"Let me see…" Edd pensively tapped the index card against his desk. "Ah, here we are!" Finally deciding on the most logical spot for it, he taped the card to the wall. He looked around in satisfaction.
Hundreds of neatly written, carefully cross-referenced index cards were arrayed in orderly rows across all four walls of his room. Each card contained one piece of data meticulously culled from the notes he had taken during the earlier 'game research' session, supplemented by findings he had obtained from studies documented in his psychology journals.
Edd smiled to himself. "All the elements necessary to create the most engaging game ever, just waiting for me to assemble them in the appropriate combination!" He clenched his hands in excitement. "Oh, how I love a challenge!"
As he reached for a pen, he caught a glimpse of the sun outside the window. It seemed a lot lower now than it had the last time he'd noticed it. "Oh my." A glance at the atomic clock on his desk confirmed his fears – he had only fifteen minutes left before he was expected to rejoin his friends with a completed game. "Oh, curse engaging psychology articles!" Hurriedly pulling open drawers and collecting potential game components, he ruefully abandoned his index cards and tried his best to think up something marketable, yet quick to assemble.
*****
"It's marketable…it'd be quick to assemble…" Eddy muttered to himself as he stomped into his room. "The empty box is a great idea, why won't Double-D just admit it!" He slammed his door shut. "Stupid Sock-head…just can't accept that I'm so much smarter than him when it comes to stuff that actually matters..."
Slouching down onto his bed, he checked his clock. He sighed dramatically. "Geez, fifty more minutes! What the heck am I supposed to until then?" He certainly didn't plan on wasting his time worrying about the stupid game – that's what Ed and Edd were for, after all.
Although…maybe he really shouldn't leave all the work to his friends…Hissing in exasperation, he picked up his Magic 8-Ball and spun it around on one finger. "All right…should I at least try to come up with my own game idea?" He stopped the spinning ball and looked into its window. Frowning at the answer, he gave it another spin and checked again. "'My Sources Say No' – that's more like it! Now, should I go see what's on TV?" He rattled the ball once more. "'All Signs Point to Yes' – man, I love this thing!"
He jumped up and headed towards the door, but paused as he looked down at the Magic 8-Ball still in his hands. Glancing around to make sure nobody was watching, he leaned in and asked, "Am I the handsomest guy in the neighborhood?" Grinning, he shook the ball. His grin disappeared when he read the answer. "Whaddya mean, 'Outlook Not Good'?!" He shook it again. "'Better Not Tell You Now'? Rrrrgh!" He shook it even harder. "'You're Joking, Right?'" He blinked in surprise. "Is that even an answer this thing has?"
His frustration levels rising steadily, he shook it once more.
*****
His confusion levels rising steadily, Ed shook his head once more in attempt to wake up his brain. "Hmm…" He wondered why his friends weren't around like they usually were at this time. Sitting down on the floor and scooping up a goopy object that might once have been a sandwich, he chewed absently and dug a finger in his ear.
His eyes strayed to the pile of games still scattered across his room. There was something that had to do with the games…His brow furrowed as he tried to remember. Double-D had been going on and on about something, and Eddy had been yelling…well, no help there, that's what they were always doing.
He rattled his head from side to side to clear the unpleasant ache that had started to come on. Whatever it was, it couldn't have been that important or his friends would have come along to help. Licking his fingers as he finished up his sandwich, he leaned over to pick up the Evil Tim comic lying by the side of his bed.
A warning growl rose up from beneath the bed as he reached for the comic. Games…badgers…Ed slapped a hand to his forehead. How could he have forgotten? Laughing at his own absentmindedness, he ran over to his closet and looked for the necessary supplies.
*****
Cursing his own unproductiveness, Edd scanned his closet, looking for the remaining supplies he needed. Retrieving his hot glue gun from the neatly labeled 'Adhesives, Fasteners, and Bonding Implements' basket, he returned to his desk and began assembling the game pieces.
"Oh dear!" A quick glance at the clock made him increase his already-rapid pace. "Eight more minutes, and I have yet to document the questions or even finish the board itself!" He cast a longing glance towards the index cards still on display around his room, but shook his head sadly. No time for those now.
Edd grabbed a piece of paper and began drafting up game questions and answers. If he didn't have this done after making Eddy wait an entire hour, Eddy would surely…well. He shuddered. The outcome was easily predictable, and certainly not good.
*****
"'Outlook Not Good' AGAIN? What's with this thing?!"
Shake.
"'Very Doubtful'?!? AARRGH!!"
Eddy raised the Magic 8-Ball and prepared to smash it against the floor, but lowered it again as a better idea came to him. He looked around for something he could use to pry the plastic window off of the toy.
*****
Ed looked around for something he could use to pry the lid off his mother's makeup kit. Finding nothing suitable, he took the lid in his teeth and gnawed it off.
Several minutes later, he laughed as he examined himself in his parents' bathroom mirror. His face was white from the deodorant he'd smeared all over it, and black mascara stripes traced up his forehead. He applied a little rouge to his eyelids, just for luck. "I AM Badger Man!" Not even his best friends would know his true identity now.
He happily waved his 'wings'. Stapling an old sheet to his sleeves had been a stroke of pure genius. "Fly, Badger Man, fly!"
As he flapped around the room, he came to a sudden stop. "Oh yeah." His friends had no doubt expected him to come up with neat costumes for them, too. He soared back down to his room to see what he could find – he didn't want to disappoint Eddy and Double-D, after all.
*****
Edd hoped his friends wouldn't be disappointed. Spread out on the table before him were an array of lavishly decorated question and answer cards, a colorful, carefully laminated game board, nine game tokens meticulously worked out in painstaking detail, and a set of hand-carved wooden dice.
Edd sighed as he critically surveyed the fruits of his labor. "Well, I suppose that's all I can expect for fifteen minutes' work." Hoping it would be enough to satisfy his friends, he placed everything in the hand-woven wicker carrying case he'd whipped up while waiting for the glue to dry on his game pieces, and headed off towards Ed's house.
*****
He should start heading off towards Ed's house now, but Eddy still had one more thing to do. "There!" He popped the window of his Magic 8 Ball back into place. "Now! For the last time – Am I the handsomest guy in the neighborhood?" The handwritten message that bobbed up from the murky blue liquid read, 'Of Course, Eddy!' He grinned. "Now that's more like it!"
He glanced at his clock. "And just in time, too! Let's go see what Sock-head's come up with." Eddy paused as he was about to head out. A crooked smile crossed his face as he looked down at his 8-Ball again. "Am I smarter than Double-D, stronger than Ed, and a better dresser than all the other kids combined?" He nodded to himself as he read the response. "'Absolutely Positively!' Like I didn't know that already! Man, I oughta sell these things…"
Setting down his new and improved Magic 8-Ball, Eddy ran out of his room and back over to Ed's.