Chapter 2: Dr. Vinmill's Flying Circus
"Hey Double d?" Ed asked. He pointed to a letter in a book he picked up. "What does this mean?"
"I don't know Ed I can't read Japanese," Double d responded defeated. "A whole library of graphic novels, all this space for tomes of forgotten lore and scientific quandary, and it's filled with inked pictures in a language I don't understand."
"What possessed my brother to do this?" Eddy added on his anger seeping in every word. "He may be a jerk but he's cooler than this!"
"These are cool!" Ed stated high up in the shelf.
"How would you know monobrow?" Eddy remarked. "You can't read them either!"
"I can learn to read," Ed defended.
"You can barely read English!" Eddy said angrily.
"Eddy calm down," Double d intervened. "I'm sure your brother had some reason to keep these, maybe for a future scam that didn't come through perhaps."
Eddy thought and then decided to drop the matter. "Future scam or not, the key must be in here and the sooner I get to the spot in the tunnels the sooner I can use this for well deserved blackmail."
"That spot means a lot doesn't it?" Double d questioned.
"It'll mean more when it's gone," Eddy replied before switching to the outlier of the group. "ED DID YOU FIND IT!"
"I don't think he hears you Eddy, I think we lost him to the graphic novels," Double d said pointing to the zoned out Ed-boy who was swinging in the shelf reading a book which was upside down.
"What a lump," Eddy grumbled. "Alright Double d you help." Eddy started climbing a bookshelf when he reached a shelf he proceeded to toss books out. Double d's eyes grew in fright.
"Eddy! Comics or not the books don't deserve to get tossed to the floor like discarded tissues!" He said scrambling to grasp books as they fell. The last book in the fury kamikaze plunged onto Double d's head knocking him down. "Wha-what is this?" he asked groggily a few seconds later.
The red leather-bound book was an encyclopedia on further observation but its contents were stuck behind the same language barrier that the rest of the books shared; the exception being the title which was sprawled out in golden italics on the books spine. "The Crimson Codex?" Double d read
"That's a bible for a group of cultists it is," A voice responded startling the two who stopped throwing books because of exhaustion.
The voice belonged to a man that the two Eds first confused for Rolf. He was a tall thin tan-skinned man in his mid-twenties with long black hair under a sunhat. He wore a striped blue and black robe with a red shirt and patchwork shorts. On his feet were sandals which appeared to be made of rope. The man looked like he was a farmer for a rice plantation. Despite his rugged appearance he had a clean shaven face with orange eyes and a warm smile. He stood in the hanger relaxed watching the faces of Eddy and Double d's come out of their confused states.
"W-Who are you?" Double d asked.
"You know who I am," The man answered.
"Hey wait aren't you that new owner of the candy store?" Eddy asked the man. "What are you doing in here?" Sarah and Jimmy walked out from behind the owner.
"Sarah is it? And Jimmy?" The man asked looking to each side for acknowledgement. "They told me to find you three in here."
"You ease-dropping little-," Eddy snarled. Sarah and her charge stuck their tongues out in response.
"It's a pleasure to uh meet you," Double d said trying to be hospitable. "My name is Edd with two D's but friends call me Double D. The one up there on the shelf is Ed with one D. He may not respond right now."
"He's my idiot brother," Sarah added.
"Who asked you twerp?" Eddy responded.
"Eddy please don't call people names, it creates a bad first impression," Edd reprimanded. "Now please introduce yourself."
"Fine geez you're worse than my mother," Eddy grumbled then started with a smirk. "The name's Eddy. Let's talk some business about your new ownership of the candy store mainly the jawbreaker section. Mr.?"
"Doctor Vinmill," the man answered.
"Oh you're a doctor? Under what practice do you specialize in?" Double d asked wearily.
"Practice? Oh no no, Doctor is my first name, I'm not a medical practitioner," Vinmill said embarrassed. "Sorry for the confusion."
"Ok?" Eddy said before turning to Double d and whispered, "Who names their son Doctor."
"Please be nice he's new to the neighborhood," Double d whispered back frustrated. "Maybe he may even give us jawbreakers if we are on our best behavior since you brought up the subject."
"You think?" Eddy asked a smirk on his face. They faced forward only to find that Vinmill disappeared along with Sarah and Jimmy. They also noticed that Ed wasn't in his perch either.
"Hey look Sarah, Doctor and Ed are going to fight," Jimmy said happily.
"My bids are on the new guy!" Sarah added.
"Noble Grasshopper you have learned the ways of the sword well!" They heard Vinmill exclaim. Eddy looked back into the aisle.
"Double d look at this," Eddy said. In the aisle stood Ed and Vinmill all decked out in green and black colored plate armor and caged face guards carrying huge wooden sticks wove together into makeshift swords. Sarah and Jimmy sat at a table overseeing the stand-off wearing matching pink kimonos with purple floral print. Sarah's auburn hair was wrapped into a bun by two magenta hairclips and was carrying a white fan.
"Now it's time for infinite judgment PREPARE APRENTICE!" Vinmill charged at Ed with his stick raised high.
"HAI! VINMILL-SENPAI!" Ed yelled as he blocked the downward slash. The impact caused some of the nearby shelves to shake.
"Oh good lord what are they doing?" Double d asked in bewilderment.
"Out of the way Geishas!" Eddy commanded as he jumped in between the two younger kids.
"Get your own seat!" Sarah commanded punching Eddy into a bookshelf behind the table.
Vinmill gave Ed an all-out assault with 5 swipes at different angles. Ed countered all and rammed Vinmill back. Vinmill retaliated by swiping at Ed's foot which was parried and sent the 'blade' into a bookshelf, the force of the impact created a hole in the hard oak. Ed tried to swipe at Vinmill but he leapfrogged over Ed's back and catapulted over the bookshelf into the blast zone. Vinmill recovered his weapon just in time to stop a downward strike that pierced the bookshelf. He locked Ed's sword, grabbed his arm and heaved Ed into another bookshelf causing it to topple over. Through the dust Ed could see a white flag over yonder in the middle of the hanger. In an effort to lose Vinmill, Ed started wall jumping across the bookshelves eventually running on top of the shelves while making leaps of fate across the aisles. All was well until he saw the shelf he was jumping to drop way to a smiling Vinmill waiting for him. Ed pulled his stick downward his opponent's head. He rolled to his left and Ed landed causing a plume of dust to kick up. Vinmill charged into the plume and began swiping at Ed. Ed moved backwards to the flag and when he parried a left slash he grabbed the flag. Vinmill broke off from the fight and stepped back.
"You are now worthy of the lotus edge," Vinmill said with a grin.
"Hooray! Thanks Vinmill-sensei!" Ed said making a V with his first two fingers.
"Ok what was all that about!" Double d yelled.
"SPAR-PARTY!" Ed and Vinmill cheered.
"OK I'm outta here," Eddy said walking to the vault door.
"Wait Eddy, Vinmill wants to show you something!" Ed said happily.
"I don't want to have a spar-party Doc," Eddy said turning around. Vinmill was holding a green stone the shape of an eight-pointed star. Eddy grew wide-eyed, "My brother's key!"
"And as a consolation prize for our meeting, I will give you all the jawbreakers you need," Vinmill said with a smile that told them he was serious.
"What? REALLY?" The Ed's said all together.
"I…I don't know what to say," Double d said awestruck.
"No need to thank me, you need it more than I do," Vinmill said.
"Well all I have to say is welcome to the neighborhood," Eddy said grinning. He turned and ran a beeline to the exit.
"Thank you, thank you," Double d said following behind.
"Jawbreaker from Doc! Happy day for Ed!" Ed laughed as he drilled into the vault door.
When Ed disappeared back topside a cell phone rang in Vinmill's pocket. He reached in and turned on the speaker.
"Hello! This is Dr. Vinmill!" He exclaimed.
"It's me how's the status," A gruff man's voice crackled on the other end.
"About what, the catacombs or the above ground," Vinmill answered.
"Quit f*cking around, you know what I mean," the man clarified.
"Rude much? We have 1 known intruder but it appears that she's not harming the operation or the world integrity," Vinmill said reading the layout on the phone's screen. "The intruder is android upon perception so even if she decides to play manipulator her disposal will have little impact on my conscious."
"Very well, what about you and the pawns you collected?" the man asked.
"The Kankers are on stand-by and the Ed's will move to the target at night, everyone else will follow suit," Vinmill responded with indifference.
"Almost too easy," the man laughed and the call ended.
Vinmill sighed and buried the cell phone back in his shirt. "Sorry friends, I hope you get your gift before night fall."