Chapter 3: Peony

The weekend came and went as it always did and before you could say "Jawbreakers!", Monday had arrived and with it the daily drudgery of school. On this particular morning, however, the Kanker sisters found themselves especially stressed.

And 90% of that stress belonged to Marie.

"I still can't believe you made me come to school!" She complained. "What if I have another attack?"

"Aw shut your pie hole!" Lee retorted as she slapped Marie over the side of the head. "The last thing we need is people getting suspicious. You know what Mom says. You show even the slightest bit of weakness in the general populace and BAM! You're dog meat!" She slammed her fist against her palm for emphasis.

"Besides Marie, you haven't coughed up any petals since last night," May said. "Maybe it's finally going away."

"Here's hoping," Marie responded flatly. To say that she wasn't feeling good would be a gross understatement. Her stomach ached, her chest felt tight, and her throat was sore and ragged. As of right that moment, she felt no petals in the back of her throat but she knew that could change at any second. And once they did appear, they would come out whether she wanted them to or not. Marie could only hope this curse, sickness, or whatever this horrid thing was would at least have enough tact to not strike while she was in class.

As she and her sisters marched toward the school doors and her eyes fell on the Eds coming from the opposite direction, she felt the petals return and knew she would not get her wish.

Eddy was the first of his little trio to notice the Kankers and under normal circumstances, the mere sight of them would induce fear and a compulsion to head for the hills. Today, however, he met the girls head-on with a sly smile, the same kind he would give to kids he was trying to scam.

Lee took notice and gritted her teeth in annoyance. She could already tell that the Eds fully remembered what happened at the creek the other day and if Eddy's smile was anything to go by, they had concocted some sort of plan to take advantage of it. "Come on girls!" She hissed as she grabbed her two sisters by their shoulders and sandwiched them together between her hands. "Let's go!" She launched Marie and May into the building and rushed in after them. Once the Kankers were out of their sight, Eddy burst into a fit of hysterical laughter.

"Did you see that?" He asked through his giggle-induced tears. "We have them on the ropes!"

"Oh, dear! I do hope Marie is feeling better," Double D said. "Even for the Kankers that was rather unusual behavior. Why-"

"Alright boys!" Eddy grabbed Double D and Ed by the head and knocked them against his until the trio was in a huddle. "So here's the plan! Ed, you got the camera ready?"

Ed swished the inside of his mouth for a moment before opening it and releasing his tongue. Resting on the light-blue muscle was the camera.

Eddy's face betrayed a feeling of revulsion, but he nevertheless grabbed the camera off of Ed's tongue. "The Kanker's reaction to us says it all! Marie's still hocking up petals! All we have to do is keep an eye on her, wait for the right moment, and then Bam!" He slammed his fist into his hand, startling the other Eds. By the power of cartoon logic, the camera was unharmed. "The Scandal of the Century is ours for the taking!"

"I don't suppose there's anything I could say to try and dissuade you and Ed into undertaking this amoral exercise of petty blackmail." Double D said.

"You'd have better luck asking Nazz out on a date, Sockhead." Eddy retorted. "And what's with you anyway? Don't you want to get rid of the Kankers forever?"

"While I admit such a scenario would appeal to me greatly," Double D confessed. "I still feel uneasy about exploiting Marie's puzzling condition for our own personal gain."

"We're the Eds, Double D! That's what we do. Now shut up and listen!"

Under hushed whispers, Eddy relayed his plan to his friends, confident that today would be the first of a new era for the Eds.

Marie was miserable. That was really the only way to describe it. M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E. She was currently in Woodshop, sitting next to her sisters as she always did. The teacher, Mr. Yamato, was sitting at his desk with his face buried in this month's issue of Sap for Saps. Marie had seen Jonny 2x4 with that same magazine in the hallways from time to time. Mr. Yamato had given the class the assignment of building a toy boat and was leaving them to their own devices, such was the norm with his class.

Normally, Marie and her sisters would take full advantage of Mr. Yamato's laziness to goof off for the next 45 minutes, extending the bare minimum of effort into their craft before tormenting either the other students or each other. Lee and May had already gotten a headstart, fighting over a mallet while half a boat with square wheels sat in front of them. Marie, however, was feeling too uneasy to even tell them to shut up.

At the front of the classroom, Double D worked diligently on his assignment. The boat was still a long way from being finished but from what Marie could see, it looked professional enough to be sold in a legit store. Interestingly, neither of Double D's friends seemed to be present, despite clearly standing in front of the school this morning. This made Marie anxious. What could those adorable idiots possibly be planning?

She hiccuped and pain racked through her upper body, reminding her of an even bigger problem she faced at the moment. As her sister May had been so kind as to point out, Maire had managed to keep her strange and frankly embarrassing illness at bay since the other night. But ever since she laid eyes on Double D and throughout all the classes she'd had to share with the straight-A student, she had felt another attack coming on. The urge hadn't started off as strong as before and so far, she had been able to ignore it but now it was stronger and she knew she wouldn't be able to keep it down for long. Soon enough, those damned petals would break free from her body through her mouth and the entire class would know her little secret.

"Mr. Yamato? May I please go to the restroom?" She asked in as neutral a voice as she could muster. To her horror, she realized that her voice sounded a little hoarse, most definitely due to the petals clumping up in her esophagus. She noticed Jonny 2x4 turning his giant head toward her in curiosity and growled quietly in frustration. Her face went warm.

"Just make it quick." Mr. Yamato said without bothering to look up from his magazine.

"You feeling alright, Marie?" May asked. She was currently locked in a painful-looking Full Nelson courtesy of Lee.

"Yeah, yeah! I'm fine!" Marie barked as she got up and rushed out of the classroom. She took care not to even look in Double D's direction, lest he aggravate the petals even more. Unfortunately, it seemed even walking next to him was enough for her throat to tighten and her chest to become heavy. She could practically taste the petals on her tongue already. She slammed the door behind her.

Once Double D was certain that Marie had left, he checked once behind himself to make sure the remaining Kankers weren't watching him. Seeing them resume their struggle over the mallet, Double D nodded in satisfaction, reached inside his hat, and pulled out an orange walkie-talkie, the same kind Eddy once repeatedly used to "tweak" his Raccoon Roundup scam. He switched it on and whispered into the speaker.

"The leaf has fallen from the tree."

Ed, simple-minded as he was, couldn't understand the finer points of Eddy's grand master plan. Taking this into consideration, Eddy and Double D opted to dumb it down for him. Hide behind the trashcan next to the bathroom in the west hall and when Double D called him, he was to enact his part of the plan. "Oh boy, Oh boy!" Ed excitedly searched through his jacket and pulled out a crude piece of wood. It was spray-painted white with the words. "OUT OFF ODER" written on it in black. Both the paint job and the text were done poorly and without revision, with the "E" written backward.

"Hang up the sign before she comes, Lumpy!" Ed repeated what Eddy had told him as he hung the sign on the door to the girl's bathroom. Just then, he heard footsteps frantically approaching and quickly ducked behind the trashcan once again. From the tight space between the silver waste container and the rugged school wall, Ed watched as Marie Kanker ran up to the bathroom doors. She nearly missed the sign as she already had her hand on the handle. Her exposed eye caught the sign just as she turned the handle and if it weren't for the petals clumped within her throat, she would have cursed under her breath. Instead, she uttered an annoyed sigh, and even that only served to agitate the petals even more. She slapped both of her hands over her mouth and looked around herself to make sure no one was nearby. She wouldn't be able to fight it anymore. The petals were coming out NOW.

With no other choice, Marie entered the boy's bathroom.

Of course, being a Kanker, Marie wasn't concerned with the tainted air or the mysterious stains and graffiti that decorated the walls, urinals, and sinks. If anything, the foul smells reminded her of the trailer park and served to somewhat comfort her. No, it was the fact that someone, possibly even one of the other Eds, could be in here, watching her and waiting for that inevitable moment of surreal vulnerability. With her hands still clasped over her mouth, she kicked open each and every stall. She didn't bother trying to check the space beneath the door for feet, not when Eddy might be in here. When she kicked the last door open and saw nothing but a clogged toilet, she mentally sighed in relief.

This relief was short-lived, however, as the petals were through with waiting any longer. Marie didn't even have enough time to head inside one of the stalls before she coughed. Pain shot throughout her body as petal after petal fell from her mouth. Her stomach felt like it was on fire and she wrapped her arms around it. She fell to her knees as the coughs grew more and more aggressive and the bathroom floor became littered with small pink petals. Near the end of the whole ordeal, Marie let go of her stomach and pressed her hands against the floor. She felt the last of the petals leave her body and gasped for air. She moved her hands and nearly slipped on the petals underneath her palms. A trickle of bloody saliva hung from her bottom lip and upon noticing this, she used the hem of her black tank top to remove it. As she got up, she noticed that some of the petals had tiny specks of blood on them. She swallowed and winced in the resulting pain Whatever this sickness was, this was by far the worse of it.

"I'm glad that's over." Marie thought as she took one last survey of the bathroom. "Now all I have to do is clean up this mess before any-

Marie's train of thought stopped as did her scanning of the bathroom. Her gaze had stopped at the square space on the ceiling where the air vent once was. In its place was the head of a video camera, its lens reflecting Marie's mortified face right back at her.

"Holy crap!" She shouted.

"Uh oh." Whoever was recording her lifted the camera up and crawled quickly through the vents away from the bathroom.

"Oh no you don't!" Marie squatted, focused all of her strength into her legs, and jumped into the vent herself. It didn't take long for her eyes to adjust to the darkness of the vents but this did little good as the weasel that had recorded her moment of shame was already a wiggling shape at the far end. "Stop right there!" Marie growled as she lifted the rest of her body into the vent and crawled after the perp.

A pair of white, wild eyes stared back at her for a second, followed by a panicked yelp. Whoever it was that recorded Marie continued to curse under their breath as they struggled with the vent door, allowing Marie to get closer.

"I almost got you!" She screeched as she neared them, her mind racing with all the terrible torments she was planning to unleash on this prep once she reached them. But she wouldn't get the chance because right before she made it into reaching range, the perp managed to kick the door open and fall out. "No!" Marie quicked her pace and poked her head out through the open vent in the hopes of at least catching her prep in the light of the school hallways. Unfortunately, this would also prove to be a fruitless endeavor as whoever it was she was chasing somehow managed to get back on their feet and hightail it out of her line of sight, all with the footage of her coughing out flower petals intact. Realizing this, Marie screamed in frustration.

Unbeknownst to the bawling Kanker, her prep was standing just behind the hallway corner, snickering to himself as he replayed the footage on the camera. "Checkmate," Eddy whispered through his giggling.

Suffice to say, Lee was not pleased when Marie returned to Woodshop and told her and May about the incident in the bathroom. It was quickly decided that the Eds had to be behind this little trick and the first plan of action was to make Double D squawk. Marie felt a little uneasy about that plan if only because so much as being near Double D caused her symptoms to act up again. Nevertheless, she waited with her sisters and watched her "boyfriend" like a hawk, waiting for the bell to end and for an opportunity to drag his sorry butt to the defunct girl's bathroom for interrogation.

But before the opportunity could present itself, Double D wrapped up his project, presented it to Mr. Yamato, and asked to go to the restroom. The tired-looking woodshop teacher briefly looked away from his magazine to consider Edd's project before uttering a tired. "Go ahead." He brought his attention back to the magazine as Double D grabbed his bag and made a run for it.

"Hey! He's getting away!" May screeched.

"Shh! Mr. Yamato brought his finger to his lips. Just then, the bell rang and the Kanker sisters wasted no time racing toward the door like a pack of rabid hyenas out for blood. They literally knocked the poor door over as they aggressively scanned the hallway for Double D. Alas, in addition to enacting a countermeasure to escape the Kanker's wrath, Double D also took the fact that they would be coming after him into consideration and hid. As tempted as they were to tear the entire hallway apart in search of the wimpy little egghead, the herd of students marching through the hallways from every open door made their plan defunct. They would have to search for the Eds the old-fashioned way and upon realizing this, Marie let out another angry yowl.

Throughout the rest of the school day, the Kankers kept their eyes peeled for any sign of their "boyfriends". They growled to themselves at the empty desk where they should have been sitting, checked out every bathroom, (male or female) and spent what little time they had between periods tearing apart the hallways. Anyone that had the misfortune of getting caught up in their search was questioned and then promptly beaten when they couldn't provide any answer to the Ed's whereabouts. The lack of progress was grating on each of the sisters. Lee was getting angry, May was getting mopey and Marie was anxious as to what would happen should the Eds show that footage to anyone. Just the fact that she has once again been seen hawking up flower petals made her face burn with shame. She mentally vowed to make Eddy bleed once the opportunity presented itself.

Finally, as the last period was approaching its end, Lee got a paper airplane caught in her hair. Ripping it out and crushing it in her palm, she growled as she looked toward the direction it came from, only to find a window cracked open slightly. Noticing a spot of black ink from the other side of the paper, May carefully pinched the nose of the paper airplane and pulled it free from her sister's grasp. She unfurled it and her eyes widened upon seeing what it said. "Hey guys! Look at this!"

Lee and Marie both rushed to see the paper and hit their heads against each other for their troubles. After waiting for the stars to vanish from their vision, they both carefully studied the paper and the message it relayed in inky black marker.

Come 2 da Lieberry.

As the final bell rang and the rest of the Peach Creek student body was heading home for the day, the Kanker sisters made a beeline straight for the library. A feat that proved difficult considering all of them hardly stepped foot in there. Nevertheless, after bullying Jimmy for instructions and leaving him inside his own locker, they arrived at the destination. Sure enough, standing in the dead center of the library were the Eds. While Double D looked uneasy, nauseous even, Ed and Eddy were smiling. Eds smile was about as innocent and stupid as it always was but Eddy's was the definition of shit-eating. In his left hand was an unmarked videotape.

"Alright boys," Lee growled as she and her sisters approached the Eds. "You've had your fun. Now hand over that tape and we might consider not pummeling ya!"

"My how generous!" Eddy said in a mocking, gloating tone as he handed over the tape to Lee who proceeded to break it over her knee.

"Whew!" May wiped the sweat from her brow. "Glad that's over. And real easy to boot!"

"Yeah," Marie scratched her chin. "A little too easy." Her gaze shifted toward Ed who was currently preoccupied with gnawing on a familiar-looking black block. "Hey! The dumb one's got another tape!" She screamed.

"Mmmm. Could use some gravy." Ed commented.

"I'll get it Marie!" May tackled Ed to the ground and wrestled the tape out of his mouth. Without a second thought, she tossed it in her own mouth and swallowed it whole. "Crisis averted."

"Gesundheit!" Ed replied happily, not really caring about the Kanker sitting on his stomach.

Still not satisfied, Marie locked her glare onto Double D who, upon realizing that she was watching him, began to sweat profusely and shake violently. Marie shoved Lee and then Eddy to the side as she marched toward the frightened Double D. She got right in his face and after flashing her a scared smile and a few nervous chuckles, he reached into his hat and pulled out another tape. Marie snatched the tape up and crumpled it up like a piece of paper before tossing it near the trashcan. It missed but no one but Double D really cared and even then, he would have to wait until the whole ordeal is over before remedying the situation.

"Alright you jerks!" Marie suddenly shouted as she grabbed Double D and shook him violently. "How many copies of that stupid tape did you make!?" She pulled Double D's shirt collar over and looked inside. "We'll strip search you if we have to!"

"No! Please don't!" Double D cried.

"Ha!" Eddy shouted from the bookshelf that he was currently peeling off of. "Nice try but you're out of luck!" As Eddy was finishing his sentence, he finally finished his peeling and fell to the floor with a heavy thud. "Sockhead already made a million copies of that tape and we stashed them in hiding places all over Peach Creek!" He jumped up to his feet while laughing evilly. "It'd take you thousand years to find them all!"

"A million copies!?" Marie gasped.

"A thousand years?" May cried

"Oh, brother." Double D said to himself. In actuality, the number of copies Eddy had him make was not nearly as high. All in all, he had made about 9 copies, three of which the Kankers had just destroyed. Three others were hidden within the confines of each Ed's house. (Double D didn't want to leave the school grounds with his friends but Eddy was persistent as always) and three more still were hidden somewhere within Peach Creek, each by a different Ed as well. Double D hid his under the roots of the old tree where they once built a treehouse.

A treehouse the Kankers stole right from under their noses.

"Big deal!" Lee hissed. "I don't care if you made a hundred million billion copies! We'll tear apart the whole stinking town if we have to." Her lips curved into a sadistic grin. We've done it before."

She was, of course, referring to the ship-in-a-bottle incident, the memories of which caused Ed and Double D to both whimper. Eddy, on the other hand, remained undaunted.

"Oh go ahead! Rip up the town. Find all the copies! We'll just use our secret weapon then!"

"Secret weapon?" Lee asked. "What the heck are you talking about?"

"The latest experiment from Sockhead's twisted mind!" Eddy chimed, "A super secret satellite hovering over Peach Creek as we speak! One push of a button and Marie's little accident gets broadcasted across every TV screen in the entire world!" Eddy began cackling like a madman. Ed joined in, albeit with far more innocent laughter and Double D let out a dry "ha ha." in response. Once again, Eddy was inflating the truth but not by much. Double D really had constructed a working satellite that contained the original tape and the equipment necessary to play it. It didn't have enough power or altitude for a worldwide broadcast but it could intercept every signal within Peach Creek which would be more than enough to humiliate Marie.

"You're bluffing!" Lee dared.

"Oh yeah? Prove it!" Eddy grinned as Lee growled.

"Satellite? N-No way," Marie fell on her butt while muttering to herself. "Satellite...every TV..." She could see it all in her head now. The thousands upon thousands of screens displaying her flower-puking in all its glory. The hundreds of laughing faces and pointing fingers surrounding her. The reputation that she and her sisters worked so hard to cultivate gone forever, dooming them to a life as laughing stocks. It proved far too much for the blue-haired Kanker. She coughed up another cloud of petals and fell back with a thud.

"Marie fainted!" May rushed to her unconscious sister's side, grabbed both of her shoulders, and started raising her up and down frantically, bashing her head violently against the floor in the process. "Marie! Marie!"

"Stop (WHAM) it (WHAM) May! I'm (WHAM) fine!" Marie had been brought back upon the second whack.

Lee seethed. "Alright, alright! Enough of this baloney!" She picked up Eddy and brought his sly smiling face to her own. "What's your angle here?"

"Angle? I don't have an angle. Just the power to publically humiliate your sister if you so much as lay a hand on us again." Eddy said causally as he looked over his arm in mock indifference. Lee growled as she dropped Eddy back to the ground. He let out a grunt of pain but got back to his feet nonetheless. "Plus, from now on, you have to do what we say!"

"You're out of your mind!" Lee spat.

"Suit yourself. I guess you want the entire world to see Marie throwing up flower petals like bad spoiled eggs."

Lee seethed again, this time with enough intensity to produce steam from her crown. She knew Eddy was bluffing. He had to be! But was it worth the risk? Would she be willing to chance it at the cost of Marie's (not to mention May and her's) reputations?"

"Let's just do what he says Lee!" May cried as she cradled her awake but dazed sister in her arms. "We have to face facts! They have the upper hand!"

Lee felt as if she were going to explode. No one bested the Kanker sisters like this. Especially not their future husbands! She would make sure they paid for this and pay with interest.

"So, do we have a deal?" Eddy grinned as he held out his hand.

Lee growled one more time before gripping Eddy's hand and crushing it with all his might, causing the shorty to cringe in pain. "Yeah. We do." She turned to her sisters so suddenly, one could have sworn they hear her vertebrae crack. "Girls, let's move it on out!" She snapped back to Eddy as he held his injured hand. "Better watch your backs, boys because Hell hath no fury like a Kanker scorned!" With this, all three Kankers ran toward the library doors. Lee and May passed through as soon as they got to the threshold but Maire stopped just short of it. She looked back at the Eds, back at Double D, her cheeks tinted pink and her exposed eye filled with shame and hatred. She felt the petals collect in her throat once more, coughed out a single petal into her hand, and groaned as she tossed it away and followed her sisters.

Despite the pain in his hand, Eddy broke into another fit of uncontrollable laughter. "Ha! We did it! We beat the Kankers!" Ed, who was joining Eddy in filling the library air with obnoxious guffawing took him by the unhurt hand and twirled him underneath his arm. The two Ed started to dance across the library floor, laughing maniacally all the while. "The shoe's on the other foot now!"

"Oh boy! I love shoes, Eddy!"

While his two friends celebrated their newfound dominion over their long-time tormenters, Double D struggled to get Marie's defeated face out of his head. He was caught between feeling pity, fear, some semblance of the same satisfaction his dear friends were experiencing and...something else. An emotion he couldn't quite figure out.

"Oh, dear." He said to himself as he finally gave up on deciphering the alien emotion. "This has truly been an eventful day."

He ran up to where Marie's discarded petal lay, put on a pair of latex gloves he happened to have on his person, and picked it up. As he examined the petal closely, he noticed it was different from the ones she had coughed up over the weekend. The strange feeling inside him intensified.

The next day at school wasn't nearly as eventful for Double D. He had volunteered to assist the nurse for most of the day so he didn't see much of his friends. (They had been "disapproved" from hanging out in the office with Double D ever since the needle incident.) He hadn't seen much of the Kankers either but that was to be expected. They were usually the ones to send a poor soul to the Nurse rather than visit themselves.

Today proved to be a rather slow day as the nurse was currently out at a conference. There wasn't much for Double D to do aside from alphabetizing the medicines and equipment and making himself available to anyone who came in. It was within the throes of boredom that Double D decided to reexamine the petals. He reached into his hat, pulled out two baggies, each containing a different petal, and placed them on the examination table. With his substantial knowledge of botany, Double D was able to identify the newest petal as belonging to a Peony plant while the other one was one of the Begonia he had saved earlier.

"It's so strange," Double D muttered to himself as he opened the bag with the Peony petal and removed it with a pair of tweezers. "These petals belong to two completely different existing species of flower and yet I observed both of them coming out of Marie's mouth like common phlegm! This condition gets stranger and stranger!" He held up the Peony underneath his magnifying glass, trying his hardest to find something, anything that would indicate it was something other than a flower petal but found nothing. "I've seen my fair share of strange phenomena before. I once saw Ed eat his mattress for crying out loud! But this, this mystery really takes the proverbial cake!" He laid the petal flat on the table and sighed. "Maybe if I-

Before he could finish that sentence, Double D heard the door open behind him. Realizing he had a patient and not wanting to be questioned about why he was staring at flower petals on the examination table, he quickly gathered everything into his hat and turned to face his latest visitor with a hearty smile. "Good afternoon! How may I...be...of...assistance... He trailed off as Marie Kanker stepped inside the room

She seemed as crestfallen as she was yesterday, her hands gently rubbing her shoulders as if she was cold. Her exposed eye looked tired, forcing itself to remain open so its owner could see. It widened upon spotting Double D standing before her and Marie's face flushed a vibrant shade of pink. "You! What are you doing here!?"

Double D was, of course, taken aback by this but only for a moment. In her humbled state, Marie did not spark the same level of fear on this day that she usually did. "Well, unlike some students of this school, I like to take full advantage of the almost endless opportunities that Peach Creek Junior High affords its pupils. Today just so happens to be my turn to serve as assistant to our beloved nurse!" He stopped to take note of Marie's disinterested expression and chuckled nervously while tenting his fingers. "So um, how can I help you?"

Marie looked back at the door, as if checking to make sure no one was watching from the glass window and sighed. She coughed a little bit and clasped her hand over her mouth. Double D could tell from the guttural tone that her throat was once again full of flower petals and she had been fighting to keep them down. "WelL...I guess you're better than nothing." Marie muttered incoherently as she made her way to the table. "I..." She stopped to cough again, three petals escaping her mouth as she did so. If Marie had noticed the petals, she was pretending not to and sat on the table. "Look, I'm sick and I need something to make it better."

"Uh huh." Double D nodded. "Exactly what ailments are you hoping to remedy if I may ask?"

"What ailments do you think you moron!?" Marie suddenly screeched, startling Double D and causing him to trip on his own feet in a panic. He had to grab the nearby counter to keep from falling face-first to the floor. Marie covered her mouth again and watched with a surprising amount of concern in her eye as Double D picked himself back up. "I-I'm sorry." She said weakly.

The sound of her apology alone was enough to freeze Double D solid. Never in all the months that he had known Marie had he ever expected those words to leave her lips, never mind be directed at him. "I-I beg your pardon?"

"I'm sorry ok!" Marie repeated with a bit more emotion. Her face was scarlet and it was clear to Double D that she was swallowing her pride with each word. "Look, I just want something for my throat. Maybe cough syrup or something."

Double D opened a drawer on the counter he had leaned on and began rummaging through the various medicines stored there. "Well I can't be completely certain that general cough remedies will work on your um, peculiar condition but trying some ginger shoulder hurt!" He pulled out a bottle of the ground-up root and showed it to Marie as he said this.

"Ginger?" Marie asked as Double D handed her the bottle. "Shouldn't it be orange or something?"

"That ginger has been sliced up into a fine powder." Double D explained. "It could be tricky to see the remaining tiny of uh orange."

"I see," Marie suddenly coughed again, more violently than last time. She wasn't able to cover her mouth in time and four flower petals escaped from her throat. Both she and Double D watched as they drifted toward the floor before sharing an awkward glance. Whatever part of Marie's face wasn't already flushed was now a burning crimson and she turned away with gritted teeth. She muttered something under her breath that Double D was almost certain was "shit."

"Thanks for the root or whatever, later Sockhead." Marie jumped off the table and approached the door at a brisk pace, clearly wanting to be out of Double D's sight and away from those dammed petals as soon as possible. Just as she grabbed the handle, however, Double D called out to her.

"Wait!"

She remained still for a few seconds, trying to process that she had really heard that from Double D of all people. Once she was certain that she didn't imagine it, she turned to face him, her hand still gripping the handle and her entire body tense. "What do you want?" She asked defensibly, deeply aware of how hard she was blushing but trying to exercise some control of the situation by meeting Double D's gaze head on

"Um...Well I...I just..." Double D sighed heavily. "I'm not sure how to put this...I think we need to have a discussion."

"A discussion?" Marie growled. "About what? You want me to wax your butterfly collection or something?" She pointed a finger at him. "Look, don't think you can just boss me and my sisters around because of some stupid tape!"

Double D waved his hands in front of himself defensibly. "That's not what I meant at all!" He took a few seconds to recompose himself and continued. "I can assure you that I do not intend to extract chores or other labors from your person due to Eddy's crude attempt at diplomacy. Rather, if you'd let me, I wish to help find a solution to your strange ailment, a cure if you will!"

"Are you serious?" Marie asked while cocking her eyebrow. "You'd help me get rid of this stupid sickness even if it meant losing your leverage?"

Double D's smile turned fearful as she said this. "Truth be told, I was personally never for this cockamamie vendetta in the first place. I simply do not take joy in other people's misfortune, regardless of whether or not they deserve it."

Marie felt her body loosen up a little and relaxed her grip on the door handle. "Do-Don't treat me like a moron! Nobody does anything without wanting something in return! That's what Mom taught us! So what's your game!?"

Double D tented his fingers again, sporting a guilty look on his face. "Well, I suppose you got me," Double D reached into his hat and pulled out the petals he had saved, causing Marie to gasp quietly as she laid eyes on them. "For the sake of complete transparency, I must admit this ailment of yours strikes me as rather odd. I've racked my brain, read and reread through every book on biology and human anatomy both in my personal collection and in the school library but I've yet to find anything that can provide a satisfying answer." He walked up to Marie, holding the two petals in his hand. "Not only are you seemingly producing flower petals from your body but different intervals produce different specimens. I think we may be on the crux of a scientific milestone and I would be honored if you would join me in unlocking this door of opportunity with me, Marie!" He bowed his head slightly.

Marie couldn't believe what she was seeing. The dorky, weak teacher's pet that would usually head for the hills the moment he saw her stood right before her now, sounding far more confident and sure of himself than she had ever seen him before. It reminded her of the dream that precluded her current situation and she could feel her throat ache as more petals materialized. "He's offering to help me just so he can learn more about this stupid disease of mine," Marie coughed into her hand and groaned as she felt the soft flutter of flower petals against her palm. "Well, it's not like I have a whole lot of options." She spit onto her other hand and presented it to Double D. "All right, Muffin! You have a deal! But it better work!"

Double D winced at the sight of Marie's saliva-covered hand. Without taking his eyes off of it, he donned a new glove and gripped the tips of her fingers on a feeble handshake. "I look forward to working with you Marie. Now may I ask just one awkward question?"

Marie felt uncomfortable but then relented, considering that this was Double D she was talking to. "Alright. What is it?"

"These two petals." Double D once again held up the Begonia and Peony petals he had collected. "Are these the only varieties you've expelled so far?"

(And with that, we've reached all the planned chapters I currently have for this story. That's not to say the story ends here, of course, just that it'll be a while before I update it again but when I do, I'll have the rest of the story fully planned out. Until then, I want to thank Solbrand for their wonderful review! Until next time, Chibi out!

PS, I hope you like the little nod to Naruto I included in here ;)