Chapter 51: Crazy Train

It's officially now 3:15, which means everyone is now free from school! Before our group of fellows can do their preparations, everyone expect for Jonny, Plank and Rolf, is going to visit Chris, to check up on how he is doing, if only for a brief amount of time, as everyone has to prepare in their own way.

"Are we even sure he is... awake?!" asked Eddy.

"Yes. He sent me a text, literally confirming that he is fine. We don't have to spend much time, just check up on him." responds Skylar.

Double D throws in his two cents, saying, "As much as I would like to dismiss this as solved Eddy, I much prefer to make absolute certainty of the fact that Chris has recovered from this very concerning scenario. Keep in mind, he will require assistance with what he missed in school today."

"Well, as long as he can come with us to the party." stated Eddy.

"Is that really all you care about?" asked Lee, surprising Eddy a bit.

"Uh, no. What gave that idea?" said a confused Eddy.

"You seem to be bringing up the party more than the health of your friend." mentioned Lee.

While this may appear as the case, Eddy brings up, "What?! Hey, I helped him get out of class with Kevin and Skylar!"

"Yeah, it's true." responded both the former and the latter, making Lee this surprised one now.

"Alright, at least you ain't faking your concern." says Lee.

"She must be pulling my leg... I literally helped him through that, and we both have good talks over a lot of things, how could I possibly be faking it?! Maybe she's... yeah, she's definitely pulling my leg." thought Eddy to himself.

The crew of nearly 10 people get to Chris's house. Chris himself is upstairs, doing something, but his mom sees the large group of people incoming, and she is pleasantly surprised, as this confirms her thought of her son finding very good friends. She goes outside and greets everyone.

"Hi, I assume you are wondering how Chris is?" she asks everyone.

Double D speaks first, saying, "Yes. If you don't mind, we, or more specifically, Ed, Eddy, Skylar and I would like to talk to your son Ms... umm..."

"Double D isn't it? You can just call me Maria, it's okay. Yes, you four can enter and go to his room. Will the rest of you please come inside and relax in the living room?" said Maria, as a response.

And so, the Eds and Skylar makes their way upstairs, while Maria takes care of everyone else, something she enjoys doing.

Upstairs, Chris is "busy" listening to "Dragula" by Rob Zombie, and he didn't even notice that a mini crowd entered his house. Oh doesn't he have a surprise awaiting him. Considering that Chris is blasting the music QUITE loudly, he probably wouldn't even be able to hear the four people coming up to his room.

Double D gets near the door, and the music is playing clear as day. He almost knocks on the door, but Skylar motions him to pauses, saying afterwards, "Wait for it to be done. I know how this goes. Trust me."

The crew only had to sit for around 1 more minute. Once the song had stopped, and all was silent, Double D knocks on the door.

"Oh snap, coming!"

Chris opens the door, and he is thrown off incredibly, jumping a bit at the sight of his friends just... standing there.

"Dude! You guys scared me!"

Before anyone gets to say anything else, Skylar hugs Chris, which doesn't exactly surprise him very much, but he still returns it. Afterward, he says, "Happy much?"

"Shut up, you know I am." responded Skylar.

"How are you feeling Chris? Has there been any possible after effects?" asked Double D.

Chris responds, "I'm feeling good now, and for that second part, not that I know of, nor can feel. So that must mean no, which is good."

"Do you still plan on going? Because if not, it's completely fine man." asks Eddy.

"Yes..." said Chris, breathing out deeply for a second. "...but I will mention that in the event that this occurs again, you guys will need to have a plan already in reserve, because now we know to anticipate it. By the way, Eddy and Skylar, thanks a lot. Mom told me around a couple hours ago about everything. Still a bit to take in."

"It was just to help you out. Kevin also helped by the way." mentions Skylar.

"Ah. I'll be sure to give him thanks." responds Chris.

Skylar then says, "Look, I want to talk to ya in private for a bit. Can I? It won't be long."

"Sure. Hey, do you guys mind if we-"

Chris was interrupted by Eddy, who said, while pulling his friends, "Leaving, already gone!"

Both of the two remaining laugh a bit at that silliness, before Skylar enters the room. They both take a seat on Chris's medium-sized couch.

"I'm so glad that you're okay. You seriously had me worried!" said Skylar.

"Yeah, I can imagine. Don't worry, I'm fine now. But thanks again, for helping me and my mom through this craziness, I owe you a lot." responds Chris.

"No, trust me, it's fine, you don't owe me anything. You being okay is more than enough." said Skylar, before adding on, "I would much rather you rest more if that has to be the case."

"What? Relax okay, I'm fine. Besides, I'm still going to the party, and I've talked with mom beforehand, and she trusts both me, and you guys enough. Plus, consider this party as my thanks for your help."

Although Skylar is a bit reluctant, ultimately, she agrees to it. "Okay. But if something doesn't feel right, tell me immediately, got that?"

Chris nods his head to say yes, afterwards he says, "You have my word. Let's go join the Eds downstairs."

"Wait." Skylar says. "For the record, it's actually not just us and the Eds. It's actually us, plus the Kankers, Kevin and Nazz."

Chris couldn't believe what he just heard, as he is slightly worried as to if his mom will be able to handle THAT many people.

"My goodness! Did ALL of you really have to come? I mean, I appreciate it, but I don't want to consume everyone's time." said Chris in response.

"Relax. It will be okay." Skylar tells Chris.

She then notices the nunchucks on a table near Chris's bed, and asks him, "Hey, do you actually use those"

"Ah, those things." said Chris, while getting up and getting them from the table. "I occasionally mess around and fidget around with them. They are pretty fun, honestly."

"Can you show me a trick or something cool?" asked Skylar.

"Well..."

Chris proceeds to show a simple trick he knows, where he flips around a bit with his left hand, before he quickly throws it in the air, and catches it with his right hand, before spinning it a bit, then flipping it and catching it with his left hand.

"...and, voila." said Chris of the trick.

Skylar claps as appreciation of that demonstration, then saying afterward, "Nice! Short, simple, but still looked hard to do!"

"I mean, it's actually easier in comparison to other stuff I know, but thanks still. Anyways, let me leave these here, and let's go join them downstairs, shall we?"

"Before we do that actually... well..." said Skylar.

"Yeah?"

What happens next is, Skylar blows a kiss towards Chris's direction. His reaction is a simple eye roll, while laughing a bit. Afterwards, he goes downstairs with her, and yep, everyone is there, to his slight shock.

Kevin is the first one to speak, saying, "Hey! Looks like you've recovered my guy! Feeling better? You took a bit of a fall."

"Yeah. Thanks for helping me man, appreciate it much." responds Chris.

Kevin and Chris share a fist bump, before Chris's mom comes out and says, "Chris, can you please ask who is thirsty? I would like to provide water to anyone who needs it."

Maria returns back to the kitchen, before Chris says, "Sure. Does anyone need water at all?"

Double D, Ed, all three Kankers, Nazz and Kevin say yes. So, Chris takes note of 7.

"Mom! That will be six glasses of water. Not too large though! I'll also take one too." said Chris.

After around 3 minutes, Maria manages to serve the water to everyone who asked for said water. Everyone gives her thanks, to which she nods happily. Double D then tells Chris, "I must say, your mother sure knows how to care for guests."

"Yeah, it's one of her specialties. Everyone, as long as they act nice and aren't overly ridiculous, are welcome to her." mentions Chris. "So don't worry you guys, she'll welcome you in."

"Can I just say, it's funny how me and her have similar sounding names." Marie mentions.

Everyone shares a bit of a laugh, before Double D says, "Keep in mind Marie, it's highly unlikely anyone will confuse you and the mother's names, taking into consideration the context of the vastly different people involved. If anything, it will at best be accidental."

"Double D does have a point Marie." said May. "You are too different from Chris's mom!"

Everyone share another laugh, expect Marie, who scoffs and tells May, "Alright then, you win that one."

Randomly, Ed claps, and says, "Your mom is a good friend to Ed!"

"Thank you Ed, appreciate it!" said Maria from across the room.

Ed chuckles a bit at that, while May silently observes, admiring the way he shows appreciation for people. Meanwhile, Kevin brings up, "So, are we going to get started with getting prepared for the party?"

"Ah! Yeah, that would be best to do right now, as we don't have the most amount of time for preparing. We all shall meet again, at the party no less!" stated Chris.

"Let's get going!" said Nazz. "Oh yeah, thanks Chris, your mom is very welcoming."

"No worries. Again, she welcomes anyone friendly." responds Chris.

Eddy walks over, and says, "Hey, we have to do a plan before we actually start, remember?"

It doesn't come immediately, but then it hits Chris. He recalls the original plan of getting Ed all washed and everything, as the "normal" smell of Ed will NOT fly this time. Then again, it hardly flies, at least with Double D.

"Right. Well, we should get started as soon as possible." responds Chris to Eddy's statement.

Over with Double D and Marie, they are currently saying their goodbyes for now.

"Hope you're ready for what's waiting!" teased Marie to Double D, making him appear slightly embarrassed.

"I'm certain I will. Please take care of yourself Marie, see you at the party!" Double D told Marie, in which afterwards they share a quick kiss.

Over to Ed and May, they are ALSO saying their own goodbyes.

"I can't wait for the party, it's going to be so fun!" Ed tells May, to which she smiles back.

"Same! See you then Ed!"

May then runs in for a hug, to which Ed returns said hug.

Meanwhile, Eddy goes over to Lee, the latter of which says, "You ready little man?"

"You bet! I'll catch ya later, gotta get all ready."

Lee chuckles at that statement, before delivering Eddy a quick kiss, and smiling afterward. Eddy doesn't fully know how to feel. One side is telling him that he should just go for it, but one other side is telling him to wait a bit, just to see where this can actually go. Regardless, he gives her a glance, as she is walking out the door with her sisters, awaiting for Skylar.

Last but not least, Chris goes to where Skylar is, and tells her, "Well, this is bye for now, but it won't be for long."

"Better not! I'm just messing with ya, but yeah, don't worry. You best take care, okay?" said Skylar.

Chris responds by putting his fist into his open hand, as to signal "yes", afterwards the two share a quick hug, before Skylar joins the Kankers.

Maria comes out, and tells everyone, "Please take care of yourselves!"

Everyone responds with a variation of thanks, and so, they all go and do their preparations. Over with the four remaining members of the crew, Maria asks them, "What do you need to do before the party?"

"To put it simple, Ed needs some assistance with clothing selection, and me and the other Eds pledged to help him out." explains Chris to his mother. "For the record, this shouldn't take THAT long, but we will be busy."

"Alright. Are you leaving right now?" asks Maria.

Chris nods as to say yes, and Maria responds with, "Okay. Good luck."

"Not to worry, thank you Maria for the refreshments, it was a very nice touch." said Double D.

"You are welcome Double D. Please go on now, see you boys another time."

With that, the four of them leave the house, and begin making their way over to Ed's house. While en route there, Eddy asks Chris, "So, what did Skylar want?"

"We confirmed that we are going to party, and I reassured her that I was all recovered from that situation. Besides, that's not the main thing of importance." responded Chris, before continuing by saying, "Ed, you all set to get all washed up, literally?"

"I suppose... what about the jacket?" asked Ed, while pointing at his signature green jacket.

"Not to worry Ed, we shall take it, and bring it to your room. We won't bathe you fully clothed." explains Double D. "We just need to get a gas mask first..."

"Please don't start this again!" yelled out Eddy. "You guys went on about that for hours!"

"Well excuse me that I take great precautions to take care of my personal hygiene, thank you very much!" fired back Double D.

"Calm down guys. Double D, don't you have a machine that you used one time for this specific instance?" asks Chris.

"The details are much deeper than that, but to simplify it for you, Eddy had received the idea for a 'show', where Ed would get an overwhelmingly large makeover of his image and persona. According to Eddy himself, he had gotten the idea from when I tasted our lime juice that we were selling that day, and it seemed there was an over excessive amount of sugar, making me overly hyper. The show, unfortunately, was a bust, as some would say, when the Kankers came and showed that Ed was reading off lines we gave beforehand." explained Double D.

Chris responded, "Wow. Couldn't Ed have... no actually nevermind. Thank goodness you three have gone away from that feud with the sisters. Especially you Double D, congrats."

"The Kankers have been cleansed of the dangerous mind control of yucky mushy stuff!" commented Ed.

No one understood what Ed was even talking about, so Eddy asks, "Oh, I'll regret asking this, but what do you mean?"

"You see Eddy, the Kankers were cursed with the curse of the lovey dicey stuff, and one very special moon arrived, that burned the curse of nearly 2 years! The Kankers have now been returned to normal, and they are now good pals with all of us!" explained Ed in a mysterious, yet somewhat cheerful manner.

Everyone had different reactions to what Ed had just said. Chris slowly clapped while laughing at the same time, finding that "explanation", pretty dumb, yet funny in a certain way. Double D could only sigh, as he knows that the reasoning is basically 100% inaccurate to what the ACTUAL reasoning is. As for Eddy, he only facepalmed at that statement Ed just gave.

"Forget I even asked. Can we just get started already?!" exclaimed Eddy.

"Certainly. We have arrived. Let us get started!" Double D responded.

For the next 20 or so minutes, Ed was being washed down with that same machine used when he was "made over", so to say. Eddy was responsible for covering Ed up with a towel, plus an extra one for good measure, while Double D and Chris were responsible for the washing and drying, respectively. Double D himself had already laid out what clothing Ed would wear to this party, so that issue was taken of already. The process of washing Ed down wasn't difficult, the only thing was Ed suffered a bit from being a bit cold, but that quickly went away once the cleaning and everything started.

Afterwards, Double D provides Ed with some slippers, so that he can go down to his room and prepare himself with the clothing he was given with by his fellow friend. What Ed finds is a large sky blue jacket, plus a grey shirt, along with some dark brown pants, underwear of the same color, and black shoes and socks. As a bit of a bonus, Double D left some deodorant, both for the arm pits and chest. While Ed is no longer afraid of deodorant, or soap for that matter, he is still somewhat indifferent to using them, but in this case, he is going to do it solely for May's happiness. Aside from that, Ed was happy with the clothes, and he gets into them in around 3 minutes, and comes outside to present himself to his friends.

"How I do look guys?" asked Ed.

"Nice man! You look great, I'm sure May will be amazed with how you look." commented Chris.

Eddy is fairly surprised, saying, "Better hope May doesn't start freaking out when she sees ya. I'm just messing with ya, nice job amigo!"

"I must say this turned out quite well. How do you feel Ed?" asks Double D to his friend.

"Quite funny Double D. Are you sure May will like this?" said Ed in a slightly worried tone.

"Of course Ed! Don't be silly."

Everyone shares a laugh, before Eddy brings up, "Should the rest of us start getting ready aswell?"

"Definitely Eddy, I shall catch you fellows at the party!" Double D told Eddy, but the latter quickly responds with...

"Wait! What are you doing? Aren't we going to witness what you're dressing yourself like?" asked Eddy.

While Double D would much prefer to do this more privately, he tells his friends, "Alright then, but the rule you all must take note of is not to let anyone know, understood?"

"Dude, who are we going to tell? Relax, you'll be fine, me and the other two will wait downstairs for ya." responds Chris.

Off to Double D's house we go!