Chapter 53


"You all have been on quite the adventure, I see."

Doctor Andonuts sat cross-legged in front of everyone, contemplating the story Kevin had told him as he munched on a doughnut. Air swirled around the area, powerful yet warm and muted. Edd couldn't help but be utterly fascinated at the sanctuary they had found. They all sat on an island, a large chunk of rock suspended high in the air within the Boulder Mountain by a powerful jet of wind blasting from below. The top of the island was flat, covered in grass and flowers, and a single tree near the center provided the doctor with something to rest his back on. The boulders forming the hollow mountain around them fit loosely together, making hundreds of gaps from which everyone could see the blue sky beyond. Sunlight poured over the floating island in streaks, creating glowing patterns on the grass.

Kevin sat next to Edd and Nazz, who helped him tell his story. Ed and Jimmy rested behind them, both sitting close to Sarah. Rolf simply lay on the grass, letting the warmth and beauty of the sanctuary fill him as he listened. Eddy's Brother sat up, having waited impatiently for Kevin to finish his story.

"Now," he said darkly, "I believe you owe me some money, old man. I didn't let these brats drag me halfway across the world and back for nothing."

Kevin turned to sneer at him, but he heard Doctor Andonuts chuckle. "Of course, mister, um…"

"Dorkface."

"Ah yes, mister Dorkface."

Eddy's Brother slapped Kevin hard on the head, but Kevin simply smirked knowing it was worth it. The doctor carried on without missing a beat, pulling out of his coat a strange device. It looked like a small mechanical box, with a wide slot near the bottom and a lid on top. Everyone watched as he opened up the lid to reveal a glass surface underneath, as if the device was some kind of photocopier. To Edd's and Eddy's Brother's horror, the man pulled a hundred dollar bill out of his pocket, placed it on the glass surface and closed the lid. He pressed a button on the side of the device, and the slot near the bottom began spitting out more hundreds.

"Dude, you gave me forged money?!" Eddy's Brother dove into his pockets and hastily pulled out a handful of bills, holding them up to the light.

"Not to worry, mister Dorkface, my Slip Replicator can make perfect copies of anything paper-related, down to the molecular structure of the material and the ink printed on it. It was as if these were fresh off the mint."

"Good sir!" Edd protested, "Where on earth did you get such a foul device? You could be charged severely for forgery on such a scale!"

"Why, I invented it, of course!" the man boasted. "I'm an inventor. I invent things, like this machine that I invented!"

Jimmy and Sarah giggled at each other, but Edd still couldn't believe what he was hearing. He opened his mouth as the doctor handed the stack of money to Eddy's Brother, but Kevin spoke first.

"You used that thing to give us those blank train tickets, didn't you?" he asked. "To the Talastsbo Express?"

"Very observant," Doctor Andonuts replied. "Indeed, I did forge your tickets, as I had no way of knowing when you'd find them and decide to depart."

"That means those tickets weren't paid for!" Edd shouted. "We were given service and transportation in exchange for nothing but a fraud! That's borderline stealing! That's—"

"That's enough!" The doctor's warm demeanor darkened a little, and he put on a stern face behind his glasses. "I know very well that what I did was wrong, but you have to understand me when I say that I'm not from here and I have no idea how long I can stay in this place. I used this machine out of necessity, and I very well understand the ramifications of wanton abuse of it."

Everyone went silent, with Ed, Edd and Kevin letting their jaws hang down in surprise at the man's sudden seriousness. Doctor Andonuts was quick to resume his happier attitude, however, smiling underneath his mustache and relaxing his posture as he sat back down in front of the tree.

"I think it would be best if you saved most of your questions until I tell you all my story," he said. "Now Nazz, I had no idea you were friends with these boys here, or else I would've explained—"

"Wait, you know Nazz?" Kevin sputtered. "How could you have possibly—"

"Kevin, of course we met," Nazz said. "Who do you think gave me all my gadgets? We bumped into each other at Apple Canal while were we being chased by a horde of these orange, multiplying little—"

"Stop interrupting each other!" Eddy's Brother yelled.

"Yes, well," Doctor Andonuts continued. "I think it would be best to start from the beginning. A lot of this may sound incredible or outlandish, but I can promise that it is the truth. It is a long story, and most of it may not seem related to our current plight at first, but I promised I would give you a thorough explanation, and knowing this may help us prepare for the future." He took a deep breath, smelling the sweet aroma of the flowers near him as the air brushed past his face, and continued, "It all started with a man named George, and his wife, Maria."

Kevin perked up, but he remained silent as the man continued.

"George and Maria lived in rural America in the early twentieth century. They were both kidnapped, stolen from their home by a race of aliens. These aliens—"

"Know PSI and studied other life forms," Kevin finished.

The doctor's bushy eyebrows rose high above his glasses. "Th-that is correct! How do you know that?"

"From this." Kevin pulled out George's journal, and stood up to hand it to Doctor Andonuts.

"M-my word, this is George's missing journal!" The man leafed through the pages, his glasses sparkling in awe. "Where on earth did you get this?"

"My dad gave it to me. I'm George and Maria's great-grandson."

Doctor Andonuts looked Kevin inquisitively, a slow stream of air flowing from his mouth. He looked away, and Kevin could see the gears turning in the man's head.

"How can it… No, unless… Could he really have?… Hmm…" He mumbled and muttered to himself, his head moving from Kevin, to the journal, then to the top of the mountain and back. Ed waited patiently next to Sarah and Jimmy, while Nazz, Kevin, Rolf and Edd all exchanged glances at one another. Eddy's Brother simply lay on his back, flipping through the stack of hundreds in his hands and pretending not to be listening.

"Ah, I see," Doctor Andonuts said at last. "It makes sense now."

"What does?" Kevin asked.

"You, erm…"

"Dingbat."

Kevin growled at Eddy's Brother as he chuckled to himself.

"Ah. You, Dingbat…" He trailed off, and Edd heard him mumble something about people having peculiar names.

"Actually, it's Kevin," Edd said. "His name is Kevin."

"That makes much more sense," the doctor chimed. "I'm starting to think I should've gotten all of your names beforehand. Anyway, you, Kevin, are not George's only great-grandson."

"Really?"

"I believe so, because George's other great-grandson was a close friend of mine.

"As I was saying, George and Maria were abducted by aliens in the early twentieth century. Just like this book describes, they studied PSI along with other captives. However, there are things that happened to them which aren't written down in this journal.

"The aliens were a race that was fascinated with knowledge, quickly advancing in technology faster than you could imagine. After mastering intergalactic and even interdimensional travel, they sought to explore the universe and learn about the other lifeforms that inhabited it.

"So they eventually came upon Earth. The aliens were peaceful, but they knew of Earth's history of war and did not want to risk engaging in conflict between them and humans, so they kept their presence minimum and studied the human race a few people at a time."

"So they took George and Maria and other people just to study them?" Kevin could almost feel a giddy excitement emanating from Ed behind him.

"Indeed. At the same time, however, the aliens were devising an experiment. On the very ship that they studied their captives in, they created a synthetic lifeform. An infant, based off of the genetic makeup of their race, was born. This infant had a tremendous amount of PSI, more power than you could imagine. The aliens feared it, but their thirst for knowledge kept them from disposing of it.

"George and Maria overheard many arguments between the aliens over how to go about raising the child, from keeping it in a test tube and closely monitored to freezing it in a stasis. As a mother, Maria insisted that they raise the child with love and care, not as an experiment. The aliens eventually agreed, but they put it upon her to raise it. The child was named Giegue, which means 'giver' in the alien's language. Maria raised him as her own, doing everything from feeding him to luring him to sleep with a lullaby.

"During that time, the aliens traveled to the ends of the universe and back. In fact, they even traveled to other dimensions." The doctor took in a deep breath, and continued, "Now, here's where things get strange. You see, neither the aliens, nor George, nor I am from this dimension. When I mentioned Earth, I was talking about one parallel to this Earth, albeit in a different reality."

"Wait," Kevin said, putting a hand up to his temple, "so you're like from an alternate universe?"

"That's the simple explanation, yes. You see, though there are infinitely many different universes, many dimensions share most of the traits of others around them. There are many different versions of Earth, all similar but with differences, some minor and some major. The people inhabiting it are usually all different, though there are similarities in looks or personality that can bleed between people from one reality to the next. Often times the names of towns and cities are different, but things like language usually remains a constant, with English and German and what have you being largely unchanged.

"This is why your being George's great-grandson confused me at first. He and Maria had already had a child on my version of Earth before they were kidnapped by the aliens. However, according to one of his journals that I've read, he and the other captives actually made a few escape attempts while the aliens were travelling from dimension to dimension. I hypothesize that they must have escaped to this universe at one point, perhaps long enough to bear a child before the aliens recaptured them."

Kevin remembered back to when he talked about George with his father, and nodded. "My dad told me that George was captured for two years, then returned for a short while and went missing again."

"I see. The story of what happened to him probably got mixed with what happened here, as he ultimately found his way back to his own Earth. However, Maria wasn't as fortunate."

"This is really interesting and all," Eddy's Brother deadpanned, still laying down on the grass, "but what does this have to do with stuff turning evil and crap?"

"As I said, I'll get to all of that soon," Doctor Andonuts replied cordially. "Now, when George finally escaped to Earth, the aliens grew worried. When they first started capturing humans, they had no idea that we would be receptive of their PSI and able to use its power ourselves. George grew to be a master of the art, and when he escaped the aliens feared that he would teach it to others on Earth, which they knew had a history of using great power for violence. They debated for decades, deciding what to do, which action to take. Giegue matured during this time, and eventually the aliens decided that he go down to Earth and stop PSI from spreading.

"This is where George's other great-grandson, a boy named Ninten, as well as myself come in. When Giegue invaded Earth, his psychic powers were so immense that he had trouble controlling them. His power spilled over the land, driving animals crazy and causing inanimate objects to come to life. As you know from the letter I sent you on the Talastsbo Express, those who are driven to madness by this PSI specifically target others who are able to use PSI themselves. Realizing what his power was doing, Giegue began to use it intentionally, to weed out other users.

"However, Ninten's PSI powers were great, and he fought off everything that tried to do him in. I first met him when he found me in a trashcan at my elementary school."

"He found you where?"

"Irrelevant.

"Anyway, we journeyed around the country, fighting off those affected by Giegue's PSI as well as collecting pieces of a strange melody. Along the way, we met new friends, such as Anna and Teddy, the latter of which bears a striking resemblance to you, I might add." Doctor Andonuts pointed at Eddy's Brother, who tilted his head up, cocked an eyebrow and gave a disinterested grunt.

"Throughout the journey, Ninten learned of his heritage. The melody that we were piecing together turned out the be the lullaby Maria sang for Giegue. When we finally confronted the alien, that lullaby turned to be his downfall, as he couldn't bear the memories of Maria when she raised him. He left the planet peacefully after that, though not without vowing to return someday.

"That day came many years later, when the strange happenings and Giegue's PSI influence began again. This time, a different group of children—most of whom psionically-gifted, and one being my own son—rose to the challenge and fought Giegue again. However, this time Giegue had help. He influenced the mind of a young but rotten little boy to do his bidding. The boy's name was Porky Minch.

"Porky proved to be an increasingly tough obstacle for my son and his friends to overcome, manipulating others into fighting them and just being a nuisance all around.. Eventually, near the end of their journey, he stole a time machine."

"A time machine?" Edd asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, a time machine," the doctor answered proudly. He began to shrink, however, as he added, "One that… that I may have sort of built.

"A-anyway, he stole my time machine and began abusing it, travelling to many different eras and god-knows-where-or-when else, doing as he pleased. Due to the early experimental nature of the machine as well as his rampant abuse of it, Porky's body became corrupted. He aged thousands of years while keeping a childlike mentality, and the temporal disturbances in his body had somehow made him all but immortal.

"Porky stood by Giegue, who by this point had become corrupted by his own immense power. My son and his friends called him Giygas, which incidentally is the alien's language for 'destroyer'. When Giygas was ultimately defeated by them, Porky fled in the time machine to another era. Eventually, however, he came back to our time, and he kidnapped me.

"I was forced to build machines for the child, as he had somehow acquired many powerful weapons that only he could use. Though he had lived for centuries at this point, he was still immature and childish, and he grew very bored very quickly. I managed to modify the time machine so that it wouldn't affect me as it did him, but I was now flung through time and space with Porky Minch."

The man took another deep breath, and with a smile, said, "Now this is where your world begins to be involved. You see, when Porky's time machine is activated, it flings itself into what is called the Chronosphere. It is a dimension where the time and space of all other dimensions intersect, and travelling through it can allow one to be anywhere and anytime.

"Due to the unstable nature of my prototype time machine, something happened to Porky. For some reason—perhaps the same way his body aged and became immortal—the different eras he traveled to began to reject him. After spending some time somewhere, a temporal vortex would open up, sucking him back into the Chronosphere and disallowing him to return to that general area and time period. In fact, that was one of the reasons he kidnapped me in the first place, so I could find a solution for him. I've managed to—ahem—forget about that research for quite some time.

"As we traveled through different dimensions and eras, Porky grew desperate to entertain himself. Somehow—maybe from being exposed to Giygas's influence for so long, I'd imagine—he realized that he could use his old master's PSI abilities for himself. He could use a sort of PSI Dominance, which allowed him to slowly corrupt the minds of those around him, making them go mad. He also discovered that he could amplify this power and contain it, using something akin to a Mani Mani statue."

"What's a Mani Mani statue?" Jimmy asked.

"In my world, it was a golden idol of a horned devil. Giygas channeled his power through it to spread his influence far and wide. It allowed him not only to drive people to insanity, but also to control their minds and force them to do specific tasks for him. Now, the statue on its own had no mystical properties; it was worshiped by a small, ancient tribe, but other than that it didn't seem like it could enhance Giygas's PSI. However, Porky is doing something similar on this Earth, using a vessel to broadcast his PSI Dominance and slowly control the minds of everyone on the planet. I'm not sure what it is yet, but my best guess is that it'll be something of great value to someone or a group of people."

Kevin suddenly felt everyone's gaze turn to him, and he looked around curiously until he noticed his bike next to him. "What? You're not saying—"

"Oh no, your bike most definitely wouldn't be a Mani Mani," Doctor Andonuts reassured. "At this point, so much as getting close to a Mani Mani would have extreme and noticeable effects on the mind and body. Since it is a vessel for storing and channeling raw power, being close to a powerful Mani Mani would become akin to getting near Giygas himself. And that, according to my son, is something nobody should ever have to experience."

"Man," Kevin put both hands up to his temples, and stared at the grass in front of him. "Interdimensional aliens, all-powerful little kids, this Googy person. You're saying that now our version of Earth is getting wrapped up in all of this?"

"For the time being, yes," Doctor Andonuts said. "Hopefully, however, we can rid this world of Porky's influence and return things to normal."

"Speaking of which," Eddy's Brother said, "where is this Pokey guy anyway? I thought you were with him or something."

"A good question, Dorkface!" Eddy's Brother smacked Kevin again. "You see, when we first arrived in this dimension, the first thing Porky did was build a base for his army of Starmen. The Starmen were robots, designed and built by Giegue and later used as his personal army when he became Giygas. Porky somehow got a hold of their blueprints, and he forced me to build a tower where they'd be constructed."

The doctor smiled, and he continued, "Fortunately, you all know how that eventually turned out. Porky is powerful and even cunning at times, but he is by no means smart. Though I was forced to design the tower, he gave me freedom with the details, and didn't notice that I insulated the walls with high-grade explosives. That's not to mention the computer terminal in the prisoner's room and all the other things I left in to ensure the tower's destruction."

"So I'm assuming you escaped from Porky's captivity sometime around this point?" Edd asked.

"Yes I did, actually, and I've been on the run from him up until now. Porky nearly found me at Saturn Valley, but I managed to give him the slip the same way I did the first time."

"So how did you get away from him the first time?" Nazz asked.

"That's… irrelevant."

"Okay, so now we know this Porky guy's behind everything," Kevin said. "How do we stop him?"

"It is not Porky we should be worrying about," Doctor Andonuts replied. "It is the Mani Mani he's created. We have to find it and destroy it, and things will start returning to normal."

"Okay, so how do we do that?"

"Well, I don't really know." The man turned his head away. "I never got to see what sort of object Porky channeled his power into or where it is."

Kevin looked around the area in thought, and something caught his eye. He saw a glint in the tree, and he smiled. "What do you make of this?" Kevin stood up and pulled the mirror out of his pocket.

"Why, I think that's a mirror," Doctor Andonuts said. "Though it seems broken."

"Thanks, captain," Eddy's Brother spat.

Kevin walked toward the tree, and looked up at its branches. The glint turned into a reflection, resting on top of one of the lower branches. Kevin jumped up and grabbed at it, coming down with another mirror piece in his hands.

"We've found pieces of this mirror all over the Earth in sanctuaries like this," he said, merging the piece he just found with the rest of the mirror. "I think they're important somehow."

Doctor Andonuts stood up, inspecting the mirror closely. "My, that mirror may become important," he said."In fact, I think it may be this Earth's equivalent of the Eight Melodies."

"Eight Melodies?" Jimmy asked. "What are they?"

"Just as they sound to be. You see, the reason my son and his friends became powerful enough to face Giygas is because the leader of their group, Ness, gathered eight fragments of a melody from around the world. When he heard them all, he was able to cast out all the evil from his mind, and he gained power from the very Earth itself."

"So what does this mirror mean?" Kevin asked.

"As I said, Earth and its inhabitants can vary between dimensions. However, one thing usually stays the same, and it's the fact that the Earth is alive."

"Alive?" Edd asked. "How do you define 'alive' in terms of the Earth?"

"Just think about it," the doctor replied. "Think about your own body. We're made up of organ systems, which are composed of organs, composed of tissue which are composed of cells. Every individual cell on our body is alive independently from one another. Every cell can live or die on its own, and the death of a single cell or even up to a small multitude of cells does not cause your body to die. However, if most or all of them were to die, then so would we. In short, we are living beings made up of billions of smaller living beings."

"So you're saying that the Earth is alive because there is life on it?"

"Correct! The earth is like an enormous organism, made up of all the smaller life living on it. Now, all living things must have a way to protect themselves, from the environment or other living things or who knows what. The Earth—almost all of the Earths which contain life—has a defense mechanism against something that threatens the majority of the life on it." The man looked at the mirror in Kevin's hands, and said, "I believe that you are holding that mechanism in your hands."

Kevin looked at the mirror, and felt his grip on it tighten. "What'll it do once it's finished?" he asked.

"The only way of knowing for sure is to finish it," Doctor Andonuts replied. "On my Earth, its form of defense was a melody, divided into eight pieces that could be found in sanctuaries like this one, scattered across the planet. When Ness acquired them all, he was thrown into a stasis, where he literally battled his inner demons and allowed the power of every living thing on the planet into his body. It made him and his PSI incredibly powerful, and helped cause Giygas's downfall."

Kevin peered into his reflection in the mirror, and saw his friends peering into it behind him. Ed, Edd, Jimmy, Rolf, Nazz, Sarah, and even Eddy's Brother gazed into its pristine surface, and it showed the seven of them as a group.

"You have incredible power," Doctor Andonuts said. "You all do. If this Earth and mine are as similar as I've observed them to be, then you may very well be the ones to save it in a time of peril."

Kevin looked up. "Save the world? You really think we can save the world?"

"Of course I do," the man said, his glasses gleaming in the sunlight. "Look how far you've come already. You're the great-grandson of George, even wearing one of the Franklin Badges he invented."

Kevin placed a hand on his hat, and felt the badge on it. "Wait, George made this?"

"He made two of them. One made its way into the hands of Ness, who saved my world from destruction before. The other was given to me by Ninten, which I now leave in your hands as George's successor."

Kevin felt a familiar warmth well inside of him, and he smiled. His reflection in the mirror seemed to glow as Doctor Andonuts continued talking.

"You've come a long way, but you still have quite a journey left ahead of you.

Kevin felt the wind rush past his face and through the opening in his cap as he sped down the road. His bike glided under him as he pedaled effortlessly on it.

"You've had trials and tribulations with your friends, but you all have pulled through them."

He felt the world move around him as he stood perfectly still, the wheels on his bike spinning in place as the ground sped past under them.

"You all have incredible power, and have demonstrated all varieties of strength and courage."

Everything turned into a blur as he raced down the road and into the light, where his friends stood waiting for him.

"This is your world, your Earth, and you have the means to defend it from whatever may try come its way!"

Together, they spread their light to the darkness beyond.

"Kevin, are you and your friends ready to cast out Porky's evil and save the world?"

Kevin rose to his feet, the wind tousling his clothes and light gleaming off of his Franklin Badge. His friends got up behind him, and the sanctuary seemed to fill with an inexplicable energy. Kevin turned to Doctor Andonuts, and a smile spread across his face as he nodded.

"Absolutely."


End Part 5