Chapter 5: Laugh Ed Laugh
It's nighttime at Pomelo Beach, where at a boardwalk in the docks, two criminals are trying to escape in a rowboat. "Stealing that yacht was so easy!" one of the bandits, who wore a white tank top, exclaimed as his partner climb down from a ladder on the docks and the two criminals proceeded to laugh.
However, unbeknownst to them, something was watching from underwater, as bubbles started to come next to their rowboat. The white tank top guy noticed this and looked overboard, where a pair of bright eyes flashed in the water, before a fish-like claw came out of it and pulled him into the water.
His partner, who wore black clothes and a beanie, was alerted by the splashing sound of the water and turned around, only to notice his partner was missing. He looked over at the water, thinking he had tripped or something, before a fish-like head with an antenna rose up, startling him. The crook at first thought it was some kind of rare, ugly fish native to this area, however the creature continued to rose from the water, showing he had a human-like body and was in fact as tall as him!
The black beanie criminal yelped as the fish-like creature got into the boat, and he proceeded to desperately climb back the ladder and head for the boardwalk, while the creature looked at him fleeing before jumping back into the water. As the crook ran away, the creature followed him under the docks by swimming.
After running for a bit, the crook finally stopped to catch his breath and turned around, looking frenetically around the boardwalk, as if expecting that creature to have been running after him. Suddenly, a burst of water jumped up to the boardwalk, revealing it to be the fish creature. The crook gasped in shock and started to back off in fear, as the creature walked towards him menacingly.
The crook continued to walk backsides until his back hit something and he turned around to see a hotdog stand, its owner having fled as soon as he saw the creature emerge. The black beanie crook proceeded to throw the stand in the ground between him and the creature, as if the to create an obstacle for it. However, a happy accident happened for the crook, as the stand spilled some oil all around, which didn't seem to faze the creature at first, but a loose wire from the stand soon changed that as it created a short circuit which after landing over the oil lightened it up, created a fire which trapped the creature inside.
"You probably don't like fish fries, right?" the crook taunted as the creature soon started to gasp for air, the smoke and fire making more difficult for it to breathe without any water.
"Can't… breathe… need… water!" the creature mumbled in between gasps. Soon it fell to its knees as the fire circled around it, unable to properly breathe. However, it didn't intend on giving up, as it resorted to punching through the boardwalk under him, making a hole on the ground and jumping through it into the water.
The crook seemed satisfied with this, thinking he had scared the creature enough for it not to chase after him anymore, and he started walking away with the treasure in his bag. However, he didn't account for the creature, who after jumping to the water had taken a second breathe, to come up from just under him, as it came through the boardwalk once again and trapped the guy inside his jaws, careful not to bite him hard enough to pierce his flesh. The creature swung the crook inside his jaws around before throwing him into a tower of bottles from a carnival game nearby, knocking him down.
Later on, the police arrived and took the crook, and his partner who had been left unconscious on the rowboat by the creature, away as the creature watched, standing next to another officer.
"I don't care what anybody says, you circus freaks are okay by me!" the police officer said, as if thanking the creature for his help.
"Circus freak? I'm not a circus freak. I'm a superhero!" Ripjaws exclaimed, taking offence at what the officer called him, before posing dramatically and jumping into the water, swimming away as the officer watched startled.
"Hmm… looked like a freak to me…" the police officer mumbled as he watched the fish-like alien swam away.
The next day:
Here we can see the Eds at Ed's room in the basement, their unofficial base of operations, with Eddy retelling his friends the events of last night where he had stopped those two crooks at Pomelo Beach. It's been a few months since Eddy got the watch and they had started to fight crime on Peach Creek, with the city's crime ratio drastically lowering as a result and the Eds moving to also work on neighbor cities.
"And I thought I was toast, until I jumped into the water and then came from under that guy. You should have seen his face! He never saw it coming!" Eddy finished telling.
"Well gentlemen, I'm mostly content with how things have been going recently. We've gone from pointless scamming to actually helping our community, I have to say I'm really proud in you, Eddy" Double D said. Even if he had thought plausible the idea that there were other sentient species in the universe other than humans, he would never had thought there could be such a powerful device that could turn its wielder into different forms, nor that such a device would end at the hands of his most mischievous friend, and that he would turn over a new leaf and actually use it for good deeds.
"Yeah, I'm getting good at this hero thing, ain't I?" Eddy smiled proudly.
"Eddy is the man! And I am Ed, Defender of the-" Ed was interrupted by someone kicking his door open.
"ED!" that person being none other than Ed's annoying little brat of a sister, Sarah, who stormed off into his room.
"Hello, baby sister!" Ed saluted enthusiastically. "Am I in trouble?" he asked, suddenly getting worried.
"No, I just want to go with Jimmy somewhere and Mom says you have to take me" Sarah explained.
"Okay, is that all, oh lovable sister who shares the same mom and dad?" Ed asked.
"Yeah, sort of…" Sarah said as a devious smile started to form on her face. "Guess where are we going though" she proceeded to take a paper out of her pocket and flashed it at Ed as she exclaimed, "The Circus!"
The paper was actually a promotional poster which shows a creepy-looking red haired clown smiling widely. Upon seeing it, Ed's happy-go-lucky expression disappeared immediately and he started to shake uncomfortably while sweating bullets. "B-B-But S-Sarah, y-you know I can't-t go to the c-circus…" he stuttered.
"The circus is coming to town?" Double D asked as he looked at the poster, which showed the creepy smiling clown and read 'Zombozo's Traveling Circus of Laughs' under him.
"Oh please, the circus is for kids!" Eddy exclaimed.
"Duh, what do you think I am, Einstein?" Sarah retorted.
"A brat…" Eddy mumbled.
"What was that?" Sarah replied angrily.
"Please Sarah, I actually could make you-" Eddy was about to show his watch but was stopped by Double D.
"Eddy, stop! Remember what we said about using the you-know-what?" he said the last part through his teeth so Sarah wouldn't hear. "Besides, I think the circus could be a lot of fun!"
"You can come with us if you want, Double D…" Sarah said in a daydream tone, hearts even appearing in her eyes.
"Ah-oh, t-t-that's such-ch a gen-gentle off-fer on your p-part, S-Sarah…" now Double D was stuttering, "b-but I rather stick to my companions, Eddy and your brother, y-you know for old times' sake…"
"Don't worry about Lumpy and I, Sockhead, you can go on a date with your girlfriend if you want!" Eddy laughed, even making kissing gestures and putting his hands together.
"Shut up, fathead!" Sarah angrily told him.
"Make me, brat!" Eddy challenged.
Just as the two were about to get into a scuffle, Ed started shouting, "CIRCUS IS BAD FOR ED!" and everyone stopped to look at him.
"Why, you don't like the circus, Ed?" Double D asked him.
"Too bad! You have to take me there or else Mom says you're grounded!" Sarah threatened.
"But Sarah, the circus is bad for Ed!" Ed repeated.
"Okay Ed, if that's what you chose… Mom!" Sarah started shouting towards upstairs, but Ed quickly caught her and put a hand over her mouth.
"No! Don't tell mom, little sister!" Ed pleaded, however he soon yelped in pain and grabbed his hand as Sarah bitted him hard on it.
"Never do that again, Numbskull!" she angrily told him.
Later on:
Here we see the Eds along with Sarah and Jimmy walking towards a big tent, with a giant sign that read 'CIRCUS' before them. There are also many advertisements and posters for the circus around, and many of the other Cul-da-sac kids are also heading there, including Nazz, Rolf, Kevin and Jonny (who of course is carrying Plank with him). Ed is looking really freaked out, even more so than when he sees the Kankers or a bar of soap, looking around frantically at the cardboard images of the clown from the poster.
"Can't believe you drag us along for this, Sockhead" Eddy told Double D as he walked next to him, not noticing how Ed was acting.
"Give it a chance Eddy, the circus is known as a fountain of entertainment" Double D explained.
"This better not be like that whole Sparksville fiasco" Eddy replied, remembering the events from a few weeks ago.
"I'm sure they don't have any dangerous electrical aliens that you and Ed can set free" Double D retorted.
"Hey! How were we supposed to know that thing was inside a giant rubber ball? Right, Lumpy?" Eddy questioned, still annoyed at the fact they were blamed for causing all that chaos the Megawhatts did.
However, he soon realized his other friend wasn't paying any attention (well, less than usual), as no dumb reply came from Ed. "Monobrow?" Eddy asked as he looked at his tallest friend, who continued to look as nervous as a cat in a dog pound. "Earth to Ed! Did your brain stop working again?" Eddy said as he quite literary snapped Ed back to reality.
"Ah! Don't hurt me! Don't lock me inside an invisible box or put that weird paint on me!" Ed started to shout, full of fear.
"What? Relax man, it was just a joke!" Eddy told him.
"Is something wrong, Ed?" Double D asked, worried at his friend's strange behavior… stranger than usual that is.
"Me? Uhhh… Nope! No problemo! Nothing at all!" Ed said while showing his teeth in an attempt at faking a grin. His two friends just watched at him stranged, more so than usually. "Um… Buttered toast" Ed said in an attempt at sounding normal, or at least normal for him.
This seemed to work on Eddy at least. "Yeah, he's still the same Lump to me."
However Double D didn't seem so convinced, while Sarah was giggling at this. "Okay, if you say so. But, is there something you want to talk about, Ed?"
Before Ed could respond, a voice caught everyone's attention. "Boys and girls!" a barker called from over a stage. He's a short man with a moustache wearing a red jacket and a yellow hat. The kids gathered around to listen to the man, except for Ed who continued to walk pass, seemingly still freaked out over something, though his friends failed to notice it.
"Come and see the human-thumb freak that knows no bounds, Thumbskull!" the barker exclaimed as a strange bulky man came onto the stage. He wore a black and purple jumpsuit, had pale skin and, as his name implied, he had a giant toenail on his otherwise bald forehead. He also had an iron bar over his shoulder, which upon walking into the stage he proceeded to bend in front of everyone with ease.
"Woah! Bet this guy could give you a run for your money, huh… Ed?" Eddy said as he turned around to look at his friend while everyone else continued to watch the strongman, but he found no sign of him anywhere. He decided to go looking for him while the spectacle continued. Thumbskull proceeded to throw the bended bar high into the air, before a strange red whip with a black orb on the tip suddenly wrapped around and caught it.
"And introducing… Frightwig!" the barker said as a strange similar-looking woman walked onto the stage. Like Thumbskull, she also had pale skin and wore a black jumpsuit, but hers has yellow stripes on the arms, and also had black paint on her cheeks and the back of her head. But the most notorious thing about her was her long red hair that seemed like tentacles over her head, as each hair strand moved with seemingly sentience and wrapped around the bar. The strands also had black orbs on their tips.
"When beauty comes out of her hair, I won't tell you what happens!" the barker said as Frightwig proceeded to use her tentacle-like hair to bent the iron bar even more, before leaving it over a bench.
"I wonder what type of hair spray she uses!" Jimmy exclaimed in awe.
"And last but not least, the only freak whose breath is as bad as he looks, Acid Breath!" the barker last introduced, and a third strange-looking pale man walked onto the stage. He had red eyes with different-sized pupils, and little bits of straight black hair poking out of the top of his head. He also wore a black jumpsuit with yellow stripes on the arms like Frightwig's and had a black muzzle covering his mouth. He proceeded to remove the muzzle and show his mouth, which had green gums and most of his teeth were missing, before spitting some green fluid over the bar, which proceeded to melt immediately.
"That's disgusting!" Double D exclaimed sickened.
"You said it!" Sarah agreed, as did most the kids, whose expression went from amazement to disgust after seeing Acid Breath's… umm… abilities.
Jimmy's face even became green as he covered his mouth. "I think I'm gonna be sick!" he exclaimed as he ran away, desperately trying to find the nearest bathroom.
Meanwhile, Ed continued to wander off until he heard some laughter from inside a small tent, which froze him up completely. He slowly turned around, sweating and trembling as he did so, and looked inside the tent, finding none other than the clown from the poster sat on a chair and laughing at himself in the mirror.
"Howdy kids! Ready for some laugh? Perfect!" the clown laughed as he put a black hat over his head to cover a bald spot. "You'll do great…" he seemingly told himself in the mirror as he stuck out a long almost reptilian-like tongue and laughed maniacally.
Ed gasped in horror and started to back off, walking backwards until his back hit something. "Don't eat me!" Ed shouted in terror as he closed his eyes and braced, using his arms to cover himself.
"It's me, ya big oaf!" a familiar voice told him. Ed opened his eyes to see Eddy standing there cross armed, looking at him.
"Uh oh… Hiya Eddy!" Ed tried to act like nothing happened.
"Okay, spill it, Lumpy. What's your malfunction?" Eddy questioned.
"Me what?" Ed asked dumbly, although weirdly enough he didn't sound as dumb this time.
"Don't try to fool me, I know when you're trying to play dumb rather being it" Eddy told him, having known his friend for so long that he could differentiate Ed's mannerisms from when he was pretending. "Why are you acting so weird? I mean weirder than normal…"
"I-I…" Ed began stuttering as words struggled to come out of his mouth, however he was interrupted when Sarah passed them, pulling Double D by his wrist and over her head.
"C'mon Double D! It's about to start and I want a seat next to you!" Sarah exclaimed as she ran into the tent with Double D by her hand.
"S-Sarah, w-wait!" Double D tried to plead with her, unable to break free. "Ed! Eddy!" he called for help while being pulled along.
"Sarah! Wait for me!" Jimmy pleaded as he ran after them.
"Hahaha! That's the only good thing about coming with those brats!" Eddy laughed at Double D's predicament. Ed's eyes merely went back at the small tent where he had seen the clown. "Lumpy? You're coming?" Eddy asked as he pointed at the big tent.
"Oh, y-yes Eddy…" Ed said nervously, still not looking away from the tent as he walked, tripping over on the way.
Inside the circus, all the kids sat at the bleachers, with Sarah sitting next to Double D, still holding him by the arm, and Jimmy sitting next to them looking annoyed by this. Eddy sat next to him, laughing like the show had already started, and Ed sat after him, still looking around nervously.
Suddenly, the lights went off minus one spotlight that showed the barker from before. "Ladies and gentlemen! And kids from all ages! The Traveling Circus of Laughs has the privilege to present to you its biggest star, Mr. Magic himself, the Clown Prince of Laugh, the great Zombozo the clown!" he announced as the spotlight moved to a tiny car driving around the scene before stopping. One of its doors opened and a giant (at least compared to the car) foot got out, before an entire clown, which was the same Ed had seen before, came out of it.
"CLOOOOOWN!" Ed screamed in terror upon seeing the clown come out of the car and getting everyone's attention, even the clown's, before running out from the tent.
"That usually doesn't happen so fast…" the clown muttered to himself.
"Ed! Where are you going?" Double D exclaimed upon seeing his friend ran away screaming.
Sarah, who was next to him bursted into laughter. "Hahahaha! I can't believe it!"
"What's with him?" Eddy asked.
"Don't you see? He's afraid of clowns! Hahahaha!" Sarah laughed even more, this time she was joined in by Jimmy, Kevin and even Eddy bursted into laughter as well.
"Hahaha! Ed? Afraid of clowns? What, he doesn't have any mirrors?" Eddy laughed.
"What a dork! Hahahaha!" Kevin mocked, wiping a tear from his eye.
"Oh, that's so bad! Looks like your friend will be missing the show! But don't ya worry kids, after all, I'm harmless…" the clown exclaimed and pretended to slip with his mini-car before kicking it into the air and widely opening his mouth so it fell inside. After eating the small car, the clown suddenly burped and streamers of different colors came out of his mouth. "Ups! Sorry, it must been something I ate!" he exclaimed before pressing his nose, making sounds similar to those of an air horn.
"Man, that's the best you could come up with? This clown is so dork star, I swear…" Kevin said unimpressed, thinking this clown was 'uncool'.
"Rolf comes from a long line of village buffoons, Kevin. Do not mock the clown" Rolf told his friend.
"You're kidding, right?" Kevin questioned.
"I don't know, I think he's fun, guys" Nazz, who was sitting next to them, commented.
"Now, I was never very good at math, but I believe I have your undivided attention!" the clown joked. "If unlike your friend, you love clowns then this is the place to be! You're gonna die laughing! That's a Zombozo guarantee…" Zombozo, the clown, said although he gave a dark chuckle in the last part.
Meanwhile, Ed continued to run outside the tent while screaming, until he tripped over and slid under a car on the street. He remained hidden under the car while trembling uncontrollably, even making the car shake as a result.
Suddenly, he heard some noises nearby and thinking it could be more clowns coming after him, reared his head out to see something that, while thankfully weren't more clowns, shocked him nonetheless: The Circus Freaks from earlier were standing in front of a jewelry, with Thumbskull having thrown a large cinderblock that broke through the main window before starting to take the jewels from the store.
Next, Acid Breathe moved to a near car, fortunately not the one Ed was hiding under, and proceeded to use his… well, acid breathe to melt the car's window and steal the stereo inside.
Then, Frightwig used her tentacle-like hair to snatch an ATM outta a wall and taking all the money inside it. "Payday!" she laughed as she tore the cash machine apart, with the freaks grabbing all the money that fell.
Ed got out from under the car and hide behind it. He thought to himself what he should do? He couldn't take on those freaks by himself, they were like comic book supervillains! If only there was a superhero around… Oh, wait! He turned around and started heading back to get Eddy, before he saw the big circus tent and remembered the scary clown that was inside. He instinctively thought about hiding under the car again, before turning around and seeing the freaks stealing the money. He continued to turn around over and over again, unable to decide what he should do…
Inside the tent, the kids were somehow laughing hysterically at all of Zombozo's jokes, no matter how tired or cliché they were, like getting a pie thrown at his face and cleaning himself with a soda spray, or throwing water at them with a giant flower on his jacket. Even Kevin was laughing, mixing his laughter with some "Dude!" from time to time.
"I love the sound of laughter! It feeds my soul!" Zombozo exclaimed, chuckling darkly again after saying that.
Suddenly, Ed came running back inside the tent, with his hand covering his face so as not to see the scary clown. He looked around between his fingers with one eye before spotting the laughing Eddy next to Jimmy, pulling him by his three spikey hairs and running out of the tent before the clown could see them.
Zombozo, however, had already seen them go. "Ah, so full of life… for now" he deadpanned.
Ed pulled Eddy to where the Circus Freaks were stealing, though his friend continued to laugh uncontrollably as he did so. "It's hero time, Eddy!" Ed said as he finally put Eddy down behind the car he'd been hiding. Eddy however continued to laugh, not paying attention to what Ed was telling him.
"Eddy?" Ed asked his friend, however the only response he got was even more laughter. "Look! Bad guys over there!" Ed pointed towards the Circus Freaks, but Eddy just continued to laugh. Finally, Ed decided to slap the laugh out of his friend, quite literary.
"Hey! You better have a good reason to do that!" Eddy angrily exclaimed, having snapped out of that seemingly laughing trance. Ed merely pointed again at the freaks robbing.
"Woah! The freaks are felons!" Eddy exclaimed before turning back to Ed. "…you'll get a free pass this time, Monobrow" he said while pressing the watch's dial and popping its core up before selecting an alien's silhouette to transform into.
Meanwhile, Thumbskull was carrying two TVs out of an electrodomestic store when a giant dog-like creature with no eyes and orange fur jumped in front of him growling. "Good doggy. Down, boy" the circus freak tried to calm down, but Wildmutt jumped him and dropped him to the ground before charging at the other two freaks.
Acid Breath tried to take a swing, however Wildmutt's grills detected him and he managed to dodge the incoming corrosion and slid behind him, before double kicking him to the ground.
Frightwig used her tentacle-like hair to wrap around Wildmutt, but the dog-like alien started running around, pulling her down and taking her along for the ride. He then grabbed her hair and started spinning her around in the air, before throwing her at the incoming Thumbskull.
"Yeah, Wildmutt! That's what I call a good boy!" Ed cheered from behind the car. "Oh! Look out behind you!" he warned as Acid Breath got up and tried to attack Wildmutt once again, however the quadruped alien detected him and avoided the incoming breath again before running to the top of their car, which was similar to the small car from Zombozo's act, ripping the car's roof off and spilling all the goods they've stolen.
"Hey! That's our stuff!" Thumbskull demanded as he got up.
"No mutt's gonna steal my loot! Get him!" Acid Breathe exclaimed before spitting more acid at Wildmutt, who jumped off the car as the acid proceeded to melt its remains and tackled Acid Breathe back to the ground before he could spit anymore.
Frightwig came from behind Wildmutt, but him turning around and growling was enough to make her back down while he took out Thumbskull, who had gotten back up and was charging at him. Frightwig then shot her tentacles at Wildmutt, but he managed to dodge them and grab one to pull her and take her down with a clothesline. Wildmutt then slammed both Thumbskull and Frightwig onto the ground while standing over them.
"We need the boss!" Acid Breath exclaimed as he got up from the ground. Just after he said that, a baton pass came flying out of nowhere before exploding into a small smokescreen with streamers coming out of it before the smoke faded and Zombozo appeared there.
"I'm already here, boys!" the clown announced. Upon seeing Zombozo appear, Ed yelped in fear and hide behind the car. Wildmutt got off the other freaks and stood in front of Zombozo, growling menacingly at the clown.
"I hear you're full of tricks, little doggy. Let's see if you know how to... play dead!" Zombozo joked, chuckling darkly at Wildmutt before taking out a cape and flourishing it at him. Wildmutt charged at Zombozo, who proceeded to dodge him like a bullfighter and yell "Ole!"
Wildmutt stopped on his tracks and did a turn, charging back at Zombozo, who covered himself with the cape before Wildmutt tore it apart with his claws, however rather than hitting Zombozo, a smokescreen full of streamers covered around him. Zombozo snuck up behind him by using the smoke as a cover, however Wildmutt was able to sense him and dodge the incoming punch before throwing his claw at him, though the clown was also full of tricks as he reentered the smoke cloud and Wildmutt's claw swung the air.
"Missed me!" Zombozo exclaimed before kicking Wildmutt out of the smoke, following up with a couple of punches to the snout before the beast-like alien slapped him away with his claw. Zombozo did a flip and landed on his feet and one hand before looking at the Circus Freaks who were watching him fight. "Don't just stand there like sore thumbs! Use your powers and help me!" the clown demanded.
After hearing this, the Circus Freaks immediately joined the battle again, with Thumbskull charging back at Wildmutt, who proceeded to dodge an incoming punch and bite the hulky freak in the arm, before throwing him to the ground again. Acid Breath then shot his… well, acid breath at Wildmutt again, who dodged it and charged at Zombozo claws first, however he was caught by Frightwig's hair tentacles and held in place for Zombozo and Thumbskull to punch repeatedly.
"Oh no! Eddy!" Ed exclaimed worriedly from behind the car, seeing his friend in trouble and at a numbers disadvantage. He thought about interfering, charging in at the freaks, but stopped dead on his tracks and hide again after seeing Zombozo. Frightwig proceeded to slam Wildmutt into the ground repeatedly and spin him around the air in a reverse from what happened moments ago, before finally throwing him under a metal tower, destroying one of its supports.
"Show's over!" Acid Breathe exclaimed before spitting acid at another support, bringing the tower down onto Wildmutt and leaving him buried under the debris.
"Crushed?" Thumbskull asked as he grabbed some rubbish and crushed it with his hand before laughing.
"EDDY! NO!" Ed shouted in horror upon seeing the tower fell over his friend and ran up to him, however Zombozo and his freaks intercepted him.
"Oh, what do we have over here? The mad dog has a scaredy cat for a friend? How funny!" Zombozo chuckled as Ed cowered in fear. "Tell you what boy, I'll let you go with a warning this time, but I don't want you, your friends or your dog getting in my business, capiche?" the clown threatened.
He then turned to the Freaks, "And why are you standing there? Get the money!" he ordered them, the minions quickly obliging. "I wasn't powerful enough to defeat that dog by myself, seems like I need to feed more… I guess we'll have to move to the next town sooner than expected! Now let's head back, the show must go on!" Zombozo said before disappearing in another cloud of smoke and streamers.
The Circus Freaks got the stolen goods and money before running back to the circus. Ed opened his eyes again and got up, he was sweating profusely and was pretty sure he had wet his pants, but now finding Eddy and checking on him was more important than that. "Eddy? Eddy! Where are you?!" Ed desperately repeated calling over and over as he dug up the wreckage.
He was starting to sob uncontrollably, thinking his friend was gone and it was all his fault. What was he going to tell Double D? He could have helped him if he hadn't been so… so scared of that… clown…
Suddenly, a beeping sound started coming from under the debris, which Ed immediately recognized as Eddy's watch whenever it was about to transform him back into a human. He followed the sound and managed to dig out an orange paw, undoubtedly belonging to Wildmutt. He tried pulling the alien's entire body out, but found it a bit too heavy to lift up from under the debris. Fortunately, the red light flashed and reverted him back to Eddy, with Ed easily lifting his friend out.
"Eddy! Eddy! Don't leave! Stay with me!" Ed cried as he shook Eddy around. He didn't seem too badly bruised, he'd been hurt worst during some scams, but he was still unconscious. "Please Eddy! Stop being unconscious now!" he exclaimed as he started to slap him once again.
"Ed!" Eddy awoke after the second slap. "Ed!" though Ed didn't seem to realize that, as he continued slapping him around. "Ed! Ugh-!" he was cut short by another slap. "ED! I'M FINE!" he finally exploded.
"Eddy! You're alive!" Ed happily exclaimed, stopping another incoming slap.
"Yeah, not thanks to you, Numbskull!" Eddy angrily retorted. "Why didn't you help me out there? It was four on one for Pete's sake! I could have used your muscles against those freaks!"
Ed merely put his head down like a scolded child and made sad puppy noises. Eddy then remembered something from before, when Ed had run out of the circus tent. "Ed… Are you really afraid of clowns?" he finally asked.
Ed sighed and closed his eyes while nodding. "But why? You've dressed up like a clown before, remember? Slappy?" Eddy questioned, remembering a past scam in which Ed had dressed like a clown alongside Double D to entertain the Cul-da-sac kids, with poor results.
"Yeah, but that was different. We were dressing up as clowns but we weren't really clowns!" Ed explained. "Besides you gotta believe me, Eddy! Clowns are nothing but ultimate evil!"
"This one may be, but why do you hate clowns?" Eddy asked with a raised eyebrow.
Ed took a deep breath. "Well…"
Flashback:
Here we can see Ed in his dream, playing with the dream versions of Eddy and Double D throwing a frisbee around. Everything from the grass they're playing in to the trees and even the skies seem to be drawn by crayons and the sun even has a happy smiley face similar to Plank's. Dream Double D threw the frisbee in the air before Ed caught it like a dog and returned it to him, walking on all fours as he did so.
"Good boy!" Double D said as he and Eddy pet Ed, who barked like a dog in response.
Suddenly, the skies over them got dark and when Ed looked up he saw many giant clowns floating over them while laughing maniacally. Ed jumped onto his friends' arms as he shivered in fear, then the clowns' buttons started falling like missiles all around them. The floating clowns then started spinning around in a circle until they vanished, with a gigantic clown's head rising from the horizon after the other clowns disappeared.
"Let's be friends!" the giant clown said creepily in a deep, scary voice.
Then, a clown appeared out of one of the falling buttons on the ground. "Let's be friends!" the clown repeated.
"Let's be friends!" then another clown appeared out of another button next to him.
"Let's be friends!" and another.
"Let's be friends!" and another.
"Let's be friends!" aaand another.
"Let's be friends!" until they were surrounded by clowns, all repeating "Let's be friends!"
Ed quivered in fear while sweating profusely. "No! No! NOOOOOO!" he shouted in terror before waking up on his bed and continuing to shout.
"ED! SHUT UP!" Sarah's voice yelled from another room.
End of flashback
Eddy merely looked at Ed in silence with both eyebrows raised now. "…Lumpy, that never happened!" he finally said.
"But it did, Eddy! And I wet my bed! And Sarah told mom! And mom told dad! And dad did nothing about it!" Ed shouted.
Eddy just looked at him again. "Look, I would love be your therapist and all, but we got a clown to stop. So get over-" then realization suddenly hit him. "Dang it! Double D and the rest of the kids are still at the circus! We gotta get them before those freaks!"
"And Sarah's there too!" Ed exclaimed worriedly before they ran back to where the circus tent was, or used to be as when they got there it was no more, with only some garbage spilled around as a sign of its previous existence, and with the kids all gathered up just standing there, still laughing, though more weakly than before.
"Ha-ha… that was so sick…" Kevin managed to say in between weak laughs.
"D-Dude… so… funny…" Nazz did as well.
"Rolf hasn't laugh so much since… his Cul-de-Sac male comrades… were making goo-goo eyes to the… Nazz-girl"
"Boy… that Zombozo guy jokes are even better than yours, Plank …" Jonny told his 'friend'.
"What happened in here? Where's the circus?" Eddy questioned upon observing the scene.
"And where's Sarah?" Ed asked worriedly upon seeing his sister is missing.
"Double D!" Eddy called as they approached their friend, who was sitting at some stairs where the circus was before and also laughing tiredly, with bags even forming under his eyes.
"Heh heh heh… Hello gentle-he… gentlemen…" he managed to say.
"What happened?" Eddy asked him.
"Where's Sarah?" Ed also asked.
"I-I-I don't… remember… we were all laughing… so… much…" Double D laughed weakly.
Flashback:
Here we see the kids laughing hysterically at Zombozo, who's connected to some weird machine.
"Laughter's the best medicine… for me!" Zombozo chuckled, sticking out his weird tongue after the last part. Then something weird happens, as while the kids are laughing hypnotized, some kind of blue spirits with their shape came off them and inside Zombozo's machine, seemingly feeding him.
End of flashback.
"E-Ed… t-they took heh her…" Double D said tiredly.
"What?!" Ed shouted as he grabbed Double D by the shoulders and started shaking him. "Where did they get her?!"
"I-I don't know… Ed…" the shaken up and tired Double D answered.
"I don't get it, if Zombozo set up the circus to distract people while his freaks steal then why did they take Sarah?" Eddy questioned.
"I… I think Zombozo robs people of more than just their possessions... he steals people's happiness… until there's nothing left…" Double D deduced.
"And he's got Sarah! We have to save her!" Ed exclaimed desperately.
"But we don't know where they go" Eddy responded.
Ed actually though for a minute before remembering something. "…the clown said something about feeding… and moving to the next town!"
"Lemon…. Lemon Brook is… the closest city…" Double D managed to say as he tried to stand up, but he was too weak and fell onto Ed's arms.
"Sockhead, are you alright?" Eddy asked.
"I-I'm fine… just… a bit… tired… Sleepy, sleepy, sleepy…" Double D started to snore over Ed's shoulder.
Ed took out a cushion from over his jacket's pocket and put Double D's head on it before resting him on the ground. "We have to save Sarah from that clown, Eddy!" he shouted after turning to his other friend.
"We'll check the road to Lemon Brook like Sockhead suggested, but we'll have to leave him and the kids here. Let's go!" Eddy said as he and Ed wasted no time and got on the Garbage Speeder.
Later on at Lemon Brook's Gag Factory:
Here we can see an old gag factory, in which the Circus Freaks are packing the stuff they've stole before in some boxes outside. Behind a stack of those boxes, we see Eddy and Ed sneaking up on them. They've been following the circus traces while heading for Lemon Brook like Double D had suggested. Luckily, Eddy had remembered about a gag factory his brother was a regular costumer at, and where to find a 'clown' but at a place like that?
"Looks like we found 'em, huh, Lumpy?" Eddy whispered so as not to catch the Freaks' attention.
"Sara-!" Ed started shouting but was quickly hushed by Eddy putting a hand in his mouth.
Thumbskull, who was using his strength to carry two big boxes, seemed to have heard Ed shouting and turned to his companions. "Did you hear that?" he asked.
"It probably was just a bird, quit loafing around!" Frightwig told him as she used her hair tentacles to lift up three boxes, while Acid Breathe was struggling with one box since he was the only one without major physical strength.
Eddy sighed in relief after seeing the Circus Freak hadn't realized they were there and returned to work. "Put a lid on it, or else you'll get us caught!" he whispered as he turned to Ed.
"But Eddy, we have to save Sarah!" Ed whispered.
"Yeah, but we won't save her if they discover us!" Eddy retorted. He then looked up from behind the stack of boxes to see the freaks continuing to move boxes around. "Okay, here's the plan: you distract them while I transform into something and jump 'em from behind, got it?" he told Ed.
"Roger that, Eddy!" Ed nodded and gave a military salute as a response. He then turned around to leave, but got faced with a cardboard sign showing Zombozo's face and got scared thinking it was the real one. "CLOWN!" Ed shouted in terror as he accidentally knocked some boxes to the ground, catching the Circus Freaks' attention immediately.
"Dammit, Ed!" Eddy said as he grabbed Ed and ducked behind a single box.
"Huh, huh, huh, someone's trying to see the show without paying their ticket!" Frightwig laughed as she removed Acid Breath's muzzle off his face and the trio circled around the box, before charging and using their powers to blow it into pieces. Behind the box they found… nothing.
Then a flash of green light appeared behind a stack of boxes next to them, before it blew into pieces and a strange baseball shooter with spider-like legs appeared. It has a black color with yellow circuitry looking stripes all over it and a single yellow circle at its front, working as an eye. It also has a mechanic scorpion-like tail with the hourglass symbol on its tip.
"I don't know what you are, but I'll crush you!" Thumbskull threatened the machine.
"You wanna play tough? Let's play then!" Upgrade, who's fused to a baseball shooter, challenged in his robotic tone. Thumbskull charged at him, however Upgrade started shooting baseballs in quick succession, hitting the hulky freak on his head and making him flinch before Ed appeared and tackled him to the ground. The two then started wrestling while on the floor, with Acid Breath trying to help his fellow freak by spitting corrosion, but Upgrade quickly shot a ball into his mouth before he could, rendering him unable to use his power as he flailed around with the ball stuck in his mouth. Ed managed to subdue Thumbskull after some struggle and knocked his lights out with a couple of punches.
Frightwig then shot her hair tentacles at Upgrade, but the turned-into-shooting-machine alien managed to dodge her attacks before returning fire with a barrage of his own, though Frightwig managed to dodge most of the baseballs while blocking some with her hair. "Is that all you got?" she taunted.
"I'm just getting started!" the living pitching machine responded before shooting a low ball at her, with Frightwig being so confident that she easily dodged it by sidestepping, though she didn't realize Upgrade shot a rapid ball behind it to catch her off-guard, hitting her in the foot and spinning her around, with the long haired freak getting wrapped up in her own hair as a result.
Upgrade then shot another ball at her face just to taunt, but he had to take cover quickly as Acid Breath had managed to unstuck the baseball off his mouth and was spitting his acid straight at him. The baseball shooting alien managed to dodge and hide behind some boxes, with the freak jumping onto another stack and continuing spitting around to other boxes in an attempt to catch the little runt.
"Didn't your mom ever tell you it's not polite to spit?" Upgrade quipped behind the boxes.
"Who do you think taught me in the first place?" Acid Breath retorted before spitting some more corrosion, however he didn't see Ed charging at the stack of boxes he was standing on, spilling them and making him fall as a result, getting buried under all the boxes. The foul mouthed freak tried to rear his head out, however a barrage of baseballs were shot at him by Upgrade, finally managing to knock him out.
"Good job, Lumpy!" Upgrade congratulated as he de-fused from the baseball shooter and turned into a blob before reshaping back to his regular form. "Now, time to get that clown!" he said as they stood at the entrance of the gag factory.
"C-C-Clown…" Ed started to quiver in fear.
"Listen Ed, I'm not going to force you to get in, but your sister is in there, and if you really want to save her then you'll have to face your fears, because that's what heroes do. And you, Lumpy… you're a hero. You've saved me and Sockhead countless times, even before we started doing this superhero thing. I've seen you smash robot-cans with trees, wrestle giant animals, get electrocuted and brushing it off like nothing, and you even helped me defeat these freaks like they were regular thugs! Come to think if it, I don't even know how you can do all these things… but the point is, Ed, you are brave... and that guy's just one more freak, but with a plastic nose and big shoes!" Upgrade told him.
"Now, if you don't feel like coming then you can stay here, but I got to save your sister… which totally undermines me but whatever" he finished before turning around and walking inside the factory. Ed stood there for a moment, taking in all what his friend had told him.
Inside the factory, Upgrade proceeded to walk through a mirror maze, trying to find Sarah or that clown. "C'mon clown, it's over. We can do this the easy or the hard way…" he called, however after he said that the hourglass symbol on his chest started beeping and a red light flashed, reverting him back to Eddy.
"Can you tell me which side you're on?!" Eddy shouted at his watch. Maybe he shouldn't have lost so much time pep-talking Ed…
Suddenly, laughter started coming seemingly out of nowhere. "What do we have over here, brave boy? Something tells me you're a sack full of tricks! And I would love to buy 'em!" Zombozo's voice cackled.
"Buy 'em? Too bad pal, I already retired from that business…" Eddy said as he tried to find where the voice was coming from, though he only could see mirrors around him, until he accidentally bumped into one.
"Was it your doggy that faced against my boys? Or are you just… a freak?!" the voice taunted him. He then looked up to see his reflection, which actually had clown make up on it, until it started morphing into Zombozo.
"Who you calling a freak, clown?! At least I don't look up like one!" Eddy shouted at the mirrors, as the other reflections around him also turned into Zombozo's.
"Ohhh! Calm down, Mr. Serious! Can't take a joke? How about a little… smile!" the Zombozos in the mirror all laughed as the mirrors zoomed up to their faces until they covered all of them, making the impression that the room was entirely made out of Zombozos!
"You don't scare me! Now turn over Ed's brat-of-a-sister, give my friends their joy back and turn yourself over before I make you!" Eddy challenged. The Zombozos started laughing so loud he actually had to cover his ears.
"Sister you say? Didn't you hear? She loved the circus so much she ran away with it!" the Zombozos laughed.
"What do you want?" Eddy questioned.
"What every clown wants, make people laugh!" the Zombozos cackled as they zoomed out and the mirrors returned to being full-body reflections. "Is that so wrong… pipsqueak?" he asked.
For some reason, that really got under Eddy's skin and he lost his temper. "That's it! I had it with you, clown!" he shouted as he ran at the reflection in front of him, however he went through the mirror, which broke into pieces as Eddy fell down a spiral tunnel, with clown's arms coming off the walls and Zombozo's laughter sounding all over as he fell.
Finally, Eddy hit the ground after some minutes. As he recovered however, the ground under him opened and a giant Zombozo head came out like a jack-in-the-box toy, laughing madly as he pushed Eddy upwards once again, where another giant Zombozo head was waiting for him with his mouth open, seemingly to eat him though Eddy went through it like it was a ghost or something before starting falling again and managing to grab onto something. That something was a trapeze, in which he swung until Zombozo's face appeared in front of him again, but this time made out of fire, like a fire ring he was going into. Eddy braced himself again, but the fire didn't actually burn him when he went through, though it did burn out the ropes of the trapeze, making him fell again.
"AAAAAAHHHH!" Eddy shouted as he fell to the void, until finally being caught in a huge web that was over the circus ring, which resembled that of a spider. And speaking of which, Zombozo stood over the web, with four mechanic spider-like legs coming from his back and helping him walk over it without getting stuck.
"So, are you scared now?" Zombozo asked as he lifted Eddy's head with one of his spider-legs. Eddy tried to get off the web, but he was stuck to it, trapped like a bug.
"You're just a clown!" Eddy exclaimed as he struggled to get free.
"You need to learn to relax a bit, kid, that's what… feeds me!" the spider-clown joked and after he said the last part, a reflector lighted over a strange machine, which was the same he was connected to earlier during the show, with a cable coming out of it like a snake before connecting to Zombozo's back. The person-shaped blue spirits from earlier were seen trapped inside that machine, which was seemingly feeding Zombozo through the cable.
"I-Is that the machine you use to steal people's happiness?" Eddy asked while struggling to break free to no result.
"I call it the 'Psyclown'! Ready or not, soon I'll take my act to the big cities! Millions of people laughing for me, feeding me… making me stronger!" Zombozo declared before laughing evilly.
"You won't get away with this!" Eddy exclaimed.
"Oh, please kid! That's so cliché, you need to improve your material! Too bad you won't get time for that!" Zombozo taunted. "Besides, who's gonna stop me? You?! And what about that friend of yours?! Too scared to come help you?!" he laughed.
"Leave my friend out of this!" Eddy told him. Suddenly, they heard someone screaming coming close before Ed fell out of the top, missing the spider-web and falling face first to the ring. "ED!" Eddy shouted upon seeing him.
"I'm okay, Eddy!" said as he got up, though then he saw Zombozo and started to cower in fear once again.
"Oh! Look who it is! The big guy! Mr. I'm-scared-of-clowns himself! How about a little smile, brave boy?" Zombozo mocked as he hovered over the air thanks to the cable connected to his machine, standing in front of Ed so as to scare him even more.
"Don't let him get you, Lumpy! You are a hero! Remember!" Eddy tried to tell his friend, though Ed was still too scared to do something.
"Hero? But he's just a scaredy cat!" Zombozo taunted. "Why don't you just leave? I told you not to get in my business!"
Ed shook in fear before taking a deep breath and managing to say, "I-I want m-my sis-sister back!"
"The girl? You can have her, I just wanted a volunteer… for a snack!" Zombozo joked as he pointed somewhere in the dark, with a reflector lighting over Sarah's prone body lying on the floor.
"S-SARAH!" Ed exclaimed upon seeing his little sister and running up to her. When he checked on her, he found her face all wrinkled, like that of an old woman. Ed gasped in terror at this.
"There, there. You got your sister, you can leave now!" Zombozo laughed as he hovered back to the spider-web Eddy was trapped in. "As for you, if you won't tell me how you turn into those monsters, well maybe I'll have to dissect you to find out! Who knows? Maybe I'll get a good laugh or two out if it!" the clown creepily chuckled as he lifted one of his mechanic spider-legs, which was shown to be really sharp on its tip, and prepared to slash Eddy with it.
"ED! Do something!" Eddy shouted desperately as he closed his eyes, fearing the worst. Ed was in shock, looking at his sister's wrinkled face, until his frown got down and his face got really serious, as in if he had a pebble in his shoe serious…
Eddy expected to feel a piercing sensation through his body, but that never came. He opened his eyes to see why: Ed had jumped up to the spider-web and grabbed Zombozo's spider-leg at the last second. "Ed!" Eddy happily exclaimed, seeing his friend had saved him.
"What?!" Zombozo said in disbelief, as the cowering kid who couldn't even stand up to him a minute ago was acting so brave all of the sudden.
Ed was holding the spider-leg hard while looking down before muttering, "No one… hurts my… FRIENDS!" he shouted the last part as his face got up, showing an expression of pure fury before he punched Zombozo square in the nose, so hard in fact that he sent him flying to the ground while ripping off his spider-leg in the process. He then proceeded to use that leg to cut off the web around Eddy, freeing him out.
Ed then jumped down the web, landing in front of Zombozo, who was just recovering from that punch. The clown looked up to see the towering Ed, staring at him with an expression of pure hatred with his spider-leg in hand, slowly walking towards him. "W-Wait! You can't do this! You're scared of me, remember?!" Zombozo tried to reason, but Ed wasn't going to be intimidated anymore.
"There's something I'm more scared of than you, clown…" Ed said before using the spider-leg to smack Zombozo in the face again, this time taking his black hat off his head. "Losing my family to some goofball emotional vampire!" he declared bravely.
"In other words: you're going down!" Eddy taunted as it was now his time to laugh, seeing Ed beating up Zombozo with his own spider-leg, before he ripped off the remaining legs and started beating the tar out of him with his bare hands!
"Way to go Ed!" Eddy cheered his friend on, before he heard a familiar beeping sound and looked at his watch to see its green color was back on. He pressed the dial and the core popped-up. "Hang on buddy pal, think I've got someone that can lend you a hand…" he said as he started to switch between the alien silhouettes before finding the one he wanted, slamming the core down and being engulfed in a green light.
Inside the light, Eddy's body started to swallow until it turned into a skeleton before it started shaping to a more gaseous form. When the light died down, Eddy had turned into a levitating phantom/ghost-like alien with a tail instead of legs, claw-like hands and grey skin with black lines running all over his body. The watch's symbol peeked out of his skin on his lower left chest and he had a purple eye with a black pupil. After the light faded, 'Eddy' immediately turned invisible by vanishing into the air so as to keep the element of surprise in his favor.
Meanwhile, Ed continued to beat up Zombozo, punching the joy-sucking clown in the face once again and making him crouch in pain. However, the clown still had some tricks up his sleeve, including an electric baton which he quite literary took out of his sleeve. "Let's see if you find this funny, big boy!" Zombozo grinned as Ed walked towards him, unaware of the weapon the clown was hiding.
As Zombozo extended his arm to hit Ed with the baton, something held him in place, unable to hit the boy. The clown turned around confused to come face to face with 'Eddy' grabbing his arm. "Boo!" the ghostly alien actually scared Zombozo, making him drop the baton in the process.
"Oh, you're funny, but we're gonna get the last laugh!" 'Eddy' claimed, his voice sounding more haunting and spooky, like a whisper, before punching Zombozo in the nose as well. After being hit, Zombozo turned to face the angry Ed standing in his way, who also proceeded to punch him again.
Both Ed and 'Eddy' proceeded to beat up Zombozo until the clown was now a cowering mess, shaking in fear while on the ground as he looked from the angry boy to the ghost. "P-Please! No more! Please!" Zombozo begged them.
"What's the matter? Don't tell me you're afraid of Ghostfreak!" 'Eddy', now in this form known as Ghostfreak, said as he hovered in front of the terrified clown. "Wanna see something really scary? Look!" he then reached what was actually a crease in his body as his finger went deep in it. The result was Ghostfreak ripping his skin apart, as several horrendous squirming black and white tentacles were released as they moved wildly.
Zombozo shouted in utter horror at what he saw inside and tried to hover out of there to get away from Ghostfreak, not seeing where he was going and accidentally crashing against his 'Psyclown' machine, breaking it and causing a small explosion inside it, as the 'joy' spirits got out of the machine and returned to their respective owners, with the Sarah-shaped spirit getting back into her body and making her wrinkles disappear as she returned to normal.
Meanwhile back with the other kids:
Here we can see the rest of the Cul-da-sac kids still at where the circus had been, though they're not laughing anymore as they are on the ground, seeming pretty tired and out of it. Double D is also still sleeping over the cushion Ed put him on.
"W-What's t-that Plank? Y-Yeah I-I don't feel s-so good either…" Jonny told his 'friend'.
"D-Dude…" Kevin muttered tiredly.
"N-Not cool…" Nazz managed to say.
"Rolf hasn't felt like this since the Ed boys decided to move in Rolf's shed…"
Suddenly, the 'joy' spirits came flying and into their respective owners as the kids got up, having returned back to normal.
"Dude!" Nazz exclaimed joyfully once again.
"What happened?" Kevin wondered as he regained his energy.
"Rolf feels whole again!" Rolf exclaimed cheerfully.
Double D also woke up after his joy returned back to him and got up. "Eddy and Ed did it!" he exclaimed more to himself than to the others.
Back at the Gag Factory:
Zombozo got out of his Psyclown machine, still pretty shaken and pale as he fell to the ground while cowering in fear. "P-Please! Stop! I-I give up!" the clown pleaded again.
"What? Can't take a joke?" Ghostfreak mocked as he took out his tentacles again and wrapped them around Zombozo before starting to pull the scared clown towards him. "Laugh, clown, laugh!" Ghostfreak laughed maniacally.
"No! P-Please!" Zombozo screamed in terror as he desperately tried to crawl out of there, but Ghostfreak's tentacles continued to pull him as he laughed, until they pulled him inside Ghostfreak's body, which proceeded to inflate as a small explosion sounded inside before he returned to normal, burping out some streamers from his crease.
"That kinda freaked even me out…" Ghostfreak muttered after this.
Even Ed was visibly shaken up at what Eddy did, thinking his friend may have gone a bit too far there and having never seen him do that to anyone, no matter how evil they were. That didn't last though, as he quickly shrugged it off since he had something more important to tent to. "Sarah!" he exclaimed worriedly as he ran up to his unconscious sister.
"Sarah! It's me! Ed! Your brother! Please, stay with me!" Ed shouted desperately as he shook her up.
Sarah's eyes slowly opened and she muttered, "Ed…?"
"Yes! Sarah you're awake!" Ed cheered as he hugged her.
"Are we at the circus? Where did everyone go?" Sarah managed to ask. Luckily, Ghostfreak had turned invisible, and after Ed helped Sarah to her feet, they left before the hourglass symbol on his chest started beeping and the red light reverted him back to normal.
Later on:
Here we see the police are arresting the Circus Freaks, having cuffed both Thumbskull and Acid Breath (who they also put his muzzle back on) and with Frightwig still wrapped around her own hair. Then two officers put Zombozo also inside the police van the freaks where in, the clown still looking pale and shaking in fear without saying a word, having been spit out by Ghostfreak after the watch turned him back to Eddy.
Meanwhile, the Eds had finally reunited again with Ed and Eddy telling Double D what happened at the gag factory. "I'm very proud of you, Ed! You conquered your fears and saved all of us!" Double D congratulated his friend.
"Yep! I am Ed, Defender of the-" Ed was interrupted as Sarah sneaked up and jumped behind him, using a clown mask on her face.
"Boo!" she tried to scare his brother, but having no result now.
"Baby sister!" Ed happily exclaimed as he hugged her, much to her surprise and discomfort.
"Hey! Get your hands off me, knucklehead!" Sarah protested as she broke free of Ed's arms and took her clown mask off. "Aw, you're no fun anymore!" she lamented as now she couldn't use his fear of clowns against him anymore.
"Hey Sarah, I would keep the mask on, it's a good look for you!" Eddy mocked.
"Shut it, fathead!" Sarah angrily said as she stormed off, with Jimmy following behind while sticking his tongue at the Eds.
"Man, those brats should be more grateful! We saved everyone!" Eddy complained.
"Well, I am grateful you saved us, Eddy" Double D tried to compensate.
"Don't thank me though, Sockhead. Without Ed I would been done for, right, Lumpy?" Eddy admitted.
"That's right, me, Ed have conquered my fear of clowns!" Ed cheered. "But now there's something that scares me even more…" he added fearfully.
"Huh? What's that?" Eddy asked curiously.
"G-G-Ghostfreak…" Ed said while shaking as he remembered what Ghostfreak had done back at the gag factory and what was actually inside him.
Hey everyone! That's chapter 5, which has to be at least in my opinion the best chapter so far! Or at least the one I ended up most proud of after finishing it. Hope you liked this one as much as I did writing it and tell me which chapter has been your favorite so far? Anyways, I'll leave you with some trivia about it.
Trivia
1) The title of this chapter is the same as an actual episode from the first season of Ed, Edd n Eddy and its plot is based on the original Ben 10 episode "Last Laugh".
2) The idea of Ed being the one afraid of clowns is based on Billy from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy since he's a character similar to Ed in personality (and intelligence…) and it made more sense to me that Ed would be scared of clowns rather than Eddy. I also wanted to give Ed some focus since I feel like I've been making him just the third guy in the group so far.
3) Also Eddy referring to Slappy was a call back to the Ed, Edd n Eddy episode "Ed or Tails" in which in fact Ed dresses up as a clown. Props go to my beta reader SoulReaver1999 for reminding me of this fact since it creates a plot hole regarding Ed's phobia, so I just explained that while Ed does in fact suffer from coulrophobia (or at least developed it at some point after the events of that episode), he did know they were just playing a scam on that episode and that neither he nor Double D were actual clowns so it was not triggered. Another thing could be that neither were using make up either, a well know factor in people's fear of clowns. I hope this explanation is good enough as to why Ed did dress up as a clown in that episode but has coulrophobia here.
4) Ed's dream sequence is also based on Billy's from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy episode "Attack of the Clowns".
5) Zombozo calling Eddy "pipsqueak" and that getting under his skin is a reference to what Eddy's Brother called him (you would think Zombozo knows how to get inside people's head after all), and also some dark foreshadowing for the future…