Chapter 6: Mind If I String You Along?
"Let me get this straight," Eddy began. "Not only will all the damage the imagin caused be repaired in the future, but everyone who was killed by him comes back to life too?"
"Pretty much." Hana said.
"That's convenient," Double D stated.
Everyone was seated on the DenLiner as it passed through the Sands of Time and back to the present.
"But what about the motorcycle and the Gouka?" He asked. "Where did they come from?"
"The motorcycle is a tool." The Conductor explained. "Every time train carries the equipment that their respected Masked Rider employs in their duty. The Gouka is a different case, however. Its existence is completely connected to Momotaros's link with Eddy as Den-O."
"Like toe jam?" Ed asked.
"Um, I don't think so Ed," Double D said, disgusted.
Eddy started rubbing his hands together in glee. "So I get my own bike? Sweet!"
"You're not old enough to drive, Eddy," Double D said. "Besides, it's not a toy. It's an important tool meant to help maintain the stability of our time-."
"Yeah, yeah, I know already. Way to be a downer, Double D."
"Not that this ain't interestin' and all, but I think I'll go polish my new bike," Momotaros said as he headed for the next car over.
"What'dya mean by 'your bike'? I'm Den-O, so the bike's mine!" Eddy said as he got in Momotaros's way.
"You heard sock-head, you can't drive. So the best thing would be for me to take the bike. It'd be a waste to let a ride like that rust away."
"You're as old as me, so you can't drive it either," Eddy said smugly.
"Maybe in human years, but not in imagin years."
"No such thing."
"How would you know?"
"Then prove it. How old are you in imagin years?"
"Let's see, I'm… Give me a sec."
Momotaros started counting on his fingers and calculating in his head. He mumbled to himself non-coherently as he struggled to come up with a number.
"Ya know what? I don't have to prove myself to you!" Momotaros said in a huff. "Get outta my way!" He tried pushing Eddy to the side, but Eddy pushed back and refused to move. Soon the two were wrestling on the floor and trying to break away to the desired prize.
Double D watched the fight in thought. "You know, it's been theorized that everyone has an identical twin somewhere. I think Eddy has found his."
"They are pretty alike, aren't they?" Hana stated. "Who do you think is the evil one?"
"In their case, it's quite difficult to say."
"Duck and weave, Eddy! Go for his lasagna!" Ed encouraged.
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After the weekend passed, the Eds found themselves back in school. Eddy managed to get detention after it was discovered that he placed laxatives in his English teacher's coffee. This forced the other two Eds to stay after school to wait for their friend. An hour and thirty minutes later, the students being held after school were finally set free. Eddy came charging out of the front doors before anyone else, eager to get home and start making as many scams as possible.
"That was completely immature, Eddy," Double D scolded. "You know that the teacher already has a weak bladder."
"Yeah, it was riot," Eddy said, grinning ear-to-ear. "I've never seen a middle-aged man move that fast."
"Boy, the principal sure was mad," Ed said. "That vein on his head stuck out like my belly button on meatloaf and gravy day."
"Totally worth it, Double D," Eddy said. "Let's head over to your house."
"Actually, I thought we could see the soccer game today. Jimmy's finally getting a chance to participate this season, and I think being there for support would be the right thing to do."
"Jimmy playing a sport? It's gonna be a train wreck! I gotta see this!"
The Eds headed off towards the field. Unbeknownst to them; a glowing orb of light was slowly following from high in the sky.
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Back on the DenLiner, Momotaros was in the middle of playing a videogame when he suddenly stopped and set his controller down.
"I just sensed something."
"What?" Hana asked nonchalantly.
"I think an imagin is close by."
"If there was one, the Eds would come here and tell us. You're probably just sensing yourself."
Momotaros shrugged and went back to his game. "Well, I do carry a pretty big presence around."
"With your height, you have to compensate somewhere." Hana mumbled.
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The Eds arrived in the middle of the game. The audience was made up of students and parents from the community. Even the cul-de-sac kids were seated near the bottom of the stands. The Eds made their way through the crowd of people to sit at the upper left corner of the bleachers.
Double D looked around. "I wonder if it wouldn't be more appropriate to sit with the rest of the cul-de-sac."
"Who cares?" Eddy said with a mouthful of popcorn. "We got some of the best seats out here."
"Go, Peach Creek!" Ed shouted while waving a flag with the school colors."
"Hey guys."
The Eds looked to the lower corner of the stands to see Edwin waving at them. "Can I come up?"
"You're more than welcome to," Double D said. Edwin made his way over and took a seat to the far left next to the railing.
"I wanted to talk to you three about the other day." Edwin said.
"About what?" Eddy spat briskly. "The fact ya decided to pretend I don't have a brother? Nice job with that, by the way. Jellyfish've shown more backbone , so ya had to have put some kinda effort into reach a whole new level of wuss."
Edwin flinched, but took the barb with downcasted acceptance. "Yeah... I admit I derserve that. What I wanna ask about is the incident back in the Milk Dipper."
The Eds instantly became tense as the image of Momotaros throwing Edwin through the air came back to their minds.
"I'm sure that it was all a misunderstanding," Double D tried to cover. "We were all a bit stressed out from, um, certain circumstances."
"Yeah, what he said," Eddy agreed.
"What was with the red electricity? Was that part of some kind of scam?"
"Exactly!" Eddy said quickly. "It was all part of a plan I made to, uh, scare the jocks away! Pretty smart, huh?
"Pretty convincing. I mean, the changed voice and the red streaks were a nice touch, but how did you do the whole glowing eyes? thing?"
"Uh…"
"And I didn't know you were strong enough to toss me around like that. You been working out or something?"
"Eddy's possessed by a time-traveling demon who wants to destroy the Earth!" Ed shouted.
A look of panic crossed Double D's face and Eddy looked ready to jump out of his seat to strangle Ed. The tension was broke when Edwin started laughing.
"Good one, Ed. I think you should give the comic books a rest, though. Those things can rot your brain."
Double D and Eddy gave a sigh of relief as they turned their attention to the game. It looked like Jimmy had the ball, and he was struggling with two members of the opposing team. He tried breaking to the left, but one of the opposing players cut him off and stole the ball from him, knocking him down in the process.
"Hey referee, you blind?! Pull a flag on that!" Sarah, who was with the cheerleaders, broke off into a tirade.
"That's the fourth time Fluffy got the ball stolen," Kevin said. "The coach is gonna have to bench him if it happens again."
"Go, boy Jimmy!" Rolf shouted encouragingly. "Show them what we Urban Rangers are made of!"
Jimmy got back up and ran after the player with the ball. He tried desperately to catch up, but before he could make a move, the ball was passed down the field. The rest of the Peach Creek team ran down the field after the ball, but Jimmy lagged behind.
"Boy, this is more painful to watch than a root canal, huh Plank?" Johnny said to his inanimate friend.
The opposing team made a goal, tying up the score. While Nazz led the cheerleaders out into a routine, the Eds and Edwin began to converse among themselves.
"Man, Jimmy stinks like Ed's hair on a rainy day," Eddy commented. "How the heck did he make it on the team in the first place?"
"I'm sure he must have some aptitude for the sport." Double D said. "He must be trying to find his pace, so to speak."
"He better find it fast. At this rate, he's gonna get parked back on the bench," Edwin said.
"You can do it, little buddy!" Ed called. "Find your happy place!"
The players got back into position and the game started back up. Jimmy headed up the field towards the goal and waited. When his team got the ball, they passed it to him to take the shot. Jimmy kicked the ball as hard as he could, and it went sailing through the air towards the goal. Everyone in the audience held their breath as the ball went soaring towards what looked like a scoring shot.
The ball bounced off of the goal post and went flying into the stands on the home side of the field. Not losing any of its velocity, it sailed straight into the upper left corner of the bleachers, exactly where the Eds were seated.
"Hit the deck!" Eddy shouted as he dove to the ground.
Ed and Edwin followed suit, but Double D was too frozen up to move. He watched in terror as the ball came straight for him.
"Oh my, pain."
Those were the only words Double D was able to get out before the ball impacted him full in the face and sent him tumbling over the back the bleachers.
Edwin, Ed, and Eddy jump down after Double D to see his crumpled form lying unconscious on the grass.
"Aw, he's sleeping, the little dickens," Ed cooed.
"He's knocked out, you idiot!" Eddy snapped. "Help me get him up!"
"We can take him to the infirmary." Edwin said. "Come on."
A crowd of people began to gather around the three boys as they carried their friend away to receive help. While a few people went after them to assist, the majority of the crowd turned back to the field. All eyes were on Jimmy, either to show pity, to laugh, or to show anger. A time-out was called, and both teams went back to their coaches.
The Peach Creek coach approached Jimmy and placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.
"Jimmy," he said with a sigh. "You did your best and put forth a good effort, but in order to break this tie, we need someone with more experience on the field."
"I understand," Jimmy mumbled with his head down.
With that, Jimmy took a seat on the bench as the rest of the team got back to the field. Along the way, many of his teammates either laughed at him or sent a scathing look.
"Why?" Jimmy asked himself. "Why does this always happen to me? I just wanted to be part of the team, why can't I even do that?"
Jimmy had his eyes cast to the ground the entire time as he stewed in his own misery. He was so preoccupied; he didn't notice the orb of light that flew down from the sky and into his body with a flash. Sand slowly fell out of his clothes at an unnoticeable rate.
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Edwin, Ed and Eddy were waiting in the school lobby for news about Double D's condition. They would have stayed in the infirmary with him, but due to certain past events involving Ed, the group was not allowed within a certain distance of the facility without the permission of a faculty member. The nurse present had them removed immediately.
Things stayed quiet for one whole hour as the three boys waited. Finally, Eddy decided to break the silence.
"Why are you still here, Edwin? You haven't hung out with us for a whole year, why start now?"
Edwin took a deep breath. "One reason, really; I missed hanging out with you guys, ya know? You three were my best friends so I just wanted to catch up with you, that's all."
Eddy scowled at him for an extended time before finally leaning back against the wall with a tired sigh. "Look... ya really stabbed a dagger in our backs when you decided not to stand with us. We needed to look out for each other back then, and you failed the test big time, buddy."
"I know." Edwin dropped his gaze to the ground and smiled with a sort of sadness, the kind of sadness born from accepting a shameful regret. "Things have been downhill since then for all us. You, me, Ed, Double D; all of us. I just want you to know that I really am sorry. Sorry for everything. If I could do it all over again, I would. I would totally stand with you guys and say that your brother existed, honest."
Eddy remained stone-faced and unmoved.
Edwin raised his head back up to stare Eddy sincerely right in the eye. "I can't begin to imagine the kind of hell you guys went through trying to defend the truth, and I won't pretend to try. If this is going to be the last time we speak to each other, I'd just like to say that... not a day went by that I didn't pray that your brother came back. My sister can't remember him, but I can tell she feels him missing. Sure she smiles, but never with the same spark that she did when she was with Crispin... she still loves him."
Slumping his shoulders, Edwin turned to leave.
"...Chris."
Edwin stopped to look back, puzzled. "Huh?"
"It's Chirs. My bro never liked for family to call him by his full name," Eddy said. "He told ya that when he and Tiffanny announced their engagement at the Christmas party."
Edwin couldn't help but smile at the memory. "Yeah, I can still remember that night. I don't think I've ever seen my parents happier. Our moms were already planning out the wedding five minutes later."
Eddy chuckled. "And you remember how our dads arm wrestled each other to see who's name would be used for Tiff and bro's first born son?"
"And remember how I swung around from the Christmas Tree?" Ed joined in. "That was a wild night!"
"Point is, we're glad to know you never really left, Edwin." Eddy got up and walked out to the boy with hand extended. "It'd be pretty stupid to just blow off one of the only people who don't have amnesia or whatever the heck is wrong with everybody. Just... have a little more faith next time, capisci?"
Edwin had to rub his eyes to stop a few prematurely developed tears from spilling out, then took Eddy's hand in a shake. "I will, I swear I will... So this means we're good again?"
Eddy pulled back with a dry chortle and devious smirk. "Ha! You wish it would be that easy! The way I see it, you've got an entire year of catching' up to do. Until then, your gonna work twice as hard as the rest of us whenever I come up with a new scam. And don't get me started on the beatings; you're gonna be covering a lot of those for us. You got your work cut for ya!"
Edwin's smile faltered a bit at the news, but he still nodded in agreement.
"Yay, Edwin's back!" Ed shouted happily. "Buttered toast all around!"
"Maybe later, Ed," Edwin said. "Double D must have been hit pretty hard to be out of it this long. I hope it's nothing serious."
"You've really been outta the loop." Eddy said with a chuckle. "We've gone through worse stuff, and most of that involved Sarah. Wait till you meet back up with Rolf and Kevin, you'll see what I mean."
"Don't forget the lovey-dovey horrors of the Kanker Sisters." Ed said in a dramatic voice.
"Wow, I've heard rumors about them." Edwin said with a shudder "They aren't really as bad as every one says... right?"
"I repeat," Eddy stated,"you've really been outta the loop."
The nurse from the infirmary walked down the hallway and stopped when she reached the boys. She looked at the group with a surprised expression.
"Why are you three still here?"
"What'dya mean 'why are we still here?!" Eddy shouted exasperatedly. "We're waiting for you to tell us if Double D's alright!"
The nurse blinked in confusion. "He's just fine. He left an hour ago after telling me that he would meet back up with you three."
The boys exchanged puzzled glances.
"Are you sure he was okay?" Edwin asked. "Maybe he's thinking unclearly."
The nurse shook her head. "No, he was perfectly fine. He was charming and a complete gentleman. Poor boy, he's going through so much right now."
"Like what?" Eddy asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I can't believe you; you're supposed to be one of his closest friends." The nurse scolded. "How could you not know about his uncle dying recently? That sensitive lad poured his heart out to me on the matter."
"What? Double D wouldn't keep something like that to himself," Eddy said. "Something's definitely up."
"Are there any more places open here?" Edwin asked.
"Why yes, I believe that the gymnasium is still open," The nurse said. "After the soccer game, the cheerleaders went back there to go through their usual cool-down exercises."
"Come on, let's go," Eddy got up and hurried off to the gym. Ed and Edwin followed close behind.
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When they made it to the gym doors, they heard a muffled voice followed by the sound of the cheerleaders giggling in chorus.
"Doesn't sound like much," Edwin said.
"Maybe Double D's is being controlled by Psychic Snails from the Forbidden Swamp, like in the movies," Ed said.
"Ed, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Eddy pushed open the gym door to see Double D laid back on the bleachers with the entire cheer squad fawning over him.
"Then again, you might be on to something. What the heck is your problem, sock-head! Do you know how long we've been waitin' on ya?!"
Double D said something to the girls that made them give out a collective groan of displeasure before getting up and making his way towards the group.
"Don't take too long, Double D," Nazz called flirtatiously.
Double D turned back and sent a wink that caused every girl in the room to sigh longingly.
"What the heck?" Eddy said. "When did you become Casanova?"
Now that Double D was close enough, the entire group could see the change his features had undergone. His brown eyes had become electric blue and glowed eerily. His ski cap was replaced by a black beret with a blue stripe down the center, and the hair that was visible underneath had been slicked back in a professional manner. A few locks of his hair were streaked the same blue as the stripe on his hat.
"It's simple when you know how to talk." Double D spoke in a smooth and charming voice that was not his own. "Behind each word are one-hundred hooks. One-thousand fabrications, ten-thousand lies: a net of deceit. If you're okay with that, then I ask that you excuse me. These girls wish for me to string them along."
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"I knew it!"Momotaros declared as he flew up from his seat. He shouted loud enough to gain everyone's attention.
"What is it now?" Hana said tiredly. "You sense another non-existent imagin?"
"For your information, there really is an imagin, and it's staring Eddy right in the face," Momotaros said matter-of-factly.
"Oh my gosh!" Hana exclaimed. "Has it possessed anyone yet?"
"Yeah, that sock-headed kid! It's using him like a meat puppet right now!"
A shocking discovery with unanswered questions. What will the group do next? What will happen to Jimmy? Find out next chapter. Thank you for reading, and review please.