Chapter 18: I Know What We're Going to Do Today!

To: Ms. Jane Porter

I want to thank you for all the help you've given me these last few months. Unfortunately, I must depart to go find my friends. I will, of course, introduce you to them one day. I know I should have said my goodbyes in person, but this seemed like the easiest way.

Salutations: Eddward

Jane smiled as she finished the note. "That boy," she said to a short, balding man to her right, her grandfather. "Always getting himself into trouble. I do hope he'll be alright out there."

*"Oh dear…"*

Edd had done it. With all the pieces of that odd material he had found, he managed to make a ship that worked. After extensive testing, countless prototypes, and near endless scrapped blueprints, he had managed to make one that could safely take him to outer space. That said, once he was in space, he also didn't expect to receive a radio signal from something right away, either.

He had no way of telling exactly how fast the ship he made went, but he knew he'd get to the signal's source soon, relatively speaking. It was getting stronger, and clearer. After about a day, he was able to hear what the signal was saying.

It was a message, very staticy and fragmented, but clearly spoken by what seemed to be a human male, and, conveniently, in English. It wasn't some odd, morse code message like Ed's science fiction movies had led him to believe.

Of course, even though it was in English, he knew he wasn't anywhere near earth. How did he know that?

Well, for one thing, outer space wasn't like Earth's outer space. His ship was literally flying through a void filled with a kaleidoscope of lights in every direction. Yes, he had seen countless stars back from the world he had been on, previously, but the second he left that world's atmosphere, the stars disappeared entirely, and he found himself in… that. It was like some dated 70s show had decided to animate the background of space.

Of course, there were also the giant clumps of debris that floated, motionless, in the void of "space." They weren't asteroids, exactly. They came in all sorts of shapes and colors. It wouldn't have been a stretch to think those asteroids were made out of the same material as his ship was.

All these changes to the universe around him made him realize something.

He wasn't anywhere near earth. In fact, with how different everything was, around him, he'd wager a guess as to say that he was in a different universe altogether. Yes, it was unlikely. And yes, it seemed almost foolish of him to say something so bizarre, but that was the only explanation for everything.

And besides that, there was something wrong. Really wrong.

Sometime during a previous nap, the ship collided with something. It wasn't enough to severely damage the ship, but the effects it had were definitely felt. For one thing, the air was getting stale. He remembered one of the blocks he found and attached to the ship having the ability to push out clean, fresh air. Clearly, that part had gotten damaged. He hadn't suffocated yet, but he would need to find somewhere to land to repair it.

The ship rocketed violently to the right again.

And there was that too. The windows in the cockpit of the ship didn't let him see the wings. Clearly, one of them must've gotten severely damaged too. Landing anywhere would prove to be troublesome, he theorized. A broken wing would compromise a safe end to his trip.

His ship suddenly drifted past what seemed to have been a portal of bright white light. Edd had seen a lot of those recently. He had no idea what they were, but they would always spike up the energy readings on his electromagnetic sensors. He had decided to stay as far away from them as possible.

There was another portal of bright light ahead. The radio signal he got from before was suddenly canceled out, and replaced by a much cleaner signal.

"Ferb… Ferb? I think we've got it. I think this is the right frequency."

Edd's ears practically perked up. He rushed to his dashboard, furiously turning knobs and slamming his fingers against a series of buttons as he talked into a microphone.

"Hello? Hello!? This is Eddward speaking. Come in. Over!"

"Oh, hey!" the voice called back, excitedly. The voice wasn't an adult's, but a small boy's. "This is Phineas, do you read me?"

"Roger, over," Double D hastily replied.

Could it be that those bright portals led to other universes? His mind started working up a few theories, but he pushed them to the back of his head. Right now, the important thing was landing safely.

"Requesting permission to land," he continued.

"Sure," the voice said back, casually.

For a brief second, he questioned what he was doing. Would flying into the portal that was emitting that radio transmission kill him? Did this strange new world he had yet to land it have some harsh laws that would eventually lead to his imprisonment?

Oh well, Double D shrugged. Right now, this was his best shot at living. He was in no position to worry about the ethicality of what he was doing. He pressed two buttons on either side of the ship's steering wheel, and the entire ship zoomed forward. Suddenly, he was blinded by light. The Technicolor background behind had suddenly faded. Just a second later, he found the scenery outside to return to a more natural sky blue.

He was right, those portals really did lead to other universes. Or did they just take him to different worlds?

Still, those thoughts could wait. Right now…

Right now, the scenery was beautiful.

It was like he was looking at Earth itself. His ship had suddenly been teleported what seemed to have been only a mile off of the ground. He was flying over suburbs, much like from Peach Creek. The streets were clean, and the houses and lawns were well kept. He could see a huge city in the background, complete with giant skyscrapers. Further on, away from the city, was a large forest. From where he was right now, it looked just as natural and lush as the forests back home.

In all honesty, he almost doubted being in a whole other world. The similarities were staggering.

"Welcome to Danville," the voice on the radio called out to him. "We see your ship right now, and... uh…" the voice seemed a little less confident now.

Edd broke out into a nervous sweat just as an alarm on the ship started ringing. He had no way to safely land now that one of the wings of the ship was out of commission. "Requesting assistance, over," he meekly said, just in time for his ship to collide headfirst with a tree in the forest just ahead.

*"Ow, ow, owwwww"*

Honestly, Edd didn't know what part was worse. The fact that he had the sharp part of an arrow digging into his back, amidst the rubble, or the scent of the soles of his shoes sizzling against the still red-hot engine of the crash ship.

Or maybe it was that he was pinned between a layer of jagged rocks and… rather invasive twigs on the ground, and the heaping weight of the ship's remains above him.

"Ferb, he's right here!"

Double D suddenly felt the weight shift off his body.

Two figures, both much younger than him, now stood over him, with arms outstretched.

"Is this a space ship?" The shorter kid, a redhead with a rather misshapen head ,said and his free hand helped hoist the boy back onto his feet.

"Yes… I… I suppose it is." Edd looked back at the heaping remains behind him. Oh dear. It was worse than he thought. That ship had smashed right through a series of trees and ended up making a sizable crater on the ground. "Or was."

The redhead smiled, looked at the boy next to him, a green-haired boy with an equally oddly-shaped skull, and put his hand to his chin. "Ferb," he said. "I know what we're going to do today."

*"So..."*

Nazz had figured Eddy would be a little more grateful about being rescued. She sat opposite him at a table in the Gummi Ship's cockpit. His arms were crossed, and he stared boredly out at the swirling colors of space outside.

Sure, Eddy had never been the most pleasant person around, but she had hoped, at the very least, he would've said something to thank everyone for rescuing him. Maybe something like 'Golly gee willikers, guys! Thanks for saving my hide.' Or 'Thanks, I'm so glad I got such a pretty girl and her new friends to save me from getting my head cut off!' She didn't even get a 'Wow Nazz, I can't believe a hottie like you could kick ass. Wanna go to second base? Now?'

On second thought, maybe it was best he didn't say that.

When she first told him about Ed, his head perked up for a minute. Nazz and the others explained to him everything that had been going on. From the Heartless, to what happened to their home, to what their current goal was. Maybe it was all still sinking in with him? As far as she knew, Eddy had only run into the Heartless after he had been rescued by Sora, Donald, and Goofy. But, according to them, it wasn't even a rescue. He was just lying unconscious outside the castle back in that last world.

He said he didn't remember how he got outside, but Nazz felt something was amiss. Was he hiding something?

Either way, it looked like he wasn't going to talk to any of them until he saw Ed again. Those two really needed a reunion. And if nothing else, seeing Eddy again would probably help Ed get on his feet again. She still owed Ed that much, especially after he had helped take out that giant Heartless in Traverse Town a few days ago.

"Almost there!" Donald slammed his feathery fingers against a few keys on the ship's dashboard and turned the seat around to get a view of everyone on the ship. Sora and Goofy were both reclined in their chairs, potato chip bags littering the floor around them as they yammered on about nonsense. The trip to that world had been boring, so she expected the trip back to Traverse Town being just as uneventful. Thank goodness they were almost back. Nazz would finally be done with the awkwardness of being with someone who absolutely refused to even mutter an unneeded word to her.

The space around them suddenly flashed a bright white. They were entering a world now. That light gradually dimmed to reveal the starry sky outside. It must've been night at Traverse Town now. She had only woken up just an hour or two ago, but everyone else in town must've been asleep.

The ship landed smoothly in a field just outside of the town's outermost wall. Eddy was the first one to step out. The first thing he did was look around, almost cautiously. Left. Then right. Then ahead. Then behind him. He tightly gripped the old sword he held in the belt loop in his pants, as if he was expecting something to jump out at him any second. If anything did pop out to attack, Eddy was far more likely to hurt himself. Sure, she had only seen him fighting for all of three seconds, but what she did see was funny. He truly fought with all the grace of a thousand rabid monkeys. It was like he purposely swung at everything but the enemy in front of him. If he was going to tag along with them from now on, and she expected him to, because of Ed, he'd have to learn to defend himself. Perhaps Leon would teach him a basic combo at least? Anything would work. Heck, even teaching him to serve as a meatshield would make him more useful than he was now.

"You think Leon and the others have heard anything about Riku and Kairi yet?" Sora looked a little too excited, and Nazz felt he was setting himself up for disappointment.

"I hope he's heard something about the King too," Goofy said, even more cheerfully. Nazz had an inkling the dog would cry if Leon told him he still hadn't heard anything.

Nazz wasn't surprised when Leon's house was almost completely dark as they all tiptoed in. Save for one light coming from the kitchen, and the furious tapping of a keyboard, which she assumed was from Cid, the house was still and calm.

Eddy, apparently, didn't care that everyone else was asleep. As they all scaled the stairs as quietly as possible, Eddy seemed to make it his goal to have his footsteps heard from a mile away. She tried to ignore every incessant crack, stomp, and rumble he caused as she silently lifted her foot off the last step, and shot him a look, wordlessly telling him that she was tired of his crap. He simply rolled his eyes at her.

Nazz was thankful that no one had woken up by the time Eddy had reached the end of the stairway. The boys' room was to the left, and judging from the loud sound coming from behind that door, Ed was inside, sleeping like a baby. Nazz had almost forgotten how loud his snores were. If Leon and the others could sleep through that, they'd be able to sleep though anything.

Nazz cracked open the door and looked through. Eddy did the same.

A mischievous grin suddenly appeared on Eddy's face. Nazz didn't know where he got it from, but he now held a canister of whipped cream in one hand, and a feather in the other. Now he was being quiet as he tiptoed across the room to Ed's bedside. Save for his constant giggling, he moved just as swiftly and silently as a ninja. Just as he was about to spray some of the whipped cream on Ed's open palm, the taller boy sniffed.

Ed's eyes shot open.

"Eddy!" Ed clearly wasn't holding back. He shouted at the top of his lungs as he crushed Eddy in the strongest hug imaginable. The can of whipped topping exploded, sending the delicious cream flying every which way. Eddy was mumbling something beneath the crushing grip of his friend, but it clearly went unheard as the taller boy continued crushing his friend.

"I never thought I'd see you again!" Ed continued squeezing the shorter boy, who now had apparently accepted his fate to end up smooshed and stopped struggling, patting Ed gently on the head instead of squirming.

It was a sweet little scene, Nazz thought.

Of course, none of the other people in the house were happy about being awoken at 2 in the morning.

Author's Note:So, not much in the way of plot really happened. This just serves as a nice transition chapter (and a good breather episode for the gang.) The Invasion of Ice Arc is next chapter, and I pretty much have everything already planned out, with half of it already completed. Expect the first part of the chapter to come out Saturday night. I'd do it tomorrow, but I'm swamped, and anybody who's in college will understand why Saturday mornings aren't a good time to do anything productive. I'm actually very excited for everyone's reactions to the next few chapters. I poured a lot of love in crafting the next arc's chapters, and I hope everyone can feel that when they eventually get a chance to read them.