OK, this is going to be a challenge for me. What I am going to do here is very similar to what happened towards the final fight with Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness. You are going into these little stands and are transported to worlds you already visited and you take on the Heartless one more time in hopes of leveling up before the final fight. Well I am going to try to pull that off by having at least two pages per world (one entering and one exiting).
If everything goes according to plan, I should have a pretty decent sequence that will hopefully seam the world together while I throw in one more trick up my sleeve. Yeah I should do something to break up all of this action, but then again… wait, what? Anyway, let's get this chapter going!
Legal Stuff: I DO NOT own Ed, Edd n Eddy, anything within Kingdom Hearts, or anything else. The Eds belongs and are copyrighted by the great Danny Antonucci and his team at AKA Studios, the Kingdom Hearts series belong to Square Enix, and anything else belongs to their retrospective creators. I do, however, own any original content mention in this story.
Chapter Twenty-Six – The Bridge across Dimensions
OOO
The Eds can feel the pressure difference at the exit of the tunnel and they burst out to find themselves in a rather spacious place. The place is dark and heavy with an ominous presence lingering, as far down there is a black pit with a swirling ring of clouds and dark lighting reaching out from the clouds, reminding the Eds of when they first came to the Void. The boys pan their eyes up away from the black hole as they notice twelve stone shrines floating in the negative space and a continuous stone path linking each shrine before the path leads deep down to the black void.
Double D focuses his eyes on one of the shrines to see what is there for anyone to worship, only to find nothing anything religious inside. Instead, there is some rather open space with a floating ball of energy in the middle of the shrine, which may be some kind of worship item but the Ed is uncertain about this until he sees this item up close. Ed and his hat are looking around the open space, while Eddy walks up to the edge of the platform the Eds are on and he leans his head down to stare deep into the black void to drop some spit down and watch the drop head deep into the blackness.
"Whoa, that's quite a drop," cooed Eddy, carefully looking over the edge. "So to say if one of us were to fall down into that, we'll never come back out alive?"
"That's pretty much how the place works," said the wizard hat. "According to the number of weapons and armors we have seen beyond that portal, we are probably the first people to successfully get this far and then to make it to the exit."
"But where exactly is this supposed exit?" asked Double D, looking along the path to find its end. "From what I'm seeing, this path leads straight down into the void below and I really hate that we keep continuing on the same path before we collapsed and die!"
"Hey, don't get too worked up," the small Ed replied. "The last thing that I want to do here is end up down that hole and become lost in the history of the universe. There's so many things that I want to do, with one of those things is getting back at my brother for all of what he has done to me in the past!"
"Well we aren't exactly going to go home unless we finished what we came here for," the smart Ed replied. "These shrines might hold the final keys we need to open the path to Jib, so we need to be prepared for what's to come and also at our full strength once we are done with this trial."
"Are we going to be using our potions for this?" asked Ed.
"It's probably for the best we do that once we are done, since we do need to conserve our mana if we want to use our magic on Jib."
"Yes, using magic on a man known as the Destroyer of Light," said Normadomus in a slight sarcastic tone. "Well if we're going to rely on magic, we need to use some Limit Breaks if we want to get any damage down."
"OK, so we have a plan as to how we are going to defeat Jib," said Double D. "Now all we need is to get across this void and hopefully find our way to Jib."
"Why don't you get your motorcycle ready and we can ride across the bridge?" Ed pitched. "It'll make things a lot more fun."
Double D thinks over the plan and starts to see what will be the harm in doing so. The Eds are going to be riding across a long bridge while making stops at twelve shrines, each containing a glowing sphere that may be part of their trial, and they can run into some turbulence on their ride which could lead them to fall into the depths of the Void and be erased from existence. However, the Ed notices that his hovercycle is staying in its form for a long period, so this could be easier for them to ride the vehicle instead of running all along the path.
Calling for his Keyblade, the smart Ed begins to concentrate and transforms his Keyblade into the similar shape of the Joker Hovercycle. Stepping onto the vehicle for possibly their last time, Double D and Ed got themselves comfortable as Eddy wraps his yo-yo around
"Well… we got twelve worlds to hit, we're riding an unstable Keyblade hovercycle, some full potions, Eddy's riding for his dear life, and we're all wearing hats," said Double D.
"Hit it," said Normadomus.
Just as Double D revs the engine, the Eds can hear a terrifying screech coming from down of the black void and Eddy rushes over to notice the lightning is increasing. Soon, from out of the blackness rises the giant Heartless Gummi ship that is called the Pirate Ship, and Eddy rushes back over to warn his friends about the incoming Heartless and they hear the sound of a large explosion right behind them. The boys turn around to notice a cannonball hit the platform they are on and a large hole is sitting where the Eds came out of the portal.
Double D twists the acceleration and the hovercycle flies off onto the stone bridge, snapping Eddy's yo-yo string and forcing the small Ed along for the ride. His shield begins to slide towards the edge and he leans towards the center of the bridge to prevent himself from going into the pit or straight at the Heartless ship. The Pirate Ship continues to climb up as its metal jaw opens up and increases its thrust to take a bite out of the bridge, missing the Eds but got them to throw Double D off.
The smart Ed got his concentration back as the Pirate Ship starts firing off cannonballs at the bridge. Eddy watches for any incoming cannonballs and occasionally jumps up to use his shield to deflect the attacks, as the driver focuses his attention on the approaching shrine. Revving up the engine, Double D carefully steers the bike around a curve as he starts calculating when to swing around the glowing sphere and continue on their path. Just as the moment is about to hit them, the sphere begins to shine brightly and the Eds are consume by the light, disappearing into thin air as the sphere dies down and continues to rest in the shrine.
OOO
Unbeknownst to the Eds, they suddenly find themselves on a paved road in a suburbia neighborhood, and they look to the side of them to find the city of Townsville looming over them, but they notice something different. Despite the suburbs looking very peaceful, the city appears to be in ruins as a towering Heartless causes havoc through the city and terrorizing the fair citizens. The Eds notice the three streaks of light that make up the Powerpuff Girls and they watch the girls head towards Townsville to stop the havoc that is going on.
"Hang on, why are we back in Townsville?" questioned Eddy. "I thought we got the keyhole here and why is this place a wreck?"
"This must be something that happens on a regular basis Eddy," the smart Ed replied. "The Powerpuff Girls are heroes after all and it is their duty to protect this very city from that Heartless attacking."
"True, but something like that shouldn't cause an upscale Heartless attack like that," Normadomus pointed out. "Sealed keyholes are supposed to keep Heartless numbers to a minimum and away from the world's heart, but this… this is what would happen if we fail to do so."
"So is this an image of the future?" asked Double D, sounding a bit concern.
"Probably not, but it could be. For all I know this could be happening in real time, with what the Destroyer is doing right now. This might be causing a rippling effect across the universe, causing Heartless to appear in large numbers and varying sizes, all because a man of unspeakable power is gaining access to the universe's main source of life."
"So all we need to do is keep a straight path and hopefully get back to the Void if we want to stop all of this?" asked Eddy. "Then we better get moving! Double D, let's see how fast we can get this thing going!"
Nodding to this request, the medium Ed revs the engine some more and got the hovercycle going a lot faster, this time clocking over the speed limit. This time ignoring the limit, the three Eds race towards Townsville to see if they can help out in the fight against the Heartless and hopefully get back to their current position in the Void. Ed has his staff ready to go for magic and Eddy with his shield, and Double D has his eyes looking out for incoming debris and any Heartless that may come out at them in surprise and attack them off guard.
After racing down the street for a few minutes, the Eds enter the city limit and already are struck by a war torn city. The Shadows, Neoshadows, Novashadows, Darkballs and Behemoths are roaming all over the streets and there is one towering Darkside destroying the buildings around the Eds. Double D skillfully got the hovercycle into a sharp turn and heads away from a chunk of an apartment that was going to crush the small Ed. The hovercycle sways from side to side to avoid the raining debris, as the tall Ed casts small fireballs to deal with incoming Shadows. It was not long before this becomes a regular task as the smart Ed weaves through the streets to find the exit to this world.
A barricade of Heartless begins to form at one intersection far away from the Eds, possibly preventing them from getting to where the exit is. The Eds are not worry about the Heartless as they are dodging falling pieces of buildings. Double D makes a sharp turn to the right as one chunk of building cuts the boys off from the barricade and forces them to make a detour. However the path the smart Ed is taking is not as safe, as flying Darkballs come zooming in and aiming straight at the Eds, but Ed steps in by using his Thundara to shock the Darkballs down.
The giant Darkside begins to make its way over to the Eds and Double D quickly pulls the Eds away from the approaching giant, preventing an encounter. However, the giant notices the fleeing boys all the way down on the barren streets, and the Heartless slams its fist down into the ground, creating a black puddle of shadows and several smaller Heartless. Eddy turns around to notice the wave of Shadows heading straight towards the Eds and he prepares to defend the trio by using his shield to knock
"Eddy, Ed, I see the exit!" screamed Double D.
The two boys in question look to where their friend wants them to see, and sure enough there is a sphere of light similar to the one at the shrine. Double D puts more thrust into the engine and speeds off down the road to make it towards the glowing sphere. However, the barricade forms and the Darkside looming high above, which is putting a dent into the boys' escape plans. The Darkside starts destroying the buildings surrounding the Eds and Double D tries to outmaneuver the debris, but one large chunk is right above them and is too large for the boys to escape…
… That is until the Powerpuff Girls come swooping in and smashes through the chunk of building, obliterating the piece into smaller debris and comes raining down on the Eds. The three boys let out a sigh of relief as they now know they are not going to be crushed, but they fail to notice a piece of building that is now blocking their path. However Double D sees an opening for the Eds to use and he revs the engine some more as the hovercycle rockets down the street, passing Heartless and fallen pieces of debris as the bike hits the blockage and launches high above the Heartless barricade. Flying above the barricade, the Eds focus their attention on the glowing sphere as Eddy looks back to see the superhero girls heading towards the giant, all before his vision goes white.
The Eds immediately find themselves back inside of the Void and traveling out of the shrine. Eddy looks out to notice that the Pirate Ship is still on their tail and several cannons are aiming straight at the boys. One of these cannons launches a very large ball of steel out right at the small Ed and misses him by a good few feet, only to hit the stone pathway and cutting the Eds off from returning to their Gummi ship. Eddy notices that their path is beginning to fall and he warns Double D that they are going to fall if he does not speed the hovercycle up.
The Pirate Ship continues to fire its cannons at the three Eds as the hovercycle nears the second shrine. Ed looks over to the Pirate Ship and sees if he can use any of his magic on the giant Heartless, but even his new Fira is not singeing the wooden hull of the giant ship. The Pirate Ship begins to lower its jaw in another attempt to swallow the Eds into the hull, but Double D revs the engine up and speeds away as the Heartless ship charges forward and bites down on the stone bridge. More and more of the bridge begins to fall down into the black abyss below and some down on the Pirate ship, leaving the Eds only to keep heading straight and into the next shrine.
OOO
When the flare clears from their eyes, the Eds check around to find themselves back in the past, only by a few years as they notice the same buildings of Washington, D.C. passing right by them in a blur. Double D slows the hovercycle down as the Ed rounds the same corner that the insane superhero took in order to save his city. However, the Eds cannot find Freakazoid on the street, as they believe he is busy doing something stupid or rescuing the capitol city from certain destruction.
In the distance is a very similar appearance to what is happening in Townsville, but only on a smaller scale and there is a giant robot instead of a Darkside. Another difference is that the destruction is kept to a minimum, but the Eds are only in one part of the city that has yet to encounter a large amount of Heartless. Deciding on looking for the same glowing sphere as their exit, Double D got their ride up to speed and zipping down the streets to go through another maze of buildings and empty streets.
"Man, what is happening to these worlds?" asked Eddy. "Is this all we're going to see when we head back to these worlds?"
"I hope not Eddy," replied Double D. "Let's just hope that these events we are seeing are separate occurrences and possibly not link to Jib."
"Never underestimate the power that is Kingdom Hearts," mumbled Ed's hat. "If the Destroyer gets close to the scared place, then these events we are seeing will likely be the end to the human society and the birth of a new generation."
"If that's the case, we need to hurry!" stated Double D. "I'm not sure if the other worlds are going to be like this, but we need to get through these worlds and hopefully get rid of that Pirate Ship for good."
"Hey, how about we raid the Pirate Ship and claim it as our own?" pitched Ed.
"And how are we going to do that?" asked Eddy. "There's no way that we can take on possibly thousands of Heartless all for a giant ship that's also a freaking Heartless!"
"Well right now let's not worry about the Pirate Ship at the moment," Double D responded. "We can think out a plan on how to defeat it, or capturing it, when we are exploring the other worlds and getting closer to the center of the Void."
With that set in stone, Double D focuses back on the open road and steers the Eds towards the area of Washington, D.C. where the city's famous monuments rest. This particular area is the current hotspot where the fighting is taking place, and as soon the Eds got closer to the battlefield they can feel the intense flames of war fires burning in the distance. The boys notice towering clouds of smoke sailing up into the red skies, and in one of those clouds are some constant flares of white lightning, probably the zipping body of Freakazoid moving through this cloud.
Ed looks towards the giant robot that is devastating the capitol and he notices something familiar about this robot. Despite being so far away, the tall Ed recognizes the pilot of the robot to be the Lobe, as his brainy-pink head is sticking out on the gunmetal black that is making up the robot. The brain pilot has his eyes on the cloud with the lightning, controlling the arms to try to grab that moving bolt of lightning, all while keeping his eyes off of the incoming Ed boys.
"Double D, is all of this real?" asked Ed.
"Like we said Ed, I don't know," replied Double D. "If you're asking if this is nothing more of a vision or are we really in Washington, D.C. If we are really feeling the flames in this scene, then we really have traveled to a war-torn city."
"Double D, can you please focus on the road?" offered Eddy. "If what you're saying is true, then can you at least avoid hitting those Heartless?"
The smart Ed looks in front of him to notice several small Heartless heading right towards the hovercycle. Double D immediately starts weaving through the numbers, causing Eddy to swing wildly and smashing through the Heartless with his shield. Once the driver straightens himself out, he notices the robot reaching into the cloud of smoke and a bright burst of lightning shocking the arm. The Lobe pulls back the arm as he watches the lightning coming right at him a big burst and covering the giant robot with millions of jumping static electrical bolts.
The robot begins to shut down from overloading on the large amount of electricity and backs into one of the monuments. The Lobe tries to recover to the best of his effort, grabbing onto the falling monument with what he has left and swings it at Freakazoid, but only to swing at nothing. The Eds are wondering what is going on until they notice the blue superhero on the ground and way far ahead of them, running as fast as he can to not only avoid the failing robot, but to find a way to stop the robot for good.
The boys spot the exit in the distance, out in a grassy field and in the middle of the battlefield. Ignoring the failing robot on the verge of collapse, the Eds make their way to the exit, passing by Heartless and moving away from Freakazoid. Along the way, the boys came into contact with a whole slew of villains the trio has yet to encounter on this world, but they ignore this group as the villains are focusing their attention on the running blue superhero. As they Eds got closer to the exit, there is one villain that has their eyes on them and she breaks free from the group to attack the trio.
The woman the Eds have previously met begins to throw some snake Heartless at the hovercycle in an attempt to slow the trio. Double D dodges a few of these snakes as Ed uses his magic to destroy the snakes. The snake woman does her best in blocking the Eds' way, but one piece of debris helps the Eds by launching them over the woman and aiming straight at the exit, which envelops the boys and causes the trio to leave the fight. The snake woman lets out an irritated growl as she notices a shadow right above her and she escapes, just as the giant robot begins to fall down to the earth.
OOO
With an unbearable scorching sun blanketing the barren desert scene with its high heated rays, the Eds' vision is tainted with the sight of water vapor evaporating from the road. The boys find themselves on an open stretch of road out in the desert world of Nowhere and so far they are nowhere close to the home of the pink scared dog. Riding on in the blistering heat, Ed's hat aims up and casts Blizzard down on the two riding Eds, as Eddy takes his goggles and puts them over his eyes, shielding him from the bright light.
"Well this isn't bad," said Double D optimistically. "So far this is a bit of a change of pace to having two back-to-back cities in a war against the Heartless."
"Yeah, but it's hot!" whined Ed, his voice getting dry.
"It does seem rather unusually hot around here," the smart Ed muttered. "It sure wasn't this hot when we were here. Maybe this is considered to be the drought season of the year on this world."
"I doubt that," called Eddy. "This place is a desert! There's not a single drop of water to find! It isn't like there's going to be any rain anytime soon!"
"Uh, what about a tsunami?" wondered Normadomus.
The medium Ed cuts the engine and slows the hovercycle to a halt as the three boys notice in the horizon a small wave heading right towards them. The trio wipes their eyes to make sure that this is no mirage and they check the horizon to see that this wave is getting bigger and bigger. In the silence, there is the sound of the wave crashing echoing far away, and they begin to question whether or not they are really losing their minds or this incoming wave is for real.
Double D got the engine back to life and spins the hovercycle in the opposite direction, hoping to get away from the incoming wave. Just as the bike begins to hit the top speed, the wave begins to catch up on the Eds and they look behind them to realize the giant size of this tsunami. Double D revs the engine some more to get some distance between the boys and the fast-moving wave, but as the seconds pass the wave is getting closer and closer, inching ever so close in an attempt to drown the trio.
As they are escaping, Eddy hears some screaming right behind him and he looks up onto the wave to notice a small, yet recognizable, person. Up on a surfboard screaming at the top of his lungs is the small pink dog named Courage, holding onto his master Muriel as the little dog is surfing on for their dear lives. There are no signs of Eustace on the surfboard, meaning he has not come back to the farmhouse after being tossed by the Prison Keeper. Eddy cannot see anyone else on the wave, so that only leaves the little dog that could and his master surfing for their life as the Eds try to outrace their impending deaths.
"How in the world is this even possible?" stated Double D. "There's no logical explanation for a tsunami made of sand to even make an attempt to move across the ground like this!"
"Says everything that's been going on in the past two worlds!" replied Eddy. "It's bad enough to be running into Heartless in a place like the Void, but running into a wave made out of sand? Whoever made this universe is a sick, sick man!"
"Or woman!" stated Ed.
"Let's just focus on outrunning this tsunami!" stated Ed's hat.
Doing so, Double D got the hovercycle running faster as the trio speeds down the hot stretch of highway. With the sun beating down onto the boys and the looming wave of sand, the Eds have a lot going on for them as they are trying to find the exit to this world. The roar of the wave is deafening, but the Eds can hear the screams coming from Courage and the roar of the engine as Double D spies a town looming over the horizon and speeds towards safety. Hopefully there will be the exit waiting for them in the middle of the town, since the trio does not want to go crashing into the wall of sand and start swimming for the supposed exit.
With only a minute or so of waiting to get to this town, Eddy begins to feel the sand dripping into his shirt and irritating his skin. He looks behind him that the wave is just in reaching limits of the Ed, and his mind is warning him of potentially crashing and also his itchy back. Keeping one hand the yo-yo's string, the small Ed reaches behind him and starts rubbing out the sand that has gotten into his clothes, all while keeping his balance to prevent riding up on the sand wave and potentially drowning a sandy burial for the greedy boy.
Double D puts some more thrust into the engine, pulling Eddy away from the tsunami as the Eds finally reach the outskirts of the town. As the hovercycle enters the town, the sand tsunami comes to a slow halt as the wave hits the sides of the buildings and, all before picking up speed and starts consuming the buildings. The buildings gave the Eds some time to put a large gap between them and allowing them to go searching for the exit, which is waiting for them on the opposite of town.
A dark shadow blankets on top of the Ed boys and they look up to notice the tsunami is now catching up to them again. The wave is causing people to go into a panic and trying to flee the approaching disaster, but the fast moving wave is swallowing buildings and people up as only five people are really escaping the destruction. With only seconds of waiting, the Eds grit their teeth as they inch closer and closer to the exit and the wave does the exact same thing to the trio. Then the Eds reach their target and are quickly enveloped by the light, dodging their sandy death as the tsunami sweeps through the town, taking with it several residents and their businesses.
"Wat wave yu're golin', yu full," the Asian punk shouted in the muffling sands.
OOO
The sound of gunfire and metal crashing together is echoing through the silent streets of a not-so-peaceful suburb neighborhood. The Eds quickly enter the streets of the same neighborhood that they saw the giant blue robot called Megas and they look in the distance to find the same robot facing off against several green mechs being controlled by the same alien race Coop previous fought. The Eds are relieved that they are not going to be facing off against an army of savage aliens in mech suits, as Coop will be distracting the robots while the Eds search for the next exit point.
However, they notice that Megas is having a hard time standing up against this wave of enemies. One mech delivers a heavy punch to the blue robot's chest, causing Megas to go flying back and destroying several houses before catching itself and coming to a complete stop. The blue mech is standing in front of a billboard advertising for a local channel, and Megas lifts the billboard from the ground to use the giant sign to clear through the large numbers of robots surrounding the area.
On the ground, the Eds can see the Heartless that the robots fail to notice when they fight. These Heartless are roaming about in the bright daylight, aware that there is a robot fight going above them and they try to avoid getting squish by the mechs' feet. None of the Heartless notice the Eds roaming the streets, as the boys can see that the Heartless want to participate in the fight and take down the towering robots. Grateful that they are not going to fight both the robots and the Heartless, the Eds focus their attention on finding the exit when they notice something off in the skies.
"What is that black cloud in the sky?" asked Ed.
High above in the atmosphere, a dark oval mass is looming ominously among the clouds, slowly moving closer to the ground and growing ever so bigger by the minute. "I think that's some sort of anomaly," said Normadomus. "I'm not sure if that's true but if it has to do with the wars that are going on and the natural disasters on the other worlds."
"So… there's some sort of anomaly that forms when someone is getting close to Kingdom Hearts?" asked Double D, unsure by this response.
"I'm not one hundred percent certain, with what no one has ever reached Kingdom Hearts, but my guess is that this must be a safety precaution in preventing more people like the Destroyer of Light in exploring the Void to its deepest depths. I've never read any like this in any of my books but if what I'm guessing turns out to be true, we're going to find out the ugly truth in possibly… an hour or so."
"But that thing is going to destroy the universe!" Ed yelled.
"Look, it's hard to know what's really going on since this is the first time anything like this is happening, so we really need to get moving in not only preventing an unstoppable being from rising, but an universe-destroying anomaly!" Ed's hat proclaimed.
Vent on finding the exit as fast as possible, Double D got their ride going as fast as they can, zipping through the streets around Heartless and towering mechs. Once again weaving through the streets, the smart Ed got the Eds on the lookout for the glowing sphere as Megas takes a step back from blocking one attack, prompting the boys to take a detour down one street. The road the Eds ended up on turns out being a dead-end and Double D spins the hovercycle around, going down the opposite street and heading straight into the giant robot fight.
Coop got Megas working on its feet against some green mechs, using either the billboard or some of its weapons hidden underneath its armor. As one mech goes down another takes its place, making Megas lose a certain amount of energy until Coop can feel his controls locking up on him. The pilots grits his teeth in anger as he tries to keep his robot online as long as possible, as he looks in the distance to find the leader of these mechs, Gorrath, in his personal mech, waiting patiently as Megas duels all of the alien leader's lower-ranking mooks.
"Oh how I waited for this day to come," Gorrath hisses. "In a matter of minutes, MEGAS will be subdued by my many men and I will finally claim that piece of scrap metal you call a robot as my own. Once I redesigned MEGAS to my configurations, I will claim this planet as my own and make sure that no puny humans shall resist my incoming army!"
"I'm not going to let you lay one finger on Megas, especially not after you calling it 'scrap metal!'" Coop barked, getting Megas ready for a fight.
The pilot slams down on the gas pedal to allow Megas' engine to roar all over the neighborhood, shocking the driving Ed and causing him to lose his balance. The exhaust pipes are flaring from burning fuel and hatred, and Coop presses up on his game controller to launch his robot flying towards Gorrath, sweeping through the lower ranks with the billboard before tossing the weapon to the side. Megas forms a fist in one hand and, places a foot into the ground and gets one good twists, starts to get into a spin as the fist flies towards Gorrath's mech, smashing hard to cause the robot to be lifted up from its feet and fly in the opposite direction.
The billboard crashes down where the Eds are driving and they quickly dodge the large metal pole as Double D notices the sign forming a ramp. Getting the speed, the hovercycle takes off down the street before hitting the billboard and riding up to launch off and head straight for the glowing sphere the Eds fail to notice. Landing hard on the streets, the boys pass by Heartless as the shadows of the two fighting mechs are cast down onto the hovercycle, only for the sphere to reach out and envelop the trio. Once the Eds are gone, Megas opens up its armor and takes out several heavy artilleries, locking the barrels onto Gorrath, and unleashes a bullet hell to knock the robot off its feet and fall down onto the exit.
As the Eds leave the shrine, they barely miss the Pirate Ship eating them whole, as the giant ship crashes through the shrine and destroying the stone building. Several stones making up the path begin to fall into the abyss below, getting Eddy on the edge to falling to his doom. With the Pirate Ship looming right behind them, Double D got on the move by speeding their ride up to escape falling into the black abyss below and also ending up inside of the Pirate Ship.
"Leave us alone, you hunk of scrap wood!" the small Ed shouted.
The Heartless lets out a roar at the Eds as several cannons lock onto the Ed boys and unleash a barrage of cannonballs down on the stone path. Flying stones are making Double D to move around on the narrow path, boarding falling off and diving into the darkness, all while trying not to get batter by the flying stone bricks. The Pirate Ship lowers itself and opens its metal jaw to start eating away at the path, similar to when the Eds were being chased by the sand tsunami. This does not last long as Double D approaches the next shrine and drives the Eds through the glowing sphere, disappearing from the Pirate Ship as the Heartless ship stops its chomping and begins the waiting game.
OOO
Despite being on a hovercycle, the Eds find themselves breezing through the colorful and maze-like hallways of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. With no room to work with in dodging any incoming Heartless that comes their way, Ed and Eddy prepare themselves for a fight to come. While waiting for an attack and going through the many hallways, the whole building begins to shake violently before quieting down, prompting the Eds to wonder what is happening on this world.
"Was that an earthquake?" asked Eddy.
"I don't think that was an earthquake Eddy," replied Double D.
Up ahead of the Eds is a growing puddle of water up ahead at one intersection and an imaginary friend is sliding down the slippery floor. The smart Ed brings the hovercycle to a stop as the boys can hear the sound of rushing water down the hallway and they quickly registers that as the source of the building rumbling. Turning the hovercycle around, Double D takes off in the opposite direction to get away from the incoming water, as the hallway-filling blast rockets down the intersection and begins filling up the path the boys are taking.
Eddy looks behind him to notice that there are some Heartless they saw on Stormalong Harbor, swimming inside the moving wall of water and they are looking at the Eds ready to skewer. The small Ed begins to ride up onto the water and swiftly dodges the spears in the Heartless' hands, occasionally sliding to the walls to grind his shield against the surface. The Ed not only dodges the stab of the Heartless, but some of the items lining against the walls, until Double D makes a sharp turn to his left and brought Eddy smacking against the intersection's wall, peeling him away as the hovercycle drives off down the hallway.
"Hey, warn me when you're going to steer!" the small Ed shouted.
"I'm sorry Ed but I did," the medium Ed replied. "You should be focusing up ahead instead of trying to do fancy tricks back there."
"I was dealing with some Heartless!" Eddy barked.
Before the small Ed can check to see if the Heartless are still following the boys, the hovercycle begins to head down a flight of stairs and got the boys rocking. They quickly reach the bottom of the stairs in no time, only to then be hit by a wall of water and knocking the three off of the hovercycle. In the rush, Double D keeps a strong grip on the handle as the other two Eds float nearby and the trio heads down the hallway to follow the current.
As the Eds are zipping by doors after doors, a hidden trap door opens from below and the three Eds are sent down through the hole, as the momentum is quickly picking up and everything to the Ed is becoming a rush. In the moving water stream, the boys dodge incoming objects and imaginary friends as they move through the maze to get to wherever the water is taking them. Soon they burst through a door and enter a long black room, getting the feeling that they are heading straight up, and the boys fly out of one of the chimneys, along with a few items from the hallways.
"This house is alive!" shouted Eddy, as the Eds hit their peak and head back towards earth.
The Eds strangely fit themselves through one of the chimneys and plummet down to where the fireplace is, bursting out from the fall in a cloud of soot, as the trio find themselves back riding on the hovercycle and in some imaginary friend's room. The boys quickly leave the room through the door and they head on down the hallway, all while trying to figure out what just happened to them.
"How on Earth is that even possible?" stated Double D. "There's no scientific explanation to how we can move about like that!"
"It's magic, we don't have to explain it," replied Ed.
"Wow Ed, that's the last thing I want to hear out of a comic nerd like you," Eddy deadpans.
"I rather believe Eddy's statement that this house is a living being," the smart Ed commented.
The sound of rushing water is right behind them and Double D increases the speed as the Eds rocket down the hallway and jumping over a staircase. The trio carefully dodge hitting their heads against the ceiling as Double D leans the hovercycle to make a sharp turn, prompting the vehicle and Eddy to ride against the walls before hitting the floor hard. The wall of water splashes against the wall and begins to fill the intersection, chasing after the Eds in an attempt to swallow the boys back up again.
The Ed boys begin to recall being down this hallway when they were first here, remembering that this is the hallway that leads to the foyer of the building. Using this knowledge, the boys take off down the hallway and wait to see if they are on the right track in getting out of this world. As they suspect, they are approaching the staircase that leads to the foyer, and waiting for them at the door is the glowing exit. Rounding the stairs, the hovercycle flies through the air, with the water right behind them, and the Eds dive down into the sphere to head back into the Void.
The rushing water continues its spread throughout the house, filling up every room on the first floor and trapping everyone in the liquid. The whole house begins to buckle under the pressure from the large amount of water filling it up, until every window and doors burst and the water pours out onto the front yard. Every item and person that was victim of the flood flow out from the building and spill across the now wet lawn as everyone gasps for air and float on top of the water.
The last person to come out from the building is a blob of blue and it is rather happy with the flooding of the boarding home. It slides down the stairs as if it was on a water slide and it stands up to happily celebrate going on the wildest ride it has ever been on, all before coming to a stop as it notices hundreds of angry stares glaring at the blob. The blue mass puts on a sheepish smile as it heads back up the stairs and rushes inside, all to hopefully escape its impending punishment.
"BLOOAGARD Q. KAZOO!" screamed the redhead Frankie.
OOO
As the brightness begins to dim, the Eds look up to notice that there is a giant claw heading right down on top of them. Double D quickly got the hovercycle out of the way as the claw smashes down into the asphalt, and the Eds look up to notice that they are underneath a giant walking robot. The boys look around their setting to notice that they are in Bellwood, a rather peaceful town now under fire by this destructive machine, and the trio check their surroundings to see another war is taking place on this world, much like what was happening in Townsville and Washington, D.C.
"OK, so we got a normal Heartless war, another Heartless war with a supervillain leading them," Eddy pointed out, "so what's different with this one?"
"I believe this is less about Heartless and more about aliens,"
Sure enough, there are some gray aircrafts flying through the air that are nothing like the planes the boys have seen. These aircrafts are firing off energy blasts at the number of the giant robots that are roaming about, and the Eds can see these ships are having a hard time against these machines. There is a roar of a jet right above the boys, and the Eds look up to notice a green jet flying above the action, and underneath a small hatch opens up. Out from the hatch is a body wearing green and the jet flies off, as the body is engulf in a green light and a large dinosaur-like being emerges from the light.
"Cool, we're in a war with the worlds!" Ed proclaimed happily.
"Just be on the lookout for a very hammy actor and a little blonde girl," said Eddy, looking around doing so.
"Hang on gentlemen," said Double D. "Did any of you recognize that green glow up in the sky?"
"Yeah I saw that," answered the small Ed. "Was that Ben and did he get himself a new alien?"
"I think this may be a different Ben," the smart Ed replied. "He kind of looks older, but it's hard to tell since it was a brief moment and he was high up in the air."
"So once we are done, can we go and ask that dinosaur if he really is Ben?" asked Ed.
"Ed, you can tell it's Ben by that dial on that dinosaur's chest," deadpans Eddy. "It's not hard to figure that out since he is the only one with a watch that can turns him into any alien of his choice."
"Say, do any of you find this to be a little weird considering that we have haven't set a foot on this world in a few months, and then somehow you have possibly a full grown boy using a whole new selection of aliens at his disposal?" wondered Normadomus.
"Then what we are seeing is the future?" asked Double D.
"The only way to find out is ask the alien himself," the hat replied, "although we should focus on finding the exit first."
"Void ahead!" Ed called out.
Hanging up in the sky is the same void that the boys saw back in Jersey City, emitting the same ominous feeling from the black mass and is now bigger from when the Eds first saw it. They can see some lightning jumping out from the circling mass, and the boys can feel a sickening feeling deep within them that this anomaly is going to be a threat to not only this world, but to the entire universe. As the Eds are riding through the town, they notice that no one is looking up into the sky and spot out this growing mass, including the giant dinosaur, meaning that everyone is focus on winning a war instead of an anomaly that will destroy their worlds.
"In all of my life I will never suspect this to be coming true," said Ed's hat. "To think I was done with the Seeing Real Epidemic, but now there are disasters and wars breaking out all over the universe because of what's happening in this void? Is this really payback for all of the fighting in the past war?"
"Will you calm down?" asked Double D. "At this point we don't know if this is real or not, despite that we are taking part of the disasters and wars that are going on now, but what if this is the Void testing us to see if we are ready for the challenge ahead."
"Double D, look out!" shouted both Ed and Eddy.
The medium Ed looks in front of him and realizes that he is trying towards another one of the giant robots. He quickly throws the bike into a sharp turn and got the trio out of harm's way, as the robot slams its claw foot into the asphalt and head towards the dinosaur. Now heading away from the fight, Double D and the others look around for their exit, seeking out the glowing sphere in all of the carnage. Finding the shiny sphere floating in the middle of an intersection, the Eds zip down the torn street to get out of this war.
Before the Eds can reach the sphere, the dinosaur steps back and lands on top of the exit, squishing the sphere as the alien switches from a giant to something smaller: a black rock being with a singular and red crystals sticking out of its body. The rock being runs towards the machine it was previously fight and the Eds notice that the exit is still intact. Riding up to the exit, the sphere begins to glow and envelops the Eds, sending the boys back to outrun the Pirate Ship and to head towards the next world.
OOO
Unlike some of the other worlds the boys have been visiting, as soon they materialize on the next world they are greeted with a blast of cool air. This chilling draft is mix in with an ominous, dark presence as the hovercycle rides on through barren, empty streets of a destroyed city. The Ed boys check around to see that they are not part of some war, but rather the aftermath of one as signs of a struggle are present everywhere that they look. From looking around their setting, the boys can tell they are back in Jump City, but they are getting the feeling that they are not going to be meeting up with the Titans.
Double D pulls out his communicator and got the device on so he can try contacting the Titans to see if they are all right. After waiting for a few minutes, he closes the communicator and pockets it, now knowing that the team that protects this city is not going to help the Eds out. "Well my friends, it seems we are too late here," the medium Ed replied grimly. "Whatever happened here has put an end to the Titans."
"So does this mean we can't save anyone here?" asked Eddy. "There's got to be someone within this wreck, even those Titans."
"We can take a look around to see if we can find someone to explain what happened here, but we do need to keep moving if we want to get closer to the end," Double D answered.
As the hovercycle drives by potholes made naturally and artificially, the Ed boys can see that these buildings also contain holes made by people and artillery of varying sizes. Along with these holes are scratch marks made by possibly Heartless, toppled stone columns, shattered glass windows, signs split in half and dangling by a few nails and screws, and hinged doors swinging lightly in the chilling breeze. In the shadows the Eds can see a few Heartless hiding along the alleyways' walls, hiding from being spotted by any people with the power to stop these hungry creatures.
Ed looks up high into the sky to notice a few people are flying above the ruins, obviously from their clothing that they are superheroes and Ed puts a smile on his face. He tries to call out to the heroes above but none of them can hear his cries, as they continue on in their search for something. Ed feels disappointed that he is not meeting more superheroes, but there is that part of him that is happy that he is seeing more despite the grim times. As his eyes continue to follow the superheroes, the tall Ed's sight begins to focus down until he spies a rather tall gray object reaching up into the red skies.
"Why is Abraham Lincoln sitting here in the ruins?" wondered Ed.
"Ed, that's not Abraham Lincoln," answered Double D.
The hovercycle comes to a full stop and the Eds look up towards a towering statue made out of stone. The man portrayed in the statue is sitting down in a throne, and the boys can see something sinister and evil from looking at this stone man. From the details carved in the stone, the man is wearing a full body suit with some armor and pouches holding hidden weapons, and covering his face is a two-sided mask with only one slot for the eye. The pose for the statue is the man propping his head onto his right fist, staring out with an evil glare as the Eds begin to feel weak from staring into the statue's single eye.
"Who… Who is on earth is this man?" muttered the smart Ed.
"… Slade," hissed a low, sickly voice.
The boys tilt their heads towards the source of the voice, only to find a clothed mass heading right towards them. This mass then reveals itself to be Robin, injured everywhere on his body and his costume torn, and the Eds got themselves off of the hovercycle to rush over to help the injured hero. Robin limps over to where the Eds are and starts to fall over and Double D reaches out to catch the teen, as the boy takes out a potion bottle and got it open to feed the liquid Robin.
"Robin, are you all right?" asked Double D worriedly.
The teen hero lets out a heavy cough, startling the others before settling back down. "Yeah… I feel a little better after drinking that," he replied. "Thanks for coming… Ed boys."
"What the heck happened here?" stated Eddy. "It looks like you guys are out of a disaster movie!"
"This was all Slade's doing," Robin replied, receiving some confusion from the others. "Slade used to be a former terrorist we used to chase back when he was alive. He had these plans to take over the city using various criminals, even a few of us Titans, but in the end he died and there was some peace… that was until Raven's father had to step in and brought the man back to life."
"So is this Slade guy a zombie?" asked Ed with some enthusiasm.
"No, he wasn't a zombie. He was fully human and he even made a hallucinogen that made me believe that Slade was really here, but all of this time he was playing the waiting game… waiting for the right moment to come back and plunge the city into eternal darkness."
"By the looks of it, he wasn't alone in his conquest," said Double D. "He must have used the Heartless in his plans and by the looks of the ruins, he has succeed very well. These Heartless must have been some strong creatures to create scratch marks like these."
"But the Heartless that Slade use weren't the same we have seen before," replied Robin. "These Heartless appear to be a fusion of some sort… like when we got trapped inside of Mad Mumbo's insane plot to take over the city. These Heartless appeared to be more deadly, as if they were combined with another being in general."
"And believe me, we're still trying to recover from that experience," grumbled Eddy, before noticing the exit in his sight. The small Ed heads up to Double D and mentions to him about the exit, telling him that they need to keep on moving. "Well Robin, we better get going," said Double D. "I'm not certain that we're going to be back, but we'll do anything in our power to help you and any survivors that are still alive."
"Thank you… Ed boys," replied the teen hero.
Double D and the others head over to the hovercycle and they got themselves ready for the ride ahead, making a full circle before speeding off to the exit. The torn Robin watches the Eds head off into the exit as he looks up into the sky to find the dark anomaly lingering high above the skyline, waiting for whatever this anomaly is planning and slowly growing with each tick of the clock.
OOO
With no sea of Heartless chasing them this time around, the Eds breeze down the same street that they first arrive on the E.V.O. Earth. As the boys check behind to double sure they are not being follow, they notice that the city is also in ruins but they know that the cause of this is from the E.V.O.s that call this world home. The variety of claw marks, craters and toppled buildings show that these creatures are stronger than the Heartless, but knowing that an entire world is infected with the same disease brought shivers down the boys' spines upon seeing the damage here.
Now getting a good look at their surroundings, the hovercycle revs up to continue on to find the next exit. As the Eds head down the street, they notice some E.V.O.s coming from behind a damaged building, and leading the E.V.O.s is the man with a bionic arm called Van Kliess. The man is sitting on top of a tusked beast with a thick, wiry white mane, sitting tall and proud as he leads his army from behind. He hears the sound of the hovercycle getting closer, and he raises his bionic arm up to halt the march as the villain focuses his attention on the approaching Ed boys.
"Well, well, look who decided to show up," the man stated. "It's those troublesome boys who paired up with Providence. Apparently they have decided to show up at just the right moment… it's about time that I need to get this built up anger on against that pestering Nobody."
"Master, do you want me to lead the assault against these boys?" asked the mechanical Biowulf.
"No… I rather lead these fine E.V.O.s against these boys just to show that no one dare defies Van Kliess," the man retorted, taking a few beasts and leading them to the boys.
The Eds comes to a stop as they notice the incoming wave of E.V.O.s heading towards them, and they got themselves heading off in the opposite direction of the wave. Van Kliess orders some smaller E.V.O.s to take on the Ed boys, leaping off the building and the pavement to reach the Eds. Eddy and Ed kept their eyes on the incoming creatures, preparing their attacks as the E.V.O.s quickly reach the Eds and Eddy jumps up to attack the monsters.
Double D got the hovercycle running through another stone maze, this time leading a wave of mutated people through a city in ruins. Small, agile E.V.O.s leap across the ground and buildings to try to take down the Eds, but the smart Ed uses his driving skills to outmaneuver these beasts. Some winged E.V.O.s fly in from above and swoop in to strike the boys with their talons, and the wizards use their magic to stop these E.V.O.s. One mutant snakes around one building and watches the action from above, keeping a lock-on gaze on the Eds as the E.V.O. begins to come up with a plan of attack.
Van Kliess leads his army down a parallel street in adjacent to the Eds, watching them from afar as his followers bombard the Ed boys. Eddy and Ed try to put a stop to these creatures, but the E.V.O.s are stronger than regular Heartless and they constantly replace each of the fallen creatures. Double D notices the exit waiting for them at the end of the street, and the Ed got the hovercycle running straight for the exit point at faster pace. Outrunning the E.V.O.s, the Eds eventually are running straight for Van Kliess, who is waiting for them in the middle of an intersection with a barricade ready to stop the Eds, but Double D weaves through the E.V.O.s as the trio begins to make their way out of the world.
"Why you're leaving so soon?" asked the villain. "It feels like we haven't really got to know each other that well, other than that one encounter at Providence."
"Sorry, but we got a whole universe to save," replied Eddy, giving the man a salute.
"The universe can wait boys; we got plenty of time here. Now all I have to do is deliver the final blow and soon Providence will be next!"
Van Kliess takes his bionic arm and stretches it out to the Eds, the needle on his fingers extended out to inject his power into the boys. As the arm draws near, a piece of rubble slams down onto the arm and cuts the stretching off as the boys flee from the world through the exit. Van Kliess looks up to where the shot came from, only to find a faint glimpse of a large cannon aiming right at his arm and what appears to be the Hispanic agent of Providence Rex. The teen has a wide smile on his face as his cannon morphs back down into his arm, as white ships begin to fill up the sky and agents of Providence surrounds the E.V.O.s.
As the Eds leave the shrine, the Pirate Ship roars to life and starts its pursuit on the Eds boys once again. This time, the Eds have something up their sleeve as they travel along the stone path leading to the next world. Ed decides on using some of his magic in another attempt to slow the ship, using his Fira spell again, and he got his staff ready for the magic spell. Just as he is about to launch the spell, the Pirate Ship backs away from the pathway and charges right for the Eds, taking a large portion of the bridge and rocking the Eds all over the place.
Once regaining their balance, Ed takes his staff and swings the fireball at the Heartless ship. However, instead of a soul-like fireball, a stream of fire flies through the air that eventually starts arching up and creating a giant face in the fire. The attack hits the Pirate Ship dead on, catching the Heartless on fire and reeling back from the intense heat and pain. The Pirate Ship lets out a roar in anger, as Heartless on the deck hurry to deal with the flames and unload a storm of cannonballs down on the pathway.
The hail of black steel pellets the ground in a fury, causing the Eds to quickly weave through the rain to prevent getting hit. Eddy decides to let go of the string and ride along the edge of the pathway, since he is being flailed about, and the small Ed occasionally moves towards the middle to dodge the cannonballs hitting the edge. The Pirate Ship lets out another roar as the cannons continue to fire off every single cannonball the Heartless have, just as the Eds enter the next shrine and riddle the stone shrine in holes.
OOO
"All right, we got that ship on the run now!" stated Eddy excitedly.
"I got to say Ed, you're getting better with your magic there," commented Double D. "It appears that you may have some Limit Breaks after all."
"Please don't encourage the boy," whispered Normadomus. "Do you really want to end up in one of his inevitable backfires if he does pull off one of those Breaks in the first place?"
"I wonder what else I can do…" pondered the tall Ed, thinking up on how he can use his other spells in destructive Limit Breaks.
"Where are we anyway?" the small Ed asked, looking around his setting.
Breaking away from their conversation, the trio takes a good look around their setting to notice that they are back in the port town of Stormalong Harbor. The town itself is in fair shape, despite there is a torrential rainstorm pounding down on the Eds and the waves are reaching up as high as the one-story buildings. Bright streaks of lightning leap across the skies, leaving echoing loud bursts of thunder as the hovercycle rides on through the rain to seek out the next exit and hopefully get out before any of the residents spot the trio.
Sadly, luck is not on their side as they came across a group of people moving through the wall of water, trying to help the other residents out during the storm. The Eds come to a screeching halt as the group shift their attention to the approaching Eds, and in their minds ring of the destructive memories that the boys brought to the city. The group quickly turns into an angry mob as the smart Ed got the hovercycle back to life and spinning in the opposite direction, creating a cloud of water to blind the locals.
The Eds heads off down the wooden planking to escape the mob chasing right behind them, as all of these people are running through a blinding wall of rain through a dark city. The medium Ed can barely see that he is leading the Eds to the docks, meaning that they are running out of room to escape, but he is getting the feeling that the exit lies somewhere out at sea. Revving up the engine, the Eds zoom on down the dock to launch off the platform and take to the skies as the hovercycle starts to morph into its flying state.
The angry mob comes to a stop and watches the Eds head off into the rain, as Eddy lands on top of the water and starts surfing across the rising waves, and Double D pilots the hovercycle above the said waves in search of the exit. As the boys are heading out farther away from Stormalong Harbor, there is the sound of a booming roar echoing out along with the thunder, and the Eds can hear the muffled screams coming from back at the dock. As the hovercycle continues to fly further away, the Eds begin to understand why these people are screaming at the top of their lungs.
In the rain lies the shadow of a towering beast of some sort, standing as tall as the Heartless the Eds previously fought. This beast turns out to be an octopus, bearing eight long tentacles, and the boys can see some Heartless fish coming out of the water. A few of the tentacles reach out and grab onto these Heartless, wrapping around the tiny beings as the octopus then launches the Heartless at the Eds and at Stormalong Harbor. When the Eds got close, they notice that this octopus has seen better days, with a worn out face, an eye-patch covering its left eye, and a shipwrecked ship being worn like a hat on top of this beast's head.
"What on Earth is this thing?" stated Double D in a panic.
"It's that giant squid that fought against the mega shark!" answered Ed.
"Wrong species, Ed!" cried the smart Ed, as he quickly twists the handle and swings the hovercycle to get the Eds away from the giant octopus.
The giant registers the trio before it and the octopus starts to react by reaching out and grabbing at the boys. Eddy dives down into water and through the waves to escape the incoming tentacles, as Ed takes his staff and uses Thundara on the giant to back the creature away. The electrical current flows throughout the surrounding area, shocking a few of the Heartless, as the octopus quickly recovers from the blow and reaches into the water to grab these Heartless to fling at the Eds.
As the Eds are flying back to Stormalong Harbor, it dawns onto Double D that they are leading a destructive creature onto a defenseless town. Now coming up with a decision to improving their reputation, the Ed begins to calculate a strategy that will help the Eds defeat the giant octopus. Just as the smart Ed is about to make another turn to face the octopus, he notices an incoming mass of bronze heading straight for him and he ducks down to prevent getting hit, only for Ed to take the hit and then feeling his face to see what the mass is. "Mmm, caramel," the tall Ed said, sticking the gooey mess into his mouth.
"… Why in the world would someone load a cannon with caramel?" questioned the smart Ed. "How's that going to do any damage to an octopus on this magnitude?"
Another load of caramel is heading right at the Eds and this time they dodge the blob, allowing the caramel to travel on and hit the octopus in its single eye. The creature lets out a roar and starts wiping its eye clear of the caramel, as the Eds head towards the dock and come to a stop in front of the mass of people. The mob angrily stares at the Ed in rage, but the boys turn their backs on the people as they focus on the incoming blind octopus. With the giant busy wiping its eye and throwing Heartless wildly around, some going off behind the creature, and the tall Ed got off of the hovercycle to go ahead and fight the giant with his magic.
Charging up a Thundara on his staff, the tall Ed's hat uses some of his magic to defend the boy from incoming Heartless, using Gravity to knock these Heartless down into the water. The octopus finally clears its eye of the sticky caramel and notices Ed preparing his Thundara, so the giant beast takes all of its tentacles and slams them down onto the Ed. The wizard hat opens his mouth wide and casts Reflectaga onto the two, blocking the tentacles from crushing the Ed and pushing him down into the rapid water below, and Ed takes his staff and shoots his signature magic spell down onto the octopus.
The massive attack sent large sparks of electricity across the body of the octopus. The giant staggers to keep afloat, but slowly begins to sink as the giant loses its energy. The octopus closes its single eye and falls back into the rough waters, sinking down to the calm bottom below, as everyone standing on the dock, including the other Eds, are utterly shocked by the tall Ed's amazing feat. The nerdy boy takes his staff and slings it onto his shoulder, smiling his typical smile, as he heads back towards the hovercycle and sits down on his seat.
Finally snapping out of his shock, Double D notices the exit waiting off in a corner and he got the hovercycle running again. Some people in the crowd moved out of the way to allow the Eds through, as they begin to pick up speed and head into the light. Once the Eds are out of the mob's sight, the realization just came to them and some of them begin to dispute among each other on how they are going to pay the Eds back for their heroic deeds, especially to the tall Ed.
OOO
The hovercycle touches down on the soft grass fields of the Land of Ooo, slowing the vehicle down slightly as the Eds return to the colorful and strange world. As the light dims from their eyes, they got a good look at their surroundings to find new colors taking up the scenery. Streaks of red are painted onto the skies, covering up the clear blue heavens, and thick clouds of smoke blend in with the fires that are burning far away. All of this destruction is coming out of the Ice Kingdom, which is surprisingly holding up from the roaring fires, and the Eds have a feeling that they are not going to be heading there for the exit.
Riding up on the Eds are the elongated legs of Jake the dog and on top is his friend Finn. The two are heading in the same direction as the Eds, and Jake lowers himself down while maintaining his pace. "Hey guys, what are you doing back here in Ooo?" asked the dog.
"What's going on here?" asked Double D. "Is there a war going on here?"
"No, even worse than that," replied Finn. "The ultimate evil in Ooo has awakened and is reeking terror across the land! We're heading to the Ice Kingdom to put a stop to it and seal it away just like Billy did with the Lich."
"We're kinda looking for an exit point around here," said Eddy, "so if you guys have seen a glowing sphere somewhere, just tell us and we'll be out of your hair."
"Sorry man, but we haven't seen a glowing sphere anywhere when we're heading out," replied Jake.
"If we did, I'm certain someone must have grabbed it and taken it somewhere to earn some money off of that," added Finn.
"Say since you guys are here, why don't you help us out in beating up this ultimate evil?" the dog offered. "I hear this thing is as tough as the Lich and much scarier in appearance."
"Thank you for the offer," answered the smart Ed, "but we are in a hurry. We need to find the glowing sphere Eddy mentioned and hurry to save the universe from an impending doom."
"Aw man, and here I though we're getting to do something awesome," whined Finn. "But we do have to save everyone in Ooo from whatever this evil is, so the universe can wait for us."
"And it may be better if me and my friends were the ones to take on the task," the medium Ed added. "Since I do bear the Keyblade and it is kind of our problem in the first place, it's really the best that you stay on this world and continue to protect it as we go off and fight to stop whatever is coming."
"Well I can say that we wish you the best of luck," said the boy hero, saluting to the Eds. "But how come you aren't using your ship to go stop this evil?"
"That's a long story in on itself," mumbled Double D.
"That's why we're looking for the glowing sphere," answered Ed.
Both Jake and Finn let out an "ooh" in response and the two teams beginning to head off in separate directions. Finn and Jake are heading towards the burning Ice Kingdom to stop the evil plaguing the icy grounds, while the Eds continue to head on straight in their search for the exit. However the boys are distracted by the shouts and grunts coming from the local heroes, as the duo are fighting empty space. The two are shouting that they are fighting against a powerful demon, but in reality they are punching, kicking and swinging at the air.
As the Eds are heading in to help Finn and Jake, the boys notice a person running away from the action. The Ed boys are uncertain if this is the person responsible for the heroes to fight an invisible villain or is trying to escape from the fires, leaving the Eds to continue on with their journey. They approach the duo and sweep them off of them feet, only to then get beaten up by Finn and Jake. Ed and Double D free their grasp on the heroes and watch them tumble atop of the grass before Jake picks Finn up onto his back and starts chasing the Ed boys.
"Uh guys, have you noticed their eyes?" asked Eddy. "They look like they're possessed or something, kinda like when Jonny was."
"I've noticed that," replied Double D, "but their eyes aren't the exact same to those possessed by the Lich King. If that boy that we saw running away was the one responsible for this, then we should ask him on break these two free."
"Either that or we head through the exit," the greedy Ed replied, blocking an attack from Jake with his shield, "and allow these two to keep on running into the fire ahead."
Double D looks up ahead to notice that there waiting at the border is the next exit leading them back to the Void. As the boy begins to figure out on how to lose the heroes, Jake comes charging up and smacks into Eddy, bumping him into the hovercycle and bruising him from the hit. The small Ed reels himself out and starts using his shield to deflect Finn's sword attacks and Jake's punches. With only seconds between the boys and the exit, Double D revs the engine up to escape the clutches of Finn and Jake, feeling the pull of the exit and then suddenly got enveloped by the light.
Once the Eds are out of their sight, Finn and Jake are blinded by the light and the dog trips across the grass, causing the two to go rolling across the soft snow. Once the two have come to a stop, they slowly got back up onto their feet and notice the Ice King walking out of a cloud of smoke, blasting ice lightning into the cloud. Finn and Jake prepare themselves for the fight ahead as they notice a towering unknown being looming in the shadows, crying out through the smoke as the Ice King tries to strike it down.
"All right Ice King," said the dog, "where's this ultimate evil that is terrorizing the Ice… what the…?"
"What the hey now?" muttered the boy hero.
Walking out from the smoke, instead of a terrifying evil being with power unimaginable, is the very small and cuddly penguin that the Ice King calls Gunter. The penguin is angrily squawking, swatting at the air for no apparent reason, as the others watch in confusion as to why the penguin is causing so much destruction. "So Gunter is the ultimate evil in all of Ooo?" asked Jake.
"Yeah, apparently so," replied the Ice King. "I have no idea on how he got like this, but all I know is that when he gets mad, pretty much the whole Ice Kingdom goes up in flames. All I remember is I had my back turned and then before I knew it, poor Gunter is throwing a fit with that strange look in his eyes!""
"I was hoping either for the Lich or a hideous beast we fought back out in the field," Finn commented.
"I agree with you on that," the tyrant replied. "… What hideous beast?"
OOO
Out of the hair of the Pirate Ship once again, the Eds now find themselves in the middle of an abandoned street. The trio looks around their surroundings to find that they are in a new town, completely unfamiliar to the boys, until they notice the purple rocks in the distances and realize that they are back in Hollow Bastion. The hovercycle is riding down the main street of this empty town, with the boys thinking that they should remain on this path. With only the sound of the engine echoing off the walls, the Eds can feel that this world is not going to be a major threat during their stay.
Hiding behind the shells of homes, a few Heartless look out into the streets to find the Eds breezing through the town. A Surveillance Robot springs out from the shadows and flies high above the roofs to keep its eyes on the Eds, tracking them and sending back feed to whoever is watching through the Heartless. The Heartless decides on getting a closer look on the Eds so it lowers itself towards the streets and slowly close in on the boys, only for Eddy to check around and smack the Heartless into a wall. The Heartless disappears and leaves behind a heart, but there was something about that Heartless that stuck out to the Ed.
"Uh, are Heartless supposed to have that one mark from X.A.N.A?" asked the greedy Ed.
"I don't believe so," answered Ed's hat. "I really doubt a computer program can somehow control the will of something like the Heartless."
"Then how can you explain that?" questioned Double D, pointing straight out.
In front of the Eds, a barricade of Neoshadow begins to form and link together to block off the street. Riding up to the barricade, the Eds can see that these Neoshadows possess the symbol of X.A.N.A. over where their normal yellows eyes are supposed to be. The idea that a computer program did in fact take over creatures made out of the darkness of people's hearts begins to come real to the Eds as Darkballs shoot out from the alleys and slam their bodies at the Eds, leaving the boys little room to escape. The Heartless plan their next move into putting a stop to the Eds, but Double D quickly slams on the brakes and got the hovercycle into a spin, spiraling all three boys as Eddy and the hovercycle crash through the barricade and knock out some Heartless.
Once through, Double D straightens the hovercycle out and continues on down the street, now heading towards a towering tree looming high into the heavens and bears what appears to be a small wooden town inside of its foliage. A few more Heartless emerge from the shadows and start forming another barricade, but this one is brought down with Ed's magic. Once the Eds clear through the barricade, a few Darkballs pop out and begin to attack the Eds, but the small Ed reels himself out and uses his shield to knock the Darkballs away from the boys.
"Man, these things do not give up!" stated Eddy.
The ground then quickly shakes violently, causing the boys to tense up. "What was that?" asked the tall Ed.
More tremors ripple along the ground, rocking the hovercycle, as a large shadow crawls towards the Eds. Eddy looks behind him to notice the top of Hollow Bastion rising up before noticing that the entire castle is now moving before his eyes. He warns the others about the approaching castle and Double D slams on the brakes to get a good look. Walking up to the town is no less than the steampunk castle itself, now bearing the X.A.N.A. symbol once again, and the castle appears to have grown limbs to enable it to move.
"What on Earth possessed a man to create a program like that?" stated Double D.
"I believe none of us really wants to know that answer any time soon," answered Ed's hat. "Let's get out of here before that thing spots us!"
The medium Ed got the hovercycle back to life and creating a cloud of smoke as the vehicle rockets down the street and tugging Eddy forcefully along. The castle now has a clear shot of the city and begins to excavate the ruins to see if the program can find the Eds anywhere in the streets. When X.A.N.A. notices the trio escaping to the tree, the program orders the castle to speed up its walking and prepares a plan on capturing the trio.
As the Eds are getting closer to the tree, they notice that the next exit is waiting for them at the base of the tree. The tremors are getting stronger and the castle closes in slowly and slowly, giving the boys little time to make their escape. Just as X.A.N.A. enters the town, a rocket emerges from the tree and hits the castle, knocking X.A.N.A. back and got the Eds to look up to see who rescue them. From what they saw, they notice that the tree is occupied by this world's sector of the Kids Next Door, Sector V. The Eds let out a sigh of relief as they head into the sphere and continue to travel on back to the Void.
X.A.N.A. regains footing and shakes off the rocket as the program begins to analyze the tree. Inside of the buildings, all five members of Sector V are scattered across the tree, controlling certain parts, as the tree begins to arm itself for the fight ahead. "All right Kids Next Door," started Numbuh One, "BATTLE STATIONS!"
OOO
Once through the light, the Eds find themselves out in the middle of the empty streets of Traverse Town. They check the skies to notice that it is nighttime, meaning most of the people should be in bed by now, and there are no signs of life roaming the streets. The Eds are relieved that they are not in the middle of a war or some crazy disaster, as seeing the empty streets of a peaceful town is making them want to stop riding and come to a stop. They decide on taking a break in the main district of town and relax at a café, which is surprisingly open at this time of hour.
Coming to a stop, Ed and Eddy head over to a table as Double D got off of the hovercycle to walk it over to a safe spot. As the Ed leans the hovercycle up against a wall, he can hear the sound of metal clanking together and he turns his head in the direction of the sound to notice a giant Heartless moving into the district. This Heartless walking in is a walking armor suit, its metal a royal blue and bearing the Heartless emblem on its chest, though there are no limbs connecting its arms, legs and head to the center.
"Hey, isn't that the Guard Armor you were talking about?" asked the greedy Ed.
"Yes, that's the very one," replied the wizard hat. "That there is the Powered Armor that once protected this town before its brother Guard Armor went mad and was forced to be sealed away. But how could the bell have struck thirteen? There's no explanation for the bell tower to ring more than twelve times at midnight?"
"Well if we're going to fight this thing, I rather sit back on this and watch the others fight," said Eddy. "I'm getting tired and I could use a break."
"Same here Eddy," added Double D, "and besides, I don't believe this Heartless will do any harm to any of us, as long as we stay on its good side."
"Hey, do you feel a little lighter than usual?" asked Ed.
High above the Eds is the same anomaly they noticed back in the other worlds, only until now they are seeing this void very closer up. As they stare up into the black mass floating up in the sky, they can see that this anomaly is similar to the entrance of the Everlasting Void and the abyss in the Void, with a black center with a ring of dark purple mass circling around the gaping black. This anomaly is focusing down on Traverse Town, with no one up to witness their impending doom, and the Eds can see the void is slowly getting bigger with each minute passing by. The boys check their surroundings to see some small, loose items floating up into the black mass and they can see their clothes are fluttering.
"Sheesh, we can't get a break anywhere without running into trouble," groaned Eddy.
"I don't think that our main problem Eddy," replied Double D.
Out from the anomaly reaches two skinny black arms, its bony hands strangely gripping onto the edges of the void as a giant black mass drips down and starts forming into a hideous beast. Riding on top of the monster's head is a man dressed in a torn outfit and bearing unusual blue wings on his back, as this man stands proudly on the monster's head and lets out a loud snap of his fingers. On the ground, several puddles of shadows form and out of these shadows are what appear to be Neoshadows, but their bodies are more flame like and their eyes are slanted and red, unblinking with anger. The army of these new Heartless begins to look around their surroundings before looking over to the café, locking onto the Eds as the boys stare out into a sea of red, black and blue.
"Run," whispered Ed's hat.
Doing so, the Eds sprint over to the hovercycle and scramble to get onto the vehicle as the new Heartless let out a disturbing hiss and jump towards the Eds. Double D roars the hovercycle to life and the bike glows a bright light, causing the Heartless to back away, and the Eds head off through a clearing towards the town's entrance, where they can see the glowing sphere waiting for them. As the Eds head towards the exit, the monster and the man watch the action from high above, keeping an eye on the moving trio as they disappear into the sphere and head back to the Everlasting Void.
The man lets out a disturbing demonic laugh as the monsters lowers itself down onto the town and looks towards the Powered Armor…
OOO
As the Eds ride out from the last shrine, they look out on the curving path to notice that their only path is diving down into the black void, but they can see a portal is open at the halfway mark. Waiting for them as always is the Pirate Ship, inching to get a bite of the Eds and bring them into the darkness. They can see that Ed's fire attack has created a large opening in the hull, clearly bigger than the previous attempt at damaging the ship, and the Eds notice that there are Heartless working away at fixing the repairs. Cannons are lock onto the Eds and ready to fire as the two vehicles continue to head down the stone pathway.
"All right, we got to get rid of this thing before it destroys our path to Jib," said Double D. "Do we have anything on us that will help defeat the Pirate Ship?"
"If we can go back and get our Gummi ship out here, we can use that against this thing," pitched Eddy, "but that thing destroyed our only way back to our ship. There's no way we're getting back without flying back over to the entrance."
"So our only hope is using the Keyblade in flying us back to the exit, or capture the Pirate Ship and take control of it," said the smart Ed. "Personally I want to go with the former plan, since the Pirate Ship is on the verge of going under if we do another hit like Ed did previously."
"I don't know if I can do that again," Ed commented.
"And also I really hate this thing to death," the small Ed grumbled. "I really want to see this thing burn with the rest of Ed's attack."
The Pirate Ship locks all of their cannons onto the hovercycle and begins to open fire once again, hoping that its fire will destroy the Eds. Weaving through a hail of steel, the medium Ed watches out for potential potholes and falling debris as Ed and Eddy try to deflect some of the cannonballs back. Those that were sent back hit some of the working Heartless that were trying to repair the ship, giving the Eds a slightly better edge in winning this fight. But there is still the matter of taking down a very large ship that is alive…
A loud roar echoes far across the void as the Eds and the Pirate Ship searches all around for the source of the roar. During the confusion, the Pirate Ship is struck with a mighty slash made out darkness, creating a crack on the deck and nearly splitting the ship in half. The Pirate Ship lets out a roar in pain as the cannon fire increases and destroys the path in front of the Eds. The smart Ed notices that there is a ramp made out of the rubble and the hovercycle launches up high into the air, all before the vehicle shifting back into its Keyblade state and sending all three Eds flying.
The three Eds grab a hold of each other and form into a ring that will eventually allow them to keep moving on ahead. While the Eds are rolling along the pathway, the Pirate Ship begins to keep up with the Eds as two mysterious beings begin to hack away at the hull of the ship. Despite their small stature, the two beings are creating significance damage to the Heartless ship, all while buying the Eds some time and casting all of the smaller Heartless in the void below. The Pirate Ship fires off everything that it has remaining inside of the ship, including its largest cannon, all before it begins to sink.
In its final act, the Pirate Ship launches its largest round up high as the beings that destroyed the ship watch the Heartless sink into the depths of the void. Once the ship slips away from reality, the two beings look up to remember that the Pirate Ship launched its powerful round, seeing the giant sphere slowly descending down towards their level. These beings want to warn Eds of their impending doom, but the two are also worry about their own safety, so they fly off to escape the dangerous range of the shockwave to come.
Once the cannon fire reaches the stone pathway, an explosion rips the round apart and sends the shockwave flying across the void. The Eds are hit by this powerful wave, all with enough force to knock them off of the path and destroying most of the path. The three boys now begin to fall towards their doom as they free themselves from the ring, noticing that they are going to end up with the same fate as the Pirate Ship. But before they can reach the void, a strong force tugs onto their shirts and starts hoisting them up to an untouched part of the bridge.
The beings that destroyed the Pirate Ship drop the Eds down on the pathway, landing the trio right in front of a portal, and the beings lower themselves in front of the Eds to reveal themselves. Once the Eds begin to realize what is going on, they are quickly startled to see who is before them. "No way, it's you two!" stated Eddy. "But how in the world are you two down here?"
"Isn't it clear to you three yet?" started the white being known as Zip-fly. "We are part of a whole that are on a quest to become that whole again."
"Well to be more precise, we're heading back to our dimension to either become whole or just keep being as we are," added the black being known as Prankster.
"Wait… you guys are from another dimension?" questioned Double D.
"Yes, but we're trying to figure out on how we even got to this universe in the first place," said Zip-fly. "As far as I remember, Prankster and I were brought here during the time Jib created the Unversed, when we believed Blitzer was our brother. From there, our memories began to come back to us and we started to remember who we originally were."
"We weren't exactly the evil beings that you fought before," said the Heartless. "That was… wait, I was insane at that point, and plus all I remember was getting dragged by that ghost freak and then a rock ended up in the wrong place, causing me to end up here."
"That's a good thing you didn't go into further details about that," the smart Ed commented. "So then all of this time you were a good Heartless and a good Nobody?"
"Not necessary, since our memories weren't fully completed by the time I chased you guys back at Stormalong Harbor," answered Zip-fly. "If Prankster was still around with me, he would have remembered around the same time as I did and we would be joining you in getting back home."
"Then why don't you join us in fighting against the Destroyer of Light?" asked the hat. "Since he was the one that brought you here and raised you to be evil, why don't you help us in defeating him and preventing the destruction of the universe?"
"Thanks for the offer, but we rather search for a way back home," the Nobody replied.
"Besides, I got you guys a friendly gift of one flying Heartless that will help you," Prankster stated. "Consider it as a peace offering for all of the miserable stuff we've done to you these past months."
"You mean like how you destroyed our world?" Eddy growled.
The Heartless puts on a sheepish smile on his face, remembering how he was the one who summoned a Darkside and sent Peach Creek into the darkness. "Well, if all goes according to plan, you three should be heading straight for Kingdom Hearts," he said. "Hopefully you can ask for your world to come back to life."
"Really, we would like to help you in your mission, but we're only going to get in the way," said Zip-fly. "I really doubt that Jib would be greeting us with warm arms, especially since he got this far in the game."
"Yeah, I really doubt that it's going to be all peachy if we see that ugly mug of his," the Heartless commented. "And I should warn you guys: be careful that Jib does not remove his necklace. Pretty much your lives will be hanging on a thin thread if he removes that."
"What happens when he does?" asked Ed, sounding curious.
"It would explain some of the missing worlds during the Epidemic," answered the Nobody, causing all three Eds to gulp. "Now if you would excuse us, we are going to head off and continue exploring until we find what we are searching for."
"Wait, before you go," said Double D, "we need to ask you about what's happening in the worlds right now. Are they really falling to destruction or are those visions we saw of the future?"
The Nobody and Heartless stop in their tracks as they turn around to show confused looks on their faces. "I'm sorry, but we don't know what has been happening out of the Void," answered Zip-fly. "As far as I know, the worlds are perfectly fine at the moment, save for a few on the verge of unleashing their own hells. Why do you ask?"
"If you look above you, you notice that there are shrines that hold sphere leading to the other worlds," explained Normadomus. "However, these worlds have either a war going on, a disaster taking place or in an apocalypse. There's also a growing void hanging up in the skies that eventually spawn new Heartless-Unversed creations and a monstrous being that was controlled by a powerful man. … Now that I've just explained it, those were visions of the future! Say, can you explain what does happen if the Destroyer removes his symbol from his necklace?"
"Well his appearance changes and the Unversed symbol become wings of some sort," answered Prankster. "Is there's a reason…"
"A man was riding a giant black creature and from what I caught of him, that man bear blue wings that look like the Unversed symbol as a whole! If that is true, then we really need to hurry! It's only a matter of time before the Destroyer gets his hands on Kingdom Hearts and then recreating all of those visions that we saw!"
"Then what are we waiting for!" stated Eddy. "Let's get through that portal and kick Jib's butt!"
"Hold it!" stated both Prankster and Zip-fly. "Do you have any idea on what you're getting yourselves into?" said the Nobody. "You have no idea that if you step through that portal, you'll never be able to escape the Void!"
"There's a chance for everything," Double D replied. "Whatever possibilities are out there, we're going to be possibly the first to ever conquer the Everlasting Void, defeat the Destroyer of Light and see if Kingdom Hearts is real or a myth. If we fail, at least we die as heroes."
"Man, you're some of the toughest humans I've ever met in my existence," said Prankster, before sticking a hand into his cloak. "Anyway, I need to give you what you need to summon the Heartless that I was talking about. Just blow this whistle and you should have a winged Heartless at your side, no matter where you are in the Void."
The Heartless tosses Double D a small silver whistle and he pockets the whistle as the Eds watch Zip-fly and Prankster head up to search for their way home. Once the duo has left their sight, the Eds focus their eyes on the portal before them and they begin to feel tightness in their chest as they stare deep into the portal. "Well, this is it gentlemen," started Double D. "Once we step through that portal, there's no telling what waits on the other end nor do we know if we will ever step through it to leave this place. Our only hope is to keep heading forward and find Jib."
"At long last, we will finally meet Jib once again and then we'll show him not to mess with the Ed boys!" stated Eddy, getting himself pump for the fight.
"Buttered toast with gravy!" proclaimed Ed.
"Well Ed boys, it has been an honor serving you all of the way to this point," said Normadomus. "I have learned quite a lot being with you and I noticed that you three have changed a lot as well. You three have went from being reckless misfits into some mighty fine men, learning how to survive and helping others in time of need, all while putting a stop to some of the greatest evils that plague this universe. I'm very certain that no other heroes like you could have pulled off a feat like that! You three have come a long way and let's just say… I'm happy to be with you all of this time."
"So let's do this for real Ed, Eddward and Eddy, let's go through that portal and make history!"
With a determined smile on all of their faces, the Ed boys of a defender, a wizard and a key bearer begin to take their steps towards the portal for their final confrontation with Ed's former friend and the Destroyer of Light: Jib…
… How many of you didn't suspect to be hearing about a good Heartless aiding the Eds for the final fight?
Well, considering that I never gave the Eds the ability of flight anywhere in this story, whether it is through the Eds' strange gifts or something artificial, I never gave them the Glide ability. So… what does this mean when they are possibly going to fight my version of the World's End? Answer: what Prankster is offering them. Hey, just because he worked for an evil person doesn't mean he is evil.
So this is the part of the End of the World where, like I said, we go back to worlds we previously visited and take on Heartless to make Sora and gang much stronger in an attempt to get ready for the final fight. I didn't want to do that and decided to allow the Eds to breeze through the worlds, while looking for an exit instead of facing off wave after wave of Heartless. I already did that in the last chapter, so doing that again will only be redundant. Plus having a boss battle in the middle of going from world to world will definitely keep the Eds on their feet as they try to figure out a strategy to defeat the giant.
If there is one thing, there's another way, and I believe the Eds have accomplish the other. And that brings up the fact of Zip-fly and Prankster turning out to be good instead of evil. Like I said, I was trying to figure out these characters, so now I've decided on making them good in the sense of that even though they are what they are, that doesn't mean that they are evil. I am hoping that I can explore more of their characters when I break away from the Ed boys and explore this Kingdom Hearts idea that I have worming around in my head that really takes place after Kingdom Hearts III that will eventually lead our hero into a new arc (KHIII will mark the end of the Xehanort Arc).
And I got to love how I managed to slip in that Blues Brothers reference. And it should be noted that even though Slade is dead, he will make his return… If this reboot DC is doing will prove something that nothing will die, even when one is a former terrorist…
So once again I like for you to review, thank you very much. Up next is the conclusion to this story with one final boss battle: against one of my strongest creations mixed with a one-shot idea… Jib, the Destroyer of Light!
