For Easter 2024, I give you the sixth chapter of my story. Hope you think it's a nice gift for the day. Let me respond to the review last chapter got:

Lightblade1121: Don't worry, you're by all means welcome to continue reading! Here's the big fight and what went on in our money-maker's head.

Let's resume the story now.

The boat crashing into a tree caused some filth to drop from a branch above us and right onto my shirt. I took the thing off to have an easier time brushing off its mess. Feeling quite annoyed with our situation, I subsequently asked Edd "Where's your fauna now, Mr. Duck Boat?" as its duck-shaped head bobbed in and out of the water.

He defensively insisted "The collision was unavoidable, Eddy! It was the unpredictable current that proved unfavorable!"

Regardless of that, we sadly had become stranded in the swamp with no way of salvaging S. S. Mutant Almost a Chicken Duck, and it sucked big time. So much for smooth sailing to Ben's place! I did regret tempting fate with my earlier remarks, and I still do now. Nevertheless, the three of us were lucky to survive. Since the sun had already begun to set before our crash, it wasn't like we could stick around this swamp for too long. My friends and I had no way of guessing yet how much longer it would take to reach my brother's place or what else could be used as shelter before finding him. I doubt it surprises you at all that none of us liked this predicament in the slightest.

Either way, after dropping my shirt temporarily to slap a mosquito on back left side of my head, I replied with "Unbelievable! All I know is we're stuck in a swamp off the middle of nowhere!" and wrapped my shirt around my head like a bandana before adding "Big bro ain't gonna be impressed."

Another mosquito landed on my bare stomach. I promptly slapped that one too, not willing to deal with any more of them than necessary. They've always been quite bothersome. Looking at me with irritation, sock-head asked in disbelief "Is that what you think? That I'm here to impress your brother? That I would forsake my home and family for something as trivial as-"

"Buttered toast!" Ed interrupted loudly enough to catch our attention prior to jumping off a rock, landing into the swamp much like one would when jumping into a lake or an ocean.

Both of us paused to take that in for a moment. As I swatted a third mosquito that landed on my right cheek, I scowled with anger as Edd tried to turn this against me with "Perhaps we should talk about you and Ed's immature behavior. I'm sure he'd like to hear about that! Well, I'll have you know, that if it weren't for my-"

Monobrow interjected with "Crocodile attack!", prompting us to look around in worry that an actual crocodile was nearby, but he leaped out from beneath the swamp water to chomp on my neck and drag me into it.

I cried out "Ed!" shortly before sinking and began feeling more playful upon realizing it was just a game.

Prying his mouth open with both hands and both feet as we rose to the surface, I declared "He's a mean one!" and managed to free myself, landing back in the murky water.

He dove after me, landing on top of my head with his own head, and we continued to play around. It didn't take long before I gained the upper hand and pulled him out in a shape similar to fake chomping teeth. I declared "You dirty-aha!"

Ed replicated chomps and I laughed as he chased me through the water and onto land. Monobrow warned "I will chomp you!" in the process.

Having taken off, we could faintly hear Double D ask "Wait, where are you two going?" when running off.

After the hat lover was out of sight, I whispered to Ed "Let's make him believe we're sinking in this." as I pointed to some muck and put my shirt back over my torso.

He chuckled and quietly affirmed "Sure, that sounds funny."

While we got into place for our prank, the one we planned to fool called out "Oh dear. A malodorous marsh is not a place to play, gentlemen! Do you hear me?"

I lifted my left arm and slowly lowered myself to imitate sinking as I told him "Over here, sock-head. Hey, help me out of this molasses!" before using both arms to fake-push myself out slightly.

Mr. One Eyebrow simply remarked "Wiggle my toes, wiggle my toes."

Starting to sweat, Double D advised "Make no sudden movements. You're sinking in QUICKSAND!"

Pretending to be frightened, I shouted "Quicksand!? Ed, we're done for!" and gave him a hug before making it look like I was propping myself up by pressing on his shoulders.

He declared "We are so in manure!"

I corrected him with "Immature, stupid! Immature! Oh man, we're really sinking now!"

As my right hand held onto his chin, Monobrow remarked "To all the girls I loved before!" before slipping beneath the muck.

Using a plural for "girls" easily could've given away how we were faking, and I'm surprised Edd didn't notice such a slip-up. While he often felt embarrassed to talk much about having a crush on Nazz after the three of us as well as Jonny and Kevin all made major fools of ourselves trying to woo her over, the truth is she was the only female Ed had ever been attracted to before our amusement park idea. Whenever the guy tried to downplay his affections, Double D and I both knew it was to avoid having a repeat of that day. The truth is I can fully understand Ed's hesitation to try pursuing her or anybody else when not having a clue how to initiate romance and worrying it would backfire on him.

Anyway, I cried out "No, Ed! Hang on, man!" when reaching into it, pulling the guy out by the monobrow.

As we continued pretending to be sinking, the hat lover frantically gathered some vines to use as a rope. Mr. One Eyebrow repeatedly cried "Help!" in the middle of me yelling "Double D, do something!"

Edd could be heard saying to himself "Stay calm, don't panic." as we snuck away, and he declared "I got it!" prior to tossing his rope and instructing "Quick, take ahold of the-" and stopped mid-sentence upon noticing we were no longer in sight.

While hiding behind trees, we witnessed him stand there for a moment in stunned silence and sweating. He shouted "No, no, no!" with horror and swatted anxiously through the muck with both arms, looking around for us both.

Ed silently asked me "How long should we wait?"

I whispered back "I'll point when it's time to go out."

After that, Double D questioned "Where are you? Eddy, Ed?" and his eyes began to water up when adding "Oh, don't you give up on me. Answer me! Please?"

Failing to find either of us after searching through the mess, he struggled to hold back tears and eventually broke down crying. Sock-head sobbed "Why oh why didn't you listen to me? This is all my fault! I should've never let you leave the cul-de-sac!", lying face down in the muck during this after pounding it with both fists, sniffling once finished speaking.

That was the moment I selected to walk over and show ourselves. I gave Monobrow the cue by pointing towards the crier. He pulled out a messy handkerchief upon reaching him. Edd gratefully accepted it with "Thank you, Ed. Goodness Ed; that's filthy."

The realization of us being alive hit him shortly afterwards. Mr. One Eyebrow and I stood in the muck nearby with mischievous smirks before I pointed at his face with my right pointer finger and teasingly declared "Gotcha!" before we burst out laughing and I added "Man, you're such a sap; this muck's only ankle deep! Can't sink in it!" as Edd walked in it to test this out for himself and had a stunned look on his face while Ed fell over onto his back from laughter.

To my confusion, Monobrow remarked "Got that right, Eddy! Because sinks are Mother Nature's own cereal bowls!" and hugged himself afterwards.

I quickly noticed Double D was walking away from us and asked him "Hey sock-head, where you going? You got somewhere to be, what?"

Ignoring my words, he silently trudged through the swamp water towards a dock and climbed onto it with some groaning. As Ed and I followed, Edd slipped and let out some scared yelp before regaining his footing and used a label-maker to print something and place that on the dock. The hat lover put that device away within his hat and continued onwards down a road. We ran to catch up with him and I called out "Hey! Where ya going? You're heading back into the swamp!" before reaching out to grab his left shoulder with my right hand and add "My bro don't live-"

He cut off my sentence to swat my hand away and furiously yell "Don't you DARE touch me!", staring at me with an enraged expression prior to continuing with "A sap!? Well, excuse my sincerity for thinking I had lost the only two people I have left in this world!" while getting in my face and grabbing my shirt.

Mistakenly thinking it was a joke of his own, I found it hard to contain my laughter or smiles and covered my mouth in the middle of hearing these words. I temporarily moved both hands to simply ask "And?" afterwards, not wanting to laugh or show too much of my smirk.

Double D yanked my shirt to twirl me around a bit while angrily continuing with "It's surprising, because your stubborn, inane desire to shock, sandbag, and swindle is what put us here in the first place!", moving his arms around in the process before gripping my collar.

I didn't bother hiding my grin anymore, knowing it would've been noticed regardless of what methods I used to do so.

Ed interjected with "I helped too!", temporarily snapping me out of my giggly attitude before I smiled some more, seeing the guy frown at us but that changed to a shocked look after Double D briefly shot him a scowl.

I figured out sock-head wasn't kidding around shortly afterwards once he got in my face to reprimand "You and your nefarious scams!"

Frowning at his hypocrisy and trying to downplay the role he played in our amusement park fiasco, I retorted "Like you were picking daisies!" as the guy sneered at me before I leaned forward with my head to press him into the ground and pointed out "You built the stupid thing!" as our heads were pressed against each other.

I don't know why Double D still tried to keep up the false pretense of being some flawless angel who never did anything wrong. It didn't fool me for a moment. I knew Mr. One Eyebrow and I hadn't been those ourselves, and yes, I do remember how I brought up that assessment of us earlier. Prying myself off and standing again, he next said "If you had paid attention to what I said and not pushed the red button-" before I interrupted that sentence with a smack to the face and we began hitting one another out of rage.

Ed tried to cut this short with "Stop! I demand you tickle each other right now!"

It didn't work, and we simultaneously replied with "Stay out of it, Ed!" before continuing with our fight, and were too focused on that to decipher whatever Monobrow was saying to himself on the sidelines.

After I got on top of Mr. Hat Lover, he declared "I've had enough!" while using his legs to push my torso off him, and I landed very painfully on my back.

A few seconds later, he announced "I'm returning home."

Ed scooted over on both knees and held his hands in a begging gesture, not wanting him to leave, and pleaded "But we can't go home, Double D!"

"I'd rather face my consequences, Ed, than wander aimlessly with a so-called friend!" insisted sock-head prior to storming off, which saddened Mr. One Eyebrow.

Those last words struck a nerve and made me realize how serious things were. It was no time for me to horse around. I had previously thought the three of us had a friendship strong enough to survive anything. It hadn't crossed my mind that I could push things too far, and I felt quite guilty. Believing I already had done too much bad to earn the forgiveness of anybody else from Peach Creek, I highly dreaded the thought of losing a cherished pal and didn't know what else I could handle. Tears filled my eyes while watching Double D walk away, and I held them back as much as I could, in contrast to how Ed openly wept "Say it ain't so! We are three no more, Eddy! Like hop, skip, and no jump! Like up, up, but no away! Like blah, blah without the other blah!"

Temporarily masking my own sadness, I angrily lashed out "FINE! Go home! I don't blame ya, cause everything was my fault!" and pointed my right thumb towards myself.

I knew I couldn't deny it was on me how I pressed the button to the cement-making machine prematurely. Unable to refrain from crying any longer, I began to sob right after finishing that sentence. It was enough to make sock-head stop right in his tracks. My next words were "Yeah, you heard me; a foul-up, wannabe loser!" as I punched myself in the head a few times before weeping even more.

He walked back towards me and asked "Eddy?"

I sadly asked "What?" and resumed crying.

His next words were "Your shirt, Eddy?"

Feeling confused, I turned around and inquired "My shirt?"

Double D touched a spot on it with his right pointer finger and questioned "Are those salt deposits from your lamentation?" as I looked downwards.

Right after that, he used that finger to flick my nose and playfully remarked "Gotcha!" with a grin.

As I began to smile, relieved to obtain his forgiveness, Ed ran over to give a big hug and joyfully proclaimed "We are friends once more, guys! To Eddy's big bro's house!" while running around the road with us both in his arms.

Upon noticing him heading in the wrong direction, Edd corrected this with "Not that way, Ed; this way." and turned the guy around as I sat on Monobrow's left arm and sock-head sat on the right one.

Reaching to grab sock-head with my right arm and put it around him, I added "You heard my pal, Ed!", prompting a smile of gratitude before Double D placed his left arm around me.

The hat lover got smug for a moment and asked me "What would you do without me, Eddy?"

Taking my arm away from him, I added "Don't milk it, sock-head."

I don't know how Ed had so much energy to go without stopping, but he was a trooper for continuously walking with us perched on both arms for the next few hours. At one point, I confided to my pals "I'm fed up with failing to make profits off the things we do. After the disaster we faced earlier, we might not even get customers anyway. Let's call it quits on coming up with such schemes."

"By all means, I feel the same." Edd remarked. "There's no going back to how things were before."

"It makes sense when this was also the last idea any of us could come up with." Monobrow added in agreement, which neither of us could refute.

Did any of you expect Mr. McGee to privately give up on scheming even before the movie ended? Either way, I thought it could help show how he had truly changed after the swamp fight. Let me know in your reviews what you liked or didn't like about what I came up with here.

Chapter posted: March 31, 2024