Disclaimer: Ed, Edd N Eddy and all its characters are copyright AKA Cartoon. I am not using them for profit; I am simply using them to practice my own writing skills….
Author: Another Ed chapter! There are five-six chapters of this story left. Wow… And the story's only about three years old, haha.
Note: SR-ComLink-WWs are brought back from chapter 7….
Beta Reader: Colton M. H.
Thank you!
Chapter Twenty-one - Nebulon, Headquarters of the Space Rangers
"A missile!" TargonTroi said what everyone else was thinking. And with that phrase, everyone (except Ed, still staring wide-eyed at the approaching weapon) ran to one of the monitors. "How fast is it coming?"
"It should be here in-" Skuashi quickly calculated the answer in his head- "five seconds!"
Kevin cursed. "Brace yourself!"
Three seconds later, three meters away, the missile exploded. It seemed to have run into a transparent wall-a shield, Ed quickly realized. Nonetheless, the impact of the missile upon the shield caused Ed to fall over.
"I told you to brace yourself," Kevin muttered. "I haven't been able to upgrade the shield system yet."
Ed turned around, eyes sparkling. "Cool! A shield! Just like in the Spikoo Chronicles, when-"
There's nothing cool about this, Kevin thought, eye twitching as the Ed-boy rambled on. Nobody can be this dumb or naïve. He must be faking it.
"The Kankers are sending a communication message," Saraline reported, staring at the flashing monitor before her. Out of habit, she asked Ed, "Sir, do I have permission to answer?"
"Cool! Answer!" Ed said, running (or, rather, hopping) up next to her. He put on a formal face. "I'm going to practice acting, just like Spikoo did."
"Wait, wha-?" But it was too late; Saraline had pressed the button allowing the communication link to occur.
The disturbing faces of the Kankers appeared on screen. An unnatural orange light glowed, seemingly from the floors of their ship; it conflicted with their greenish skin, making them look even scarier and uglier then usual. Ed noticed that each of the Kankers were completely unharmed. "Hey," he said (forgetting that he was supposed to be acting) before the three Kanker leaders could make a threatening remark. "Didn't Kevin blind you with poison, Lee?"
Lee-der-dum's face twisted in rage. "It is LEE-DER-DUM! I AM NOT LEE! And I was going to offer you a chance to survive if you gave us the EdCrystal. But now I'm refusing to accept a peaceful surrender-"
The "petite" of the Kankers, Marie-mop-plop, scowled. "Lee-der-dum! Peaceful surrender would be awesome! Shut up! We're still offering a peaceful surrender. We'll let you live if you give us the EdCrystal."
"Never!" Ed yelled valiantly, much to the other Space Ranger's relief. For a moment, they feared that he would have said something else to give the Kankers an advantage. Or, in Kevin's mind, that he'd simply just hand the crystal over….
"Okay then," Lee-der-dum said darkly, pushing Marie-mop-plop and May-toe-jam out of her way. "Prepare to die."
The communication link shut down. Skuashi gasped and, swinging to another monitor, upped the power of the shield around them. TargonTroi turned the weapon system online and Saraline started scanning to see what the Kankers were throwing at them.
"Seven missiles are heading our way!" Saraline yelled. "Everyone head to battle stations!"
TargonTroi pressed a button and the transparent wall in front of Ed started to change form. Outside of the ship, five "cannons" appeared. The inside morphed so that, although there was still a transparent wall, there were also simpler monitors for aiming and targeting the "cannons." King Johnny and Kevin rushed to two of these stations. After getting a scolding glance from Kevin, Ed rushed to the third.
Upon looking at the controls, Ed realized it wasn't a "cannon." It was a Gigantic Space Blaster of Doom, of a GSBOD, straight from the Star Walk Golden Comics, one of the many alternate universe versions of the Star Walk series. Ed already knew the controls by heart. It was as easy to remember as… gravy.
Between the time it took for TargonTroi to say the GSBODs were loaded and for King Johnny and Kevin to aim, Ed shot down three of the approaching lasers. By the time King Johnny and Kevin had shot down one each, Ed had stopped five.
By now, the Kanker's ship was only one mile away. The ship was enormous… and firing another attack, this time from its own GSBODs.
Ed squinted; the part of the Kanker ship that was facing them had a transparent window apparently showing into the captain's lounge. He could see Lee-der-dum yelling orders, though he couldn't see who was receiving them. (The other Kankers, perhaps?)
"You guys, aim for their Weapon System!" Saraline yelled, looking at the monitor. "It's the place where their shield is weakest!"
Ed turned around. "Where is their Weapon System?"
Kevin and King Johnny were already aiming. However, they were not as quick as Ed; by the time it took them to press the fire button, the Kanker's laser blast had already reached Kevin's ship.
"The Weapon System-" Saraline tried to explain, but the sound of the explosion overpowered her voice.
All of the GSBODs, except for one, were destroyed. Kevin and King Johnny rushed to the only unharmed GSBOD, followed by Ed.
Skuashi yelped, "The shields are only at 10 percent power!"
Saraline turned around to look at TargonTroi. He turned around too, an expression of dread filling his face. "The remaining GSBOD is offline, and there aren't any missiles in the Missile Launcher. Kevin, it is common protocol to always have at least three missiles in your Missile Launcher!"
Kevin, who was glaring suspiciously at Ed, didn't hear the chastisement. He was wondering how someone who had supposedly come from a technologically backward universe was so good at firing a GSBOD. He wouldn't have given the true answer anyway; he had wasted all his missiles while playing a game of Ship vs. Ship with another highly-ranked Space Ranger. Not exactly an answer you'd give to some of the highest members of your government…
"What are we going to do?" King Johnny said, glaring at the broken GSBOD monitor.
The Kanker ship was preparing a large attack, it seemed; their tiny GSBODs were merging into a large one. Saraline watched this and gasped. "I've got an idea. We can use the experimental Magic Beam move!"
"Wait, what?" Skuashi and TargonTroi asked in unison.
Kevin and Johnny turned around in unison. "Are you crazy?" they asked angrily/in shock (respectively.)
Saraline pretended she couldn't hear them. She walked slowly, but bouncily, as only a half-young/half-old person could. She placed her hand on the GSBOD. Ed watched in awe (well the others watched in surprise and horror) as Saraline started glowing. Suddenly, a small beam of light emerged from the GSBOD, hitting against the Kanker's shield. It was pure white; a pure magic beam!
On the captain's lounge, he could see the Kankers stop, stare at the beam, then burst into laughter… almost in unison.
"Help me!" Saraline said almost coldly.
Kevin sighed. "Well, better then standing around here and dieing." He, too, put his hand on the monitor and focused. The beam grew a little larger.
Meanwhile the giant GSBOD on the Kanker ship was beginning to glow a menacing shade of red.
"Stop it, you guys!" Skuashi yelled. "The ship can't handle this surge of magical energy! You'll short-circuit the computers if you keep doing this!"
King Johnny squinted. "Look! Is the shield weakening?"
"Probably not-" TargonTroi began.
"It is!" Johnny cried out eagerly. With a wave of his hand, his Doritorium staff disappeared. He put all his energy into the monitor, too. The white magic beam grew larger and brighter; Ed, too, could see the Kanker's shield weakening.
TargonTroi sighed. "It appears the shield is growing weaker. We must do everything in our power to stop the Kankers, and this is apparently the only thing we can do..."
He got up and joined them.
Ed turned to Skuashi. "Why don't you join them?"
"Er, um," Skuashi looked around the room- anywhere but Ed. "I, er…I don't have magic! That's it. I don't have magic."
The Kankers were still laughing aboard their own ship; May-toe-jam suddenly turned around and suggested something to the others. The others laughed; Lee-der-dum apparently pressed a button.
The shields around the Kanker's ship disappeared. "By Plank, they're mocking us!" King Johnny yelled as the giant magic beam hit the side of the ship, hardly damaging it at all.
Skuashi sighed reluctantly. "If only you remembered how to use your magic, Ed."
Ed blinked. "If only Gravyman where here to save us!"
Blinking slightly, the penguinish fellow turned around to ask Ed what the heck a Gravyman was. He paused when he saw the sight of Ed. Ed was glowing. In fact… he was glowing very, very brightly. "Ed!" Skuashi cried happily. "Your magic is working!"
"It is?" Ed cried, looking down at his glowing hands. White dots of energy moved up and down his arms and legs, somewhat like the larva from Mutant Insect Babies 2… had the larva been made of pure energy. "COOOOLLL!"
"Help them, Ed!" Skuashi said, suddenly turning to the monitor.
"Okie-dokie!" Ed nodded. He ran wildly towards the GSBOD monitor, almost knocking Kevin and King Johnny out of the way.
The second he placed his hand on the monitor, the energy beam stopped. Then a giant explosion seemed to emerge from their GSBOD; the entire Kanker ship was surrounded by a huge cloud of magical energy!
Skuashi looked at one of the various larger, permanent monitors and gasped. "That blast was off the chart! That was enough magical energy to DESTROY an entire PLANET! And our ship wasn't even harmed! Wow!"
At this, the Space Rangers turned away from the monitor, gasping for breath as they regained their magic. Then, at once, they started cheering. Even Kevin smiled; certainly, if Ed had helped them destroy the Kanker's main ship, then he was on their side-
A familiar noise filled the air. Everyone turned towards the largest monitor in the center of the ship… the ones that the Kankers had communicated to them with. Reluctantly, Saraline walked up to it. "They're sending… a communication link request… the… Kankers…"
Kevin, Johnny, TargonTroi, Ed and Skuashi turned around. Only Saraline continued to stare at the monitor.
The cloud of white magic had faded away. And the Kanker ship wasn't harmed at all. Ed almost started screaming. Instead, he turned around and said, "Accept the communication link."
No one moved; they continued to stare, as if expecting the ship to implode in any second. It had to. It just had to…. Only Saraline moved, pressing a button on the monitor. Seconds later, the Kankers appeared on screen. Ed glared determinedly at them.
They glared back.
Ed glared at them, unmoving. They glared back, unmoving. Ed continued to glare, his face not moving. Finally, Lee-der-dum moved. "Aren't you going to SAY SOMETHING?"
"What is your secret, evil Siblings from the bowels of Hades?" Ed yelled.
The three Kankers responded at once. Two snapped that they were, in fact, from the planet of Kanker, not the bowels of Hades.
May-toe-jam, however, had something more informative to say. "Your silly attack can't defeat US! Our weapon is almost as strong as the EdCrystal. It even cured Lee-der-dum's eyes-"
Screaming, the other two Kankers jumped on her, yelling at her to shut up. Everyone on Ed's ship turned around and started speaking at once. Only Ed continued to stare determinedly at the screen.
In anger, Lee-der-dum slammed on the keyboard. "May-toe-jam, you IDIOT! We've lost the advantage of surprise!" She slammed at the keyboard again; the movement happened to turn off the communication link. Nonetheless, Ed stared determinedly at the screen; he had read of the technique in a comic book. Staring a good guy down would get them to confess to anything… and he figured the reverse was true, too. It was, apparently.
"What on Plankstar did they mean?" King Johnny muttered. "A weapon almost as strong as the EdCrystal?"
"They're bluffing," TargonTroi said. "It's probably not that powerful. They said it was almost as strong, and they've lied in the past. It has to be a scare tactic."
Saraline continued to sit at the monitor, staring blankly. Skuashi stared hopelessly at another monitor, entering information in. Ed stared, unwavering, at Saraline's monitor, as if the Kankers could still see him. Kevin continued to stare suspiciously at the Kanker ship; the white glow hadn't completely faded yet, but he could see-
-the beam of energy that the Kankers had intended to attack them with had grown considerably. Kevin realized that they were prepared to fire. Cursing, he ran to the only one of the three monitors unoccupied- the one that, fortunately, also controlled steering.
King Johnny and TargonTroi were unaware of this. They continued their argument. "But we sent a blast of pure magic at them that could destroy an entire planet!" Johnny cried out in frustration. "They have to have a magical weapon of some sort-"
Their argument was cut off. Johnny, TargonTroi and Ed- the only three who weren't sitting down- were thrown across the ship as Kevin made a sharp turn. The turn just narrowly avoided the blood-red blast the Kankers sent.
Skuashi analyzed the blast. "That was powerful enough to destroy a planet too…"
"Raw energy powerful enough to destroy a planet?" King Johnny muttered, easily standing up. TargonTroi was up, too, but Ed was too dizzy to stand up for any length longer then a second. (In other words, he kept falling down.)
Johnny continued his thought, staring warily at the slipping Space Ranger. "Sounds almost as powerful as the EdCrystal to me!"
Saraline suddenly stood up. "We need to get the Kanker ship away from Nebulon. If they can destroy entire planets, then they could easily destroy the Headquarters… Skuashi, do you have a teleporter ready?"
Skuashi looked up urgently. Almost out of nowhere, he produced a teleporter. "What coordinates?"
"A no-teleportation zone. One that can be teleported into, but not out of," Saraline responded.
"The only one within range," Skuashi responded immediately, "isn't very far from here. It would take the Kankers three days to fly out of the zone, and then they could probably teleport to Nebulon…"
"Three days?" Saraline sighed. "Well, we need any advantage we can get right now…"
Skuashi tossed her the teleporter. Ed decided he would stand up another time. Instead, he watched with interest as Saraline turned the teleporter into a purple beam of light. She walked up to the GSBOD and sent the beam of light at the Kankers' ship. In a blast of purple energy, it disappeared. "Cool," Ed said for the thousandth time, suddenly standing up energetically. (He seemed to have finally found his legs; he wasn't falling anymore.)
Kevin suddenly stood up. "We're about three seconds away from Nebulon."
As if on cue, the ship stopped in front of a giant planet. The planet was illuminated with giant lights, causing it to almost glow green. Ed could see, even from a distance, the gigantic buildings. He looked around and saw many other Space Ranger ships heading onto the planet.
"Sit down," Kevin instructed everyone. King Johnny and TargonTroi sat down at the comfortable 'waterchairs' this time. Ed stared blankly before realizing, he, too, was supposed to sit down… and he did.
The trip into a planet's atmosphere, Ed learned, was far less pleasant then the trip out. When the ship landed, he almost ran out the door, eager to see ground again- and not just any ground, but the ground of the Space Rangers headquarters! However, Skuashi prevented him from heading any farther then the door. "According to Space Rangers Transportation Guide, page 22, section 1A, paragraph 3, there is a special order to line up in if you happen to be teleporting Ed or other royalty."
Seconds later, they were in that special order. Kevin and TargonTroi were lined up in front. King Johnny and Ed made up the middle. Skuashi and Saraline made up the rear; again, this formation was used to protect royalty from a rear attack.
The second the door opened, Ed could hear many, many people talking at once. Apparently, many, many people were in Nebulon's parking lot- er, landing zone. Ed could hear what some were saying:
"A major fight-"
"Enough positive energy to destroy a planet… but far more worrisome, enough negative energy to destroy a planet!"
"Is there a war-"
"All the teleportation devices in the galaxy are down!"
"-only temporarily. They're working on a fix right now."
Finally, it was Ed's turn to step outside; he looked at his surroundings in amazement. Thousands of spaceships sat around them, apparently atop a metallic structure. There seemed to be at least double the amount of Space Rangers talking excitedly among themselves. However, one of them spotted Ed; a moment later, everyone had heard of Ed's arrival and had fallen silent.
Kevin mumbled, "Let's head to-"
He was interrupted. Ed knew that the world of Plankstar was in danger, and the Earth was too. So he got straight to the point. Ever so charismatically, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "THE KANKERS ARE ATTACKING! WE NEED REINFORCEMENTS OR THE APOCALYPSE WILL COME!"
His companions sighed/slapped their selves on the forehead/glared suspiciously at him. They could almost hear the Space Ranger's heartbeats double; however, they had been trained intensely not to panic. That was the only thing that prevented them from running in circles and grabbing guns and heading (in a most unorganized way) to the planet Kanker that very moment. It was rare to find a Space Ranger that had not lost a friend or relative in the first Kanker Rebellion; many wanted to avenge their lost loved ones. And this would be the perfect opportunity; besides, attacking at that moment would protect anymore loved ones from dieing….
"Stay here," Kevin said, eyeing the Space Rangers suspiciously. The last thing they needed right now was a massive panic. "And, by Ed's orders, don't move."
They didn't. Scowling, Kevin continued walking; Ed stared around at the many alien species and fancy uniforms in wonder. His group quickly left the parking lot, and Ed took time to gape at the enormous orange sky, dotted with many landing and leaving spacecraft. When the sky grew boring, he smiled eagerly at the many high tech buildings around them. It looked just like the buildings from that horror movie—
Ed's thoughts trailed off when he realized he had no clue where they were going. So he asked Kevin.
Kevin didn't respond; that question was beneath him. He knew this fellow wasn't from another universe, and he wasn't going to answer his fake stupid questions. TargonTroi turned around to answer; "The Military Headquarters."
"Cool."
