them.
They worked for a few more minutes, until a chilling gust of wind passed by. Edd paused as a curious odor blew past him, and said, "Does anyone else smell… c-cigarette smoke?"
Before anyone could answer, a shrill sound filled the air, causing Edd and Eddy to fall backwards from shock and making Kevin nearly drop his wrench. Three black figures emerged from the top of the cliff, standing in the V-shaped hole. They looked down at the boys from above, nearly invisible against the night sky.
With another screech, they dove down at Kevin and Ed.
"Look out!" Jonny shouted. The two boys jumped off the pile of rubble and rolled along the ground.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The boys looked in shock and awe as the figures slammed gracelessly into the rocks below. After a short second, they all gave a raspy groan and slowly stumbled to their clawed feet.
"Crows?" Eddy questioned, squinting in the dim light at the birds dizzily regaining their bearings.
"Abnormally large crows… with sunglasses… and cigars?!" Edd shouted. More visible near the rubble, the three birds were all adorned with large, sharp sunglasses. Using their wings like hands, two of them pulled already-lit cigars from behind their backs while the third already had one out. It was as if they were acting as if they hadn't just toppled onto a pile of rocks.
"As if this night couldn't get any weirder," Kevin retorted. After a few more puffs, the birds tossed their cigars aside and suddenly charged in the air at the group. They dove straight forward, their sharp beaks glimmering in the firelight. Eddy and Kevin ducked right as two of the crows passed over them, but Edd wasn't as quick and the third one cut his arm with its beak.
Edd yelped in pain as his arm began to bleed, the wound a clean cut down his bicept. The crow that attacked him snickered in a high, raspy voice as it turned around to attack a second time.
"Pick on the nerd will ya?" Kevin asked threateningly. "Well he's our nerd!"
Two of the crows circled around and both dove at Kevin. He quickly brandished his wrench and smacked them with it before they could reach him.
The third crow saw this and cawed in anger, a nearby fire reflecting off of the sheen of its feathers and sunglasses. It dove at Kevin from behind, but before it could reach him, Ed slammed it into the ground on top of the other two with his fist. The crows writhed in a small crater they had formed, one coughing, the other two rubbing their heads with their wings. The boys took a step back as their sunglasses suddenly disappeared in a puff of black smoke.
"The heck?" Kevin asked. The crows stopped writhing as the smoke disappeared, and they began to grow smaller, exhaling more black smoke that dissipated almost instantly. Their beaks became less sharp as they lay on the ground and their talons became duller. After a few more seconds, they slowly rolled onto their stomachs and got to their feet. They looked at the boys surrounding them and immediately flew off in fright.
"Way cool!" Ed shouted. "They were all like 'Caw!' and Kevin was all like 'Leave our nerd alone!' and then I went 'Smaaaash!' and then they turned to normal and—"
"We get it!" Eddy interrupted, grabbing Ed's lips before he could continue.
"Ow," Edd hissed in pain as he clutched his right arm. Small streams of blood were trickling gently down it, dripping on the ground.
"Aw man," Kevin said as he crouched near Edd. "Those things were serious."
"Can you heal it?" Eddy asked.
"I'll try." Kevin held his hands over Edd's wound and concentrated. However, he felt no energy inside of his mind, the same feeling of emptiness as when he woke up making him feel cold inside. "Shoot! I'm out of… magic, or whatever."
"We'll just have to use the old-fashioned way then," Edd said. Upon request, Kevin tore a strip of cloth from Edd's shirt and wrapped it around Edd's arm. The fabric dampened a bit, but it soon stopped the bleeding.
The group resumed their digging, the memory of the crows' screams still embedded in their heads. They worked in silent cooperation, in fear that they might attract something even more dangerous or hilarious. Eddy shifted his gaze around near constantly, hardly paying attention as his trembling arms chucked whatever they could carry behind him.
A few minutes later, they uncovered the roof of the cave. It was too dark to see inside, but Kevin boldly knelt down and peered in.
"W-who's there?" cried a frightened voice from inside.
"Fluffy, you alright?" He heard a few rocks tumble down the pile from inside the cave, and Jimmy poked his dirt-stained head out of the opening.
"Oh, thank goodness!" he said as Kevin helped him through. He dusted off his Urban Rangers uniform, and said, "I was so scared!"
"Jimmy!" Ed shouted, pulling the small boy off of the rubble and giving him a crushing hug. Edd had to pull the boy away from Ed before any bones broke.
Kevin turned his attention back toward the cave. "Rolf, you in there?"
"Kevin!" A familiar blue-haired boy appeared at the opening, and smiled upon seeing his friend. He climbed out of the cave on his own. "You and the three Ed-boys have arrived to help!" He turned to Jonny, who began making his way up to the cave entrance. "You have done well recruiting help, Ranger Jonny! You shall receive the Badge of—"
Jonny ignored Rolf entirely as he scrambled through the cave entrance and disappeared inside.
"…Calling For Help," Rolf finished slowly.
"That's right, he's more concerned about a hunk of wood than you guys," Kevin said.
"That's not true!" Jimmy said. "I'm sure he—"
"Remember the whole 'Gourd' thing he did?" Kevin interrupted. He saw everyone's faces shift, telling him that they did remember the brief time Jonny had turned into a supervillain. "He trashed the neighborhood worse than any of you guys every did," he gestured toward the Eds, "and tried to get us all blaming each other for it!"
"Oh, yeah," Jimmy sighed.
"Pettiness aside," Rolf said, "Jonny is still an Urban Ranger, and is making up for his crimes." He turned toward the cave, and added, "And he hasn't come out yet."
"I'll get him," Kevin sighed. He squeezed into the cave opening and slid down the pile of rubble inside. Something rolled down the rubble with him, and he grabbed it. Feeling a switch, he turned it on and found it was a flashlight. He smiled at Rolf from inside the cave, and turned to see a large tunnel going deep into the cliff.
"Figures," he said to himself as he walked. The cave was uneven and treacherous, and Kevin had to keep a careful eye on his footing just so he wouldn't trip. It was also cold, and he felt his muscles become stiff and his fingers began to lose feeling. Fear tingled down his neck as he walked, but he tried his best to ignore it.
A ways in, he began hearing noises. They grew louder as he walked, and turned into muffled voices.
"H-hello?" he called.
The voices stopped. He carried onward, and called again. "You in here, Jonny?"
Something leaped into the flashlight's beam. Kevin yelped in surprise and stumbled backward. He saw Jonny in front of him, however, holding a piece of wood with a crude face drawn on it in his arm.
"Geese, you scared the crap outta me," Kevin said.
"Hahah, cool!" Jonny held Plank up to his hear for a moment, and then said, "Plank says you're like the girl in a horror movie, getting scared at everything!"
Kevin groaned, severely regretting having come for this loser.
"Let's just get back to the others, okay?"
"Okie dokie!"
Jonny walked next to Kevin as they made their way out of the cave. In the corner of his eye, Kevin saw the boy look back.
"You find something down here?"
"Nope!"