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: We're nearing the end! Chapter 25 and 26 were originally one chapter. I split it up for dramatic purposes. After Chapter 26, there will only be one battle left in the Ed arc…
Chapter Twenty-five: The Lost Ones, Part 1
She was slightly older, a young teenager- but she was definitely Sarah. She looked very similar to the Sarah from his universe. Jimmy, however, was a ridiculously buff young teenager: his muscles bulged like a professional weightlifter's. He also lacked his characteristic dental wear. He looked… well… as threatening as a person like Jimmy could possibly look.
"That was pathetic," Jimmy said with a grin. "You actually let someone sneak up on you from behind."
"Not a surprise though," Sarah said stoically. "Because you are not my brother. You're an imposter."
Ed panicked. "How do you know that?! Are you brain vampires?!"
The teenage girl rolled her eyes. "I'm older then this entire universe. I can tell the difference between my brother and an imposter." Then her eyes returned to a more serious expression, narrowing darkly. "You share a body with my brother, but you do not come from this universe."
"If you were the real Ed, you wouldn't have been using a Blaster in a war scene," Jimmy said, flexing his arm. A Blaster magically appeared, and he crushed it between the palms of his hands. Ed gulped nervously. "You would have been using the EdCrystal."
"I can't use the EdCrystal… so I guess you'll let me go?" Ed said. Subconsciously, he realized that because he was wearing the EdCrystal on his suit, they could have snatched it away from him. And he couldn't stop them- after all, he wasn't the 'real' Ed. And it would be really, really bad if they took the crystal… far worse then when Sarah told his mother when he did something wrong that onetime…
"Sure you can," Sarah and Jimmy said in unison.
"You are an Ed from a parallel universe," Sarah said calmly. "Your souls are built from the same mold. In your home universe, your only magical power was intense stupidity. After all, your home universe is made completely of matter- no anti-matter or magic-matter." Jimmy shook his head in haughty disbelief. "In this universe, you can use the EdCrystal to its fullest extent. All you lack is the knowledge." She quickly looked up and down at Ed. "And the ability to attain this knowledge."
"How do you know all this? Are you a psychic, like in-"
"If you make another comic book reference, your head will look like that Blaster," Jimmy growled, pointing at the crushed weapon on the floor.
Ed silenced.
"I put a Magical Eye spell on my brother's soul…" Sarah counted her fingers, absentmindedly- "…about four centuries ago. When my brother's soul crossed dimensions, I saw everything that he did and learned everything he learned in his universe." She paused. "Your universe sucks, by the way. Anyway… Give me the EdCrystal."
"Why do you want it?" Ed asked, trying very hard to avoid making a comic book reference. After all, he had read the entire Magical Eye series- all 300 comics… Instead, he posed boldly. "And why are you wearing the evil cursed uniform of the Kanker Alliance?! And how're you alive?! Everyone says you're dead!"
"Are you still in a talking mood, ma'am?" Jimmy asked Sarah politely.
Sarah nodded briskly. "He's so stupid, I have to tell him. He can't figure it out on his own." She turned around, eyeing the wall of weapons. "I'm certain they have told you about the first Kankerian war." She smiled whimsically. "Ah, good old Squashi-the-unstable… TargonTroi, that crazy old alien… stupid old Transformer Saraline…"
Weird. Ed couldn't figure out if the words were meant to be kind or hateful.
Returning to the conversation, she turned back to Ed. "Those three idiots must have told you that the Kankers kidnapped and killed Jimmy and I."
Ed nodded. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a mist filling the room. He was feeling ever-so-slightly dizzy.
"Well," Sarah said, a crueler smile crossing her face. "They captured us, all right. But they didn't kill us. They knocked us out, and when we awoke on their home world, they taught us the truth."
Jimmy nodded in agreement. Ed blinked. "The truth? That a spider is more likely to make you a mutant then-" Jimmy shot him a glance and he silenced.
"That the Space Rangers are corrupt, and my brother Ed is evil." Sarah smirked. "That's how I'm still alive. Why I'm wearing this grand uniform, as opposed to your stupid one? Why I want to EdCrystal? I'm working with the Kankers, of course. I'm just going to take that crystal and eradicate the universe of Ed's dictatorship."
Jimmy nodded. "Hey, wait a minute, Sarah…"
"I know what you're thinking, Jimmy." Sarah smirked. Jimmy smirked a familiar smirk… They had planned this dialogue, Ed realized. And now they were swaying back and forth, in that oddly comforting mist. Or was he the one swaying back and forth in the gentle breeze? "I can use the EdCrystal… But just barely." She stepped closer to Ed, who instinctively stepped- or rather, stumbled- back. "You may be an idiot, but you can use it to its full power. You may share a soul-mold with my evil brother, but you are free from his sins."
"You," Jimmy piped up, "can join the right side. You can help us destroy those evil Space Rangers. You can destroy those that have hunted the Kanker species to near extinction!"
"Certainly, you realize that a group that hunts a species to near extinction is truly the evil one, right?" Sarah said darkly.
It made sense. Why, if he was working for the good side, would they have… Ed reluctantly nodded. He was vaguely aware that the dark, breezy mist was now practically filling the entire cave. It looked familiar.
Sarah and Jimmy stuck their right hands out. "Join us then," Sarah declared. "Join us and help us wipe out the Space Ranger tyranny."
How could he deny them? His body stepped forward on its own. The Space Rangers had, most likely, killed thousands of species. That was evil, eviler then any scary monster…
Ed's hand froze above Sarah's.
"Well?" Sarah asked impatiently.
The mist in the room. He'd seen it before. In that old film… Brainwashers 2? "Brainwashing magic?" Ed asked blankly.
Jimmy growled, and his response came a little too quickly: "Of course not. That's a Space Rangerian tactic!"
Ed remembered, then. That red light. The red light that had wiped out thousands of Space Rangers... He imagined Squashi, Saraline and TargonTroi in their place. And suddenly they were replaced by Double D and Eddy… Being blown to dust in front of his eyes… by the Kankers…
Ed slapped Sarah's hand down. "I'll never join the Kankers! I won't let myself be brainwashed like you were!"
Sarah eyed her slapped hand resentfully. Then she sighed nonchalantly. "Oh well…." Lifting the slapped hand up, she snapped her fingers.
The dark mist suddenly became solid rope, wrapping around Ed. The Space Ranger struggled, but it was useless- the rope was a magical rope, and it was hard enough to escape from regular rope.
"Jimmy?" Sarah asked expectantly.
"Yes, ma'am," Jimmy said politely. He waved his hand, and a rapier appeared in it. "Prepare to die, Ed." And he charged at Ed.
Ed jumped backwards, falling on his back. He noticed a slight light, and remembered that the Spgobans had left the exit open. If he could crawl up the stairs- like a worm- and get to the entrance of the cave, perhaps the other Space Rangers would notice him. He began crawling in a worm-like fashion.
Jimmy sighed. "Predictable." He stepped over the Ed-boy and touched the wall to the right of the staircase, hand glowing. A rock wall appeared, sealing off the staircase- and Ed's only chance of escape.
"You know, Ed, I usually do not kill inexperienced warriors who have yet to master even a simple magical spell. It goes against my set of morals, and it's far too easy. But as long as you refuse to give us the cryst-"
Ed cut off Jimmy's lamenting monologue. "I can't believe that Operation: Worm Escape failed me! It worked in Brainwashed 2, and even in ManSpider 5!" Ed yelled. Then he gasped for joy. "I know! I'll do Operation: Butterfly Escape!"
Jimmy's sorrowful expression was quickly replaced by an infuriated one. "I told you not to make any more comic book references," he shouted. He held his sword up, standing above Ed's head. "You're a MORON! You should have joined us! But instead you had to be a stubborn villain! I hope you're prepared to die. I will cut you in two!"
And, with that, he swung the sword. Ed closed his eyes, bracing himself.
The sword struck the magical rope… and the EdCrystal began to shine, lightly. The sword was repelled- and only after cutting through the rope. Ed jumped up triumphantly. "Like a caterpillar, I have escaped from my cocoon!"
"You've escaped?" Sarah laughed from the sidelines. "You moron, he set you free!"
"Huh?"
Jimmy smirked. "As I said, I have a moral code. And I like to look Space Rangers in the eye as I kill them."
"Only a Vragavo would say that!" Ed yelled. The EdCrystal again shined, and a magical rapier appeared in his hands. "Hey… Why didn't my summoning spells work before? Is there a Magic-Time-Space Paradoxal Shield-"
He was cut off by Sarah and Jimmy's laughter. "A-A-Are you challenging me," Jimmy laughed gleefully, "to a SWORD fight?"
"Umm…" Hm. A sword fight sounded fun. And it was exactly what the hero of a story would do at this point, so… "Yes!"
Sarah and Jimmy laughed more.
Ed stared.
"You have no chance!" Sarah said between laughs. "Jimmy is the best swordsman in the universe! Not even the real Ed could beat his swordsmanship!"
"Oh," Ed said. He almost dropped the sword and ran off, but then remembered how they had almost tricked him with that magical brainwashing mist. This could have been a lie, too. "Well then, I'll beat you!"
Jimmy stopped laughing, though a nonchalant smile remained on his face. "Well, if you want to die the hard way… Fine by me. Here, take the first swing – I dare you to."
Ed did. He swung right at Jimmy's head.
But Jimmy was gone. Before Ed had a chance to even register the fact, Jimmy was behind him. He swung his rapier elegantly, slicing Ed's back. Ed screamed and fell forward. This pain was far worse then any he'd felt in his life!
Sarah burst into laughter, pointing at Ed's wound. "Still want to fight?" Jimmy asked, now sounding bored.
"I'll never loose to a Kanker warrior!" Ed said valiantly, struggling to get up.
In the half a second it took Ed to get off his back and onto his knees, Jimmy had sliced both of his arms and both of his legs. By the time he was on his feet, each finger on his left hand had been sliced.
"Hey, Sarah, you sent me that funny video, right?" Jimmy asked absentmindedly, turning away from Ed. Ed swung his rapier; Jimmy blocked it, and sent it scattering across the room. The boy rushed over to grab the sword, while Jimmy turned on his ComLink-style watch.
"Yes," Sarah said, her grin widening as Ed picked up the sword, dropped it, and picked it up again.
"Thanks," Jimmy said. He turned the SR-ComLink-WW to a certain setting, and a video began playing. "Hey, this is pretty funny!"
Ed, now certain he had a firm grip upon his rapier, rushed up on Jimmy from behind, shouting triumphantly.
Without even looking up, Jimmy swung his sword. It hit Ed in the stomach. "Wanna give up?" Jimmy offered.
"Don't tell him to stop, this is hilarious!" Sarah laughed.
"If you say so, ma'am."
Ed swung his sword rapidly in quick succession, 5, 10, 15 times- but Jimmy blocked each of them, occasionally hitting him.
Sarah laughed. "You're pathetic!"
"I know the next one will hit. The good guy always wins!" Ed yelled.
"We are the good guys," Jimmy countered, not even looking up. He noted as Ed swung the sword towards his leg, and aimed his rapier down to block it. He expected to hear a chink…
…No chink. What was going on? Jimmy looked up from the video to see a blade heading towards his face. He blinked as the tip of the sword scratched his cheek.
Jimmy's mouth dropped open in shock, and Sarah's laughter abruptly stopped. Slowly, he reached his hand to his face… "Blood?"
"See," Ed panted, exhausted. "I hit you! The good guys always win! I got you!"
"Im… Impossible," Jimmy gasped. Tears filled his eyes. "I-I'm the best swordsman in the universe! No one has ever beaten me!" He promptly started wailing.
Ed smiled triumphantly. Then he turned to demand that Sarah let him go.
But the expression on Sarah's face made his blood run cold.
