Time for some laughs! I'll respond to the review Chapter 3 got before I posted a continuation.

Lightblade1121: Glad you like how I filled in the gaps. I also enjoy exploring things from Eddy's POV as it can give insight for what he thought about.

Without further ado, I resume the story!

On the way to the Lemon Brook Gag Factory, we drank some freshly squeezed milk after Double D managed to obtain it from one of the cows, and later found a bush with some berries near an exit gate. All three of promptly ate those after determining they were safe. Neither of these servings were enough to last us for long, but we had no way of knowing yet where else we'd find free food or beverages. Roughly half an hour passed until we reached a field full of tall sunflowers. We couldn't see anything above those without climbing or leaping to the top of them.

Looking for a way to pass the time, I got an idea and whispered to Ed "Try chasing me around like a lion after I add some petals to your head. Maybe it'll give sock-head a good laugh."

He gave me a thumbs-up and promised "I can do that! You'll probably have to spread in a whole flower for them to stick me."

Up in front of us, Edd was using a device neither of us recognized to navigate through the flowers, at one point saying "Hmm" to himself.

I burst out laughing over my idea, running up to the guy before saying "Hey Double D! Check this-" and getting cut off once I bumped into Monobrow.

We laughed at the accident for a bit. Not looking or sounding very amused, Mr. Hat Lover wagged a finger in disapproval and said "Oh, um… cute." prior to continuing forwards.

Not wanting him to get the wrong idea, I yanked to reach his hat and clarified "No, no, not that. This!"

After grabbing a sunflower and laughing some more, Mr. One Eyebrow smiled a bit while holding out his chin with closed eyes in preparation for what would follow. I slammed it into the guy's face. He stood in his spot for a moment as to seem dazed by it. Remember we planned out the whole thing. I continued to laugh until remarking "Uh-oh!" upon seeing him pretend to regain consciousness.

A few seconds later, Ed started running on all fours chasing me around the field. He called out "I am the mighty Agamushin! Lion from outer space!"

While running away, I playfully begged "Don't bite me! Oh, Agama, whatcha-whatchamacallit!"

It did manage to amuse Edd. I'm glad we could have a bit of fun there as it helped improved our moods following a disaster. He chuckled while stating "Agamushin, a forest substrate. How apropos."

As sock-head continued to his machine, I inquired "What's that stupid thing?" before taking it and adding "Can you see cartoons in it?" while looking through the device upside down.

The answer was no, and I quickly came up with another thought, spinning it on my left pointer finger and declaring "It's a wheeze-widdler!" and holding the thing very close to a worried Double D.

Ed caught up shortly afterwards. With a devious grin, I planned my next move. He pulled up his bare right foot to point forwards with its big toe and told me "I will eat you now!"

Monobrow made chewing gestures with his teeth and drooled, preparing to attack. I beat him to the punch by spinning the device in that guy's face. To my concern, only smoke came out of the shirt neck with no visible head. With a frown of worry, I dreaded maybe I had accidentally killed my pal! I pulled the neck to look deeper inside. The next thing I knew, his left arm quickly shot out to grab my face.

I dropped the device in shock and yelped a bit in fear. Mr. One Eyebrow teasingly replied "Gotcha, Eddy!" before I chuckled over falling for the prank, secretly feeling relieved when I saw his head sticking out of his left shirt sleeve.

Edd had reclaimed his device in the meantime. As we horsed around some more, my legs got caught in Ed's teeth as I held onto his left leg with both hands. The brainy one sounded annoyed when telling us "Yes, well, it's all fun and games, but merrymaking nearly cost us this sextant!"

Hearing that last word made us stop right in our tracks. We were shocked he'd say aloud anything with its first three letters. With a giggle, I extracted my right leg before asking "You catch that, Ed?" as I pushed my left leg and his head against a sunflower to help with extracting it as well.

Pretending not to hear our hat-loving friend the first time, I inquired "Uh, the- what?" when freeing my left leg and releasing my grasp of Monobrow while standing on his stomach and holding up my right hand towards my right ear for a hearing gesture. "I missed that. What's it called?"

"It's called a sextant." replied Edd, prompting giggles from Mr. One Eyebrow as well while the hat lover continued with "An astronomical instrument used to-" before pausing when he heard us giggling.

The one holding a sextant looked concerned as I walked up to him and continued to act like I didn't already catch his words. I fibbed "Again, sorry, I missed it. What's it called?" as I put my right hand behind my head and my left onto his shoulder before my forehead.

Double D grinned before turning away from me as I turned towards Ed, trying to hide my laughter, as I got a response of "It's commonly known as a sextant, Eddy."

Mr. One Eyebrow could no longer hold back from laughing. Before long, I caved in as well. In the middle of my own laughter, I landed on my back before rolling onto my stomach and pounding my right fist on the ground while Ed got onto his feet. He requested "Say it again, Double D!" and we continued to laugh.

At first, the supposed brains of our trio somehow seemed to have no clue what we found so funny. However, a few more seconds passed until the answer dawned on him. He sounded embarrassed and I noticed him briefly blush when adding "Oh my. You won't be giggling when this unnamed device triangulates our position and gives us a precise heading to the true direction of the gag factory."

As we continued onwards, I pinched my left thumb and pointer finger while asking him "Wanna bet?" with a smug grin.

Behind me, I noticed Ed playing with one of the sunflowers, spinning it around until the thing somehow went flying upwards. Looking ahead once more, Edd told me "But in order for me to calculate our bearings to the gag factory, I'll need-" before crashing into a brick wall and falling onto his back, having destroyed the sextant in the process.

Outcomes like that are why people say things along the lines of "Watch where you're going" and "Look before you cross the street". Years later, it still baffles me how guy didn't notice sooner what was in front of us. Very ironic for someone with a reputation for being smart. As I went up to check on him, I heard a helicopter-like whizzing noise behind us, and I couldn't figure out what made it until hearing a big thud. It was Ed lying flat on his face with three sunflowers, which he later told me somehow held him up in the air to fly for a bit. How that worked is beyond my comprehension. Anyway, Monobrow perked up and excitedly declared "Land ho!" when pointing to a sign reading "Lemon Brook Gag Company".

We were filled with joy as well! As the three of us headed to the double doors below that, I proclaimed "This is it!"

Ed shouted out "Gag factory, yay!" before I ran up and briefly grabbed onto his coat neck for a moment, turning to the door and briefly slamming my face into it.

As I'm sure you would've guessed, such an impact hurt. While I tried to open the doors, Double D happily stated "Sanctuary, at long last!"

Eager to see Ben after seven years and find out how sobriety had changed him, I called out "Hey big bro! It's me, Eddy!", running around in giddiness.

Double D suggested "Perhaps the front doors will yield a response."

Stopping in my tracks, I suddenly remembered my brother's preference for those. My response was "Good idea! I forgot my big bro hates back doors." while clinging onto Ed for a moment and using his torso to propel myself forwards.

Monobrow blurted out "Me too! We are so alike!"

I dismissed that with "Yeah right!" after briefly looking back to ensure both friends were following me.

Anybody who doesn't know of Benedict's true nature might think I was insulting my pal there. It was quite the opposite; I secretly had been complimenting him for not being a physically abusive alcoholic. Thankfully neither Ed nor Edd ever took up drinking in adulthood. Anyway, once we reached the double doors at the front entrance, those were locked as well. Double D lamented "I'm afraid I don't have any lockpicks to get us inside."

Monobrow assured him "I can bash through this, use my head!"

"Are you sure that's our only option?" asked the brainy one.

My next words were "I don't see any better choices. Sorry in advance for any pain, lumpy."

"Don't worry too much about it, I've often gotten much worse from Sarah." replied Ed.

Did I forget to mention how I despise the way his little sister harms and controls him, often while playing the victim to their parents and threatening to squeal even during times when he's innocent? It can be devastating. This was why I once suggested he get his own place away from that manipulative brat. Too bad that didn't last long until we could afford to fully move out as adults. While there were times that she went softer on Double D to some extent when smitten with him, such affections were never enough to obtain a free pass from her wrath. Getting back to the doors, I grabbed Monobrow by the torso and used his head to slam through double doors as he suggested, breaking through on the fourth hit. He seemed unfazed by those and said "Knock, knock, I am Ed!"

I kicked the door open and impatiently shouted out "Where is he? Do you see him?" while running into the building, and added "Where ya hidin' at, ya big lug?" as my pals caught up.

Ben was nowhere to be seen. The doors closed themselves behind us. As we continued to look around, Ed called out "Ollie, Ollie, Oxen-free!" as well as "Oh look; boxes stuffed with stuff!"

I discreetly asked "It's me. You know, pipsqueak?" with a whisper on the last word, not wanting to remind my pals of the embarrassing time when he used this name when sending me a box full of baby items even though I had already turned 12, before I pondered aloud "Where is everybody? Are you sure this is the gag factory, cause I ain't laughing."

Even after Double D suggested it could be because my brother still thought of me as a young baby, one thing that I never told either of them about is that I briefly thought the baby items were a way of saying I was about to become an uncle. That most certainly didn't end up being the case. Anyway, we continued to look around the factory for him. Ed put on a pair of glasses with fake eyeballs after finding it from one of the boxes and replied "Looks gaggy to me, Eddy." right before the eyeballs popped out and dangled.

Yes, this place had gags for sure. Can't say I was amused by this one, though. Double D requested "Ed, comic book please."

As he handed over said comic to Edd, I remarked "Man, that joke's old!" while looking at the fake eyeball glasses.

Our hat lover followed up with "Exactly! This publication was printed over 10 years ago."

Monobrow happily declared "Revolt of the Rotting Brains! A classic." while giving an "OK" gesture with his right thumb and pointer finger before the right eyeball of his glasses popped out again.

I grabbed Revolt of the Rotting Brains and yelled "This comic's useless!" before tossing it away.

Worried over his treasured comic, Mr. One Eyebrow ran off to find this and lamented "Eddy! Oh where, oh where has my Rotting Brain gone?"

Feeling despondent, I complained "We're hooped!" and fell face-first onto the floor before adding "We'll never find my brother, Double D."

The brainiac insisted "Never say 'never', Eddy.", which sounded quite ironic when he just did twice, and walked around while pondering "Perhaps old customer receipts or employee records will unearth a clue to his whereabouts."

Hearing that gave me a new sense of hope as I sat upwards. Before I could respond or get back onto my feet, though, Ed pushed another box full of gags in my direction and called out "Choo! Choo!"

The guy hit me with said box, probably because he didn't see me at first, and I fell backwards in a folded form. Don't ask me how that works or how I got back to normal because the truth is I have no idea. Anyway, Monobrow excitedly said "Oh look! Boxes stuffed with stuff!" in the middle of this.

"Not again." Double D complained before telling him "Ed! We'll never make headway if you keep rummaging through-"

His sentence was cut off when I heard a whack. Mr. I-have-a-single-eyebrow proclaimed "Chickens, Double D! I love them to death, I do!" while hugging a rubber chicken from the box.

I got up and saw our hat-wearing friend lying down with a big mark on his face, which was obviously from said chicken. With my spirits feeling higher now, I grabbed another one from the box and bluffed "You can't have a party without a rubber chicken, Double D! Big bro says so."

"Edifying" Edd sarcastically remarked prior to approaching a staircase and telling us "I'll go examine the factory's filing cabinets and see what I can find."

As he went up the stairs, I eagerly asked Ed "What else you got in there, lummox?" and we dug through the box.

This had much better gags than the glasses with fake eyes! Among other things, I found some electrified gum strips, and decided to test it out. I snickered and hid the package behind my back before calling out "Oh Ed, gum?" and revealing the thing.

The guy quickly fell for my prank. He declared "Oh, lucky me!" and pulled out one of the strips.

To my amusement, Ed not only got shocked, but also shifted into many different shapes! While I couldn't keep track of them all when there were numerous and each changed very quickly, it was impressive how much this could do. Once the jolt ended, I burst out laughing and followed up with "What a chump!" in the middle of my laughter.

Getting another quick idea, I pretended to be sick and grabbed my torso. I fake whined "My stomach, Ed! I think I'm gonna- blah!" and tossed some fake vomit onto the floor.

He picked it up while playfully remarking "Pardon me, miss, but I think you dropped your lunch!" before tossing that in the air.

With more laughter, I added "Hey, quit tossing my cookie!"

Pointing at the thing, Ed followed up with "I upped your chuck, Eddy!"

My next words were "Looks real, don't it?" as I pointed to the fake puke.

"No, no home should be without one, Eddy!" he replied as we struggled to contain our laughter and decided to just let that out.

Even though it didn't lead us to Ben or get us away from our neighbors, I did like having some more lighthearted time with my friend. We then decided to pull a prank on Double D, taking out a bent fork and a fake cleaver with some of its blade cut out. He had no clue of our plans! After both of us went into our own hiding spots, sock-head emerged and asked us "Have you two forgotten why we're here?"

We remained silent, not wanting to give away our locations so soon. Edd called for us with "Eddy?" and later "Ed?", followed by a "Hello?"

Sounding annoyed, he remarked "Oh, for Pete's sake! If this is some kind of foolish joke you're playing, it's not funny."

Neither of us were ready to say anything yet. It had to wait for the right moment. He sounded scared when calling out our names again with "Eddy? Ed?"

Now was the time to emerge! I rolled a gear wheel out into the open, letting it land on the floor. He approached it and was shaking with sweat. The guy asked aloud "Is anyone there?"

That was when I walked out with the cleaver over my skull. I yelled "Run, Double D! Save yourself!" before collapsing to the ground and pretending to die.

He was very frightened when crying out "Eddy! This can't be!" and walked backwards into Ed, who had placed the fork over his own head.

Monobrow declared "If looks could kill, I'd be dead."

This prompted Edd to scream out in fear. After that, Ed gave a couple fake screams and mocked "Help me! I'm Double D!" while running around.

The two of us laughed at Sock-head. I took off the cleaver to reveal "It's a gag, see? What, did you fall off the back of a truck or something?"

Mr. One-Eyebrow wasn't done yet with pranks. He grabbed a fake jellybean can before tapping Double D on the shoulder. The guy apologized with "Aw, we're sorry, Double D. Jellybean?" while offering the can to him.

Double D gratefully took it and replied "Why thank you, Ed. These should prove quite comforting, and I am a bit peckish."

He struggled to open the thing, and Monobrow plugged his ears in preparation for what would follow. I ran up behind his back as Edd added "A stubborn lid, this." and continued to have a difficult time, grunting in the process.

Once getting it loose, he declared "Ah, success." while we backed away.

The can opened to show lots of rubber snakes! I don't know how so many got packed into a tight can, but it burst open the factory roof and sent him flying away! We had to retrieve our pal before anything else could happen.

The Eds needed a break from their worries, and I got some nice laughs myself from the gags and "sextant" bit :P. We've still got more story to go, which of course includes the famous swamp scene. I've got plans for how to carry that out.

Chapter posted: January 31, 2024