"Here is where everyone gets points for putting applesauce between their toes!"  Ed continued drawing on the side of his house as Eddy looked on in annoyance.  "And then they'll use a radioactive jellybean to fight off the six boxes of European hand towels!"  He added a few 'radioactive jellybeans' to his diagram.  "Just like in charades!"

Eddy knocked the marker out of Ed's hands.  "What kind of game is that, Ed?  Why would anybody want applesauce on their feet?  And where the heck are we supposed to get radioactive jelly beans?!"

"From the giant jelly donut hurtling towards Earth even as we speak!"  Ed zoomed a hand around in imitation of an Earth-bound space donut.  "When it crashes it will explode into millions of jellybeans!"  Suddenly growing concerned, he scooped up Eddy and began running.  "Come on, Eddy, we need to hurry before the lizards eat them all!"

Eddy reached out and grabbed a passing tree, bringing Ed to an immediate halt.  "Forget it, Burrhead, your game stinks!"  He glared back at Ed's drawing.  "Man, where's Double-D when you need him?"

"Well!  It's certainly nice to be appreciated!"  Sporting several fresh bandages, Edd limped slightly as he came over from the direction of his house.  He scratched his head as he examined Ed's illustrations.  "Although I must admit, I can understand the reasons for your consternation…"

"Yeah, yeah – speaking of reasons, what took you so long?  I almost thought we'd actually have to go with Ed's idea!"

"I shudder at the thought."  Edd rubbed his eyes, and looked again at the drawing.  "Is that a radioactive…?"  Shaking his head, he returned to Eddy's question.  "Well, even at the risk of allowing this scheme to fall into Ed's, ah, uniquely unorthodox hands, I simply couldn't carry on without first attending to my bites and scratches."  He eyed Ed and Eddy dubiously.  "Are you two certain I can't offer you some antiseptic spray to help stave off infection?  Who knows what kind of virulent microorganisms that unsanitary creature could be playing host to?"

Eddy snickered.  "Are you talking about the badger, or Ed?"

Ed hadn't heard.  "Infection?"  He looked down at the scratches covering his arm.  "You mean like how Danny Driver got bit by that mutant earwig and became The Remarkable Earwigman?"  His eyes widened, and he held his arm reverently.  "Guys!  What if I get superpowers, too?"  He hopped around.  "I'll be able to dig like a badger, and bite like a badger, and fly like a badger – "

"Badgers are incapable of flight, Ed."

"And whistle Dixie like a badger, and – "

"ED!  Knock it off!"  His patience at an end, Eddy stormed over and knocked Ed's legs out from under him, leaving him facedown in the dirt.  He turned back towards Edd.  "Forget the Incredible Lump – time's a-wasting, Double-D!  So what surefire ideas did you come up with while you were gone, huh?"

"Uh, well, as I mentioned, Eddy, I was rather busy administering to my injuries, so I have yet to give the board game the serious consideration it requires."  He took out his notebook.  "But I'm confident that the – "

"What?  We spend half the morning as chew toys for Ed's stupid pet, then I have to baby-sit the big lunk while you're having a heart attack over a few scrapes, and now you tell me I have to wait even longer still?  Gimme that!"  He snatched the notebook from Edd's hands and whacked him over the head with it.

Edd raised his arms in self-defense.  "But Eddy, I – "

"Yeah, yeah, spare me the excuses.  Slacker."  Eddy skimmed through the notebook.  "Hey, what's with this 'severe penalties for cheating' thing?"  He eyed Edd suspiciously.

"Oh, yes, well…" Edd studiously examined his fingernails.  "Ahem – never mind that, let's just see what we can come up with now, shall we?"  He retrieved his notebook and began perusing its contents.

"Eddy!  Look!  I am a badger!"  Ed's voice was rather muffled, still lying as he was belly-down on the ground.  Edd and Eddy watched with varying degrees of concern and amusement as Ed began digging a hole by eating the dirt beneath his face.

"Ed, please!  That can't possibly be good for your tooth enamel, let alone your habitually overtaxed digestive tract!"  Edd wrung his hands and peered over the edge of the hole.

"Keep it up, Lumpy, you're a great badger!"  Snickering, Eddy snuck behind Edd, took a running start, and stuck his arms out to push him in.

Edd sidestepped Eddy's onslaught without even turning around.  He giggled as he looked down at Eddy, now lying on top of Ed in the hole.  "Really, Eddy, you're becoming far too predictable!"

"Predictable, am I?"  Eddy reached down to yank off one of Ed's shoes, then flung it at Edd.  He smirked as he heard it strike with a 'thump'.  Turning his attention back towards Ed, he elbowed him in the back.  "Enough with the digging, Ed – get me out of here!"

"Badger Man to the rescue!"  Ed took Eddy's collar in his mouth, then stood with his arms raised.  "Up, up, and Arkansas!"

Arms crossed, Eddy swung from his shirt collar and waited.  Nothing happened.  "ED!"

"Hmm…"  Ed released Eddy and tried again to take off.  His brow furrowed as he remained earthbound.  "Gee, Eddy, I guess my transformation isn't complete yet!"

"Badgers can't fly, Ed."  Eddy grabbed hold of Ed's jacket, swung his foot back, and delivered a solid kick to his rear.  The force of the kick knocked Ed, with Eddy still clinging to his jacket, up out of the hole.

Edd was sitting on the ground, rubbing his head from where the shoe had hit him.  "Welcome back!  I was beginning to think I was going to have to continue this plot on my own!"

"Yeah, right, Sock-head – without me and Ed, you'd just have gone back home to count molecules or something."  Eddy rolled his eyes.  "Real exciting…"

Edd looked at him crossly.  "You know, Eddy, it wouldn't hurt you to – "  He lost his train of thought as he suddenly caught sight of Ed's toes, poking through a large hole in his sock.  "Good heavens, Ed!  When was the last time you trimmed your toenails?"

Ed looked down and gasped.  "Guys, my powers are growing!  Look, I have badger claws!"  He scraped at the earth with his foot.

"Poor podiatric hygiene is not a super power, Ed."  Edd gingerly grasped Ed's shoe between two fingers and handed it to him.  "Now please, put your shoe back on before I lose what's left of my will to continue with this storyline…"

Eddy watched this interchange with growing impatience.  "Are you done yet?  Come on – between Sock-head's little medical drama and Ed's stupid Mole Boy or whatever, we've wasted nearly the whole afternoon!  We're never gonna come up with that million-dollar board game at this rate – now, think!"

The three Eds sat down in a circle, Edd and Eddy concentrating on their game while Ed practiced making badger faces.

Eddy spoke up first.  "I've got it!  We'd save tons of time if we just came up with a fancy-looking box and skipped the game altogether!"  He rubbed his hands together.  "We'll be knee-deep in jawbreakers by sundown!"

Edd looked appalled.  "Disregarding for the moment the staggering moral indecency of such a course of action, Eddy, have you learned nothing this summer about the perils of deception?"  He shook his head.  "And even if you overlook the painful retribution that's sure to be visited upon us when your ruse is uncovered, what makes you think anybody would buy an obviously empty box in the first place?"

"So we'll throw a few rocks in to give it weight – even you've gotta admit it's a great idea, Double-D!"  Eddy leapt to his feet.  "Now, let's go find some boxes, boys, our fortunes await!"  He ran off towards his house.

Exasperated, Edd watched him go, then turned towards Ed.  "Gracious, Badger Man, look!  Your arch-nemesis – um…Red Temper – is getting away!"  He pointed after Eddy.  "You'd best go apprehend him before he wreaks any further havoc!"

Ed looked enchanted.  "I have always wanted an arch-meminis, Double-D!"  He stood up, a determined expression on his face.  "Beware, naughty Red Temper!  Badger Man is on the case!"  With that, he ran off after Eddy.

Moments later, Eddy found himself being hauled back towards Ed's house, slung over Ed's shoulder.  "You're a funny guy, Sock-head."  He glared at Edd.

Edd suppressed a giggle as Eddy was dumped to the ground.  "I apologize for that, Eddy, but I simply cannot condone this concept of selling empty boxes!  You'll thank me when this is over, I assure you."  He tapped his chin thoughtfully.  "Now, what we need is a game that's both educational and – "

"Educational?"  Eddy snorted.  "Man, I knew you'd try to sneak that in at some point!  Come on, Double-D, educational games are snoresville!  No normal kid would wanna waste their time with a game that's supposed to teach them something!"

"I question your use of the word 'normal' to describe any of our potential customers, Eddy," Edd reached over and removed a checker that had still been lodged in Eddy's ear.  "But regardless, a well-designed educational game is anything but boring!  Why, there's no reason at all why learning about the joys of entomology or the mysteries of the human psyche can't be just as rewarding as, say," he gestured back towards Ed's drawing, "attacking hand towels with radioactive jellybeans…"

"Jellybeans!"  Arms extended out in front of him, Ed 'flew' back over to stand in front of his drawing.  "Come on, guys, my idea's a real winner!  And that's not a loser, because a winner can win at anything they don't lose at, and a – "

"Ed, shut up!!"  Eddy glared Ed into silence, then turned back towards Edd.  "And give it up, Sock-head, no way am I trying to sell some stupid egghead game – we're doing the empty box!  Now, get to work!"

"Absolutely not!"  Edd crossed his arms.  "I refuse to set myself up for such inevitable failure when a perfectly viable alternative is right at our fingertips!"  He took out his notebook and a pen.  "Now, if you're unconvinced by the entomology theme, perhaps you'd prefer something along the lines of astronomical studies, or – "

Ed sniffed and pointed to his drawing.  "But Eddy, what about my game?"

"No!  I say we're doing the empty box, and that's – "

" – or particle physics, or geometric proofs, or – "

"Radioactive jellybeans, guys!"

"Shut UP!!!"  Eddy grabbed Ed and Edd and knocked their heads together.  He glowered as they slumped against each other in a daze.  "This is getting us nowhere!"

Edd rubbed his head.  "For once, I must admit you're right, Eddy – we'll never achieve a marketable product if we can't even agree on the premise on which to base it.  Our ideas are simply too incongruous to be integrated into one coherent theme."  He brightened.  "I propose that we each take the time to further develop our individual concepts, and reconvene in an hour to select the best from the pool of candidates!"

"What?  More time spent spinning our wheels?"  Eddy balled his hands into fists.

"Eddy's right, Double-D!  I've seen less dilly-dallying at a pickle factory!"  Ed removed his jacket and tied it around his shoulders like a cape.  "Badger Man must think of his city!  He can't spend time on silly games!"  He started to march away, got his feet tangled up in his jacket/cape, and landed in a heap on the ground.  "And I need a turbo-charged grill!"

Edd and Eddy stared.  "Er, you're not helping my case, Ed…" 

"Sure aren't, Eddy!"  Ed laughed.

Eddy sighed, and turned back to Edd.  "Fine, whatever, if it'll shut you up we'll do it your way."

"My, what a red letter day this is turning out to be!"  Edd cast a grateful glance towards Ed.  "We'll meet back here in one hour.  I eagerly await the unveiling of your and Ed's, ah, imaginative game ideas!  Gentlemen."  He scooped up his notes and headed off towards his house.

Eddy glared down at Ed.  "Thanks a lot, Monobrow, you just had to encourage him, didn't you?"  Hands in his pockets, he stomped off towards his own home.  "I'll see ya later, Ed."

"Hasta la vitamins, Eddy!"  Ed tried to get up, but his jacket was still wrapped around his feet.  "Oh no!  Badger Man is caught in a fiendish trap set by Red Temper!"  He thrashed and rolled around on the ground, but only succeeded in entangling himself further.  "Will he escape in time to get his turbo-charged grill?  Will he be able to stop the European Hand Towel People from enslaving the earth with their crepes of doom?  Tune in next week for the next dramatic episode!  Dum-dum-dum!"