Welcome back. The story finally picks up in this chapter, so things should start to be at least a little more entertaining. Either way, I present to you Chapter 4.

As the silver man quickly flew at the five kids, Ed got in front of it, and was able to hold it back from going any further with his strength, "You won't be getting to my baby sister. Got it?" Ed said and, with his strength, forced the being to ground, where it lay silently. Ed relaxed and turned to the others, who were shocked by Ed's sudden bravery. He made the signal to come over, and they all crowded around the being, who didn't move an inch since Ed pushed him down.

"What is it, blockhead?" Eddy asked, grabbing a stick with the intention of poking it. Ed quickly noticed and pulled the stick away, throwing it into the nearby bushes.

"I don't know, Eddy, but we don't want to disturb it. You saw how fast it flew, you don't know what it might be capable of." Ed said and backed away. The others did the same.

After a few silent moments, the being lifted it's head slowly, and then stood up without any problems. It looked around with it's red dot at the kids, and then stopped when it saw Ed, "YOU ARE THE ONE WE WANT."

Ed raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

The being pointed it's index finger to the sky, "ENTERING CASUAL MODE." The being's robotic voice said. A dark blue shock from the vortex zapped it's index finger and the being held out it's hand for Ed to shake, "I'm sorry I was a disruption to you and your little friends here." The voice had changed from robotic to manly and friendly. The kids felt a little more calm after hearing that it had a normal voice.

Ed slowly shook the being's hand, his face full of puzzlement, "What are you? Who are you? And most importantly," He said, pointing to the Silver Nova in the sky, "Why the hell is that here?"

The being sighed, "The Silver Nova?"

Ed smiled, feeling smart for knowing what it was, "Yes."

The being walked out of the circle of kids and into the end of the street, which was still covered with the purple circles and stems, which connected the circles to each other, "We came here in search of you, Edward Irons. We want your mind because you are the only one who can guide us."

Everyone looked at Ed and, at the same time, exclaimed, "What?"

"Aren't you gonna make one of your stupid comic book references, monobrow?" Eddy said, nudging his friend in the rib. Ed shook his head and pushed Eddy away.

"Please expand on why you need me to help you." Ed said, walking closer to the being.

The being cracked it's fingers and stared at Ed, it's red dot turning to purple, "I am Regal, the coordinator of the race known as the Psychometrics. We were swallowed from our planet in the Andromeda galaxy by the S-109 Black Hole that occurred exactly 67 minutes ago. We were sent here by my master, Prometheus, to find the one called Edward and retrieve him. And so I have found you, thankfully."

Ed raised his eyebrow again, "I don't believe it."

"You must come with us, young mastermind. Without you, we will perish in this cruel world's atmosphere." Regal said, raising a fist into the air.

Ed looked at the others, who had the same confused look that he did. Looking back at Regal, he sighed, "I can't. I have to go find the others that fell victim to this earthquake."

"Ah, but I can do that in a matter of minutes... Just as long as you come with us." Regal said, preparing to snap his fingers. This choice made Ed extremely nervous. He could go with this man and save his friends' lives, or he could stay and let his friends die from whatever had crushed them from the earthquake.

Ed pushed Regal, causing everyone to gasp, "Screw it, I'm not going with you. No matter what you say, I belong here and nothing will change that."

Regal pushed Ed back, forcing him to fly back to a lonely tree several meters away and knock it over, "Big brother!" Sarah shouted as everyone ran over to his side. Regal slowly walked over, preparing to force Ed to go with him.

"I gave you a choice, young one. But you took me for granted and now you will suffer." He said and picked Ed up by the neck, preparing to choke him to death. Sarah began screaming as she watched her brother slowly die in front of her.

"Do something!" Sarah said as she tried to hurt the otherworldly being. Sarah punched, kicked, bit, and scratched, but nothing affected him. It was as if he were invincible.

"Let go of him!" Eddy shouted and jumped at Regal's head from behind, sending him into shock and freeing Ed from his grasp. Regal, furious at the group of kids, clenched his fist, somehow causing an explosion of air that blew all the kids away from each other, at least several dozens of miles, leaving Regal surrounded by the torn up ground from his attack.

As Eddy slowly awakened, he noticed that the wound from his temple had opened up again, with blood beginning to come out slowly, "Damn, I need to get this thing closed up." He said and looked around. He was in a hilly field, with natural grass and flowers that hadn't been touched by the earthquake. He walked to the top of the nearest hill and looked all around, noticing that he was in a part of the woods that he had never seen before.

"Well, this is just the best goddamn day ever. I'm probably just gonna end up killing myself sometime later..." He said and sat down, shoving his face onto his knees and closing his eyes, trying to focus. A few moments into his concentration, he was startled by the squeal of a pig, and he knew what pig that squeal belonged to. Looking up, he saw Rolf Wetzel, a local farmer and 'son of a shephard', donning torn up clothers, a straw hat, scars and cuts on his muscular body, and a wooden staff. He was leading multiple animals, all his property, across the field a mile away. Eddy jolted up and began sprinting towards him.

Rolf turned towards Eddy's direction and smiled, "Rolf sees that he is not the only one who survived the last day of Nana's prophecy!"

Eddy immediately stopped and looked at Rolf, dumbfounded at what he just said, "Um, where ya heading, Rolf? Perhaps back to the neighborhood?"

Rolf laughed, "No, silly misunderstood ed-boy! Rolf is taking a trip to Nana's home in the land of the babbling brook. Would little Eddy like to be Rolf's company?"

Eddy looked around, knowing that he was in the middle of nowhere, "Um, sure... But if we ever run into Double D and Ed, then I have to go with them. And when I say I have to, I mean it."

Rolf nodded and began walking, "Rolf understands. Eddy cannot leave his bubble goose friends behind in a troubling time like this, can he? I think not."

Eddy smiled, knowing Rolf was strong enough to handle what would happen if Regal were to ever cross paths with them. He then looked at Rolf and began what would be a long conversation.

"Jimmy! Where are you?" Sarah shouted at the top of her lungs. She was lost in the middle of a random corn field, somewhere outside of Peach Creek. She had been wandering ever since she woke up half an hour ago, looking for her best friend that she could be with while the world was in danger.

While walking, she heard some movement nearby, like a rustling in the piles of corn. She looked around but saw nothing, "Stupid noises are getting to me. When I find that Regal, I'm gonna-" She was cut off by the sound of the rustling again. Taking a closer look, she saw a black ski hat in a group of corn stalks and a skinny hand trying to find it, eventually grabbing it and pulling it out. Sarah smiled and stood up, seeing Double D look the other way, his hat dirty but still able to wear, "Hiya, Double D!"

Double D jumped at the voice and turned around to see Sarah, "Oh, hi... Sarah, where is everyone? And where's that silver man? I think his name was Reggie or something."

Sarah shrugged her shoulders and walked to Edd's side, "I dunno. We should go look for the others though, shouldn't we?"

Double D sighed and look all around, seeing no possible ways to determine where to go. Empty horizons surrounded the pair, making him think that they may be stuck forever, "Sarah, which way was your head facing when you woke up?"

"I dunno."

Edd rolled his eyes, "I should have figured. Okay, at least show me where you woke up." Sarah nodded and pulled Double D towards a small clearing in the cornfield around a mile away. She stopped at a patch of dirt with a hole shaped like a small girl in it. Double D smiled, "Okay, lay down just like you were when you woke up." Sarah nodded and layed down in the indent, her head facing towards south.

Sarah got up, "What the heck was the point of that?"

"We need to head north. That way, we can get back to Peach Creek and maybe find the others. Let's go!" Double D said and began running towards the north, with Sarah tagging along.

As night began to approach the apocalyptic community of Peach Creek, Ed finally awoke from his unconsciousness on the shore of the river that ran through the junkyard. Drenched by the water, he looked around to see who had pulled him out of the water, "If I'm soaking wet, then I was in the water... But who pulled me out?" He asked himself and stood up, feeling weak from Regal's air explosion. Walking down a dirt path, away from the river, he saw a small fire in a clearing. Walking towards it, he heard a familiar voice not too far away.

"Tra-la-la-la!" Jimmy's voice quietly echoed through the trees as he carried a small piece of wood to the fire and put it in, watching the fire grow, "Jeepers, Ed will be so proud of me when he-" Jimmy cut himself off when he saw Ed standing there, awake and completely drenched.

"Jimmy?"

"Ed, thank goodness you're alive!" Jimmy said and ran to give Ed a hug, "I saw you floating with the river's current, so I quickly dragged you out and let you dry a little bit while I make this fire for both of us."

"How did you learn to make a fire?" Ed asked, walking over to sit and warm himself by the heat. He looked around at the forest, which looked nearly untouched by the Silver Nova, which shocked him.

"I've been on multiple Urban Rangers camp-outs over the past few months. It's really come in handy right now, huh?" He said with a giggle. He then reached and pulled off Ed's jacket and set it aside, "You should let that dry. Stay here while I go get more wood."

Ed nodded as Jimmy skipped away. Staring into the fire, he still remembered the attack from Regal. The memory lingered on in him despite his best efforts to get rid of it. How a lot of the Silver Nova incident had yet to be explained, Ed still thought that he needed to stand his ground in case that Regal was still searching for him.

It worried him because if he was attacked and killed, then Jimmy would be too. The thought got worse when Jimmy came skipping back with more wood. Setting it down in a wood pile, he walked over to the fire and looked at Ed, "Something troubling you?"

Ed shook his head, "No. I'm fine. Just worried about the others."

Jimmy sighed and nodded in agreement, "Me too. I hope Sarah is okay. I don't want her to be scared that she might die."

Ed suddenly burst into tears in reaction to the comment, "We need to find the others... Sarah can't die!" He shouted and stood up. Looking at the multiple paths that branched off from the clearing.

Jimmy stood up and calmed Ed down, "We can't go now! Who knows what's lurking in these parts of the woods. Besides, we can keep a close watch out for that evil man who tried to hurt you in the daytime easier."

Ed nodded, realizing that Jimmy knew how to keep his cool, "You're right. We'll rest here tonight and leave first thing in the morning."

The two smiled as reassurance that everything would be okay and put out the fire, making a decent bedding from the leaves and dirt. The moon was high in the sky as Ed watched, him sleeplessly thinking about where the others were. He heard the snores of Jimmy as he looked at the stars in the sky. They were visible for once without the Silver Nova screwing anything up.

Slowly, he closed his eyes and smiled, for he knew things would go their way in the end. He just knew it.

To be continued...