Kevin and Rolf met up with Ed, Edd, Eddy, Sarah, and Jimmy just as they found another small pile of rotting watermelon. Edd inspected one with his ever-present magnifying glass.
"Interesting." He said, touching the goop with the tip of his finger. "According to my calculations, this watermelon pile has been here since about 3:45."
Kevin looked at his watch. "Well, it's nearly 5, so that must mean-"
"MMMMPH!"
"What the heck was that?" Sarah shouted.
"Someone's in trouble!" Jimmy squealed.
"It came from over there!" Eddy pointed across the creek towards the deep part of the woods. Everyone started running towards it.
"I can't swim, Sarah!"
"Relax, Jimmy, it's only a foot deep."
Everyone finally reached the other size and charged into the woods. They came across a dirt path and began running down it.
"This place seems familiar." Edd said, looking around at his surroundings. He knew he had been here before, but he just couldn't-
"Hey! This is the path we went down to get to Spookyville!"
Leave it to Eddy to stop him mid-thought. He then notice a familiar tree that the path bended around.
"There's just something very suspicious about all- GOOD LORD!"
Edd had spontaneously decided to look up, and what he saw nearly gave him a heart attack.
"What the heck are you-" Eddy look up as well.
"Hi, Nazz!" Ed shouted.
Far above them, tied to a giant branch with her hands and feet tied together and a watermelon bashed over her head was-
"Nazz!" Everyone else had come back to see what all the commotion was about, and it was Kevin that look up first.
"We gotta get her down!"
"No kidding."
"Alright then, there's no time to lose. Who's the best at climbing trees?"
"In the old country, Rolf would often climb trees to collect hanging fruits!"
"I got an A in gym class last year!"
"Ed got an A?" Eddy said, his voice full of surprise.
"Never question a good thing, Eddy." Said Edd. "All right, you two go get her down, and remember to free here arms and legs, and get that watermelon off if you can!"
"Climb time!" Ed and Rolf jumped on the tree and started to climb upwards. They took only a few second to reach Nazz, and Ed pulled the watermelon off as Rolf untied her limbs. When they were finished, they pulled the handkerchief off her mouth and started to carry her down. When they did, Nazz began spitting out as many comments as her brain had generated in the last hour.
"It's about time you guys found me! I was up there for ages! My hair is a disaster! It's gunna take me all night to clean this off! All my blood was slowly going to me head! It was unbelievably painful! I almost lost consciousness! Where the heck am I?"
"Nazz?" Edd said politely. "I'm terribly sorry for your most dreadful ordeal, but I need you to come with me to my house to ask you a few questions."
"What is this, CSI Peach Creek?" Nazz said sarcastically.
"At the moment, yes. Come on everyone. Let's go to my house."
"Ed, you comin'?" Eddy looked at Ed, who was staring at the piece of watermelon intently.
"You go." He said. "I'll… catch up."
"Suit yourself, Captain Gravy."
And that's when it happened. Even as Eddy walked back to the cul-de-sac, leaving Ed to that last thought, Ed's brain suddenly jumpstarted like never before. He put the watermelon under his arm and ran back to the cul-de-sac. He knew what he had to do.
Eddy opened the unlocked door to Edd's house and headed to the basement. Only one light was one, a desk lamp shining down on Nazz's head, but Eddy could still see that everyone else was already there. Edd was standing behind the desk with his hands on it, staring at Nazz intently.
"So, Nazz." Edd pushed himself off the table and began pacing back and forth. "Can you tell me exactly when you were kidnapped?"
"I think it was around 3:40."
"Intriguing." Edd scratched his chin, as if he had a beard, which he didn't. "Can you describe your kidnapper?"
"No, they just put the watermelon over my head."
"Do you recall anything after that?"
"Not much. They tied up my arms and legs and carried me to that tree and left me there. I heard them run back to the cul-de-sac."
"That rhymes!"
"Please, quiet, everyone. Did the kidnapper speak at all?"
"No, they never said anything. Although I think there were two over them."
"What makes you say that?" Edd stopped pacing and went back to leaning on the table.
"I don't know, I just do."
"All right then, I think we're done here."
Jimmy turned on a light, and everyone became visible again. Nazz got up out of the chair and took a seat along the wall with everyone else.
"All right then, we've got to figure out where everyone was between 3:30 and 4, and you need someone to confirm that they were there with you. You first, Rolf."
"Rolf was at home, tending to the field."
"Any vouchers?"
"Yeah, I saw him from my house when I was watching TV."
"All right, Kevin. Next, Sarah."
"Me and Jimmy were with you, Ed, and Eddy."
"Ok then. That leaves Kevin, Jonny, and the Kankors unconfirmed."
"Hey!" said Kevin abruptly. " I wouldn't do something like that!"
"That I can believe. Now, nobody saw Jonny, did they?"
Everyone shook their heads.
"Ok then." Edd continued. "And nobody saw the Kankors, did they?"
Nobody had.
"Right." Edd scratched his chin again. "That leaves us with four, five if you count Plank, three since the Kankors are always together, and two since Plank is a board. Dear me, this is all very peculiar. Well, I'm going to think it all over. Everyone else can go home."
The crowd piled out, except for Eddy, who decided to stay.
"Eddy, where's Ed?"
"I dunno. He stayed at the tree and said he'd catch up, but…"
"Eddy," Edd began worriedly "You don't think he would-"
"Of course not!" Eddy nearly shouted. "He wouldn't do something like that! Besides, He was with us since we left school."
"Sorry, Eddy." Edd looked at the ground. "I'm just a bit worried for him. It's not like him to just go off by himself like that."
"Hey." Eddy picked up Edd's drooping face. "He'll be alright, Double-D. Trust me."
Edd chuckled a little. "Trusting you isn't exactly the smartest thing someone could do."
Eddy glared at him a moment, then stopped. "Well, I'll see you later."
"Yeah." Said Edd. "See ya."
Ed leapt over the creek and charged through the woods. He burst out and soared over the fence and dived into the tiny window that led into his basement room. How he still fits is anyone's guess.
Ed jumped to his closet and began ripping out clothes older than the sandwich in his desk. Luckily, his mom had got shopping last week, so some stuff fit him still.
My home is threatened.
He pulled out a blindfold and some scissors and began cutting holes him them.
My friends are threatened.
He pulled out some old rags from elementary school and began to cut them to pieces.
My family is threatened.
He grabbed some superglue and carefully glued the cut-up rags onto a fairly new t-shirt.
The very fabric that holds our peaceful lives together is threatened.
He pulled the sheet right off his bed and put on the t-shirt as he did so.
This is my home.
He tied the blindfold around his face, cut just so so he could see through it, tied the bedsheet around his neck and stared at himself in his bathroom mirror.
I have to defend it.
He ran over to the window and climbed outside.
But myself alone is not enough.
He jumped onto the fence.
I must become…
He leapt up on a nearby tree and scanned the cul-de-sac.
Captain Gravy.
Author's Note: Man, that was a ride, wasn't it? This chapter was supposed to end at the obscure Home Alone reference, but I decided to at least reveal his name. You could call it really epic or really cheesy, to me it's kind of both. Well, remember to review!
