The Final Ed-Down
Chapter 7: Reunited and it Feels so Good
The Jawbreaker Factory, Exterior
It was early morning, as Eddy and Edd's raft came to the Jawbreaker Factory, carrying the two adolescents on the current. "Wake up, Sockhead, we're here!" Eddy yelled, causing Edd to wake up from his nap that he took while it floated and Eddy looked out, switching roles every so often.
"Finally, shelter and food that we'll be able to use long enough to get things fixed up in the cul-de-sac," Edd said, standing up as Eddy grabbed the small area of ground that was above water that the Jawbreaker Factory held. He jumped off and Edd soon followed, and they grabbed onto the raft, dragging it up to the building.
"Yeah, it's that, now we can eat then look for Ed, right?" Eddy asked, as he tied a rope around a pole and to the raft, before standing up.
"Yes, that we can do," Edd said, laughing. Eddy's plan was sure to work. Going in a pattern would mean that if Ed would be looking they wouldn't have to worry about missing him; of course they would search everywhere first, but the pattern would be going by places that Ed would look. Of course, they might have overestimated his intelligence for that part, but it seemed that it should work if they looked; it was better than them going right by Ed without knowing it.
"Well, Double D, lets eat whatever is in there and then go look for Ed," Eddy said as he opened the doors of the factory, and found it to be HUGE. A few hundred people could have lived in it, and the way it looked only three people would.
"Well, lets start eating the food we need right now; no need to eat it all at once," Edd said, as they walked towards a conveyer belt and picked up two jawbreakers, and put them in their mouths. "They taste better fresh from the factory than from the store," he said, as he savored the jawbreaker's sugar-coated surface.
"They sure do," Eddy said, as he sat in a chair and looked at all the ingredients for jawbreakers, and jawbreakers. "How long do you think we'll be able to live of these?" he asked, looking at them.
"With the water used to shape them not used yet and the energy in them, quite some time, probably," Edd said, thinking. "Of course it won't be healthy, but we'll live," he said, as he looked around. "We probably could find a room that is able to cook any fish we might catch to make a more stable diet though," he said, as he looked around.
"Yeah," Eddy said. "As much as I love jawbreakers I don't want to get sick of them because of eating them this much," he said, and smiled and laughed.
"What?" Edd asked, not seeing what was funny.
"I'm talking like you; probably the stress made me think calmer though," Eddy said, as he laughed a bit more.
"That is kind of funny, isn't it?" Edd asked, laughing a bit with Eddy, as a shadow flowed out of the window as if it was moving by itself, up the window without something making the shadow…
Where Ed Is
Ed sat on his tree, living in his own little world, in which he thought that he was waiting for a brave, fearless Space Outlaw to rescue him. "Soon the Space Outlaw's ship will land, and I will be rescued and taken to the planet of the Wibbles to fight evil!" Ed yelled, forgetting that he was really just waiting for Edd and Eddy to find him. He stood up on the tree, and waved his arms while jumping up and down. The branch wasn't big enough for that, and at that he fell into the water.
"Ah ha ha!" he laughed, splashing about as he was in the water. "This is fun!" he said, splashing his arms as he got back on the branch. A dark fin rose out of the water, and swam towards the branch, and Ed watched in fascination. It looked like a shark's fin, but was pure black. "It's a shark!" he yelled, climbing up the tree in fear, as the fin started circling the tree, before going down under water, as Ed watched the water in fear from a high-up branch. Seconds later, a shark did jump out of the water at him. Its top was pure black and the bottom dark grey, red lines going through it in a pattern, the teeth snapped shut right under Ed who climbed even higher in fear. "It's going to eat me alive!" Ed cried, climbing to the highest point, which he sat on, as the fin circled around the tree some more, before going under again.
The shark jumped up, snapping at him, and he hit the shark's nose as it went down. "Ah!" he yelled, hanging onto a branch that he nearly fell off, explaining the why his foot hat hit the shark in the nose, knocking it into the water. "Ha!" he said, climbing back up and laughing at it, as he saw a shadow moving in the water, much like a swarm of fish. A fish jumped out, resembling one of the shadowy-fish earlier, and the shark swam towards the school, as the fish swam away, jumping up and down trying to get away, the water turned a light red as the shark bit one on the surface, and soon turned back to the regular color. "Cool!" Ed said, forgetting how he nearly died as he watched the fish swim away, the shark chasing them. As he watched them, he turned around and looked towards the junkyard, hoping that soon he would see a raft. A raft that would be his reunion with his friends…
Jimmy and Sarah's Cave
Jimmy sat by the cave wall, sleeping, as Sarah sat by the fire watching him, her eyes wide open. She sensed something eerie about him that was new; something sinister, something that knew what it was like to nearly die… "Jimmy?" she asked, and he opened his eyes. "I was wondering, what happened the last time you were outside, you seem different," she said, and Jimmy looked around.
"Sarah, I almost died out there," Jimmy said. "I told you all I remember, I slipped, and then I woke up with my face almost in the water, by the raft though," he said, looking at her, and she nodded.
"Sorry, but you just seem too unlike yourself," Sarah said, sighing. "You had a lot of injuries before even, probably worse than this," she said, and he shook his head.
"Something happened, what I don't know, but I know something did happen to me," Jimmy said, shaking his head. "I try to remember, but the more I try to cloudier it gets, like a dream does," he said, and Sarah nodded. "I don't even remember feeling pain when I fell, I just… I just blanked out," he said.
"Well, the important thing is that you're alive, right?" Sarah asked, smiling, as Jimmy turned his head.
"I don't know, Sarah, I just don't know," he said, as he fell back asleep, and Sarah did the same on the other side of the cave, as a female figure stood by the cave door.
"Good job," the girl said, her voice nearly identical to Nazz's. "The master will be pleased," she said to the boy figure next to her.
"Maybe he'll forgive my last mistake in return," he said, putting a baseball cap on backwards, as the two walked onto a raft that floated off…
The Jawbreaker Factory
"C'mon, hurry Double D!" Eddy yelled as Edd ran towards the raft, carrying a bag over his shoulder.
"I'm trying, Eddy!" Edd said, as he ran towards it, trying to catch up to the moving raft. "I have to keep this bag so we can help Ed if he's hurt!" he yelled, jumping off the side, and landing on the raft. "That went better than I thought it would," he said, looking at himself, smiling. Then, he heard a splash as water went up and he closed his eyes.
"For you that is," Eddy said, as he climbed back onto the raft, shaking the water out of his clothes. "Why do you always have to say something that makes something bad happen?" Eddy asked, remembering how Edd always would say something, and something bad would happen related to it for some reason.
"Well, Eddy, if I knew I'm sure I'd find a way to stop it from happening," Edd said, laughing a bit. "Anyways, are we going to start on the look for Ed by going this way, or through the junkyard where he thinks we are?"
"Hmm… lets go through the junkyard first, Double D," Eddy said, as he pulled a lever, turning a ruder and turning the raft around. "Next stop, the junkyard, Double D," Eddy said, as Edd began to row with their paddle, moving the raft forward.
"I'm hoping that Ed is relatively close, I don't know how far I'll be able to move this raft if we go in this pattern more than once," Edd said, as he moved it forwards, straining his physical strength at a good amount, almost like walking.
"We'll switch off and on," Eddy said, as the raft floating into the woods…
The Metal Room
Johnny and Plank were sitting down on a chair, eating when the door opened, Kevin and Nazz walking in. "What took you two so long?" he asked, as he turned his head towards them.
"We had to stop a bit by the playground," Kevin said, smiling. "The destruction their set us up," he said.
"You two went on a date without telling me??" Johnny said in shock. "You two told me you'd tell me first!"
"Yes, but we didn't plan it," Nazz said, smiling. "Besides, it wasn't much. It was like a dinner, the fish we caught was good though," she said, as the two walked towards the other door. "Now come on, Johnny, the Master will want our reports soon, can't keep him waiting," she said, walking down some stairs, the other two following her.
"So, how did the mission go?" Johnny asked, deciding to leave their personal life alone.
"Successfully, the twerp didn't suspect a thing," Nazz said. She grinned. "And we have more than what was needed," she said, as they walked into a door that inside Edd's Quantum Transporter sat. As they closed the door and sat in their positions, the room began to freeze and the shadow appeared to envelope the machine as it did earlier. "Master, we have the report," she said, smiling.
"Excellent," a voice said. "What did the weak-one's mind say?" he asked, his voice sending chills down all three spins of theirs.
"What you hoped for, Master," Kevin said, shaking the feeling off with a feeling of dread. "And also he has feelings for the Red-headed one that we might be able to use to our advantage," he said, smiling.
"Perfect… Better than I hoped even," the sinister voice said, and the three of them shook in fear. "Make sure that the Eds are reunited, I'll deal with the weak-one and the red head, you three deal with the others," it said, as the shadow went away.
"Even though we work for him, that guy creeps me out," Johnny said, shivering, and Nazz and Kevin nodded…
The Woods, Afternoon
Eddy and Edd sat on their raft, as it floated by a row of trees on the edge of the woods. "You see anything yet, Double D?" Eddy asked, as he yawned and stretched.
"No, Eddy, I'm afraid not," Edd said, his voice sounding sad. They had been searching for almost two hours already and they were exhausted.
"HIYA EDDY!" a voice yelled from ahead, and Eddy jerked his head up, and looked forward. In a tree, he thought he saw someone waving.
"DOUBLE D, I THINK I SEE ED!" Eddy yelled, pointing forward, as the figure appeared to be waving his hand in the distance.
"Really?!" Edd yelled, as he began paddling faster, trying to get to Ed as fast as he could. He didn't think he'd enjoy not being around the lump much longer, and felt like he needed to see him again. "WE'RE COMING ED!" Edd yelled in joy, seeing a distinct outline that he knew had to be Ed… Also the figure waved back and forth and only Ed would do that in this situation.
"WHOO!" Ed yelled dumbly, as he jumped up and down on the branch, forgetting about the shark completely. "EDDY! DOUBLE D!" he yelled, jumping off it and into the water, Edd and Eddy yelling in pure shock as they both began to paddle even faster; Eddy trying harder than he normally had.
"ED, WHAT IN HEAVEN'S NAME ARE YOU THINKING?!" Edd yelled as they approached the swimming Ed, who was also moving towards them. "WHO KNOWS WHAT'S IN THAT WATER?!"
"Just fish and stuff, Double D!" Ed said, while he jumped out of the water like a dolphin, and splashed back in to the water.
"STOP JUMPING AND GET ON!" Eddy yelled, as Ed got close enough to get on the raft with a little swimming. "I already got wet enough for today," Eddy said, remembering when he fell in earlier.
"Okey-dokey, smokey!" Ed yelled happily, as he grabbed onto the raft and pulled himself on, a fish jumping out of his pocket. "EDDY! DOUBLE D!" he yelled, completely forgetting he had seen them minutes earlier and hugging the two tightly, possibly tighter than ever before.
"ED! I CAN'T BREATH!" Edd yelled; well, he sounded quieter because he couldn't breath, but the point remains he was trying to yell.
"LET GO!" Eddy yelled, before Ed let go and the two fell onto the raft, a thump heard. "Don't do that again, Ed, please," he said, and Ed laughed a bit.
"Ed, are you feeling alright?" Edd asked, hoping Ed'd say yes. If Ed said no, he'd have to help Ed probably, and get them back to the Jawbreaker Factory. That was too much for him to handle.
"Like a sponge!" Ed yelled happily, and Edd sighed.
"I'll take that as a yes," Edd said, sighing in pure aggravation at Ed's stupidity at times. Especially in these times when it was life or death, and when fooling around meant death.
"OK, then," Eddy said, confused as well as aggravated at Ed's stupidity in a time like this. "Ed, get us moving, OK?" Eddy asked as Ed nodded, and put his legs in the water, and began to kick the water like he was some sort of boat engine; Eddy turned the rudder and the raft soon turned, and began going the way they came.
"Kevin attacked me when I was separated from you guys," Ed said, casually as if he said "I saw some water falling," and the sheer casualness shocked the other two more than the news.
"WHAT?!" Eddy and Edd yelled at once, anger in Eddy's voice and shock in Edd's.
"And his hands burnt and water around him turned to steam, like he was on fire!" Ed yelled happily, as if quoting a science fiction story he saw once.
"Are you sure he didn't just touch you with something hot, Ed?" Edd asked, raising an eyebrow. "People's skin doesn't get hot enough to evaporate water," he said.
"But they burnt my neck, Double D!" Ed said, pulling down the collar of his coat, reveling two burn marks shaped like two hands, slightly blistering as Edd looked at them.
"How in the world…" Edd muttered in pure awe and shock, while Eddy grumbled something.
"Stupid shovel chin… Who does he think he is...?" Eddy grumbled as he thought about what Ed said Kevin had done to him, and how it just made him mad at Kevin; and thinking about it made him madder. "We'll just have to get back at him, won't we?" Eddy asked, his old plotting self back as he smiled.
"GET BACK AT HIM!?" Edd yelled in shock. "Eddy, how are we going to do that?!"
"We find where he is when the storm ends, and then when he isn't expecting it we damage his bike just enough so it falls apart when he rides it," Eddy said, before his smile stopped. "Oh… Yeah, he doesn't have a bike, does he… Well that plan won't work, so we'll just give him a hard time about that until I have a good plan," Eddy said, a he began thinking.
"Please, Eddy, getting back at him like that won't work," Edd said, rolling his eyes. "Have you completely forgotten the fact we have the ability to use my Quantum Transporter?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.
"Double D's got a plan!" Ed yelled happily, as he kicked his feet and Eddy turned the rudder.
"Double D, you're a genius!" Eddy said, a pause between Ed's yelling and his excited statement. "We use that to make Kevin pay! We'll do something like make him break a leg and not be able to play sports, or get bad grade so he gets kicked off the team!" Eddy said in excitement.
"I thought you'd say something like that, Eddy," Edd said, chuckling a bit. "I'm actually surprised I'm willingly going through with your plan, normally I'd object but I'm mad at Kevin for that myself," he said, laughing at the irony.
"Double D, I'm sure this will be the only time I'll ever say this, but you know how to be almost as good as me at plotting!" Eddy said, laughing, as the two laughed Ed looked around, confused.
"Ha ha ha!" he laughed, deciding that if everyone else was laughing he just as well also. For the first time since they were separated, they felt like they could achieve anything; even survival. Sadly, they didn't know they wouldn't survive from feeling like they could; they'd have to do a lot more than they were prepared to…
