Disclaimer: Ed, Edd N Eddy and all its characters are copyright AKA Cartoon. I am not using them for profit; I am simply using them to practice my own writing skills….
Author: I can't believe it. The last chapter of Perfect Worlds is done… and now the epilogue is done! And it only took me about 4 years! Well, I hope you enjoyed the ride.
Sequels?: I'm working on another project at the moment, but I plan on eventually writing sequels to Perfect Worlds. One "sequel" will describe what the three parallel Eds did in the canon timeline… and the other sequel will describe an alternate universe where the three Eds didn't teleport to three separate universes, but to one universe. I hope that'll explain some of the stranger comments of the Epilogue.
Epilogue: Between the Universes
When they regained their ability to see, they saw that they were floating. Everything around them was completely white, and in the background, they could hear the sound of a clock ticking onwards.
Eddy and Double D looked about, rather confused. They were somewhere else and now they were… here. Ed grinned. "Yay! The constant was reached for us to go home!"
"Ed?" his two friends responded in unison, spinning around. "Ed!"
"Double D!"
"Eddy!"
The three hugged. "I'm so glad to see you guys!" Double D cried in relief.
"Hey, we have our wavy lines back!" Ed said. "And I'm a teen again!" Eddy looked rather confused by the statement, but Double D nodded, glad to be back in his young, cartoonish body. Though he couldn't help but wonder why there was a camera hanging around his neck.
A fourth voice, familiar yet slightly older then Double D's, asked, "Where are we?"
The white light dimmed slightly, becoming a very light gray. The three Eds spun around to see… their three counterparts, floating next to them. Ed stood, noble and comic-bookish- he looked like a true emperor. Double D, too, was an adult but he looked more realistic then comic-bookish; and he looked more vulnerable and childish then a scientist leading an organization to destroy the world should. And Eddy looked exactly like his parallel, sans the wavy lines, and with a slightly more pampered air.
"This must be a universe between universes," the parallel Ed explained. "We all reached the constant needed to transport home-" at the blank look he received, he explained- "We all talked to Kevin at around 3 ish?"
"Yeah…" Eddy said suspiciously. Double D nodded. Ed stared blankly into space.
"The fact that we are here means that some life-changing events must have happened during the switch," the older Ed explained. It was rather unnerving, to Eddy and Double D at least, how… un-Ed-like, yet completely-Ed-like, this man seemed. Suddenly, the light gray background became slightly darker. The tic-tocing sound became louder. "And we don't have much time to do it-"
"OOOH, OOH, ME FIRST!" the teenaged Ed cried, jumping up and down. Then, comically running about and illustrating the events, he said, "Iceshes attacked us! Then we went back to Earth and KANKERS attacked us!"
The other Ed gasped. "The Kankers returned?!"
"Yeah, and we had to go all over, protecting Plankstar, and gathering warriors! Then Skuashi teleported us away from the leaderless Treble armada, but it was a trap, and we were teleported to the KANKER HOME PLANET!"
"What? You headed to the Kanker home planet?" the other Ed's face paled. This could not have been good news for him, or his home universe.
"And there was this giant blast of red light that killed a lot of people-" Ed said this, uncharacteristically dark. However, he returned to his normal buoyancy as he continued: "Then I was kidnapped by Sarah and Jimmy-" The other Ed gasped- "who had been BRAINWASHED by the Kankers, not killed! But I unbrainwashed 'em with the EdCrystal. And the Kankers had made this AntiCrystal thingie and they used it with my EdCrystal thingie to try to destroy all the Space Rangers in the universe, but I got the EdCrystal back, and the Space Rangers COMBINED their powers into it, and now the Kankers are dead and the Kanker home world is Even!"
"Eden, Ed?" Double D instinctively corrected. Ed nodded. Double D and Eddy shared a look- that universe sounded like something out of a corny movie or comic. "Definitely his perfect world," Eddy mumbled.
"I cannot believe that I'll be able to see Sarah again…" the counterpart Ed smiled a teary smile. "It was hard, living in a world with a person I thought I'd never see again. But Sarah is alive! And the Kankers are gone…"
The light turned a medium gray. The clock's ticking grew louder.
"In your universe, well… I can't think of anything we've done in particular to change your lives," the parallel Ed said quickly.
The parallel Double D corrected, "Well… there was that one prank…"
"Oh yeah!" the parallel Eddy and Ed laughed.
"It's why you have a camera around your neck-" the parallel Double D said lightheartedly, but his warm tone dropped as he saw the canon Double D's expression. He was glaring a cruel glare that neither Eddy nor Ed had seen on him before.
"I foiled your nefarious plot," Double D said coolly, darkly. "It took me awhile to figure out how… long enough for us to end up in space. I sent your daughter to Earth."
"YOU HAD A DAUGHTER?!" Ed and Eddy shouted.
Ignoring their shock, Double D continued: "I sent Stephanie to Earth. Toxin D is now loose in the ship. I was going to deliver the Cure to Earth before I was delivered here… but there is no need for that, is there? By the time you get back to the ship, all your scientists will be dead. No one will be left to destroy the Earth." And then he smirked. Then, somewhat sadder, he added, "Your wife… Nazz… is already dead."
"YOU WERE MARRIED TO NAZZ?!" Eddy screamed, jealously.
He was ignored. To Double D's shock, his parallel actually smiled. "You stopped Mission Destruction?"
"Yes," Double D responded suspiciously.
"Then this… universe-switch… is the best thing that could have happened," parallel Double D said, sounding relieved. "I wasn't… stable… when I started the project. And I couldn't believe I was actually going through. But… if it had been me… and not you… I would have gone through with it, despite my doubts. I've changed, now. I wouldn't let it go through, now… but back then…"
The background went from a medium gray to a dark gray.
"You've changed?" Double D sneered. "Well, too bad. You'll die the second you teleport back. You haven't been injected with the cure."
The parallel Double D reached into his pocket. While in his body, Double D remembered, he had pocketed a vial of the cure. "You know, if you do survive, you'll just spend the rest of your life in jail! You're an indescribably evil criminal!" Double D tried to dissuade his counterpart.
"As it should be," his counterpart responded, injecting himself with half of the solution. "Death is far too easy a punishment for my previous sins. I understand that though. I have changed… thanks to you, and to these two-" he indicated Parallel Ed and Parallel Eddy- "I've come to see what a great species humanity is. It is just too bad that Nazz died before she could see this too…"
"Are you going to bring her back to life, like you did Kevin?" Double D said scornfully, though with less edge then before.
"No. Never again."
A moment of silence passed. The two Eddy's stared at each other. Their stances were opposite- Eddy glared jealously at his rich counterpart, who smiled cluelessly back. "Well," parallel Eddy said cheerfully, "I doubt anything dramatic like that happened in my universe! My universe doesn't have magic-matter or anything like that so it's not like my parents came back from the dead or anything."
"Allith was trying to kill you for your money," Eddy said dully.
A shocked expression crossed his rich parallel's face. "W-What? Really? I… I always knew that she had an odd obsession with my fortune, but she treated me… almost… like her own child!" He looked up thoughtfully. "But, for some odd reason, the shock value of your statement wore off really quickly…" He stared Eddy in the eyes. "You must tell me every single detail! I need to use it against her in trial!"
"Oh great." Eddy rolled his eyes. Oh well… better to tell about the money he had once possessed now before the memories became faded. Hmm… That gave him a scam idea! Excitedly, cash signs replaced his eyes. He began telling his parallel every detail he could remember… though how much the parallel Eddy picked up was unknown, because the cash-sign-eyes were highly distracting to him.
As Eddy told Eddy about the assassination attempt, Double D turned to parallel Ed. "You seem to know a lot about dimensional travel."
"Fay the Fairixie came from my dimension," Ed explained.
"In that case, I have a question. Fay promised to send us to perfect universes. However, the universes we were sent too were only perfect on a surface level," Double D explained. "Why is that?"
"In order to create a perfect universe for a particular individual, that individual would have to create that universe. And even those that do have the ability to create separate universes can rarely make a faultless one," the parallel Ed explained. "Fay doesn't have the ability to create dimensions, let alone perfect ones. Few do. Even I created my own universe from an older, dying one. It was far from faultless. So Fay had to choose from a select number of pre-existing universes. She just sent you to a universe based off of your personalities. You loved science, so she sent you to a place where you were a famous scientist; and she sent you to a universe filled with familiar faces. My parallel was obsessed with strange fiction, so he was sent to my universe, which I based on strange fiction. Eddy wanted to be rich and well-loved, so he was sent to a universe where he was rich and well-loved."
"Why were so many of the faces the same?"
"Familiar faces make a universe seem better. If the universe had truly been perfect," Double D's counterpart offered, "wouldn't your two best friends have been there?"
Ed and Double D nodded in agreement.
The surroundings turned from dark gray to black. The invisible clock stopped ticking. Streams of color started floating above, accompanied by a whooshing sound.
"It seems we are about to return. When I arrive back home, I will arrest Fay. Her actions almost destroyed the multi-verse," the parallel Ed said.
"How so?" Eddy shouted.
"There was a universe where you three chose to go to one place, instead of three…" Ed shook his head. "There's no time for that! Goodbye, our counterparts!" He turned to the counterpart Double D and Eddy. "Goodbye, you two." A red tunnel of light surrounded him.
"Goodbye, Ed. Goodbye, Eddy," Double D's parallel said contemplatively as he looked down to the floor. He looked up, though, to smile at the two he had befriended. A yellow tunnel of light rushed down to surround him.
"Eddy, I'm so jealous of you! You're so lucky!" the parallel Eddy said, taking his counterpart by surprise. A beam of red light hit him, and he turned around to face the counterparts. "I wish you guys existed in my universe!"
"Me, too!" Ed said brightly.
"I, also, would have liked that," Double D's counterpart said regretfully.
The lights disappeared, and they were gone. An orange beam of light surrounded the three canon Eds. Eddy turned around, smiling brightly. "I've got a great scam idea!"
"Ah, it feels like ages since I've last heard those words," Double D chuckled lightly.
"Does it involve killer bunnies, Eddy?" Ed asked.
"Not unless there were killer bunnies in your universe, Ed."
The orange light became blindingly bright, and the three had to close their eyes… except Ed, of course. When the light faded away, they were back home.
Or, rather, they were by the river. The cul-de-sac kids were staring at them incredulously. Eddy and Ed were standing, posed, next to the river; Double D was holding a camera, recording something. And the Kankers were pulling themselves up on the other side of the river.
Their hair was bright green. Eddy burst out laughing. The Kankers screamed at him.
"That laugh… Eddy's back to normal?" Johnny asked out loud.
"What was that light? Tell Rolf," Rolf said confusedly.
Kevin suddenly approached Eddy, pulling him aside. Eddy's laughter stopped as he remembered that the Kevin of this universe was more likely to murder him then to help save him from being murdered. He winced in anticipation of a punch… that did not come. "Huh?" Eddy dared to look Kevin in the eyes.
"Look, I don't know why you've been acting weird, you… dork," Kevin said, rolling his eyes, "but that was the first normal thing you did all week! However… you've been okay, dude." He sighed, glad to get that off his chest. "You're not that dorkish anymore, I guess…"
Eddy simply blinked. Was Kevin saying that… he wasn't a dork? A triumphant smile crossed his face. "Of course not!" Silently, he thanked his parallel. With a new reputation, perhaps his scams would actually work!
"Hey, Double D!"
Double D turned around. Nazz blew him a kiss. "Call me!"
His face turned bright red, and his knees started jittering. He promptly melted, becoming a puddle on the ground.
Ed was really tempted to laugh at this, but before he could, a voice called to him. "Ed, come here…" Obediently, Ed turned around, because he did not want his younger sister getting mad at him.
"Are you the real Ed? Not that weird guy from the parallel universe?" Sarah asked in her typical bratty tone. Ed, terrified, nodded. He was swept with relief when Sarah's reaction was a relieved smile, not an attack or a demand. "Thank goodness! I thought my real big brother would never come home!"
---
The three Eds spent the night working on Eddy's brilliant scam idea. "Just make sure to change the names!" Eddy chuckled, greedily. The next day, they set up a booth.
"Comics?" Johnny asked in surprise.
"That's… dorky," Kevin mumbled.
"Hey, these comics aren't that bad! I really like the one with the scientist," Nazz chuckled. She flipped a page. "Huh? Mission Destruction?"
"Hey, are you going to buy that?" Eddy said sharply. "You can only read it if you buy it!"
"Okay, okay," Nazz said, putting three quarters in the jar. She grabbed the other two issues, also.
Johnny, Kevin, Sarah, Rolf and Jimmy followed, chatting about the comic's plotlines. "Look at this monster! Rolf's great Nana told him of the great Ice demon that terrorized her village as a child…"
"I wouldn't say he's unrealistically rich, Plank! Just comically rich!" Johnny conversed with Plank.
"Hey, that looks like one of the Kankers," Jimmy said brightly.
"Of… course it's not, Jimmy," Double D lied cheerfully. Silently, he turned to Eddy. "Where did you get the idea of selling our adventures as comics? It seems to be a hit."
"A hit? That's an understatement! We'll be swimming in jawbreakers for weeks!" Eddy beamed. "And I got the idea from when my parallel made me tell him all about Allith. Sense I'll have to wait a good year or two at least before I get as rich as him-" Double D chuckled ("How unlikely, Eddy.")- "I thought I'd write about my time as a trillionaire before I forgot it all!"
"Would you like to buy a comic book, Lee?" Ed said cheerfully. The two spun around.
The Kankers- their hair still bright green- stood, glaring angrily at the three Eds. "You're going to pay for what you did," Lee yelled. She grabbed the jar of money.
"Put that jar down!" Eddy yelled. But he was too late: Lee threw the money at a gutter. It broke through the metal and fell into the sewers below. Eddy stared, jaw agape in pure horror. The Kankers… were truly monsters!
"Hey, you cuties look upset. How about a kiss?" Marie teased.
"NO!" Eddy, Ed and Double D shouted. How ironic, Double D thought bitterly. This adventure is to end just like all of our others…
"I'm not in the mood either, Marie," Lee said darkly. May nodded.
"Huh… You know, neither am I," Marie said.
Or was it? Almost in unison, the three Eds looked at the Kankers hopefully. The other neighborhood kids had long slunk away. Maybe they could have a happy ending after all!
Or not. Almost in unison, a dark smile crossed the three Kanker's face. "I am in the mood for a fight though," Lee said brightly. And the three leapt.
Throughout the cul-de-sac, Eddy's cry could be heard: "CURSE YOU, FAAAAYYYYY!"
And so, all returned to normal in the Ed's universe.
THE END
