Episode #19: An Unlikely Assistance Saves the Day! Proof of Heritage

Ed set Rolf down and proceeded to sit himself down as well. He was tired, much like everyone else, and he needed to take a breather. He was joined by Edd, and Eddy shortly and the other heroes had also gathered themselves together.

Rolf slowly opened his eyes and saw that the battle had been won in their favor. He looked to his side and was met with the painful sight of Kevin's dead body. Rolf ignored the intense pain he was in and forced himself to his feet. This caught the attention of the other heroes, and they watched him struggle to walk over to Kevin's body. When Rolf was right in front of Kevin he collapsed to his knees and began to shed tears. He punched the ground with the little strength he had left and cursed in his native tongue.

"Rolf is sorry Kevin. The Son of a Shepherd failed in his duty to protect those close to him. You were Rolf's brother Kevin-boy and he shall never forgive himself for your untimely death. May the ancient one and the scar faced elder watch over you in the next life."

The heroes watched Rolf with sympathy. Kevin wasn't a life long friend to them and so they could not feel the same way for Kevin. Eddy, however, clenched his fist in anger and wiped away a few tears.

Alicia watched as Rolf mourned Kevin. She somewhat snickered, she had a sudden flashback, one that wasn't very detailed. She knew what it meant. She knew how Rolf felt, to a degree. She slowly made her way towards Rolf, as calm as she could.

Quick instances of the flashback went by in her head as she walked. She couldn't help but remember how she blamed herself for the untimely death of her loved ones. She spend endless hours traumatizing over it. She had learned to cope with the pain, the sorrow, the loss...

Alicia was few inches from Rolf, she wanted to comfort him, but she didn't really know how. Rolf continued to shed tears. Alicia decided what had to be done...



BAM!

Everyone's eyes widened....

Rolf had a red hand print marked on his face.

"Get a hold of yourself! You think crying over him will ease the pain? You think, BLAMING yourself, putting the center of the problem unto you will solve anything? We can only decide the course of our own actions, not the actions or fate of others. No matter how hard we try, we can only do so much..." Alicia's eyes slightly watered, a tear sliding down her face. She quickly shut her eyes, trying to take the very thoughts that sullied her mind distant.

Rolf yelled in pain as he held the red hot side of his face. He shot an angry glare towards his slapper but the anger faded when he saw Alicia crying. The heroes watching were very confused.

"What the hell was that for?!" Yelled Eddy.

"I'm not really sure." Replied Zymon.

The twins were even more confused than everyone else and so they looked to each other for answers.

"Why did mommy slap that boy?" Asked Savannah to her sister who simply just shrugged.

Alicia had been able to cope with the pain through the fact that she and Terra had started a new family together but that didn't mean that the memories weren't still there. She just couldn't stand the sight of Rolf blaming himself for something that was beyond his control.Alicia wiped away the tears from her eyes and looked back towards Rolf, who still held his face in pain. Though nothing was said, Rolf knew that she had also lost someone close to her. He could see it in her eyes; it was so obvious.

"I'm sorry Rolf. Thank you for coming to our rescue back there."

"No. Do not be sorry fair maiden for Rolf knows that you are correct, and do not thank the Son of a Shepherd for it was his duty."

A clamor of voices was suddenly heard approaching the crater. All of the heroes present in the crater spotted the Kids approaching, practically sprinting to the heroes' location.

"There they are!" Sarah yelled, her voice probably audible from space. The more injured heroes almost lost their balance from the force of the yell.

The Kids finished their approached. The first thing they noticed: Rolf.

"Rolf?!" Jimmy asked. "W-w-where...?"

Rolf looked up, only saying: "Rolf was on a journey for quite a while. It is now time for Rolf to return..."

The farmboy trailed off, sadness evidenced in his words. The other heroes closed their eyes. While Guriot had died, so had Kevin. Except for the Eds, the group of heroes didn't feel any real connection to the deceased jock.

The Kids stared, wide-eyed, at the corpses. More specifically, the body of Kevin, blood still caking his clothing.

There were no words that could be said.

Terra was sitting dwon next to the laying Jasper, when the Android suddenly shot up.

"Wheres Otis!?" the android said looking in all directions. Terra quickly got up, bringing his hands up.

"Jasper, try not to move-" Terra said, but Jasper didn't listen. He turned his back to Terra and looked around.

"Where'd he go!?" Jasper stated, turning around. His arm brushed against Terra's, burning it slightly. Terra moved back, putting his hand to the burn.

"He's gone. He wasn't here when I-" Terra replied, before being cut off yet again.

"He's gone!?" Jasper yelled, before being kicked in the chest by Terra. The Android fell back, landing on his back. His face was that of shock.

"Shut up already..." Terra replied, annoyed. He sighed, than crossed his hands over his chest."Moving anymore won't do you any good."

Jasper looked at his damaged body, and than looked at the clouds above.

"So we won?" Jasper replied. An image of Guriot flashed briefly in Terra's mind, and his expression became sadder.

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"No...no!" Nazz cried out, running towards Kevin's body. She knelt down and tears ran down her face. For once Sarah cried in Jimmy's arms. Jonny's eyes teared up, as he covered planks eyes. The wood boy looked at Rolf, surprised to see him. The Son of Shepard looked away in shame.

The two Twins were each hugging one of there mothers legs,as they looked at Guriot's body. Alicia teared up slightly, than put a hand on each of her daughters heads.

Corey helped Streak up, when the two noticed Makuta approaching with a blanketed Kale on his back. The blanket slide down slightly as the Namekian came to a stop in front of the Saiyan and hedgehog. There was no doubt, the arm that had been taken by Utonium's attack had been replaced by a Namekian one.

"You..." Corey said, surprised and not sure what else to say. Makuta looked over to the arm, and than to the corpses.

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Drew stood slightly away from the group, using his arm to lean on a building.

"I don't like it..." he said, shaking.

"We won..but at what damn cost..." he said threw bared teeth.

A few days had passed from the battle and everyone was dressed in black prepared for the funeral of the two lost from the battle. Rolf thought it was best he delivered the news to Kevin’s parents who were torn up from hearing the news and even more shocked about what he had done. The funeral arrangements were paid for by the Neo Earth’s Special Forces; it seemed like the least they could do after what happened. They waited for after the family had buried Kevin and left the area before they walked up to his grave. All but Makuta and Jasper who were standing in the background watching from afar; Jasper was missing one of his arms that needed to be replaced due to the amount of damage it took.

Everyone stared at the grave in sadness as they remembered the tragic death lead after Kevin tried to save them by pleading to Utonium. Off all those who seemed to be saddened over the boy’s death, it seemed Rolf and Eddy were taking it the hardest of all. In Rolf’s mind all he could wonder is what would of happened is he were only a little bit faster while Eddy could only wonder what would of happened if he were only a little bit stronger. Everyone said their final goodbyes to the Kevin and prayed that he find peace in the afterlife and then made their way out of the graveyard.

Drew stood in front of everyone “let this be a reminder to everyone, no loss is acceptable in what we do. We make sure to get stronger so that we can prevent something like this from happening to anyone else” said Drew which seemed to rekindle a flame in everyone’s heart. Ed, Edd, and Eddy never want to see have to experience something like that again and swore to themselves they would become stronger. Kale grabbed his new Namekian arm that replaced the arm blown off in the battle and swore to not to take that second chance for granted. Everyone was dismissed for the day; tomorrow training would continue as usual but for now they needed to shake off the dread on them.

Before Tai Ma made his way home he took a detour deep into the forest. When he landed there was a tomb stone on the ground with white roses on the ground in front of it with some writing on the stone that read “here lies Guriot; A true saiyan till the end” in bold writing. Tai ma stared as the grave with his fists clenched tight and a tear running down his face “You stupid bastard….why did you have to fucking die…” he said to himself. At that moment Tai ma felt a hand on his shoulder; when he turned he saw that it was Makuta.

And so, with the battle in Peach Creek won with casualities, the reconstruction of downtown began. The heroes began training, some helping out with the reconstruction of the city, and some actively training with their trainers. Intense training was undergone, to ensure that the loss of any other life in Peach Creek, and any other worldwide life, would be protected when the next crisis that struck the Earth into terror hit.